<p>a lot of people have called USC a "suitcase" school is that people pack up and go home on the weekends. any thoughts?</p>
<p>Go where? To the beach?</p>
<p>Only about 50% of USC’s students call California home; the rest hail from the other 49 states and abroad, so I would say that, though local students and older students who have become locals may go home on the weekends, I would by no means identify USC as a commuter school. Those are just my two cents; I’m sure others probably have differing opinions.</p>
<p>Some people do this, usually those who’s parents live in LA or Orange County. This is a minority though so you don’t really notice unless you have friends who do it and mention they’re going to OC on the weekend or something. Offhand I can only think of a few of my friends who do this.</p>
<p>No. The majority of the students are from areas distant from the campus. Let us check out the last freshmen class. Incidentally, 98.1% of freshmen live on campus. </p>
<p>According to the published freshmen profile less than half the freshmen come from California. International students number 14% and 38% are from other states. If you check out the student calendar you will find there are plays, films, lectures, concerts, exhibits, Visions & Voices, social events and athletic events…all on campus. Some do go home on a weekend, but there is so much to do on or around the campus students tend to stay at the university. Los Angeles is a huge entertainment center. There is always something to do in a large city.</p>
<p>In the spring students do go to the beach, mountains, Disneyland, Catalina or other places of interest. Many students participate in club sports which are popular all year.</p>
<p>The majority of students do community service. It may be continuing or just one or two projects a year. There were teams of students who did alternative spring break and did service projects abroad.</p>
<p>In late March the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival was held in Los Angeles. The opening concert was held on the USC campus. It was sold out.</p>
<p>I suggest you take time and look through some of the various school websites to see what students are doing.</p>