<p>depends on where you’re from, ghetto is a relative word. the surrounding area around usc is definitely not nice, its low income and urban. Being raised in beautiful south orange county, when I first saw USC I totally thought this place was straight up ghetto. All the buildings are ugly and old, as are the houses, roads are all old, just so ugly and cracked, graffiti everywhere, hobos chillin under the bridge, and there are tons of mexicans and black people (sorry I know it’s racist, but it’s just the demographics.) This is common for just all of LA though, quite a **** hole in my opinion, cept for a few select neighborhoods. If you grew up in LA and are used to it you would know that, the city could be so much worse. LA in general is a pretty nasty city, Kobe Bryant doesn’t even live there because it’s a bad place to raise his kids. So yea I think USC is totally ghetto, it’s the kind of place where many stores have bars around the windows and homeless people live under the freeway bridge. This is pretty common for LA though, being a huge urban area. Some places in mexico are better than the area around usc. Tijuana and USC are actually pretty similar looking. When I went to mexico for the first time I thought “hey what’s so bad about this there are some places in los angeles that are totally worse than this.”</p>
<p>Sorry I’m ranting the gist is that the area around USC is not pleasant, it’s not outright gangster territory either, but I would definitely not want to live there. There are too many poor people and the buildings, roads, and sidewalks are all old and ugly. If you want a nice surrounding in SoCal try UCI or UCSD</p>
<p>The best thing to do is to go there and visit. See for yourself. Also it is important to note that inglewood, crenshaw, and compton, cities notorious for gangs and violence are all within just a couple miles of USC, so there is definitely some residual rachet-ness influencing the neighborhood around usc.</p>
<p>I really wish I can visit USC in the next couple of months. I live in North Cal and it’s going to cost a lot of money to go there for a campus tour. I applied to USC this past November and it’s one of my top choices! I hope I get accepted, and I’ve heard a lot of stories of USC’s beautiful campus, but not so good descriptions of the area surrounding the campus. I just want to see for myself. :)</p>
<p>Considering how selective admissions are I’d recommend saving your $$ until after you get all your acceptances before deciding which schools to visit. Both my kids have attended USC and felt safe there. Good luck!</p>
<p>If you are that curious about how “ghetto” the area is, go on google maps. Search up University of Southern California and look at some of the street views in the area.</p>
<p>I have lived in low income neighborhoods for a significant part of my life and I can tell you that it’s not that “ghetto.” However, this is a relative term so you can go on google maps and judge for yourself. If you’ve lived in a nice middle to upperclass neighborhood for most of your life, then this part of LA is not for you.</p>
<p>I have lived in a nice middle class neighborhood my whole life yet I do not think USC is that bad. Yes the surrounding area is a little bit scary but I go to the city a lot so I am used to it. I would not let the surrounding area of USC influence my decision to go there. They have a safe campus</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate that south Los Angeles and the area around USC still gets a bad rap after such progress. The city of L.A. and downtown/south L.A. area in particular has undergone a major transformation over the past 20 years. Improvements in public transporation and new developments have made the Figueroa corridor and the USC neighborhood much more exciting and enjoyable than ever. Students are now only a very short train ride or bus ride away from LA Live, Staples, Nokia Theater, South Park (with its bars and restaurants), the artist district (with its galleries, bookstores, and coffee houses), the Music Center, and the Civic Center/Grand Park. The USC neighborhood will only improve now that the Village at USC has been approved by the City Council and will start construction in the coming year or so. All these developments are in addition to the countless other neighborhoods/areas the city offers (Hollywood, Santa Monica, W. Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Venice Beach etc.). Taking a little concern over safety is a small price to pay to enjoy what Los Angeles has to offer. Yes, you do have to use some common sense in taking safety precautions–such as not walking down dark alleys at midnight or talking to strangers–but it doesn’t take too much to feel safe around USC. And, truth be told, I’d rather have to take a little precaution and enjoy what a major world city and campus has to offer than go to school in a corn field for 4 years!</p>
<p>I so agree about the fear mongering… So many of the top ranked universities are in sketchy areas!!! Some universities have taken pretty proactive positions by purchasing really bad properties and fixing them up and creating grants to help young families with lower incomes purchase crummy rentals and assist them in restoring the houses. Also, some universities have amazing programs for the students to volunteer in the community.</p>
