For the past two weeks, USC Annenberg students have been immersed in the inner workings – and networking with the high ranks – of media companies on both U.S. coasts.

Sixteen undergrad students are in New York City, and 16 undergrads are in the San Francisco Bay area. Chosen to take part in the highly-selective Maymester and Bay Area Maymester programs, they represent a range of USC Annenberg disciplines and are learning first-hand how top-ranked media companies work in a new age of convergence and disruption.

In the Bay area, students have visited: Google, Instagram, Pixar, Intel, Bloomberg TV, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pinterest, Salesforce, Edelman, Pac-12 Networks and more.

In New York City, they’ve gone behind the scenes at: ABC News, the NBA, The New York Times, Refinery29, TIME Inc., YouTube, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Food Network, NBC News, Bloomberg Philanthropies, CNN and HBO.

They have been led by School of Communication Director Sarah Banet-Weiser, School of Journalism Director Willow Bay, professor Christopher Holmes Smith and professor Burghardt Tenderich.