今天，USC给拿到录取的同学发了一封非常恳切的劝读信，说了很多USC建筑学院的卖点，看了我都心动了，跟大家分享一下：
Dear Clair,
As the Co-ordinator of the Post Professional program at USC, I would like to pass on my congratulations to you on being offered a place on our program. This year both the quality and quantity of applications were signficantly higher than in previous years, and competition for places was extremely tough. Only the very best students have been accepted on to the program, and I am delighted that we have been able to offer you a place.
For some time Dean Ma has pursued a dream of turning the Post Professional program at USC into the best in the world. We have been building up the program for a few years now. USC alumnus, Frank Gehry, is now a Judge Widney Professor at USC, and we have already brought in some of the most interesting and dynamic professors to teach on the PP program, including Alvin Huang, Roland Snooks, Marcos Sanchez, Nick Pisca, Anders Carlson and Manuel DeLanda. This year Gail Borden, John Mutlow and I have completely revised the program to make it even stronger, and are bringing in yet more talented professors to strengthen our technical teaching still further, introducing GIS and film making into the curriculum. We are also offering two pre-semester computation workshops, one in Shanghai and one in Los Angeles. We like to think that we have now realized Dean Ma's dream of making our PP program the best in the world.
USC has a vibrant campus with some remarkably strong departments, including the School of Cinematic Arts, with its reputation as the leading film school in the world. The school has recently moved into a new building donated by USC alumnus George Lucas, director of Star Wars, and hosts many lectures and screenings by leading Hollywood film directors. Another famous USC alumnus is Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon. USC professors are currently developing a robot to build structures on the Moon, sponsored by NASA. But it is perhaps the range and diversity of the students that really gives the USC campus its distinctive character. USC has more international students than any other university in the United States.
Another attraction is the city of Los Angeles itself. Los Angeles is of course a great place to live - especially this time of the year. While temperatures on the East Coast plummet below freezing during winter, Los Angeles maintains a delightfully sunny and warm climate throughout the year. Los Angeles also has many cultural attractions, such as Disneyland and Hollywood with its recent Oscars ceremony, and many natural attractions, such as the ocean, mountains and desert. Indeed it is possible to go surfing in the ocean in the morning, and skiing in the nearby mountains in the afternoon. As a major hub on the Pacific rim, Los Angeles is also home to one of the most diverse populations on Earth, with a sizeable Mexican population, and a number of ethnic communities, such as Korea Town, Little Tokyo and China Town.
Los Angeles enjoys a vibrant cultural life, and has one of the most dynamic art and design scenes in the world. In particular, it has the reputation for being the home of some of the most experimental architects, including USC's own Pritzker prize winning alumni, Thom Mayne and Frank Gehry. But Los Angeles is also home to a range of architectural practices, from small experimental ones to large commercial ones, such as Gensler. Indeed Los Angeles probably has more job opportunities for graduate architects than any other city in the United States. Los Angeles is also littered with great buildings, from the Modernist Case Study houses and works by Frank Lloyd Wright to the more contemporary works of Gehry and Partners, Morphosis, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Greg Lynn and Eric Owen Moss. It is also home to several schools of architecture, producing an endless stream of exhibitions and lectures. In the past few weeks Liu Jiakin, Juan Herreros, Michel Rojkind, Jesse Reiser, Wolf Prix, Peter Eisenman and recent Pritzker prize winner, Wang Shu, have all given lectures here. Los Angeles is an architectural hotspot, and the British architectural historian Reyner Banham was so enamoured by the place that he made a film about it: [http://vimeo.com/22488225]
Los Angeles - the city of the Angels - is a city of dreams, and many people come here to realize their dreams. It is easy to see why everyone loves Los Angeles, and no one wants to leave. In the words of the Eagles in their famous song, Hotel California, 'You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ig-rgeXpF8&feature=related]
We look forward to welcoming you to Los Angeles, one of the most amazing cities on the planet, and in particular we look forward to welcoming you to the PP program at USC, an elite program for elite students, taught by elite professors.
