<p>Hey guys was wondering how the meal plans at USC are, eg. the quality and variety of food, and whether they are compulsory?</p>
<p>Also, do ppl usually eat according to the plans or do they prefer to eat out?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Your meal plan depends on where you live. If you live in a suite or dorm, you get 10 meals a week in the cafeteria and $510 per semester to spend at other places on campus (numbers might have changed since I was a freshman). In an apartment, you do not have to sign up for a meal plan.</p>
<p>Freshman year, you are going to eat at the cafeteria quite a bit. Any meals you don't eat roll over to the next week (a luxury I did not have as a freshman), and few people end up going over their meal limit. There are two cafeterias: Parkside and EVK. Parkside is favored over EVK by most students, but you will probably get sick of both of them either way. I believe if you live in Parkside, you can eat at Parkside any time of the day and EVK at night. Any other dorm is the opposite; EVK any time of the day and Parkside at night. There are also other places on campus to eat: Carl's Jr, La Salsa, Malibu Subs, Tutor Cafe (my favorite) that will accept your dining dollars.</p>
<p>As a freshman, I ate out about once a week. Now that I am in an apartment, I eat out a lot more.</p>
<p>I should also mention you can get the Trojan Meal Plan instead of the standard, which is like $400 more but includes only dining dollars ($2700 per semester) so you have the ability to avoid EVK and Parkside.</p>
<p>Wow i just got an information overload. But this is really great advice thanks so much :)</p>
<p>One more thing, what do most ppl choose over there? Cause the Trojan plan sounds good but if everyone else is on the standard then it'd be weird and maybe even difficult to find ppl to eat with</p>
<p>Freshman son (lives in New) had cardinal first semester then begged me to let him change it to Trojan second semester because he REALLY didn't like the EVK food. He is much happier now. He can still go to EVK if others are going. It doesn't seem to be difficult to find people to eat with- esp. boys who are always hungry.</p>
<p>Trojan plan is overkill for most students and usually leaves you with extra money at the end of the term. Because the funds expire at the end of the year, I've had friends who literally could not spend the money fast enough and would blow it on pallets of drinks and meals for friends. </p>
<p>If you're worried about getting sick of the dining halls, get a minimalist meal plans and supplement that with discretionary (debit) dollars. These are accepted anywhere on campus and do not expire. Better yet, just use some extra cash to eat at the variety of restaurants just off campus.</p>
<p>ycang, you can use Trojan at the cafeteria too if you want so no problem, you can eat anywhere and with anyone. My daughter did exactly what cc411's son did, she changed to Trojan second semester. It is obscenely expensive in my opinion but it allows her to avoid EVK entirely. Re Ned's comment, there really isn't a minimalist meal plan for freshmen in the dorms.</p>
<p>I should add that the cafeteria food is the only thing my daughter doesn't like about USC.</p>
<p>Aren't there any healthy food options at USC such as vegan, jamba-juice and good salad bars? After all, this is Southern California where people are health and weight conscious.</p>
<p>There is a Jamba Juice on campus and salad bars at both cafeterias. I would say Parkside is more health conscious and tries hard to supply options for all types of students. After freshman year, you have the option to live in an apartment called the Honors House, which provides the residents with a vegan meal plan, as well as a meat option (the building is pretty run down though...)</p>
<p>It can be tricky. Most of the dining hall food is mass produced cafeteria fare but there are ample salad bars in many locations. There is a Jamba Juice near Cafe 84. Some of the shops also carry organic product lines, though they are overpriced like most of the other food.</p>
<p>One highlight has been the Trojan Fresh Market, a pilot program bringing a farmers market onto McCarthy Quad. It has a bunch of different vendors and fresh food options. Dining dollars are accepted in limited amounts. </p>
<p>It is possible to eat healthy by being selective, and turning to some of the off-campus stores to stock up on healthy snacks.</p>
<p>I totally do not understand the meal plans.</p>
<p>Can anyone give a thorough explanation of how they work and discuss the pros and cons of each?</p>
<p>For a start:
Depending on where you live, you will have a choice of certain meal plans.
