Moving across the country for graduate school is an undertaking that could daunt even the most fearless of students. Fortunately USC Annenberg M.S. Journalism program students Jessica and Maritza Moulite were right by each other’s side when they moved from Miami to Los Angeles and started a nine-month graduate program. “Nothing beats having your sister here,” Maritza, the older of the two by a year-and-a-half, says. The siblings hail from East Coast schools and applied and got into the same graduate programs. But USC Annenberg was an obvious choice, with each of the sisters’ scholarship awards providing initial motivation to move out West. Maritza is a Dean’s Scholar, while Jessica is an Annenberg Graduate Fellow.

Annenberg stood out for other reasons as well.

“[We] were able to speak to different students in the graduate programs and even some alumni as well, and they were all so passionate about the school,” Maritza says. “I really feel like Annenberg is doing a great job of being a journalism school for the 21st century.”

Adds Jessica: “I’m really interested in how news can be shaped to impact our generation more. People will still have to get information about the world, [but] I think the way in which we’ll go about it will have to change with our demographic.”