Ask me about USC social life

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>So I know a lot of you are anxious about what you can expect coming to SC so let me tell you about my background so you can see if there's anything I'd be able to answer</p>

<p>I was born in Nigeria, spent my childhood in Australia, grew up in the suburbs of Connecticut before finishing high school out in Oregon. I'm going to be a junior, I was a spring admit. I'm a member of what some people might consider "a top fraternity". My roommate for next year is my best friend who's also a photographer and isn't in greek life, but what I'd call USC's alternative scene. I work for Viterbi the engineering school, but I'm a visual anthropology major in the regular college of letters arts, and science. I do a lot of film stuff, and some of my best friends are girls in sororities so I know about all that stuff too.</p>

2

<p>do you know how competitive usc’s sororities are? especially for sophomore transfers. ive heard a lot of great things about greek life there and i kind of have my heart set on a particular one, but it’s considered a “top” sorority there. kinda worried haha. thanks :)</p>

3

<p>well it all depends. I’ll be completely honest in these because I believe it’s better to get a real picture rather than a fake one. The top four are (arguably) kappa, pi phi, DG, theta. Between those four it’s competitive in that all of them are top houses and vie after girls who are really sought after. The best thing is to be yourself though and not try to join a house just because it’s a top one. One of my best friends is in ADPI which isn’t considered a top house, but this girl is beautiful and super chill and is super into her sorority. It all depends on the vibe you get from a house and the group of girls in it that you meet during rush and if you really think you’ll gel with them. As a sophomore transfer you’ll be fine. I have a lot of friends who were spring admits and had to rush sophomore year and still got all their top houses. If it’s meant to be, it will happen :)</p>

4

<p>Any personal advice, knowledge, and/or tips that you think would benefit an incoming freshman? :)</p>

5

<p>ok there are a couple of things i think might help</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Do not be shyy. I’m not from southern california, you might be so you might be more used to it. There are A LOT of attractive, well dressed people. Everyone seems confident, and even on the first day it feels like everyone already knows eachother. But everyone is just as nervous and willing to make friends you. Just put yourself out there</p></li>
<li><p>Break the ice early with your room mate. Even if you already think you won’t like them, go out and get food or something with them. It’s better to be on good terms with your room mate as theyll help out with everything from letting you in after you lock yourself out (I promise you that you will) to lending you money for laundry, to sleeping somewhere else if you need the room for stuff that might come up</p></li>
<li><p>Everyone doesn’t mind skipping syllabus week cuz you’re not learning anything. Only start doing this as a sophomore or seasoned 2nd semester freshman. By going to your classes that first week, you’ll learn what classes you can skip, BS your way through, ones that you might actually love, who’s gonna be in there, who will prolly help with notes if you miss class and that sort of stuff.</p></li>
<li><p>Try rushing EVEN if you’re not going to join, because you’ll end up increasing your social network regardless</p></li>
<li><p>Do not fall in love, at least not yet :slight_smile: There was a girl, literally the first week I got there, that I started chilling with her, going out to eat with, staying up late talking with and yes there was a physical aspect, but nothing like intense. But we started talking about dating, a week into my first week at college. There’s this energy in the air when you first start and sometimes you get lost in it, but give yourself time to grow and figure out who you are before you start committing to any one person</p></li>
<li><p>Make friends with people in your hallway. They’ll become a mini family of sorts. Every hall has the rando loner who never talks to anyone or interacts, DON’T BE THAT GUY.</p></li>
<li><p>Be open minded. There’s a lot USC offers in every aspect of the world, don’t limit yourself to comfort zones. There’s something cool about that school where you are in a bubble, but trust me, it’s a bubble no one ever wants to leave.</p></li>
</ol>

6

<p>That sounds like really good advice :). Number 6 made me lol haha. Number 1 has me the most nervous! But hopefully it’ll go alright :o</p>

7

<p>Being a spring admit, do you think it was hard or easy to meet people?</p>

8

<p>since off of the USC campus is known to be “ghetto” where are all the parties being held at??</p>

<p>aside from greek row.</p>

9

<p>it all depends really. if u put urself out there youll be a lot more grateful to urself later on. let me put it realistically. if you’re not already friends with a bunch of people before getting there and don’t rush a house or anything it’ll be a really luck of the draw journey.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>one scenario is a lot of people i was spring admits with got to school and the cool thing is that being spring admits u have a group of kids who ull kick it with a lot. but a lot of those people only stuck with other spring admits, especially if they didnt get good housing. and it wasnt until sophomore year that they really started to break out of their shells</p></li>
<li><p>some people are determined to assimilate as soon as possible and at first it was frustrating for them cuz everyone has made a lot of their own groups from first semester, but give it a couple weeks, stick it through and keep trying to meet people and ull find this miraculous thing where half way through ur semester, ull start really feeling like ur building a home there. by sophomore year, ull forget u were even a spring admit</p></li>
</ol>

10

<p>these are the basic definitions of the social scene:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The most obvious, greek row where all the frat parties are. girls get in cuz theyre girls, but unless ur in a house or have a friend in there, guys dont usually get in</p></li>
<li><p>dorms where people only pregame before they go out, and where people come back to crash </p></li>
<li><p>the city, a lot of people go out clubbing and there are plenty of things going on and people u can buy wristbands from to go to different venues</p></li>
<li><p>house parties which take part in the so called “ghetto”. usually a lot of non greeks and everyone else do this type of thing</p></li>
</ol>

<p>the way it works is there is the usc campus, the surrounding area, and then the actual surrounding area.</p>

<p>around usc is student housing, apartments, townhouses, that type of thing. and thats where people party. just be smart and youll be fine. and smart doesnt mean taking a class in surviving south central 101, it just means dont walk super far into the surrounding area at 3am by yourself. its not usc specific, ud do that with any city</p>

