Hoping @scmom12 @coleman4 @ahsmuoh or anyone else can help with this! My D is a freshman whose room assignment just came and it is for Woodrow, not the Honors Residence. Now the Horseshoe looks pretty cool but the website says all Honors freshman are required to live in the Honors Residence. She hasn’t connected with her roommates yet so doesn’t know if they are freshmen. I’ve seen some of you mention that your sophs are staying in the Honors Residence; do you think they ran out of room there for freshmen? Or maybe somehow Housing didn’t realize that she’s a freshman? She will contact Housing via the e-mail in the housing package on Monday but I am looking for ideas/advice in the meantime. Thanks.
I have never heard of freshmen being assigned to the horseshoe. Does she have enough credit from AP’s that could be pushing her to sophomore status? I bet it’s a mistake. I would have her really try to get in the honors dorm with other freshmen.
Woodrow is not typically considered part of Honors Housing even though on back side of Horseshoe… I would also call on Monday. Now they are renovating Shoe buildings this year - Rutledge and Pinckney Legare, and that may put a squeeze on upper class housing but unless they cut the number of available freshman rooms in Honors Residence to help offset this I don’t know why that would affect freshmen.
Thanks so much for the quick replies. I will suggest she send an email tomorrow so it’s waiting for Housing on Monday morning. Then she can try calling later to follow up.
She has some AP credits but not enough to be considered a sophomore. Also deposit and housing app were in well before deadline. She requested a double and I thought she might end up in a single but did not expect this. Will hope it is a simple mistake that there is time to correct.
AP credits shouldn’t matter, in fact sometimes they don’t show up on transcript until into first semester. D had sophomore hours from AP but that didn’t affect her standing as freshman.
My D in honors was also assigned as a freshman to Woodrow. She likes the floor plan and the separate bedrooms, but she is concerned about housing away from the other honors freshmen.
@bestday Same reaction here. My D went random for a roommate; did your D do the same?
When we visited in late Feb someone at the Honors presentation said that they might have up to 500 freshmen in SCHC depending on yield. If a number of sophs are already in the dorm then maybe there just isn’t enough room? I would have thought they’d move the sophs to the apartments to make room for the freshmen, but who knows? I will post again if she gets some info tomorrow.
Hmm…D did go random.
My D is a sophomore and chose to stay in the Honors dorm. She knows a few more sophomores who chose to stay there as well, but it houses 537 residents so it’s still surprising if there’s not enough space for all the freshmen. Like the Horseshoe, Woodrow is also for Honors students - it’s for others as well but I’ve heard they give priority to Honors students. My S said Woodrow is also very nice.
I agree though, you should call and find out because Woodrow is apartment style (if I recall), and as a freshman, they might enjoy the suite-style of the Honors dorm more- easier to meet people. I think Honors college handles their own housing so if you don’t get anywhere with Housing then try the Honors college directly.
^^Didn’t realize they had expanded upperclassmen honors housing to Woodrow. I suspect then that assignments have something to do with the combination of Rutledge/pinkney-Legare renovations reducing honors housing slots and not setting aside enough rooms in HR due to unexpected size of freshman class.
For @bestday and others who have been so helpful, here’s what I’ve learned so far (my D is still in school for 2 more days so I was glad to have the excuse to call myself): They expected 470-480 students to commit to SCHC, and got 530. There are 537 beds in the Honors Residence and some of those are already occupied by sophomores plus RAs or RCs (not sure of the correct term) so some freshman (no one gave an actual number) got bumped.
I suggested that perhaps they could at least cluster together the kids who got bumped so that they get some sense of community (put them all on 2 floors of Woodrow, for example), if no other provisions are being considered to integrate them. Waiting for return calls from Housing and Honors.
Am trying for my D’s sake to look on the bright side but this is very discouraging as it sounds like 90% of the HC freshmen are where they are supposed to be and the other 10% are kind of an afterthought.
LuckyCharms - I also think it was a good thing you had excuse to call yourself. Your D had selected USCHC in part because of certain expectations that were advertised, including what was explained to be a highly selective admissions criteria and residing in the often advertised Honors Residence Hall as a freshman. According to some of USC’s stats posted on line earlier in the year, roughly 410 students were enrolled in USCHC in last year’s class. How can they claim they were caught off guard with suddenly getting 530 acceptances? With any selective admissions process, you assume there are built in controls in how many admittances are offered to generate the approximate same type yield of acceptances each year. No doubt that number can certainly spike in any given year, particularly in a year where applications go way up, but spiking almost 25% to 530 students (from 410) in one single year? No way. That just seems way too high. That high of a spike likely suggests this year’s honors class wasn’t as selective and the university made a calculated decision to expand USCHC enrollment beginning this Fall.
