David Islas is a junior studying Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at USC. He’s from San Diego and, like a lot of us, didn’t really have a clear idea of what ISE was at first, but he liked that it felt both conceptual and practical. It ended up being a great fit! We talked recently about his experience and how he’s made ISE work for him.
This summer, he’s interning with Frito-Lay in Modesto, working on operations and supply chain! He told me that he’s especially interested in the logistics and warehouse side of ISE, and our classes have helped with that. Classes like ISE 330 (Introduction to Optimization) and 370 (Human Factors in Work and Systems Design) made him feel like he had a solid foundation, but like most students, he knows he will learn so much more on the job.
Outside of his engineering classes, David’s super into music, film, and literature. He’s been learning Ableton and messing around with music production, and he spends his summers casually learning languages (last year it was German, this year maybe Russian?) just because he wants to understand more of the context behind global art.
One of the things David likes most about USC is being in LA. It’s been the perfect place for him to explore his artistic interests, with so many concert spaces, theatres, and art spaces. We actually went together to see The Hellp at the Fonda Theatre a few months ago; it was a chaotic but super fun electronic show that, to me, really captured what LA feels like. This kind of experience is what he loves most about the city, and he’s definitely more into smaller spots that cater to niche scenes. He mentioned a theatre, the American Cinematheque in Los Feliz, where he once saw David Lynch’s Lost Highway. Having the freedom to explore venues and art spaces tied to his interests is a big part of why USC and LA have felt like a good fit.
David chose USC partly because his sister went here, so it already felt familiar in some ways. But what really made the difference was how flexible the school is. Coming in, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to study, and actually started as a different major. Through USC’s pre-engineering track, he was able to switch into ISE. He knew that this process was often way harder or even blocked at other schools, so this flexibility gave him the room to figure things out at his own pace. College doesn’t always have to follow a straight line, and in my opinion, finding the right fit means exploring what’s around you, both in and out of the classroom!
