<p>Can we send in the housing application and $25 nonrefundable fee before we send in our $300 enrollment deposit and USC Enrollment-Commitment Deposit form, or do we need to have everything sent in before we apply for housing? I would like to apply for housing ASAP, but would still like to allow for possible changes in my plans when I hear back from the UCs later this spring.</p>
<p>yeah, you can send in housing before. just keep in mind that you lose the $25 if you decide on another school later.</p>
<p>sweet... thanks.</p>
<p>its good to get it in early because then its easier to get your first choice and housing often goes fast and you might get stuck somewhere else.</p>
<p>yeah, that's what i'm thinking. i'll probably send in my application today or tomorrow..</p>
<p>Sarah which is your first choice?</p>
<p>I'm trying to decide between New and Birnkrant, but it's hard!</p>
<p>i'm not sure yet : ( i definitely want a residential hall, and i heard marks hall is crappy, so definitely not that. still have to discuss it all with my parents- they've been out of town for a week, so they don't even know i'm in! : )</p>
<p>Marks Hall is not "crappy."</p>
<p>marks hall isn't exactly crappy, it's just "different". i think it can be social, yet more often than not, it can be extremely boring and lifeless. If you are a studious student who wants to spend all their time on school work, spend saturdays studying and sometimes be social then marks hall is for you there is nothing wrong with that. There is never any partying, more often than not you find students on saturdays playing video games, ddr, watching dvds, or just plain silence in the halls. They often go to other buildings to hang out with their friends or the row and come back to study. It's actually not too bad because nobody ever messes with your studying and you dont have to lug your stuff to the library unless if you want to. If you want to party...go to NEW/NORTH where it often smells funny... i wonder why. If you want something more in the middle go with marks TOWER, pardee, or birnkrant. (they have elevators all the other buildings don't ) I think birnkrant has the best facilities out the three. Again as for Marks Hall, the facilities aren't the best, some of the rooms are extremely small and cramped and the lighting fixtures are placed in odd places. Granted the bathrooms are somewhat newer, there are better places to live.
BUT MOSTLY IMPORTANTLY: The building differs slightly each year because the people who live there change each year, but the reputations often live up pretty closely, but not always. And it depends on the RA as well, even though I've heard that Marks Hall has a very elusive RA who is seldom there.</p>
<p>Eddie-i don't know if this makes a difference,
but NEW/NORTH are almost exactly the same, so if you want new put north on your list too because its almost the same except you get more shelf space in north or something weird like that.
Birnkrant if you get lucky and live on a floor high enough allows you to see the hollywood sign.</p>
<p>new/north don't have elevators and they go up to the 4th floor if you want to walk up that many flights lugging stuff up.
birnkrant has 7-8 floors i think and an elevator that goes evens on one side and odd on the other.</p>
<p>sorry, by "crappy", i was referring to the state of the facilities, not the social life, etc.</p>
<p>hum at least on the bright side the bathrooms are relatively new?
downstairs theres a pingpong table and a fooze ball table that the dean's students never use. an old piano and a tv i think but you have to go to CSC to get the remote.</p>
<p>The bathrooms are not new, but I hear Marks Hall is getting new carpeting, a new paint job, renovated bathrooms, and some old equipment (can't be that old) from Lyon Center.</p>
<p>There's a ping pong table and foosball, but don't other dorms have those too?</p>
<p>oh i might have been mistaken, trojan hall is the one with the newer bathrooms. marks tower has a pool table thats broken</p>
<p>The ping pong table and foosball tables work and are used rather often. We have a lot of tournaments. We are getting some remodeling this summer. A more interesting difference is that we have a little excersize room and library downstairs. There aren't really any books worth reading in the library, and the excersize room is rather decrepit (this, getting the equipment from the Lyons center), but they are there and are used.</p>
<p>The TV is okay, and people with universal remotes can use it without checking out a remote. Also,all of the RAs have remotes.</p>
<p>Nikara, Which hall are you in?</p>
<p>Marks, with protocurious and intelliot, among others.</p>
<p>Haha, I like the way you spelled that.</p>
<p>Nikara - thanks. Sounds like a good dorm. I assume it is Marks Hall, and not Marks Tower.</p>
<p>Have any of you been in Pardee? In one of the rooms?</p>
<p>When I look at the official website ( <a href="http://housing.usc.edu/building/building.aspx?PageBuildingCode=PAR%5B/url%5D">http://housing.usc.edu/building/building.aspx?PageBuildingCode=PAR</a>),
the arrangement of the desks, it seems odd. They are side by side, to the point that it looks like it could get crowded .. doing homework. </p>
<p>What I have read on CC, and the general description in USC's Housing booklet makes it sound attractive enough. However, if the study atmosphere is crowded or awkward, then it could be enough to deter someone from considering it.</p>
<p>Do any of you have inside info on Pardee?</p>
<p>I have a friend in Pardee. The desks are unique in that they are built together for two people, but everyone seems to manage that nicely. The Pardee desks are certainly more spacious than the normal desks that the other dorms have.</p>
<p>Plus if one doesn't like their room to study in, there are so many other options like Leavey Library or, during the daytime, Doheny.</p>