<p>What exactly is the “customer service center” at Parkside Arts & Humanities?</p>
<p>In the alumni newsletter it was announced California Pizza Kitchen will have a facility in the new Tutor Student Center.</p>
<p>CPK was founded by two SC alumni.</p>
<p>It is Fluor Tower…</p>
<p>Birnkrant is a great dorm but the culture is rather strange. It is a ATPS dorm (scholarship recipients) when it comes down to it. Most of the people that get it do so because they were able to register early. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it is something to take into account. While a lot of girls pledge, very few guys do. I would definitely consider it to be becoming as quiet as Parkside. Certainly the floors with singles are known for being quite anti-social. People generally stick with members of their own floor and might interact with others in the same elevator group as them, but minimally (one elevator accesses the even floors, another accesses the odd floors). There are great people in the building though.</p>
<p>Pardee and Marks I find to be a lot more easy going and “college” than Birknrant. It may be a better place for someone who is looking for a toned down New/North experience. At times it can be an awesome place to be at. I can’t say a lot for what it is like to live there but the social life there is more active (and I don’t just mean partying, I mean socializing in general) than most other dorms (Birnkrant included). </p>
<p>New/North has the advantage that there is a greater interaction among all the people in the building because they are not divided into so many floors. It is a lot like its reputation suggests though, if you remotely think New/North is for you I recommend it. You may regret choosing something else.</p>
<p>On the meal plan: though not the most popular option, the unlimited meals option was perfect for my son. (don’t know what it’s called now, but it’s no dining dollars and as many meals as you want in either of the traditional cafeterias). He reportedly ate about 5 meals per day, going in for a quick yogurt or fruit between classes, and a few bowls of cereal right before closing. (I promise, he’s a skinny guy!) He liked not having to count meals, and we let him buy stuff outside the cafeterias with his Trojan card if he needed to.</p>
<p>He had a great freshman year at Parkside A&H, and had a very active social life. Parkside’s food was excellent. He looked at frats but ended up not pledging (he figured he couldn’t stand the noise, chaos and mess, even though the frat lifestyle was very appealling in some ways). Walking around campus kept him fit; I used to worry about him not doing sports any more, but he assured me he was getting plenty of exercise because of where he lived.</p>
<p>jazz/shreddermom: the CSC is where students get their mail, get spare keys, vacuum cleaners, and other random stuff like that. Each dorm building tends to have one, although Birnkrant and New/North share a CSC located in the New/North lobby.</p>
<p>qzar: while I totally agree that BK is pretty much the ATPS dorm, I definitely wouldn’t consider it to be as quiet as Parkside. True, the floors are super tight and tend to stick together, but I know pretty much everyone on the odd floors and lots of people do mix and hang around other floors. Birnkrant doesn’t have lots of dorm parties because our RAs get pretty annoying about it and most people find somewhere else to party. </p>
<p>Also, I’d say the complete opposite about Greeks is true - more guys rush in BK than girls. A LOT more. There are like 10-15 girls in the entire building who are Greek and I can name them all. And the only blatantly quiet, “anti-social” floor is the 8th floor which houses sophomores and juniors. And I’ve heard so many more people say Marks/Pardee is just Birnkrant, but less cooler. I think it just helps that Birnkrant has co-ed floors.</p>
<p>i’m so confused on my housing application- i looked for new/north and all these different residence halls have new or north in parentheses next to them. are there new/north residence halls that are better than the other, or are they pretty much the same?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the ones with (New) and (North) next to them are the real names of New and North.</p>
<p>So, the many restaurants on campus take either “dining dollars” from the student’s meal plan OR Trojan card dollars? And do the dining halls (Parkside/EVK) take dining dollars as well, if for example the student is on the Cardinal plan and has used all their ten meals for that week? Or are the dining dollars just for the cafes and restaurants?</p>
<p>Sorry, it’s just a bit confusing.</p>
<p>My S was also very happy as a freshman in 06 @ Pardee, Great Outdoors Floor. He moved out after freshman year & lived in Troy East (controlled by USC Housing). The past two years, he has lived in other apartments, not controlled by USC Housing, which is just across campus & very reasonable and safe. It is patrolled regularly by Campus Security & he’s never mentioned any safety concerns.</p>
<p>D moved off campus after her 1st semester at USC & is living in Cardinal Gardens. Next year, she’ll be living in an apartment that is being completed, Gateway, right next to campus. Don’t expect any security or safety issues.</p>
<p>There are lots of pretty safe places to live on and near campus–many options at varying prices. Some kids move to frat and/or sorority houses as well.</p>
<p>“So, the many restaurants on campus take either “dining dollars” from the student’s meal plan OR Trojan card dollars?”
