<p>I have read that the freshmen are placed in dorms based on when they applied to the university. Is that true for all freshmen? My dd wants to be in the honors dorms and one of her friends thought that she had to send in her deposit ASAP. But she applied very early in October.</p>
<p>I believe honors students automatically have a spot in honors dorms no matter when they apply. It’s guaranteed I heard, no matter when you apply. Plus housing applications aren’t open yet.</p>
<p>Yes, they have room for all honors freshmen in honors residence. The only exception is that if student requests roommate that isn’t honors they may not get the honors dorm. My D turned in housing app last possible day and was in, but if you know USC is the school then there’s no reason to wait (except for applications to open).</p>
<p>^I know of more than one student who requested honors, was in the honors college, and then didn’t get honors housing as a freshman.</p>
<p>One of them was a guy in my dorm (Maxcy) last year.</p>
<p>I’d say the occurrence is highly unusual, but it’s definitely possible that honors students won’t be placed in honors housing.</p>
<p>Housing is really complicated though. It is supposedly done by application to the university, but The Housing Office has so many different priority systems in place. For example, learning communities are given housing before students who want to live in a regular dorm. In addition, there’s the problem with people requesting roommates. I think people who request roommates get pulled up through the system, so if one roommate applies in August and the other applies in December, they use the first roommate’s application date. (Not completely certain about this, but this is what I’ve heard)</p>
<p>And then you’ve got the inside job. (Someone’s parents know someone in housing, give lots of money to the university, etc.)</p>
<p>Then there’s the just no clue how that happened. My friend and her roommate didn’t list Patterson anywhere on their application and got put there when Patterson is probably the number one most requested dorm on campus.</p>
<p>That being said, I’m pretty sure housing deposit date makes no difference. The Housing Office always states that it is done through application to university, not deposit date. They also don’t start assigning housing until after the deposit due date.</p>
<p>Does anyone know the percentage of Freshman students that participate in the living communities? Most, many, few? Is it hard to get in a dorm without applying to a community for example Columbia or Capstone?</p>
<p>Columbia Hall and Capstone are earmarked for Capstone Scholars. Not sure if there is additional space for other freshmen there or not. If you are truly interested in a living/learning community it can help you get in the associated dorm but you have to apply and be accepted.</p>
<p>^Out of curiosity, where did you see that Columbia Hall was for Capstone? I’ve never heard that any Capstone students live there. I know quite a few students who aren’t Capstone who live there, so if there are Capstone students living there, then I’ve learned something new. haha</p>
<p>Anyways, every dorm is considered to be a learning community. Yes, it will be difficult to get into certain dorms without being in that learning community. (For example, if you want to live in Thornwell and not be in the music community, then that’s basically not going to happen.) But it isn’t impossible.</p>
<p>Some dorms are really competitive. If you aren’t a Capstone scholar, you will likely not be in Capstone. Columbia Hall is a popular choice, so it is kind of difficult to get put there. Patterson is by far the most difficult dorm to get into. The waiting list for transferring into it during the spring semester was over 100 girls long.</p>
<p>Others aren’t so much. Bates is pretty easy to get into for obvious reasons. (It’s about a 20-30 minute walk from most of campus and it is traditional hall style.) Maxcy isn’t hard to get into.</p>
<p>And even with all of that, if you don’t apply for a learning community, you might get put into one. I lived in Maxcy my freshman year. I didn’t apply for anything special. I got placed into both the Carolina Global Community AND the Spanish House. This year, I decided to live in another building on campus and I got put into another specific learning community that has little to do with my major or life.</p>
<p>^^From Capstone scholar page…but must be out of date. The page I see now only mentions Capstone.</p>
<p>^Is it from when Maxcy was the Honors College residence?</p>
<p>I know that back when Maxcy was the HC, they offered some HC students housing in Capstone, so they might have had overflow into Cola Hall. Maxcy is a lot smaller than the current HC.</p>
<p>Also, some Capstone students now live in what used to be the French House.</p>
<p>They’ve done a lot of shifting recently, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you find out of date information.</p>
<p>I always have to take a step back when I see guys walking out of South Tower, because that was an all girls dorm last year and even had a sorority in it. Now it’s coed.</p>
<p>^Not quite that old. But you’re right, things are always changing. The new capstone scholar site doesn’t mention 2nd years in east quad where I know some of them were in past (D’s best friend there). It now mentions staying in Capstone or what used to be French House (Fellows?). I know this is current since in letter to incoming freshman class.</p>
<p>It’s a good reminder for CC users that anything really important, like financial aid, admissions questions should be answered by someone at USC since things do change.</p>
<p>I think the best advice for incoming freshmen is to rank dorms in order you want them, but don’t count on gettin any specific one (unless you know you’re in a LL community which includes honors and capstone scholars). However you are guaranteed a room.</p>