Here's the brochure-
<a href="http://hospitality.usc.edu/Schedules/meal_plans_brochure.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://hospitality.usc.edu/Schedules/meal_plans_brochure.pdf</a></p>
<p>Hopefully, students here will give you more info. You can also do an advanced search on these boards and find more info.</p>
<p>Every freshman living in a dorm room is required to get a meal plan. You either get the basic one that comes with your building (cardinal or gold), or you can upgrade to Trojan Meal Plan.</p>
<p>Gold is only for Parkside; I think Fluor has an option to choose gold. Gold and cardinal are $2400ish, whereas Trojan is $2800ish.</p>
<p>Cardinal is for all the dorms except Parkside; you can eat at EVK for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as Parkside for dinner. Gold is the opposite, where you can eat at Parkside for all meals, as well as EVK for dinner. This plan comes with 10 meals at the cafeteria a week, which rollover to the next week if you do not use them. It also comes with $510 dining dollars per semester, which is basically cash that you can use at the majority of food places on campus.</p>
<p>Trojan Meal plan is for people who do not want to eat at the dining hall that often. It is $2800 dining dollars that you can use at the dining halls (EVK and Parkside), as well as other places around campus. As Ned said, most people have a lot of dining dollars left over at the end of the semester.</p>
<p>Pros of Trojan Meal Plan: You won't have to eat at the dining hall, you will have plenty of dining dollars for stuff like early morning coffee, snacks for your dorm room, and every meal
Cons: More expensive, many people end up wasting a lot of money at the end of the semester; only get this if you eat a lot or cannot stand the dining hall food</p>
<p>Pros of Cardinal/Gold: Um...cheaper; won't have wasted as much money at the end of the semester
Cons: You will get sick of the dining hall food and you do not have that many dining dollars</p>
<p>Actually, you can eat at either Parkside or EVK at any time of day with the Cardinal/Gold plan. They no longer have it so that you can only eat at the other cafeteria at dinner.</p>
<p>So Cardinal is three meals a day at EVK (or dinner at Parkside if you choose) plus 10 optional cafeteria meals a week that roll over until the semester, plus $510 dining dollars a semester?</p>
<p>I'm glad they finally changed that rule. I guess there is no distinction between the two meal plans now.</p>
<p>And BandTenHut, you get 10 meals total per week at the cafeteria, so you have to choose which ones to eat there. I normally had brunch and dinner on the weekend, and then ate dinner there every weekday night. It doesn't sound like a lot of meals at first, but it ends up being a lot when you start to hate the food.</p>
<p>My daughter asked to switch from the Cardinal to the Trojan plan for her second semester. Everything said here is correct. Either way you will have money left over, but at least the Trojan plan gives you more options. She said EVK is terrible, Parkside passable, but she eats at other places mostly and buys food at the little market in Commons. She had 800 left at the end of fall and right now has about 1000 left. Seems very wasteful but it's the norm apparently, a real money maker for the school it seems.</p>
<p>wait sorry, just to clarify. if you get the trojan meal plan you can use your dining dollars at parkside & evk ?</p>
<p>Yea, they will just charge you a dollar amount for the meal. I think breakfast is like $10 and dinner $12ish, so they just subtract that from your dining dollars. And Trojan has my vote for sure!</p>
<p>Lindsay2259, you said that the meals roll over to the next week if you don't use them. Is the opposite true? Can you "borrow" meals from the next week if you run out? Or do you have to resort to using your dining dollars?</p>
<p>My daughter uses a plan that hasn't been mentioned here, the Cardinal Fast Pass (same price as the other Cardinal plan mentioned above). Instead of having 10 meals plus dining dollars, which sometimes run out before the end of the semester, you can simply eat at EVK and Parkside an unlimited amount of times, with no dining dollars. Although some people don't like it, she's been very happy with that plan the last two years. She keeps a little spare cash on her Spirit card for times she wants to eat with friends at Carls or other places on campus. And if she wants to go into EVK for just toast or something light, she doesn't have to worry about burning up an entire meal.</p>
<p>She gets tired of some of the entrees at EVK but they do have a salad bar, fruit, etc., and it has worked well for her. She is in Cardinal Gardens this year so if she really wants a change of pace she can cook something, but she usually don't have time.</p>