COMMON APP [707]
Graduating from high school, I knew I wanted to attend a university that had a strong computer science program, a culture of entrepreneurship, and students who were happy. In many ways, my time at USC has largely satisfied these criteria and taught me a lot about what I want out of my undergraduate experience. However, it has also spurred intellectual development and changed my academic plans, leading me to believe that transferring schools will help me fully achieve my goals.
In high school, I worked on a venture, Fundify, which showed me that I wanted to use technology to address social issues—a central aspiration I took to USC and one that continues to drive me today. But I had barely skimmed the surface; my interests were limited to computer science, and my view of the field was limited to developing websites and mobile apps. College has expanded this perspective.
Exploring the economic impact of a liberal arts education for my freshman writing class, I learned that society’s biggest challenges cannot be effectively addressed through the lens of a single discipline. This has become especially evident through my
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First, the computer science program places a strong emphasis on games, security, and robotics. Few courses are offered in my areas of interest (i.e. data science and machine learning). A surprising number of courses in computer science, even some of the foundational courses (e.g. databases) offered are graduate-only. Equally important, USC does not offer me the breadth of interdisciplinary academic opportunities nor the integration with the liberal arts that I believe is important to gain a broader perspective on the application of technology. I’ve also found that at USC, I have only been able to connect with others who share my interdisciplinary interests within confined research communities, rather than within the broader undergraduate