<p>pixeljig, Your son is seriously worrying wayyyyyyyy too much about “safety” at USC. Unless he gets drunk and wanders off alone late at night into the area south east of USC, [ which ALL USC students know is a really dumb thing to do] he will be safe. The chance of something bad happening to him are far, far less than the chance that he will hate the winter weather in St Louis and regret that he passed up USC’s engineering program for the one at Wash U. My son was accepted at both schools and did not give Wash U a second thought. YMMV.</p>
<p>As has already been stated, nearly all the kids at USC do NOT have any safety issues there and the weather is really a nice great feature that all enjoy. My D has been very happy & not had concerns about her safety, even when biking alone late at night (which she did/does regularly, as do her friends).</p>
<p>I am just going to point out since I am from Calif and now live on the east coast, that Californians can be a bit wimpy when it comes to living someplace where it isn’t sunny 300 days a year. The rest of the country is not California and living someplace where the weather is an active part of planning your day, week or month is okay. Seasons give one some variety in life.</p>
<p>^^ He is the type to move in groups so it will be fine, if he has to go out, he knows the gig. Today he was wondering what is there to do over the weekends - he likes to get a meal and watch a movie with friends and I told him about LA Live and University Park near the campus. Somehow he feels that there will be ‘a lot more’ going on within Campus at WashU plus given that the Loop is 10 mins away and the forest park is just outside.</p>
<p>I have read that the RA’s at USC organize outings. Plus the International Residence community also does events.</p>
<p>Weather was a big issue with him - he hated the weather in London when we lived there.</p>
<p>USC has a million different things going on campus every day.</p>
<p>actually, the problem is not the lack of activities provided, it’s that there’s so many things going on there’s a chance you might not hear about something that you planned on attending.</p>
<p>as for RA programs, i’m an RA in a sophomore community where it’s generally less active than the first year dorms. every single RA at USC is required to put on a certain number of programs so i assure you that you can eliminate this aspect from being a determining factor between the two schools.</p>
<p>to give you some insight, here are a few of the programs that we’ve hosted this school year:</p>
<p>Pre-Law Informational
Pico de Gallo Night
Seoulful - Jay Sean Concert at the Shrine
Shutter Island
First Impressions - “Whatchu Know About Me”
Dinner in Little Ethiopia
“Signed, Sealed, Deliverd, I’m Yours” Care Packages
Superbowl Sunday
Beach Volleyball Tournament
Wanna be an RA?
Operation Fitness
Mocktails
A Health Nut’s Pizza
Twilight Premiere
Dia de Los Muertos
Study Abroad Informational
Michael Jackson: This is It
Go Green!
Sushi Night
LA History & Pink’s Hot Dogs
Chips and Guac!
Float Away Tuesday
Card Night
Pancake Kickback
Pizza, Chips, and Poker!</p>
<p>i would say this is about half of the programs we’ve done this year. as you can see there are a lot of different programs that we offer, some off campus, some on campus, some promoting different aspects of diversity, some just being plain fun social programs, some educational or academic etc. 100% of our programs this year offered free food to residents which is a nice perk, and also many times included raffles for gift cards to places like chipotle, subway, 21 choices, starbucks, yogurtland, etc.</p>
<p>i’ll be 100% honest and say that in general, students will always complain about there not being enough programs. my community had great attendance at the majority of these (i would say probably averaging 30+ residents to a program). we probably average 1-2 programs a week and some people still complain that there weren’t enough (not surprisingly, these people who complained attended less than a handful of programs every year).</p>
<p>I agree the above says more than enough goes on there!! Wow, its amazing! I believe engineering does events for them also.</p>
<p>Yes, engineering has specific dedicated funding to provide social activites (often with food) for engineering students. They also are supposed to have a formal ball or dance (unfortunately I don’t believe S ever attended). I was pleased to know they had an engineering internship & job placement office as well.</p>
<p>HImom, I don’t think my son will attend the dance/ball either!!</p>
<p>Was your son is Pardee too? Is a supplement form required for the outdoor floor?</p>