^^^Since you were a spring admit moved to fall, that makes sense.
I see.
I might have missed the previous posts. Need a clarification - our daughter is in Mccarthy and the only dining option given to her is Cardinal. I see from the previous posts here that Gold is the preferred meal plan for most. Is there a way to opt for gold? What is the difference?
Yes⊠you can eventually select among three options for a meal plan⊠Cardinal (the default, only unlimited swipes and the residential dining halls), Gold (which gives you what Cardinal does + $500 Dining Dollars, but for a discount - i.e. you pay less extra than the DDs you receive - so free DDs), or Trojan (which few select - the most expensive, and to me, a little excessive).
Once you have access to your MyUSC portal fully: https://my.usc.edu/ , you can also go here: https://mycard.usc.edu/meal-plans/ and create or change your meal plan. Basically, I believe that your USCard needs to be set-up first before you can make changes online. That is usually accomplished by the end of your orientation session, if not sooner.
If you run into difficulties, you can also just contact the USCard staff directly⊠(213) 740-8709 or uscard@usc.edu
But there is plenty of time to make changes, etc. before the plans kick-in on August 21st. And you can make changes through the end of August.
Thank you so much. This thread is probably the most active and helpful thread in CC thus far. Hats off!
@aggiemom68 Youâre welcome. Yes⊠CC helped me greatly from 2013 forward, so many of us are just trying to pay it forwardâŠ
@CADREAMIN and @WWWard You both have provided our family a huge amount of helpful information. Thank you! Hoping you can share your wisdom on the USC student health insurance. Must a student have the USC insurance to access the health center on campus? My son is already enrolled on my work plan, but it seems it would be a good idea to put him on the USC plan?
@kingsman Thanks for the kind words. A student can complete a waiver (there is a deadline and you/he will get an email about this) so the health fee is taken off your account if you donât need it. If you have good insurance, there really is no need to also have the USC student insurance. The waiver asks if your insurance has certain minimums, so you will know if it qualifies. They can absolutely still go to the health center with their own coverage, and you donât want to pay for two policies if it doesnât do you any good. For all of mine, we waived the health insurance. If you have good coverage at work, there is no reason to have both, but I suppose that depends on what you have. If you only have the student insurance, they do need to be seen at the health center then are referred out to where health center sends them if they need more medical attention (we werenât a fan of that cause we had some things happen that made us skepitcal of health center at times when things got more serious than they typical college ailment). Over the years, with multiple kids attending USC, mine did go to the health center several times for things like bronchitis, strep tests, etc., but we also had times we had to follow it up with someone else, so they saw a doctor or ER we wanted to use. Our experience with health center has been hit and miss, but it is the place to start regardless.
If you do the waiver, keep a copy of what you fill out as you will need to do it every year, that way you can just copy it each year (if it doesnât change) and do it in like 5 minutes. The first year takes a little research to fill in what you actually have in terms of coverage. Donât hesitate to call Engemann if you have any questions about your coverage, but regardless, they can always be seen there.
@CADREAMIN Thank you SO much for your help! This is exactly what I needed to know. How awesome to have this community!
@kingsman Youâre welcome. Not much to add to @CADREAMIN 's excellent explanation above. My FL insurance plan had certain limitations that did not work well with California, so I did simply opt to put both of my daughters on the USC Aetna plan. And thankfully they needed the USC health center very infrequently. Their experience with it was fine. No issues.
@WWWard I appreciate your input - so helpful to hear about the experiences of other families.
I just received my housing today and I got my last choice. Can I change my preferences on my housing application because I am unsatisfied with my roommates?
My D got her first choice housing, but didnât get roommate she requested. However her requested roommate is in the same housing but different suite. Can two of them ask to be roommates at this point?
@â2605 Mandy Wayâ Was it at Parkside Arts and Humanities?
@â2605 Mandy Wayâ Yippee you got your housing - congrats! It all worked out! Re room mates, you may have to wait until switch period, not sure - you can call housing and ask, they are super helpful there.
Thank you!
@CADREAMIN My D is in Parkside International, her requested roommate is in Parkside Art and Humanities
Hi-
My D got her room assignments. She is in McCarthy had requested the 4-Person set up and asked for a re-assignment with one of her desired roommate. In the new reassignment, they now have her in a 8-person suite and no one from her desired roommates.
Has anyone been successful at going back to original assignment? Any other recommendations? Any help appreciated? Who should we reach out at USC?
for what itâs worth my D got her choice and the roommate she requested. She did follow all the tips - she and roommate had the same housing choices in the same order
ThanksâŠwe missed the tips. 
Looking for alternates now.