<p>To all current USC students;; help out the hopefuls and incoming students by enlightening them with some information on all of the housing units. Comment on party scene, social life, size/quality of dorms, type of people, location on campus, cost, whatever you feel necessary! Please and Thank You...GO!</p>
<p>My S is a current freshman & living in Pardee in the Great Outdoors Floor. He says he enjoys it, as did the friend who lived there when he was a freahman in 2000. The floors alternate genders, with males on the odd floors & females on evens, with a washer & dryer on each floor, as well as one group bathroom. The temperature is pretty comfortable, at least on the 7th floor off the commons. Location is very central. Rooms have a built-in safe in each of the two closets. The Great Outdoors Floor has a males floor & females floor & it goes on some outdoors outings every semester. 1st semester they went on a camping trip to the mountains & a backpacking trip. Not sure what they'll do Spring Semester. In the past, it has also gone hiking & surfing (I hope they may also go skiing).
My friend's son who lives in the Honor's dorm says his dorm is VERY hot & their washers & dryers are in the basement which is even hotter. Rooms are pretty small.</p>
<p>Birnkrant is a pretty good building; the rooms are well-maintained, and the floors are co-ed with females occupying one side of the floor and males on the other. There's a laundry room with one washer and one dryer and a small study room across the elevator on each floor. The location is great-the 24/7 Trojan Grounds coffee shop/convenience store is right below, and the cafeteria, EVK, is right next door along with the social New/North dorm complex. The library's next door if you want to study or print something out from the basement computer lab before class. You get to know people on your floor pretty well, but the kind of people living in your building obviously changes every year.</p>
<p>The one thing that annoys me about the 6th floor of Birnkrant is that the heater has been on 24/7 since October, and I have no idea how to switch it off. Does anyone else have this issue?</p>
<p>I like living in Marks Hall ("honors dorm"). It's probably one of the warmest buildings, but my room can be cool if the window is left open. Overall, it's quite comfortable. I like having a basement in the building because it appeals to my desire for exploration. There's also a small air-conditioned library there.</p>
<p>Nice thing about LA is that as long as the air quality is good, you can open your window about 330 days/year to get the temperature to where you want it to be. If the air quality isn't so good, it's probably because the Santa Anna's are blowing and it's roasting outside and opening a window probably wouldn't help so much anyways.</p>
<p>True, although if you are from an area with great air quality, you may be startled at the air quality in LA. I'm in London right now, and, as a Los Angeles native, it is startling to not see a brown haze on the horizon! </p>
<p>Onto my annual Marks Hall commentary. Yes, it can definitely get warm in the rooms. You'll probably want a fan or two to get it cool, and keep the windows open if you can. The room size really varies, as each room is literally a different size and shape. I had a decently sized room. Some are larger, and some are smaller. Still, none are as small as UCLA rooms! (I visited a friends room there, they are tiny!). The atmosphere varies depending on who is living there. My year, people were pretty social, and the hall doors were often open. We would go to movies together and do various activities. It isn't as much of a party environment, and things can get pretty stressed around finals time, but people are still social and know how to have fun. My year, we had a somewhat absentee RA, but that shouldn't be a problem next year(as I actually want to be the RA for Marks next year- fingers crossed!) There is air conditioning in the library and one of the common rooms. Several pianos in various areas, and a TV downstairs that everyone gathers around for away games. Overall it is a nice atmosphere for students who want to have a good time and get to know the hallmates, without a ton of partying and loud nights.</p>
<p>New/North has the reputation for being the most social dorms, and I certainly see why. For people who don't like to party much, it probably isn't the best place as it gets pretty wild sometimes. The location is great (see Retros' comments about Binkrant - they are right next to each other)</p>
<p>There's a ping pong table (although someone stole it for beer pong, last I heard), piano, big screen TV, pool table, foosball table, and a couch in the common areas. The entire building is shaped like an H, so it is easy to get lost.</p>
<p>The rooms are a good size: I went to UCSD and there rooms were significantly smaller - for a TRIPLE!!)</p>
<p>It is usually the most popular request when people send in their housing forms, but if you send yours in early you'll likely get it.</p>
<p>My recommendations:
1. New/North
2. Birnkrant
3. Everything else</p>
<p>Could anyone in the know pls. comment on the pros and cons of USC dorms vs. USC apts. (esp. Century) for an incoming freshman?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>dorm- much more open environment in general. People leave their doors open and more interaction between neighbors (especially places like new north birnkrant bunch i guess) not so much at parkside because its alot of international students but its suppose to be really nice.</p>
<p>Bathrooms you don't have to clean up... but have to share with 20 ish people? I dunno i usually don't have problems with this but if you dislike public bathrooms...
-don't have to cook, but EVK and parkside gets tiring.
-1-2 roommates you have to worry about, no more.</p>
<p>apt- much more closed, but more relaxed (?) atmosphere. I guess more parties usually happen here. Uh more drinking if you are into that, i believe (then again there's the new north people but) </p>
<p>Own kitchen. Good thing if you like cooking, if you are lazy and don't want to cook... go with a dorm. Given 50 meals however to use @ either EVK or parkside (cafeterias)</p>
<p>NON COMMUNITY BATHROOM. however, you'll have to clean it up along with your roommates who might not care about bathroom sanitation as much.</p>
<p>possibly 3-4 roommates you'll have to deal with. Century i believe mostly has 2 room apt with 4 people in it. One room's smaller than other too.</p>
<p>Living room space. However, the room in general @ century is smaller than dorms (perhaps except trojan hall but I think even that room is bigger than century bedrooms)</p>
<p>what abt the parkside apartments, and the special interest groups?....any experience on that</p>
<p>Thank you, krys---very helpful.</p>
<p>I'm feeling lazy and copying an old response about apartments vs. dorms.</p>
<p>The best freshman apartments are Cardinal Gardens; Century is OK, but I must admit I didn't like Parkside Apts. when I visited a friend there. It's dark and the rooms are small; the apartment I visited there had only a door for the bathroom while everything else was interconnected. I was amazed that there was enough space for a two person dining table.</p>
<p>OK, I'm biased because I'm living in Cardinal Gardens next year. But seriously, dorms are overrated. I tend to spend more time hanging out in my friends' campus-owned apartments than in others' dorm rooms, and I live in Birnkrant. You will have to get used to cooking and cleaning for yourself if you live in an apartment, but I find that my friends who live in apartments really enjoy spending time with their other apartment floormates and are just as friendly. The only potential downside is that you're increasing the potential roommate drama factor by having more roommates, but if one roommate turns out to be a less than ideal living companion, hopefully you'll have one or two others with whom to commiserate.</p>