Yes . Students swipe their USCard [ "Trojan card], which also is their student ID card/ meal plan card/ debit card, to pay for on all campus purchases. The dining dollars which are included in some meal plans are used to buy food at other on campus restaurants. </p>
<p>Additional funds [ other wise know as discretionary dollars] can be added to a students USCard account by parents or by the students themselves . That money can then be used to pay for bookstore purchases, tickets to events and games, taxi rides, gas at the nearby gas station and food at all on campus restaurants, with the exception of meals at the 2 residential dining halls- EVK and Parkside. Only students who have purchased meal plans can eat at EVK or Parkside.</p>
<p>We add funds every couple of months to our son’s USCard acct to pay for his on campus food purchases. He hasn’t had a meal plan since his freshman year, when he moved off campus.</p>
<p>Thanks, menloparkmom - so just to make sure I totally understand: once a student has used the EVK/Parkside meals on his her/her plan, there is no way to eat in those dining halls again until the next semester?</p>
<p>It seems like discretionary dollars is a better way to go (vs. dining dollars) for any extra restaurant meals, because they roll over. As long as your student has enough meals on their plan for the times they need/choose to eat in the dining hall.</p>
<p>“there is no way to eat in those dining halls again until the next semester?”
No. you can add more money to the meal plan. It just wont’ roll over to the next semester.
“It seems like discretionary dollars is a better way to go (vs. dining dollars) for any extra restaurant meals, because they roll over”
Yes, also because your child will grow very tired, very quickly of the food at the 2 dining halls, especially when he sees all the variety of offerings elsewhere.</p>
<p>So adding dining hall meal plan money is different than adding discretionary dollars? Sorry if I’m being dense!</p>
<p>The Cardinal Meal Plan is listed as unlimited meals this year - so kids can go in as many times as they want?</p>
<p>The only listing I see shows the Cardinal as 10 meals per week in the dining halls. The Trojan is unlimited. Where are you looking, threetresurs?</p>
<p>ETA: Never mind - found it in the hard copy booklet. You are correct. I guess they changed the Cardinal plan!</p>
<p>I think they did - making the visits unlimited will work out much better for snacking etc!</p>
<p>"So adding dining hall meal plan money is different than adding discretionary dollars? "
yes completely different. think of discresh $$ as a separate checking acct at USC and his USCard is the debit card that he uses to take $ from that acct.</p>
<p>discresh dollars can be added by credit card, bank card, or by charging them to the students USC account - the bursar’s account for all tuition, USC housing charges and meal plans [We use the 3rd option, because he has no USC tuition or housing costs, and we only have to “pay” off the account every 3 months or so.]</p>
<p>Another thing to consider–how many meals will your student be eating in the dining halls? </p>
<p>When my son was a freshman last year we got the least expensive meal plan (think that gave him 10 meals/week plus $$ (dining dollars?). It was more than enough. The 10 meals a week roll over, so by the end of the semester almost all kids have leftover meals that then disappear. In fact, so do the dining dollars, so kids will often use them up at the end of the semester by buying cases of water bottles, etc. Better than letting them just disappear. </p>
<p>Most kids get a little tired of the same old, same old at the dining halls, even though USC’s food is pretty good. Always pizza, fresh cooked pasta, Mexican food bar, salad bar, etc etc. Still, it can get tiresome meal after meal. That’s why dining dollars (used at the fast food places on campus) seem to work well. Since all frosh must have a dining plan, I would suggest starting with the least expensive. You can always upgrade to a more expensive plan once your son or daughter is there and finds out how he/she likes to eat.</p>
<p>madbean, unfortunately the former Cardinal plan with 10-meals in the dining hall plan plus dining dollars is no more. The new Cardinal (the cheapest plan and default minimum required for several dorms) is now unlimited dining hall meals, zero dining dollars. Then the next one, the Gold, is unlimited dining hall meals plus $500 dining dollars (and it’s $200 more than the Cardinal, so I guess if your child is going to eat in the other restaurants for more than $200 worth, it’s worth it). </p>
<p>I forget what follows that one.</p>