<p>im not sure what the specifics will be of that. maybe, maybe not? i don’t know</p>
<p>Sorry for the long posts, but I believe it gives some valuable insight into social life at USC.</p>
<p>To respond to einnob
No. </p>
<p>Partying: Theta Xi came back last year and their focus is on outdoorsy activities. They can party (anyone can party), but that’s not their focus. I would have to say the sorority closet to this ‘partying is not our priority’ idea would be Sigma Delta Tau. However, if you’re in a frat or sorority, you don’t have to party. And conversely, if you’re not in one, you can still party. Girls have it good because they can do whatever. Guys situation is a little more restricted, but it is what you make of it, because plenty non-greek parties happen.</p>
<p>Rah rah girls: Some girls are stuck up, whether they’re in sororitys or not. Even being at USC, I haven’t experienced a lot of that because I don’t hang with people like that. Against common assumption, the Song Girl I know is down-to-earth and kind. I get front row seats, so I can’t wait to yell at her during football games lol. There’s plenty of chill girls in any house, but I have a few friends that think Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Chi Omega are the most down-to-earth.</p>
<p>Connections: There’s plenty of other ways to get connections. Through your major classes, clubs specific to your major, student organizations that you have a common interest with, etc.
If you’re already looking at greek life in terms of disadvantages, then maybe it’s not for you, but I would recommend checking it out (free food and fun trips!), but make sure you have an open mind.</p>
<p>To respond to mmmaythe
To think that if you don’t join a Greek Fraternity, then you won’t be as popular, and won’t have anywhere to party, etc. is completely wrong. USC has so much to offer, over 600 clubs! </p>
<p>Notice how this thread is titled USC social life, but the conversation is dominated with talk about greek life. There’s a lot more to social life at USC than greek life - they are not equivalent, and they are not the only way to have fun. I have a few friends that joined houses as freshmen because they thought going greek was the thing to do, but they didn’t like it once they were initiated and saw what it was. Having an open mind is key, an open mind to whether greek life is right for you, and if it is, then an open mind of which house is best for you.</p>
<p>At this point you might be wondering, for lack of a better word, ‘what my deal is’. I’ve had experiences at USC I never could’ve dreamed of - you never know what’s gonna happen at a school as awesome as USC. I’m not in a greek frat but have friends in several of them. Because I had pride in attending USC, I chose to take advantage of some of the things that make USC truly unique and help make up the great university that it is, like the Trojan Knights and USC Helenes: spirit and service brotherhood and sisterhood, respectively. They can offer similar experiences to greek frats and sororitys (close friends, partying, connections) but are very different in how they handle themselves. They don’t have superficial politics, whereas many greek houses do. I chose to join the Trojan Knights because while there’s greek frats, professional ones, and service ones, there is only one that is unique to USC.</p>
<p>The point I mean to make is that, everyone’s experience will be unique, but there is something for everyone. I love what I am doing, and I know people that love to party (almost every night lol), and I know people that love to stay in their room and play WoW (and talk to other USC WoW players). USC is a place where everyone can be happy being themselves. It also helps that RAs put on events that appeal to everyone, usually for free, to do cool things and make friends/hang with people.</p>
<p>Lastly, it might help to answer the question: What IS social life at USC? What I’ve found is that it’s organization-centric. What this means is that most of your friends will be in the organizations you’re involved with. You’ll still have friends where there’s no organizational ties, like the people from your orientation group. But it’s a generality. This makes sense because with 16,500 undergrads, the people you live with on a floor changes, classes change, etc. The social constants are the organizations that you are involved with. You’ll see them at least once a week, whereas the people from your freshman floor you might only see a few times a semester. This is not to say once you’re in an org, you’re stuck; you can join as many orgs as you have time for.</p>
<p>^ thank you so much for the info! I’m SO glad greek life isn’t everything :)</p>
