<p>I noticed that on the checklist of things to bring, it says a sleeping bag and pillow. Previous attendants, do we absolutely need to bring both?</p>
<p>yes, unless you are going to pay for a hotel room for yourself or don’t mind sleeping in your own clothes on a [potentially] dirty rug in some students dorm room…</p>
<p>Georgia Girl was kind enough to PM me with some info and a few tricks to save space (sweater in a pillowcase = pillow!), but I found a friend with a sleeping bag I could borrow.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help :)</p>
<p>Just wondering… how would you pack a sleeping bag for a plane flight?</p>
<p>soadquake981:</p>
<p>I am wondering the same thing. Here we are- son and I are both coming- I’ll be in a room with two double beds that first night (since we are staying for an extra night), he will be on the floor in a dorm. In order to take his sleeping bag and suit, etc. he will need to have a checked bag- $25 each way on United Airlines. Bottom line: for $50 extra, he gets to sleep on the floor when a nice bed is available. Makes a lot of sense…</p>
<p>Sorry this doesn’t really help you- but my thought is that we’ll put the sleeping bag in a checked bag with other stuff. It won’t fit with the unchecked items.</p>
<p>for less than 50 bucks you can buy a sleeping bag at walmart on the way and give it away when you leave.</p>
<p>March 1st Explore-my mom and I are coming from NC, would love suggestions on where parents are staying? I think we are arriving late Sunday night, so we are staying at the LAX airport hilton that night, and at the airport the last night-Tuesday- before we fly out Wed. morning. Any ideas for my mom that middle Monday night? Thanks for suggestions!</p>
<p>MikeW-</p>
<p>Great minds think alike. We have already thought about that. The problem is, we will be arriving late in the morning of the first of the two days of Explore. Is it really worth it to miss time off campus in search of a sleeping bag at Wal-Mart? And then there’s the pillow issue… hmmm. Don’t know about the sweater in a pillowcase idea.</p>
<p>2010emily - there are some great ideas for hotels in this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/858961-hotels-explore-usc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/858961-hotels-explore-usc.html</a> Have fun!!!</p>
<p>I am a student host for the ExploreUSC program and I would say that staying in the dorms is an integral part of this experience. The purpose of the program is to give the student a college perspective which won’t happen if they go back to a hotel to spend the night.</p>
<p>My dorm room is clean and I’m going to be supplying an air mattress for the students I’m hosting.</p>
<p>I’m hosting for Explore. I live in the dorms. If my hostees don’t have sleeping bags I really don’t know what I’ll do–I live in a suite and we don’t have any extra beds. I’ll probably end up giving up my bed and sleeping at my fraternity house. That would not be ideal.</p>
<p>So, basically, please bring a sleeping bag if you can, otherwise sleeping arrangements will be difficult.</p>
<p>yea students will not really be able to help with sleeping arrangements other than offering their floor so count on bringing your own sleeping bag</p>
<p>Yes as CI180 said- please bring a sleeping bag if you can. I’m hosting too; I can provide some blankets, but I’m sure a sleeping bag would be more comfortable.</p>
<p>It is wonderful that USC puts this program together–and great that the students get to stay in the dorms, meet current students etc. My daughter is thrilled to attend. But am I the only person that thinks that sleeping on a floor in a dorm room and then getting up the next morning to interview for a very important scholarship might be a bit of a tall order? My D loves her sleep but not the floor :-)</p>
<p>^ Shouldn’t be a problem really! And if it is, there’s nothing you can do about it but adjust. Plus, the mattresses that USC puts in the dorm rooms are pretty much like sleeping on the floor anyway, so it shouldn’t make a difference. And regardless, quite a few of my scholarship friends went to the interview still drunk/hungover and still received their trustee/presidential scholarship. :)</p>
<p>From all of your comments, the overnight sounds like more of a joke than anything else. </p>
<p>Between sleeping on the floor, and ‘most of my scholarship friends went to the interview drunk’??? Yeah, that’s not my idea of paying to fly out and competing for an interview. </p>
<p>Too bad the overnight nonsense isn’t optional.</p>
<p>Mttwinmom - It does seem impossible that they can sleep(?) on the floor in the dorm after running around campus 1/2 the night and then rise early for an essential interview… But somehow they manage. When my daughter did it, I remember being in a campus safety session (USC keeps attending parents VERY busy) with other parents the morning of the interviews. We were all sure our kid had slept in after a wild night and missed their interview, or stumbled in wearing the same rumpled clothes from the night before. Soon the kids started sweeping in - they looked amazing! It was as if they had grown up while we weren’t looking. They were all professionally dressed, perfectly groomed, bright eyed, and confident about how their interview had gone. I still can’t believe it. </p>
<p>Don’t worry.</p>
<p>Just a parent here who wants to add–not all kids are up partying all night. At all. My S and 2 other boys interviewing for Trustee spent the evening with their host student meeting/hanging with USC students in their major, playing video games, walking around campus and meeting even more kids. They didn’t stay out too late. No drinking. That’s not my S’s deal. </p>
<p>Frankly, for the past 3 years we have not read one post by an interviewee that talked about heavy partying–so it is either being over-stated here, or it went way below the radar on cc.</p>
<p>We’ve seen a pattern at many U’s that scholarship candidates are not in need of luxury accommodations. It was the same (sleeping bag/floor) at WashU. They expect the kids to be hardy and resilient and do just fine after staying with strangers and getting minimal sleep. I don’t think I could do it, but somehow the kids do manage surprisingly well.</p>
<p>This is a post in agreement with madbean. I have been on this board a long time and not once has there been one comment about excessive partying at Explore. Also, I have a female relative who is a freshmen at SC this year so I have checked out the Facebook threads. Students are quite candid on Facebook…as we know. There were many comments about Explore, events, interviews and impressions. NOT ONE student made any remarks about partying before the important interviews. </p>
<p>I hope more freshmen or sophomore parents add their comments to this thread.</p>
<p>I also have never heard of “drunken parties” at Explore Weekends. That is a fallacy. The students who attend Explore weekends KNOW that thousands of dollars are at stake depending on the outcome of their interviews. I highly doubt those who came can affords to blow off that kind of money, or are willing take the chance of getting drunk and screwing up their possibility of winning a big scholarship.</p>