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SOUTHWEST REGION SCHOOLS
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of Southern California As the oldest independent teaching and research university in the West, USC built its reputation on excellent professional schools of medicine, law, business, and engineering; the university has 15 undergraduate schools all together. Programs in journalism/communications, drama, and music are top-notch. And with a little help from its friends, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Johnny Carson who made possible the addition of a high-tech, state-of-the-art cinema/TV complex, USC is able to boast a stellar cinema/television department. There is also a fine Thematic Option honors program, which takes the place of general education requirements for outstanding freshmen who score above 650 on the verbal portion of the SAT. The option features four core courses with extensive readings on Western civilization. The "Traumatic Option," as some students call it, is one of the most pressured and rewarding paths through USC. On campus, sports are pretty much the biggest thing going. The largest of the annual nonsporting events is Songfest, a musical production run entirely by students and shown at the Shrine Auditorium, directly across from the campus. Socially, fraternities and sororities exert quite an influence, though less than a quarter of the students are officially Greek. Whatever one's major, a USC diploma is like money in the bank. Texas A&M Participants in the Nautical Archaeology Program conduct research all over the world, delving into time periods from prehistory to the recent past. The Academy for Future International Leaders trains 15 students per year in international business and cultural issues, followed by a summer international internship. Athletics, whether on the varsity level or for recreation, is the
number-one activity on campus. Greeks are growing in popularity,
with about 6 percent of the men and 14 percent of the women in the
student body joining up. In addition, there are more than 700 organizations
available for interested students. A&M's no longer just a military
school, it's a potpourri of varied educational opportunities - and
that's something to cheer about.
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