<p>What about Parkside? Good, bad, social, quiet?</p>
<p>Parkside is pretty social - depending on your suite/suitemates there are is actually some partying at Parkside. However, it is also quiet when you need it - with nice common rooms, etc... Best cafeteria on campus, and close to the E-Quad (for Engineers), but far from everything else. With a bike, the distance doesnt matter (except to the row... drinking and biking is a BAD idea - and a DUI!)... keep asking really specific questions if there are things you want to know!</p>
<p>Regarding steak, if you choose to live in New/North next year, you get to take part in a Master's Dinner every Wednesday or Thursday evening (included in your meal plan). Once a month, it's upgraded food, meaning you'll be dining on steak, prime rib, or filet mignon specially prepared by one of the chefs.</p>
<p>And there's cheesecake, ice cream, warm cookies, and other delectables at 6:34 PM the day of the Master's Dinner.</p>
<p>Master's Dinner is also a good time to socialize with your hallmates, RA's, and Faculty Master's.</p>
<p>(hopefully I didn't give too much away)</p>
<p>any1 know if the vegetarian choices are good?</p>
<p>okay guys, its time for me to answer a question that none of you have really asked, but it seems as though everyone is alluding to ... PARTYING, and by that i mean drinking, dancing, and for some, drugs ...</p>
<p>Our President has decided that he really wants to get rid of the partying image at USC and has done a very good job of uprooting and quieting a lot of parties, if you are coming to USC hoping for crazy ragers and things like that, you will be disappointed, my freshman semester was pretty wild, but after that it has calmed down considerably ... all large parties on the Row have to be registered with the university which requires them to have security and fencing, they also have a strict guest list, this means DUDES that there is no way you will be getting into a fraternity party (which are the only pretty big parties) unless you know a guy in the house VERY well (each guy in the house is only allowed to put about 2 guys on the guest list) or if you are in that fraternity, to you girls, you will get into any party that you choose</p>
<p>the bottom line is that while there are large parties at USC, they are pretty controlled and monitored by USC, they never get out of hand, but they are also a TON of fun, as a guy, just be aware that you wont be able to just walk up and down the Row and get into every house and party</p>
<p>"And there's cheesecake, ice cream, warm cookies, and other delectables at 6:34 PM the day of the Master's Dinner."</p>
<p>6:34, you've got it on the dot! It sounds awesome, hopefully I'll get North!</p>
<p>Parkside is not social. It has a lot of internationals which is fun because they are very interesting and so diverse. Also, parkside's majority population is asian. I really wouldn't recommend it unless you want to be in a quiet environment 24/7 and you love videogames.</p>
<p>i don't mean this rudely... but only "pretty" girls will get in? at least that's what my friend at usc said</p>
<p>wait...</p>
<p>"only "pretty" girls will get in"</p>
<p>to what? the school or North?</p>
<p>How would USC know if a girl is pretty? I'm a guy, but I don;t remember submitting a picture w/ my application...</p>
<p>^ hahaha So all the girls who get in are pretty? :) <em>dance</em> YES! I'm pretty! lol</p>
<p>Mm in all seriousness...from what I saw during my Explore USC thing, the girls at USC are, in general, quite pretty. But obviously there are some that are just "normal," some that are less than average, and some that are above average.</p>
<p>I highly doubt that they just look at the pic on HS transcripts and just toss out the not-so-pretty ones :p I think the fact that the school is in LA (fashion and looks conscious) and that some girls are from wealthy families contributes to the "pretty" reputation though.</p>
<p>The girls are definately pretty at USC...</p>
<p>Since USC is a private school, I think it attracts a wealthy crowd, and wealthy people tend to take care of themselves. Not to say that the not so fortunate don't do so either.</p>
<p>haha i meant in terms of getting into frat parties... someone said guys might have trouble but girls will get in. i was asking if he/she just meant pretty girls will get in</p>
<p>I'd be willing to bet that it depends on what frat party you want to go to. </p>
<p>I know that boys have to be on the "frat list" or be close friends with one of the brothers, but girls can just get in... I'm sure some of the frats can be shallow though, I wouldn't be surprised if the more "seclusive/selective" ones would do something like that.</p>
