@CADREAMIN by securing your spot, do you mean the residence (eg McCarthy) or the room configuration? Can you “secure” a certain room configuration without selecting a roommate?
@kevbostic USC’s housing website shows the A/C logo for McCarthy.
Anyone else have trouble accessing the housing application? I haven’t received my password to get in.
@carmen00 my D received her password last night in an email.
@kevbostic Per website… “All of the suites are air-conditioned”. I would look up each potential building at the housing portal, where the info online is likely the most updated.
@Marcie123 Thank you! I had even read the email last night and didn’t realize that the password was there. I was requesting a password like it tells you to on the housing website, and I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting an email! Lol.
@carmen00 I was surprised that the password arrived by email last night. I called housing yesterday with an unrelated question and they confirmed that a password would be emailed after beginning the application. I’m glad I read through the email.
Managed to log in just after 9am. All McCarthy options were available. S decided on Fluor over Parkside as a back up with AC. Hopefully if he ends up at USC, McCarthy will work out in the Village. Big thank you to those who posted to register early today!
Just configurations for housing now. Room mate confirmations come later. If you have a specific room mate request your configuration choices must match exactly. They do great job matching as well if you don’t. So don’t worry, many people don’t have someone lined up.
This past month, I have finally found the first thing in 4 yrs that we have disliked about USC… i.e. how they are treating my younger daughter, a current freshman, related to USC Housing.
Last year, despite them adding the Village for this year, which was supposed to alleviate the housing issue, they ran out of spaces before my senior-to-be daughter even got to select. Basically, they reassigned some prior undergrad apts like Troy to graduate housing, so it did not fix what they had implied it would. My younger daughter applied for freshman housing last spring, paid the fee, etc. - bu then opted to live with her sister and two friends at an apt near campus & next to Troy. Basically, it is bigger/better than USC apts and a lot cheaper too. Since she has only found one potential roommate so far for next year and not two others, she is opting to sign up for USC Housing again as a back-up plan now. But they would not let her sign-up when the other freshmen did and made her wait until this morning. Basically, they punished her for not living on campus this year. Plus… it only listed freshmen options for housing… so that was a clear mistake… and it also would not let her select the roommate she wants… blocking from even seeing her within the portal.
So while I have been one of the chief applauders of everything USC… and especially here on CC for the last 4+ yrs… I finally have discovered the first major area where USC has failed our family. Oh well… hopefully it will still all work out. But in the interim, we certainly do not appreciate their pettiness to date on this topic.
My understanding of USC housing is that assignment is based on the order of applications submitted. I had the impression that students who have pre-selected roommates have a better chance, but I am not positive. In any case, it’s better to pick your own roommates because the earliest person among the roommates can pull the rest in. My daughter applied for housing in early April. She found three other girls to apply for a McCarthy 2B2D suite. Two are NMF and one is a presidential. They got the suite they wanted. McCarthy is air conditioned. The 2B2D suites are very spacious.
@WWWard My daughter is very happy about USC except the food at the dinning halls. Some parents of 2021 class also mentioned that their kids didn’t like the food. I can’t wait for them to move into an apartment next year.
@kevbostic Yes, McCarthy is definitely air conditioned (and generally awesome in all ways). @18college1111 Yes–you got it right, and I agree–it is pretty wonderful!
In addition, McCarthy kids get to apply before the general lottery for honors special interest housing in the village during their sophomore year (hopefully most of the students who want this will get placed into it–we’ll find out tomorrow). I think this is a new privilege this year.
@WWWard sorry to her about that issue with your freshman daughter. It must be very frustrating.
@ChenXiaoYun I agree with you about the dining hall food. My son thinks Parkside has the best food and McCarthy has the worst, but that no dining hall is very good. It has been a disappointment–maybe the only one though.
@chenxiaoyun The housing process varies by year. In our case, the policy would be fine if they allowed my daughter’s potential roommate to link to her or pull her in based on her lottery time, but USC Housing is even prohibiting that. They are not treating her like a normal freshman at all going forward since she had a private apt this year. They should thus likely warn incoming freshman that the promise of guaranteed housing for years one and two only applies if you live in USC Housing year one. Otherwise, you go to the back of the line.
If your daughter has a friend and they are open to a private apartment near campus vs just USC Housing, feel free to private message me and we can discuss that cheaper option.
Yes, how sophomore honors are treated is a new system since Village just opened in the fall, appreciate the insight @cavemom. All sophomores in USC housing have the next priority so most will get what they want. Yes, Parkside A&S has always had the best food reputation, and has AC, really nice facilities (not International Parkside - that is not good imo). Yes, unfortunately if you are not in USC housing as a freshman, you get zippo priority - but still surprised a freshman with housing priority can’t pull her in. I thought that was the work around that…things that make me go hmmm.
I do think the parents are 10 times more concerned than the kids about housing in general. They are just happy to be out on their own and somehow make most any housing situation work. I fear the bad room mate more than a bad room!
^^^ Indeed… that is what surprised us most. But unfortunately, USC Housing is also being punitive to my daughter’s prospective roommate who is in the freshmen dorms now. They are prohibiting her from picking a roommate & pulling her in just because my daughter is not in a dorm. Oh well… I know it will work out. It just seems a little silly. I even asked a manager there why their policies needed to be so rigid. She implied that not doing so would be so unfair to others in the system. When I pressed her and asked just how many freshmen are even in my daughter’s situation (not commuting and instead living in a private apt vs USC Housing), she concurred that it is likely a very small #. Seems like a lot of unnecessary angst to be punitive towards just a handful of kids…
So I know that if we interview for a scholarship, final decisions will be released along with all admissions decisions. But do they send out something in mail, or is it only on the portal?
They send a physical letter, or at least has been (just a letter, not a packet this time)! It goes out around the same time as others in March, sometimes just before them.
@CADREAMIN Thank you for your advice. I emailed Marshall admission office about my situation and here’s their response: “If your letter didn’t specific any further information regarding the Merit Scholarships, you were not selected as a candidate. Fortunately, you are a part of the early admitted student pool which put you ahead of the competition.” 
WBB is still on the top of my list, but I feel a little disappointed now.
@bluehurricane - thanks for the update - it is really getting hard to keep track of all the nuances of each program. So for WBB, you are admitted at this early date, but can get the package and admitted without a scholarship? I would put in one more call to general admissions and be sure you aren’t getting a Dean’s just to be absolutely sure. Maybe WBB isn’t offering but the university is? Long shot, but just to be sure. This would be the first time I heard of someone getting a package with zippo scholarship, so that would have to be specific to WBB, so make sure by calling Undergraduate Admissions to verify it again. (213) 740-1111
I have no idea what to think of the cost of WBB since you spend time in other places - I assume it can’t be more than USCs annual rate, but then there’s travel…there’s a new poster on here names @wbb19student who offered to share what he knows being part of the program, he posted here. Might be a good source if you have other questions…