<p>Hey sorry to bring the conversation back to greek life, but I was wondering what “rushing” means? I’m not from the U.S. so I don’t really know that much about fraternities/sororities…</p>
<p>Here is a breakdown of Fraternity Rush:</p>
<p>You will first need to register online at usc.greekrecruitment.com and fill out your profile, basically a little resume so that houses that you visit in the fall can learn more about you.</p>
<p>Recruitment begins Sunday August 22nd with the All Row BBQ where every fraternity will be in McCarthy quad offering food to potential rushees. This is an opportunity for you to meet most of the fraternities.</p>
<p>The next day will be the House Tours. Potential rushees will hit the Row and get to check out the fraternity houses for the first time. Again its a great chance to meet the brothers and find out more about their events for the week.</p>
<p>**My strong recommendation is to check out as many houses as possible so that you get a more thorough understanding of the diversity of the chapters at USC.</p>
<p>Tuesday through Thursday: Each house will host a variety of events for rushees to attend, and in LA this means you get to do some really awesome stuff. Anything from paintballing, LA Gun Club, Angels/Dodgers game, lazer tag, go cart racing, golfing. Basically they are brotherhood events where you can see how the house interacts with each other.</p>
<p>Friday night is Blue Chip Dinner which is a more formal occasion and by invite only. Over the course of the week, houses will narrow down which guys they want and will invite them back. Blue chip is really fun because you also get to meet the other guys interested in the house and get to know them a bit better.</p>
<p>After blue chip houses will have meetings and vote on their new pledge class.</p>
<p>If you get throughout the week you are welcome to attend another houses event and the IFC also hosts a secondary rush event the week after which will be on campus and provide another opportunity to meet other houses you have not checked out.</p>
<p>A few important things to note:
- Recruitment week is totally alcohol free.
- You must register online before hand or at a fraternity house. Website is usc.greekrecruitment.com
- You are not guaranteed a spot in a house, but there are lots of opportunities to join, especially the secondary recruitment event.</p>
<p>The process is pretty much the same in the spring except there is not the all row bbq.</p>
<p>Copied from Alex Bozzo, 2010 IFC VP of Recruitment</p>
<p>“Recruitment is totally alcohol free.”</p>
<p>Is that actually true, or just the official line?</p>
<p>Official line. Most houses do keep official rush events dry but a small number will invite guys they like back to the house afterwards to play bp, but that’s a small amount. Rush events are ‘dry’ but Pi Kappa Alpha got busted because they loaded their bus to go to some fancy dinner and drove right to the grocery store to buy liquor and were caught bringing handles onto their bus lol.</p>
<p>I was wondering if you think a guy like me can fit in to USC:</p>
<p>I am an African American. When people describe me, they usually think that I am a nerd-esque type of person. I am nerdy in the way that I like watching Japanese anime and playing card games, but not nerdy in the way where I know things and act like a stupid teachers pet. I play Yugioh and Magic: The Gathering (Dont judge me)</p>
<p>People always ask me for help. I help them in a way that doesnt involve some long ass explanation but I explain it out easy and to the best of my knowledge. Right now I think I am not the best socially. I think this is because I stay in my room all day and never get involved in anything. This is going to change. When I enter junior year, I am going to join Chess Club, Video Game Club, Theater (Back stage or in the play), and student government. ( I am also thinking of starting a card game club, as I know a few people who like to play.) </p>
<p>When I go to college, I want a lot of diversity. This concept is a little misunderstood. Usually people think that there just has to be there. No. I want minorities mixing it up with other minorities and White people. I dont want self-segregation. In my high school, there is some of that, especially with the Asian and Latino communities. In terms of Academics, well I want to have a top-notch one. But I dont want it to surround my whole life. I dont want to be locked in my room doing homework all the time. I want a good mix between my academic and social life. </p>
<p>P.S. I know that each college will have a place where I can fit in. But I want to be able to hang out with a variety of people, like jocks and etc.</p>
<p>I’m also a spring admit for 2013. How was it going to USC a semester later and fitting in with other students? Were you able to get on campus housing? Did you take classes at cc during fall?