<p>but other than the “ghetto” downtown is literally right down the street, ive run to the staples center where the lakers play before. if you haven’t lived in an “urban” environment before, it might take some getting used to, but its grows on you. youll learn to love Lala land as everyone calls it ha</p>

11

<p>yea im def gonna rush. only problem is i am a transfer student and i dont drink/do drugs. not that im saying that every frat is associated with those 2 things but most are. and being that i dont drink, they probably wont want me.</p>

<p>but i do love to play me some beer pong haha
since USC football just got a 2 year ban…has USC said anything to its students about it yet?</p>

12

<p>glad i could help, and yeah there was a guy on my floor who was like that. it was ridiculous, it got to the point people started making up legends and stories about him having some secret life ha. and dont stress it man, we all got in, and we’re all meant to be there</p>

13

<p>dont worry about it man. to each their own. some people drank in high school but have laid off of it when they got to college. some people didnt drink at all and started doing it socially when they got to college. i mean its whatever ur comfortable with. and if ur a sick guy then youll be fine during rush. and yeah that ban is pretty lame man, they havent said anything yet but supposedly theyre coming out with a statement tomorrow.</p>

14

<p>post back tomorrow about it if you can :D</p>

<p>sucks that i just got accepted and i get this slapped in my face by UCLA bruins lol</p>

15

<p>fowora, where in Oregon did you go to high school? I’m an Oregonian myself</p>

16

<p>aloha high school, beaverton school district. what about yourself?</p>

17

<p>oh no way i went to Jesuit we were in the same league. small world</p>

18

<p>Hey Fowora,*</p>

<p>I have two questions if you do not mind</p>

<p>Do ethnic groups generally tend to cluster together? I know USC is a diverse community but I really want to *if it is common for people to cluster in ethic groups?</p>

<p>Also I would like to know what why/how do people consider a fraternity or sorority in the top? What makes a fraternity so appealing?Do they have more parties? Are there more attractive people? *Do they have better connections *? Thanks</p>

19

<p>ha that’s a trip. i know a couple jesuit people at school. one is actually in my same frat. ud be suprised about how many beaverton kids ull run into down there</p>

20

<p>yeah dude feel free to ask anything</p>

<ol>
<li><p>yes and no. there is definitely a lot of diversity at usc, and how much you see all really depends on who you surround yourself with. I know black people who only hang out with black people, or asians who only hang out with asians, or white people with white people, indians with indians…I mean the list goes on. Whatever you are, if you want to only hang out with those people, the option is for sure there. However it’s good to have a base like that, but the problem comes with limiting yourself to that. A lot of people towards the end of their school experience started getting sad about the fact that they didn’t meet more people, or expand their horizons more and stuff like that. College is the only place where strangers can become your best friend over a day, and have that happen consistently. I have a friend who’s half german and half indian, one who is half mexican and pakistani, a jewish friends, black friends, ones who are as white as you can get. And I wouldn’t have it any other way</p></li>
<li><p>There are a couple different things that go into making a fraternity or sorority the best, or considered a top house. I’ll try to break it down.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Sorority:

  • how good they rush: what kind of girls do they always bring in, how good they are at selling a house to their rushees. </p>

<ul>
<li><p>how good looking are the girls: as shallow as it sounds, some houses have developed
reputation as top houses cuz the majority of the girls in it are generally attractive</p></li>
<li><p>what fraternities they do stuff with: if top frat houses are always doing stuff with certain sororities then that can also increase the reputation of the house</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-activity: this refers to what kind of stuff they’re always doing. like charities, or philanthropies, events, fundraisers, stuff like that. </p>

<p>Fraternity:

  • What girls say about them: this is the number one deciding factor to be honest with u, at least i think so. If a frat has a lot of attractive girls always wanting to party at their house then that usually can shoot any frats standing way up. And just what girls say in general. A lot of “better” houses have girls who always go hang out with the guys in that house, and will always have good things to say about them. For instance, sigma chi is considered a top house, and that is in large part because a lot of girls love the guys in the house.</p>

<p>-Past reputation: This isn’t set in stone but it does play a huge role in some instances. Some houses were good for so long, that in general people always associate them with being a top house. This can be attributed from everything to having thrown the sickest parties back in the day, to alumni connections. A lot of people say that’s why SAE is good, just cuz traditionally, they always have been good.</p>

<p>-Good looking: Another shallow part but it does play a role. Sometimes a house can get a good reputation, in part due to just having a lot of good looking guys in the house. Phi Psi tends to get a rep like that sometimes cuz a lot of girls think they have a lot of hot guys</p>

<p>Parties: A house can get a good reputation based on the fact that they throw sick parties. If nothing else, frats should be able to throw sick parties. Usually the best parties are the mixes of people dancing, hanging out, and beer pong. AEPI is always associated with having good parties, and a lot of people love going there cuz it’s always pretty much a good time</p>

<p>Registered parties/philanthropies: It may not be the biggest thing, but it’s still valid. Usually a fraternity will have a big philanthropy that they do over a week and at the end of it, will throw a registered party. It’s basically a super huge party with a guest list, security guards and musical acts and stuff. TKE has always been good throwing these.</p>

<p>*In general there’s a lot that makes a house, a top house, but forget everything I’ve said and just find one where you feel comfortable with the guys or the girls in it. I’d rather be homies with everyone in an average house, then feel uncomfortable with everyone in a top house. Learn to find balance between what you want in a house, and how well you feel you click with that house. In terms of connections, you’d be surprised at how many the greek system can provide. It’s actually kind of ridiculous.</p>