Other honors colleges (like UMASS) have same type situation in that they enroll far more students than can be accommodated in the Honors Residence Hall. However at least they explain to students going into the process that it is a lottery system of gaining housing in the Honors Residence Hall. By contrast, while never expressly guaranteeing it, USC indicated it was a certainty that if enrolled, this is where your D would reside.
I agree that is best to focus on positive for D sake and keep her out of any complaints. She has a lot to look forward to and who knows, maybe winding up in Woodrow will turn out to be the best experience in the world. Apartment style housing is a pretty nice perk for a freshman and location is outstanding. However, in my view you have every right to be heard on this and should call them out on what appears to be a little bit of a bait and switch.
Starting to see some red flags - really hoping this is just a bump in the road.
Best of luck to your D and all enrolled in this year’s Fall class!
As of yesterday, only 18 Honors freshmen did not fit in the Honors Residence, and they are all assigned to Woodrow. My D is OK with that as she thinks it could end up being a very cool place to live. However, as space opens up in the Honors Residence due to summer melt, individual Woodrow students will be shifted over the the Honors Residence. So while 18 is the current number of HC freshmen in Woodrow, by August, she could be one of just a handful.
Assignments were based on application date (a policy which is on the website). D applied before the HC deadline but just by a day or two. That application is quite substantial, and I remember thinking that getting it in prior to the due date was an accomplishment in itself – but I guess not, as she is one of the last 18.
Agree with @SECfan1234 that the huge increase in HC students for this fall may cause more hiccups. OK, so this type of housing shortage has never happened before; but had Honors been proactive and sent letters to the affected students last week–before housing packages went out-- explaining how the numbers worked out, a lot of angst could have been avoided.
D’s course registration went pretty smoothly but I am wary about what else might differ from expectations. Larger class sizes? Sections closing really quickly? Fewer options for research, travel grants, etc.? Well, there’s no way to know what the experience would have been like if the class size had been smaller, and no value in my broaching these concerns to her, so thank you for letting me vent here.
Well put concerning expectations vs other potential red flags you noted. Checked again and the university web page has been updated to reflect that there were 436 enrolled freshman in HC last year (Fall 2014). Earlier in the year or late last year, they still had the 2013 stats up on the same page and if I recall then, the number for Fall 2013 freshman was around 410, or reasonably similar range to the 2014 stats.
Going up to 530 overnight with perhaps same level of staff, advisors, class options, etc… Odds of “Hiccups” along the way suddenly looking pretty good.
Oh well, still trying to be optimistic as D super happy with her choice, honors, etc. and as parents, we are grateful for the generous merit aid provided.
Good luck again and like your D mentioned, that type housing and great location could be a pretty cool experience.
At first, it sounded like a lot of sophomores were returning but after hearing those numbers, it appears to be less than 10 - considering 512 freshman in the Honors Res.- leaves only 25 spots- and after RA/RM rooms are filled, it’s probably less than 10 sophomores in the dorm. I actually tried to talk my daughter into applying for one of the Horseshoe rooms- I always thought living there would be cool, but she wanted to stay where she is b/c it’s close to the Engineering and science buildings.
Good luck and hopefully they’ll all end up in the Honors dorm but if not, Woodrow is also a great location and as I said, my son said it was really nice. When they sent the dorm selection forms out last year (Jan-Feb), they listed all the options for Honors students and Woodrow was included on the list- as was the Horseshoe and the new Lincoln apartment community.
Thanks for your good wishes and positive comments, @coleman4 and @SECfan1234. D is now psyched to live in Woodrow. She chose SCHC for so many reasons beyond housing; it just took a couple of days to sort of switch gears mentally. Hoping that all the new freshmen will have a terrific experience.
For what it is worth, we just returned from New Student Orientation and my daughter is in the Honor’s College. The Dean told us during our lunch that there were only 470 kids that committed and they were in the process of trying to make room for all of the students in the Honor’s dorm. They have asked all of the sophomores that wanted to stay If they would consider moving to 650 Lincoln.
My daughter (one of the sophomores in the Honors dorm) got an email with that request- but it wasn’t for 650 Lincoln, it was for East or Green Quad, which I thought would be convenient since my son is in East Quad too but she really wants to stay in the Honors dorm. I feel bad if her spot is preventing other freshmen but they will pair freshmen with sophomores as suite mates. She had a sophomore suite mate last year and liked it- she said it was helpful getting adjusted and learning the ‘ropes’.