USG to create online guide for spring admits


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At Tuesday night’s USG meeting, USG Vice President Rini Sampath announced that an online guide for USC students who are admitted for the spring semester will be available within a week. The guide, which will be posted on USG’s website, will give spring admits information on what to expect during their freshman year.

“It’s an opportunity for spring-admitted students to come here to be successful and feel like they’ll have a great time,” Sampath said.

Currently, official information for incoming spring admits is limited to frequently asked questions pages on USC’s website. Sampath hopes that the new guide will expand on this page and provide more information.

“This will be a comprehensive guide,” Sampath said. “It will take the information from the FAQ page and really flesh it out.”

The new guide will cover a variety of topics, including housing, registering for classes and food on campus.

Inspiration for the page came from Winston Lee, a sophomore majoring in computer science and computer engineering who created a Google Document for students who were admitted in the spring of 2014. A spring 2014 admit himself as well as a current USG senate aid, Lee created the page to help others facing similar challenges.

“Basically I wanted something I didn’t have as a student, which was a document that compiled the different information I gathered through my research,” Lee said.

Before enrolling at USC, Lee lived near campus and took classes at Los Angeles Community College. He struggled to find information about which of his credits would transfer and what other classes he should take.

“[The information] is definitely out there, it’s just hidden on different sites and different pages,” Lee said.

USG’s new page will expand on Lee’s design and will feature graphic design and testimonials from former spring admits

“We’re taking what Winston [Lee] created and making it more accessible, and more aesthetically pleasing,” Sampath said.

Sampath and Lee met at USC while participating in student government. Their decision to collaborate grew from both being spring admits themselves.

“We bonded over the spring admission experience,” Lee said.

In her experience, Sampath found that the Facebook page for spring admits was filled with questions.

“The Facebook page had a lot of questions, like ‘what do I do about housing?’” Sampath said.

Though it is specifically designed for spring admits, Sampath and Lee hope that the new page will answer questions that are relevant for all students.

“The final product should be something that everyone at our university be able to utilize,” Sampath said.