My daughter was admitted and will be attending the scholarship weekend at USC. She wants to put down a deposit on a dorm now so she can get one of her first choices. She may not want to stay in the scholarship dorm. Which dorms are best for out of state students who will not know anyone? She is looking for an active, fun dorm where there may be structured activities to help students meet each other and bond. Maybe one where doors would be open more often than closed.
My sister stayed in Birnkrant (the scholarship dorm) and really enjoyed it, and is still great friends with the people she met there
@mattyboy88 Thx, do you know if the majority of scholarship recipients choose that dorm?
@txmom16 My sister did not apply by December 1, so she got her scholarship from NMF. She met a person in the Facebook group that got her scholarship in February, and had already gotten a room in Birnkrant and was looking for a room mate. To my understanding, unless something like that situation happens, Birnkrant is full by the April decisions.
To answer your question, Birnkrant only has room for about 550 students, and all of these spots are freshman scholars. Since almost all of these spots are filled by April, this means that just under half of the February scholarship students (assuming they all commit to USC) choose to stay in Birnkrant
You can change your choices as many times as you want to, what matters is the time you pay the $45 application fee.
There are just as many kids on scholarships that do not choose Birkrant as do choose it. I know a couple people have been vocal about it being good, but on the other side, I have gotten feedback from some that disliked it - they didn’t feel it was social, they described it as awkward lacking social diversity, it was older and with no air conditioning - it just wasn’t a great experience. Point is, it is a personal choice and everyone has different standards. If you follow awhile, you will see the students that post on the USC forum are all very similar and seem to be from the same mold, so one can expect a consensus on a lot of questions that may not be representative of the overall population.
I also don’t think you should assume all the spots in Birnkrant will go by April decisions. Plenty of T/P kids want a different experience with a mix of all kinds of students or they are looking for a specific emphasis that other housing options have. D signed up for it at the very end of April, way after all decisions had been released. The majority of people are not on CC and don’t realize the first come first served aspect. But if you want it, be safe and start the housing app now.
BTW, my D was one of those who didn’t love her Birnkrant year and hated how hot it was and how far it was from the better food (all her very biased opinion).
My D would agree that Birnkrant is farther from the better food options and gets hot at times, but she also would not live anywhere else. She found it to be very social, making many friends on her floor and on others. Doors are generally left open and floor mates wander between rooms. There are organized trips early in freshman year, which helped break the ice. She goes on many outings around town with her “BK” friends. But since most everyone is a very serious student, it does not have a distracting party scene.
Is there a way we can visit the dorms during Explore USC? I looked at the agenda, and I don’t see anything scheduled for students to check out the housing choices.
I would check into Birkrant from a social perspective for your student. There is a reason some are very happy there and some aren’t. Whether you are happy living with people goes well beyond an honors perspective. There are plenty of dorms that are not party dorms in the least that have a much broader social view and may simply be a better fit for your student. There are plenty of top scholarship kids that live elsewhere cause they figure out the pattern at Birkrant and realize it is not the right world for them. Check out your peers at Explore USC and see which people you want as your friends and connections for the next 4 years and beyond. You will see who is choosing Birkrant then. Where you start is important.
Not knocking Birkrant for some, but parents get hung up on it being an honors dorm thinking that has status, when it definitely has a type of student body that may not be the right fit for their student at all.
^ second this for sure! D was in the first group of honors dorm students, so when she visited the spring before during Explore, Birnkrant was for everyone at USC and the people she met there were really great and diverse. Not at all her experience when she ended up there in the fall. Now that this has been going on several years, you will get a better idea of the experience when you visit and can make a more informed decision.
Birnkrant residents also get to move in several days earlier than other freshmen giving them a jump on acclimating to college.
I think the 4 years they have is long enough to acclimate 
and having the option to bond with a larger available student body, when everyone moves in, is appealing.The first few days are not a race, but a time to be exposed to all kinds of new things and people. While they may bond with the students there early which can be good, they can also get stuck in or be limited to a social group too quickly, and miss opportunities when everyone else moves in. Not always a good thing to be first.
I’m sure other dorms have their perks too, but I have yet to meet a BK kid who regretted living there. Yes, you can meet great people + balance academics and social life at any dorm. Everyone walks out of BK with super close bonds to other BK kids, though, which doesn’t seem as prevalent in the other dorms (not a bad thing of course, just what it is). Def recommend it.
- can't beat having a 24/7 Starbucks on your 1st floor ;)
Plus people do make plenty of friends from outside of BK as well, through classes/Greek life/a gazillion clubs. Lots of involvement going on.
“Everyone walks out of BK with super close bonds to other BK kids, though, which doesn’t seem as prevalent in the other dorms (not a bad thing of course, just what it is).”
Not sure how you can make such a broad statement @Lilliana330. I understand that this may be your experience but it may not be everyone’s.
I can only relate that my D is having a great experience in BK. I do not know much about the other freshman dorms. Does anyone have anything to say about their own experience or their child’s in one of the other dorms?
My first decided on Fluor because the suite style was appealing and A/C was a priority. It was fairly nice, close to good dining and the gym but far from everything else. I think it is a little harder to meet people because of the way it is situated.
Second could have lived in BK but decided on New/North instead. Frankly I was a little worried because of its reputation as the “party dorm” but it has actually worked out fine. There has been no problem with studying/homework because of noise or parties. USC is so difficult to get into these days that pretty much every kid there is a serious student. But there are obviously those who like to study and party! The traditional dorms seem to be more social. A plus for New/North…huge closets and lots of storage space. But the trade off is no A/C and icky food at the closest dining hall.
My kids are very different and each picked the dorm that they thought was best for them and it worked out great. All of them have pros and cons so you just have to decide what is most important to you.
Congrats to the recent admits!
@txmom16 I apologize for the hyperbole. It was the case for everyone on my floor though and, from what I saw, a lot of people in other floors. A majority/plurality of people wouldn’t be an exaggeration, I guess. The comment about other dorms was based on experiences from friends who lived there. Each dorm is great in their own way, though.
There are not a lot of people posting from the variety of choices so I thought I’d share a few stories of friends of my own kids. One young man wanted a single–but in a suite. They have a very few such rooms (more expensive, of course) in Parkside International–3 bedrooms with 2 beds + 1 bedroom with one bed that share two bathrooms and a common area. He wanted the privacy and also the chance to make a group of friends from his suite, plus the more private style bathrooms (they are cleaned once a week) and A/C, and the allegedly better food service. He was quite happy. If you have such a student, these rooms go super fast so get your request in. Another friend of one of my kids was also a merit kid and wanted to stay in Arts & Humanities–air conditioned and quite new and clean. It was a bit out-of-the-center of things for her, but she liked the feeling that she could go home and settle down or go visit friends at New/North or BK when she wanted to be more social. She ended up making best friends with two kids living at B/K and in the end, spent a fair amount of time there. But you can’t know these things in advance. Basically, where you live may be a little more or less convenient to your class locations, or more or less hot (A/C) for 5 weeks out of the year, or more or less quiet (some have said that weekends in the fall at New/North can smell…unpleasant… at times, after too much partying?) but also for the sort of kid who wants to rush or (for example) wants to live on the Cinema floor, could be place to find just the right sort of friends. In any case, freshmen are invited to several events in the fall by their RAs to encourage new friendships in each dorm. Those who already arrive with friends may not attend, but those who are really looking to mingle and find their new best friends get involved–these can be trips around L.A. or special dinners or just pizza parties.