<p>Any current Trojans have feelings about pros & cons of suites? My son will be a freshman & it was suggested a suite might be good because you get a room to call your own & private bathrooms. Would love more insights.</p>
<p>I'm in Parkside Suites now. I find it well. The private bathroom is ok, but you have 2 bathrooms per suite to share with 4-7 other people (all of the same gender). As for social life, I'll admit that it's not the most socially-active place but there is still some social activity. The one thing I hate about Parkside is that we can only have the gold meal plan and NOT Trojan. And 10 meals/wk in Parkside restaurant definitely gets tiring after a while.</p>
<p>Could you elaborate a bit more about meal plans as well. I have read that the food at Parkside is the best anyway. I've also read that the Trojan meal plan is the best but the most expensive (because everything is ala carte?)</p>
<p>Thanks--appreciate your comments & insights.</p>
<p>This is what I know about the meal plans (note the prices will increase next year):</p>
<p>Gold/Cardinal Meal Plans ($2175/semester): 10 meals/wk at Parkside or EVK for breakfast and lunch, but dinner at only Parkside (Gold) or EVK (Cardinal). You also get $510 dining dollars to use at any TrojanHospitality facility.</p>
<p>Trojan Meal Plan ($2700/semester): Provides $2700 dining dollars to use at any TrojanHospitality facility. I've never heard of anyone on this plan NOT running out of their dollars by the end of the semester, but sadly you forfeit what you don't use by the end.</p>
<p>Don't know anything about the apartment plans, but you can check here along with all the meal plan info: <a href="http://hospitality.usc.edu/residential/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://hospitality.usc.edu/residential/index.html</a></p>
<p>As for Parkside food, many people love it and it certainly is better than EVK (except breakfast). But they don't have much of a variety and they rarely change the offerings, so having eaten there for almost two semesters now, my friends and I have all gotten tired of the food and are ready to move on.</p>