<p>By the way, all of the different halls have something similar to the "Masters Dinner", just on different nights. We call it Dean's Dinner, and it is on Monday nights. Gotta love cloth napkins and cheesecake!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Parkside is not social
[/quote]
No offense to sirwatson, but this is the most mistaken perception of Parkside. Oh sure, it isn't the most social residential hall thanks to our suites layout, but it definitely is NOT a 24/7 quiet environment. And while the majority of Parkside residents are non-white, about half are domestic U.S. students. But I will admit that there isn't much of a sense of community here.</p>
<p>The only big problem I have with Parkside is the meal plan, as we are required to take the Gold, and only Gold, meal plan which gives 10 meals/wk + 510 dining dollars.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Last year at the end of the semester, it became the most popular item at Upstairs when everyone who had Trojan plan (and invariably, plenty of dining dollars to rid themslves of) took out large groups of friends out for Kobe steak.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Which is why I said above to get the cheapest plan available first semster. Discretionary dollars can be put on the USC card to give you flexibility. Of course I'm speaking as a parent. You students may have a different view of the matter.</p>
<p>-caligirl- i am in one of those "seclusive/selective" fraternities and believe me, we let in all girls, as does every other house, regardless of how "pretty" they are, a fraternity would get a terrible reputation if they did not let all girls in, it just tends to happen naturally the almost all of the girls who decide to get dressed up to go to the parties happen to be very attractive ... also, while we might like to think so, not all of the young bucks at USC parties look like Jude Law or George Clooney so ... what goes around comes around haha .... there are some invitation only events where every guy in the house is only allowed to ask one girl, or every sorority girl can only take one guy, but those are more like prom</p>
<p>I went with the cheapest plan available first semester, you get sick of the food really fast. Most students think there should be more than the two options that we have because you either have too much money on Trojan or too little (options wise) on the cheaper meal plan, which is either Cardinal or Gold, depending upon where you live. When I had the Cardinal plan I ended up spending quite a bit of money in order to eat on and off campus because I was sick of the cafeteria food; I'm sick of the food this semester too, but I've got more options to be sick of. There really isn't a lot of choice in meal plans, but Trojan is the lesser of two evils.</p>
<p>usctrojan08-</p>
<p>Since I'm a girl, do you think it's worth it to join a sorority if I'm going to get into the frat parties anyway? If there's a lot you can experience in a sorority that you can't normally, then I'd be more likely to join. But if I'm free to get into all the parties anyway... is there much need?</p>
<p>excellent i get an invitation to talk about one of my favorite things in the world ... sororities and sorority girls ... haha</p>
<p>before you decide whether you want to be in a sorority, then you have to decide what you want out of social and other things outside of school, if all you want is to get plastered every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (yes the weekends begin on Thursday nights and even on Wednesday nights like last night) then you dont need to be in a sorority</p>
<p>most girls join a sorority because it gives them a tight group of friends, a beautiful sorority house (they all make Martha Stuart look like a slob), the atmosphere, and the opportunities, in a sorority there are tons of leadership positions and philanthropy opportunities for girls to get involved in, also sororities at USC are extremely focused on GPA, i believe the average GPA of USC students is like 3.1 and for sororities it is about 3.3, for a group of about 150-180 girls that is an excellent increase ... the main reason that girls join sororities is because then Prom basically comes around 4 times a year at least, every sororiry has at least 2 events a semester where a girl takes a date and everyone gets dressed to the nines and everyone goes to some fancy club or hotel and parties the night away ... this is also assuming that you dont get invited to other fraternities events as well </p>
<p>basically, i am a fan of the greek system, not only because they know how to have fun, but because it really puts your life into good separate parts and gives you great opportunities for leadership and community service</p>