<p>Suspected car-jack gone bad</p>
<p>Terrible, stupid, senseless crime,</p>
<p>Oh those poor families… horrible.</p>
<p>Katliamom, that’s just what I was thinking…and virtually every child in China is an only child. I can’t even imagine.</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard the male student was visiting his girlfriend in a really rough spot near USC’s campus. He usually would bike to go visit her, but since it was raining (one of the five times a year it does out here) he took his car. Which happened to be a new BMW. At 1 AM.</p>
<p>^^^According to the LaTimes article it was 2003 BMW and they were sitting in the car on the street late at night in the dark. Perhaps new to these owners, but not “new”.</p>
<p>One interesting point to the article is that USC has more foreign students than any other US school.</p>
<p>Foreign students at USC = full pay.
USC offers one of the most generous merit aid to attract highly qualified US students to help ranking numbers.</p>
<p>Car jackers steal used cars(for parts) as well as new cars and it is not unusual for hard working grad students to be returning home from campus at 1 AM. In fact for many in fields such as engineering or music, it’s pretty typical. The area was a half mile from campus, not really any rougher than much of the the district( granted , there is more than enough crime there). Many of the residents on that block are grad students. We know of two who live on that street and the initial news story sent me into a complete panic.
I do worry about foreign students being overly optimistic about safety issues. Only a half mile from campus, on a tree lined street with relatively well tended homes, appearances are deceptive.</p>
<p>When D1 was accepted to USC, we visited the campus and made the common observation that the campus was gorgeous, but the surrounding environs were scary. Friends with kids there told us that the immediate campus area is being revitalized and that eventually the whole area will be safe and beautiful. </p>
<p>D1 made her decision entirely independent of this issue, and while I had kind of hoped she would choose USC, DH was completely relieved about it. </p>
<p>Bad things can happen anywhere. A horrible event happened at her university right before she received her acceptance letter, so I had no illusions about guaranteed safety in quintessential charming college towns.</p>
<p>D was accepted to grad school at USC as well. The crime stats only played a small part of her decision. As a music student she would be on campus till very late and I was more than a little relieved that I wouldn’t have to worry quite as much.Though bad things can and do happen anywhere, they happen a lot more often in bad neighborhoods.</p>
<p>[2nd</a> USC shooting in a week: Suspect a gang member, police say - latimes.com](<a href=“Archive blogs”>Archive blogs)</p>
<p>I hate to see students getting robbed…but the upside is that there is a chance that the cops may have caught the shooter in the SC grad students murders.</p>
<p>Is this the same incident that was reported on cc a week ago? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1322196-tragic-incident-around-usc-campus.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1322196-tragic-incident-around-usc-campus.html</a></p>
<p>No, this is a different incident and happened early this AM near fraternity row. Apparently four SC students were held up at gun point, and they called campus security. The suspect, a gang member on parole, was shot. Some suspect that he MIGHT be the perp from the shooting from last week. But too soon to know.</p>
<p>The two students were grad students, and thus most likely had fellowship to support their tuition. </p>
<p>I do not like it when people stereotype foreign students as the money source for universities. That may be true at undergraduate level. Definitely false at graduate level</p>
<p>Oh god, a new incident? Four shotings in a week? How awful. Stay safe, USC students and families!</p>
<p>Depends on how you count–to me, this is the second incident. The campus security shot a robber in the leg. The first was the tragic shooting the the two graduate students. In either case, this is very sad and unusual.</p>
<p>How unsafe is the area surrounding USC. Do these incidents reflect an underlying change for the worse or just a fluke. Is there anything more the university can do to make the surrounds, including areas as close as the Row safer?</p>
<p>The surrounding area is bad. Maybe not as bad as in the 60s, but bad.</p>
<p>I think it’s mostly a fluke. My kids have attended USC and have never felt unsafe or endangered. They do try to keep aware of their surroundings and do spend a lot of their time on and near campus. It is true that there are safer and more dangerous areas near campus. If anything, there is a downward trend in violence in and around USC, but violence is always scary and bad.</p>
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<p>How do you know these grad students had fellowships? Were they in the PhD programs where funding may be available or were they in the Masters programs or professional schools where funding is scarce?</p>
<p>Back in the late 60s and early 70’s, it was widely circulated among foreign students that if you go to USC’s admissions office, present passing grades, and offer full-pay, they will admit you on the spot. Many of those came to the US on tourist visas and wanted to transfer status to student visas. Several of my closest friends, foreign and US students confirm this. In those days, hardly any were mainland Chinese students since China had no emigration policy.</p>
<p>This is not a commentary on USC’s current academic standards or reputation.</p>