<p>I'm not saying I've never been to a football game, but sports aren't really my thing. Will I be out of place in a sports-crazed school? Are there happy students at USC who opt for art openings and jazz clubs instead of frat keggers and football games?</p>
<p>The school is so large you will definitely not feel out of place. Also, you should find you love the football after a while. (I might be biased because I love football...but hey)</p>
<p>You will most definitely find people who don't go to football games (and if you decide you do want to go, you don't have to worry about drinking before or during game, because not everyone does that).</p>
<p>I also say DEFINITELY try going to the first home game (or at least the UCLA game). Coming into USC, I hated all football except for my high school team. I despised the NFL and I thought college football was even worse. I just thought it was boring, and didn't really understand it. Then I came here. It is infectious. The games are amazingly fun, and our team is awesome! I think you'll find that you'll grow to love it. </p>
<p>But if you decide it's not for you, you'll be able to easily find others in the same boat.</p>
<p>I'd suggest you think about what "sports crazy" means to you. USC certainly takes varsity sports very seriously, gets great results (measured in wins), and has a big following among current students and alumni. At the same time, since it is a fairly big school and has relatively few varsity sports, the percentage of students who are involved in varsity sports is quite small ... so you can spend "get away" from sports quite a bit.</p>
<p>On the other hand most LACs have no big time sports and will not be seen on national TV (well maybe ESPN II if they make a national final) ... however, many LACs have more varsity sports than USC and given their smaller student body have a much-much higher percentage of students who are athletes. No TV, less kids attending games, but a much higher percentage of atheletes ... is this more "sports crazy"?</p>
<p>I don't know ... but it is definitely different ... and worth checking out on campus visits</p>
<p>(PS - and there are schools, especially some LACs, that have little varsity activity at all)</p>
<p>By "sports crazy" I guess I'm just referring to... well, a school where the opposite sex won't look at you if you're not a jock or cheerleader... going to the gym for you would be like trying to take algebra 1 at MIT... people don't talk about anything but game scores... </p>
<p>That's a bit extreme, but what I am really afraid of is the type of atmosphere I encountered at a performing arts camp one summer. I went to a camp that was dominated by dancers and sports people and I didn't fit in at all (musicians and artists were at the bottem of social chain). I'm hoping that people in college are a lot more mature than that, but I don't honestly know.</p>
<p>He made us leave at halftime during the football game at the first Parent's Weekend we went to. Last year we didn't even bother to get tickets. He's aware of sports at USC, actually only football, and doesn't care about them. He did have some choice words to say about Matt Leinhart's (sp?) public behavior on one particular Saturday night.</p>
<p>Following up what 3togo said: Williams is probably more sports crazy than a school like USC.</p>
<p>Squashed, no worries. I know ppl at SC and not eveyrone is sports crazy. they simply enjoy going to games and having school pride. There are lots of people who aren't in sports (majority of students) and it seems to work out just fine.</p>
<p>Williams has no frats or cheerleaders either, and I think it is absurd to compare it to big-time sports schools - the atmosphere squashed314 is referring to does not exist at Williams. The kids playing Div III sports are really student-athletes - and if they aren't dedicated students they are going to be miserable at these LAC's. I think USC is a great place - it was high on my son's list of schools - but in no way can you compare the sports atmosphere at USC to Williams.</p>
<p>I think the better answer is that USC is a big enough school that there is plenty going on for all kinds of kids.</p>
<p>USC has very active music, theater, and art scenes if you find them. Just keep your ears open and you will certainly hear about tons of amazing cultural events that are always going on.</p>
<p>That said, USC does have its fair share of beautiful people, especially among the girls. There are days I get very sick of seeing all the hungover bleach-blondes sludge into their 8 am classes. But I think you get that at any university.</p>
<p>As far as the sports thing, the only sport anyone cares about is football. If you aren't into football, then stay in on Saturdays in the fall. BUT- I will echo what everyone else has said - the football games are a lot of fun. You really should try at least one.</p>
<p>As for the "jocks", I have been at USC three years now and I know two starting USC football players, both of whom never act like the "jock type". I think once you get to a certain level of athletic elitism, you lose the "cool" act because you know you are good and don't have to front. At USC, it isn't like the high school or camp you went to where there are the 10 cool people and then everyone else. At USC, there are 25,000 people. If you can't find people that you get along with and share your interests in 25,000 people, i wouldn't say the problem was the university.</p>
<p>From a March 8, 2002, article in the Chronicle of Higher Education:</p>
<p>More than a third of Williams students compete on at least one of the 31 varsity teams, and many more play on the college's numerous junior-varsity and club teams.
