My student loved Parkside A&S. In a suite with other engineering/STEM majors, other merit aid kids and all of them overachieving types,which is a lot of USC students nowadays as mentioned - those people from freshman year are the core of his friends today. He was certain about suite style over hallway/group bathroom, liked an upgraded newer building. It had lots of study coves throughout building, air conditioning was a must (in his opinion) and keeping windows shut to keep out noise and sirens was good. (Besides it being an urban area there are fire stations very close to campus too.) They keep it set at some ridiculously cold setting, but they love it that way. I have to give USC kudos for their room mate matching. If you do the survey honestly, you get great friends for life it seems. Great mix of people in the dorm, certainly not a party dorm in any regard, but a great variety of people. The building is away from other dorms and on one edge of campus, but is closest to engineering. Known for best food from what I remember (relative since it is still dorm food). Birkrant definitely has a reputation/feel beyond it being an honors dorm, so check into it by asking around and see if it is a good fit for yours. I certainly understand kids being disappointed while others are happy. Every dorm floor has organized activities and social opportunities as madbean mentioned. College is about adapting and being flexible, but it can be a rough start when housing is less than desirable that first year. Try not to set kids expectations to the “perfection setting” before they go. I don’t think there is a bad choice if the student is allowed to make it. We started with HIS most important criteria (not traditional style dorm) and narrowed it from there. Others may pick a traditional style dorm as their top feature. Figure out what the number one priority is for your student and you can’t go wrong.
My son lived with a friend in a Webb Tower apartment his first year and loved being near his classes and the gym and Café 84, which he considers the best cafeteria (although Café 84 is not open on weekends). He also loved having AC, full kitchen and large living space. Only downside (in his opinion) was that they only allow each student to have two visitors at a time. I’m sure that put a damper on his ability to host parties. I didn’t see that as an issue 
This year he is living at Tuscany (which has its own set of issues). Next year he is renting a house near campus with friends. My second son is living in WebbTower this year and also loves it. Next year he is hoping to get off-campus USC housing.
My son is a freshman this year and he lives in New/North in one of the rooms with a sink. There is no air conditioning and the intense heat lasted until November. It was bad. They have three industrial fans in their room and they were running 24/7. With the windows open, you always know what is for dinner as the smells from EVK waft upwards. He was annoyed in the fall at the students who snuck in portable air conditioners and kept blowing out the electricity. I was amazed at the size of the room and the amount of storage space. They love having the sink in their room. There are not many rooms like this and they go first-usually to the scholarship students who choose not to live in BK. My son absolutely loves his dorm, heat, smells, and all. He just told me that knowing everything he does now, if he had to do it again, he would live in the exact same place. It is social, but not obnoxiously noisy. I laugh at all the kids wandering in the room and popping on the screen saying “hi ______'s parents” when we are facetiming. I bought an area rug at Costco for the room and my son and his roommate are so happy to have it. Make sure you bring the round cable cord for TV, not HDMI cord if you are going to connect TV to their free cable. N/N is next to BK and one weekend when we were there for football game, after game we were walking back to hotel in the dark. BK lights on in every room-probably studying? In N/N no lights on in any rooms-probably out partying? Also, son used the roommate search and communicated with people and checked them out on social media and found great roommate. Last thing-sorry post so long-DREADED move-in day but it was well organized and painless!! (Except climbing up and down all the stairs)((and flying away leaving only child behind
Thanks for all that took the time to respond, it’s all very helpful information.
One more question, if one does not drink will they still fit in at New/North? My daughter wants an active and social dorm but she does not drink right now. That may change and she doesn’t mind others around her drinking. I guess what I am asking does the drinking take over or is it a nice mix?
It might be a silly question, but California minimum legal drinking age is 21. How do they party and drink during freshman year when they all are 18 years old?
^^ Lol. Fake id’s, older students, the always useful “hey mister”, the row… the same as it has always been at college.
I knew about illegal way kids get drunk. I did not realized that RA or anyone else don’t care or do something about minors getting drunk on campus.
It is not the same at every school, but there there is very little to no enforcement. This is true at many schools, then there are those that have zero tolerance on campus. This is college and is USC. As long as kids are not in danger they are not concerned. No one is hiding their alcohol bottles. It is studious if you choose it to be, but it is still a very fun party school. Id’s a very easy to come by there. It is not a covert operation, it’ll just cost you a few bucks. If you want the feel of the party side of the campus visit on Thurs, Fri or Saturday night. Weekend starts on Thursday night for many.
Would you consider it more of a controlled party environment or would you describe it as getting out of hand often on weekends?
Tough call, it is a bit subjective. I think drunk girls/guys screaming (drunk kind, not being attacked kind) outside of apartments/dorms at 2 to 3am is out of control, and I have seen that many times, but then again, it is common at many college campuses. So there is some out of controlling partying, but it is not everywhere. But there are colleges that you don’t see this kind of thing very often. If you go to the row, it is certainly crazy there most weekends, but you don’t have to go there. The best way to say it is, it is not a quieter type smaller school, this is a big socially active partying school. Doesn’t mean it interrupts your life, and there are many kids that aren’t there to party, but is is silly to think it is not all around there.
Having two that went there and third at another school, I would categorize USC as being a school with a bold social scene. There is a unique confidence to it, if that makes sense. For some it is perfect, for others it is too much. Some will take it all in, others will try to avoid it. There are so many choices and options socially. And yes, drinking at whatever age there is easy for anyone that wants via the ways @camomof3 mentioned and more. But not everyone wants to. The experience of each student is up to that student.