Basically, I want to hear your experience as a spring admit. Thank you so much!!</p>
<p>Hi, I hate to super harp on the Greek life but how diverse are the sororities? </p>
<p>Thanks so much for your insight!</p>
<p>Guys, I appreciate everyone’s concerns here, but this thread is two years old, and I feel like it was a completely ridiculous view of the school even then. I doubt you’ll get a response from the OP. </p>
<p>If I had anything I could add, I would, but I don’t. I’m sorry.</p>
<p>i know i’m a bit young I mean i’m still a high school student but I reaaaally like USC and i’d like to study industrial engineering there but I am scared of my social life there, first of all I will be an international student and second I’ll study engineering. Will it affect my social life there?
P.S. I plan on joining a frat there.</p>
<p>Clicking on this thread I was surprised to find I had posted more than two years ago. How this was dredged up, idk. Time sure does fly.</p>
<p>Both what OP posted and others (admittedly myself included) is not in anyway unreasonable, and a lot of it still holds true. Someone who wasn’t there saying it’s ridiculous shows a lack of critical thinking.</p>
<p>Weird as it is, I need to come back to this due to using IE9 on Win8 (not a surprise Microsoft has bugs). I’ll try to answer any specific questions posted henceforth, but creating a new thread for specific issues might get better attraction and answers, eg: for Spring admit questions.</p>
<p>Ok, I’m the one who said ridiculous. It’s not a critical thinking issue; you actually presented a mature view of USC. I just feel like some people went in a less-positive route and ignored aspects of social life not pertaining to partying. </p>
<p>I personally have not attended one party in my time at USC and I certainly don’t think I lack a social life for it.</p>
<p>My previous posts did become focused on Greek life, somewhat synonomous with partying, due to the conversation. If I accidentally implied that social life revolves around partying, then I apologize. While it does for some people, a rich social life can be achieved through other means. It really is up to each individual. Attending shows, watching movies, playing sports or video games, joining a club, are all great and USC imo is good at supporting students in finding what they want to do. Stated differently, one’s experience at USC is what they make it.</p>
<p>ROINUJO1: You can definitely fit in. It seems like you’re currently trying to expand, which is great. Even so, there are many people here that love anime, MTG, etc. As far as race/ethnicity, as long as you don’t self-segregate yourself, such as by only doing a black frat, you should have no problem having a diverse social life, in everything from race, background, age, country, etc. Seek out diversity and it should be easy to find - it has been for me 
While this is true at USC, it’s true of a lot of large universities as far as I know.</p>
<p>MusicDogLove: I’m not a Spring admit, but the ones that I know have integrated well just by seeking out what they want. </p>
<p>XXMCJXX95: They are quite diverse in terms of personalities and what they do… if you seek it out. </p>
<p>VAUCLLONVET: Honestly, I think you’ll do fine. There’s great support for international students, joining a frat is one good way to have a social life, and engineers can have fun too if they have good time management. I’ve talked to a friend who goes to Harvey Mudd and I’ve definitely been having more fun at USC.</p>
<p>-Nevermind, my question was answered-</p>
<p>Thanks, I also want to know something else. I am ver shy and have a hard time meeting new people. Can usc help me with this. When I go off to college I want to have an amazing experience and meet alot of people, whether through classes, partites, hook ups, etc. Ha Ha!</p>
<p>Hopefully this thread dies soon. CC should learn how to lock it up. Anyway, I was more shy when I began USC than I am now, but it’s not because I started attending USC and was magically transformed. It definitely helped to meet new people, which was made easier by finding people with similar interests. Join an anime club and you can talk about that with all the members, both guys and girls. A lot of it is just not being afraid to speak, and then it is what you make of it. High school is a great place to start, because looking back on it, I rarely see or talk to anyone from their, so why did I ever care about what they thought of me? Talk to everyone and grow those social skills.</p>
what are the best student housing options for transfers ? I want to join a sorority and would prefer to be near or at the center of gatherings. also, do i need a letter of rec from an alum to join a sorority?