<p>There are actually lots of families that live in the area and a number of elementary schools nearby. When you drive by nearby parks, you often sports events such as soccer games. </p>
<p>I do find razor wire to be a bit off putting - where I live there is nothing like that - but I never felt unsafe.</p>
<p>I believe you can get statistics on what the crime rates and students at USC being victims are. That is really what is useful, especially over a period of time. Yes, there was a shooting at Virgina Tech, yes two professors were murdered in the Dartmouth community, but if you look at the stats, the number of confrontational crimes and police reports are low in both cases over time. Any place can randomly be struck. Sandy Hook Elementary had to be one of the safests schools in the country, except on that given day. Take an inner city school where kids get picked off regualrly OVER TIME, and it’s a whole other story. You can’t protect agaianst a random happening because it can truly happen anywhere, anytime, but there are some areas where it is a regular experience to get held up or mugged. </p>
<p>A lot of great schools are in sketchy neighborhoods in terms of chances of being a victim of confrontational crime. Columbia, UChicago, UPenn come to mind immediately. When moving off campus is the thing to do, look at where the "Student ghetto " is and look at the crime stats there.</p>
<p>Parent of a freshman here. USC has implemented much tighter security measures for the students. The Halloween shooting was not acceptable to the administration and finger print building entry was implemented during the winter break. Also, entrances to campus are limited and monitored by security after 9pm.</p>
<p>My son feels safe, but he never felt unsafe even before the halloween events. He is surprised however at the large number of students who are afraid to leave campus - most of which grew up in upper middle class neighborhoods with little interaction with diverse groups. My son attended a large inner city public school with 1/3 white, 1/3 black, 1/3 asian population -luckily it also happens to be one of the top schools in our state. He socialized on weekends around the area where he attended school which was quite worrisome for me but he seemed to develop a good head for potential problems. And that is what I am trying to say…the key is to be aware of your surroundings, listen to your gut but at the same time be respectful of others you meet. The advantages of living in a thriving city are too numerous to go into so don’t let the fear of the surrounding area drive your future.</p>
<p>^^ A couple big changes that my D has talked to me about:</p>
<p>USC is much more of a closed campus at night now. There is fencing all around the campus and people entering the campus after a certain time must enter through a few specific entrances. Everyone who enters after hours must be registered ahead of time by a USC student/staff and must produce their ID. All car license plates are scanned and checked to make sure the car isn’t stolen too.</p>
<p>To enter dorms (all times of the day and night), students must scan their fingerprints. Those visiting must be with their student must surrender their ID while visiting. There is no piggybacking in after a student (coming in the door after a student swipes his keycard). All entrances are staffed and everyone must go through this process.</p>
<p>As others have already mentioned, it all boils down to fencing surrounding the campus and (at night) security “ambassadors” (i.e. guards) stationed at various points so as to restrict entry.</p>
<p>Current student here and I can not remember one time I felt unsafe at USC. If you have any level of common sense, then you should know where and where not to walk and certain times. The new security helps bolster the safety, but I would say once you’re at USC, you never notice the dangers of South LA</p>
<p>Also current USC student. I’m a girl, and I have never felt unsafe. Main rule of thumb is just to use common sense. Don’t be walking around by yourself at 4 am, etc. The campus security (DPS and “Yellow jackets”) are really great, they give you their phone numbers and hotlines during orientation, so if someone is following you or something you can text them (I’ve never heard of anyone having to do this though). The yellow jackets are awesome, they are located near the main off campus housing spots (the row, ellendale, etc). Freshmen are very safe in their dorms, off campus housing just depends on where you live. Most upperclassmen live north of campus, the area between hoover, adams, and vermont is pretty well patrolled. Wouldn’t recommend living west of there, north of adams, or past the science museum (south) if safety is a concern as it doesn’t have much security.</p>
I hope I get accepted, and I’ve heard a lot of stories of USC’s beautiful campus, but not so good descriptions of the area surrounding the campus. I just want to see for myself. :)</p>