.............................................................................................................</p>
<p>They also have a crucial role in Williams's admissions process, in which barely 20 percent of those who apply are accepted. Each team gets "tips," or places in the incoming class, for athletes who would not be admitted on the basis of their academic credentials alone.</p>
<p>Students, coaches, faculty members, and others at Williams have been debating the role of sports on campus for much of the past year, however. And now Williams is one of at least four colleges in the New England Small College Athletic Conference that has decided to cut back on the number of "athletic admits" it allows each year, starting this fall.</p>
<p>The conversation has been bitter at times. Nobody has accused the college's admissions office of letting in a bunch of dumb jocks, but many coaches say their athletes are being blamed unfairly for getting into Williams when other students with better academic credentials did not.</p>
<p>If you walk around certain parts of the USC campus you might get the impression that it's an arts school. You will see film crews all over and students practicing their instruments outside. Of course that's only one part of what USC is, but it is very visible.</p>
<p>Tsdad, as a Williams alum I'm very aware of the ongoing debate about the role of athletics at Williams. Ultimately what I was trying to say above was that there's no reason to take a random pot shot at Williams for being "sports crazy" in response to Squashed's question, particularly this quote:</p>
<p>"By "sports crazy" I guess I'm just referring to... well, a school where the opposite sex won't look at you if you're not a jock or cheerleader... going to the gym for you would be like trying to take algebra 1 at MIT... people don't talk about anything but game scores"</p>
<p>OK. My point was that schools, such as Williams, as well as Harvard, schools that the public do not identify with sports, can in fact have larger sports programs than schools like USC in terms of the number of sports, the percentage of students involved, and the impact on admissions..</p>
<p>
[quote]
"By "sports crazy" I guess I'm just referring to... well, a school where the opposite sex won't look at you if you're not a jock or cheerleader... going to the gym for you would be like trying to take algebra 1 at MIT... people don't talk about anything but game scores"
[/quote]
To me this is a bit of an inconsistant set of requests ... if we stay on Williams and USC (actully two excellent examples of the opposite ends of the spectrum)
* At USC I am sure the football players are treated very specially by some of the other students and probably have a big advantage with the coeds ... while athletes at Williams are not nationally known and probably not treated as differently as they are at USC
* That said at USC your odds of interacting with a varsity athlete is much-much lower than at Williams where they make up a much bigger percentage of the students (so more Williams students are likely to be headed to the gym (but without their groupoes trailing behind them))</p>
<p>Athletics participation is more in-grained into the Williams experience but that athletic experiece is lower key and much more focusses on particiaption than following national ranked teams like at USC. Very different animials ... and when I think of my kids having very different appeal to their unique personalities.</p>
<p>Actually I find it hard to believe that any college would be "sports crazy" along the lines of squashed's quote. Schools with big-time sports (like USC) are going to be large enough that the student body will be pretty diverse and there isn't going to be one "type" of student. And as 3togo describes, sports at LAC's, even where there is high participation among the student body, are much lower key.</p>
<p>jrpar:</p>
<p>Agreed. Sounds like something out of a 1930s movie or some high schools.</p>
<p>Yes, I was exaggerating. I just wanted to make sure you understood what I was getting at. I just wanted to know if being an artsy, neither toned nor glamourous, gal from maine would make barriers at this school. I've read things about overwhelming frat and sorority presence which I think goes almost hand in hand with the sports crowd. And I hear complaints from students who don't like how the school is so focused on its atheletes. </p>
<p>I didn't think the situation I proposed before was realistic, but I do live across the country so I don't know what culture I would be coming into.... you aren't REALLY all stuck in the 1930's... right?</p>
<p>errr. athletes... and glamorous</p>
<p>You do realize that one of USC's major institutional strengths is its arts programs, music. film, drama, and fine arts, some of which are world class? USC has a large number of artsy kids. You will feel at home, and I say this as the father of a USC film student.</p>
<p>USC was on my son's list because of its strength in art and architecture. (He did happen to like the presence of big time sports too.)</p>