Son moved in McCarthy today. Bins were plentiful to move stuff up to the rooms and the registration process was easy. Bring your USCid cards so that they can put your room and building keys on them (S forgot his, but they made him a new one). If you want to go up to the dorm rooms, everyone must fill out the COVID screening at trojancheck.usc.edu which takes less than a few minutes on your cellphone. 10 of us went up to his room to help unpack.
We stayed and ate in the Village which was bustling with activity. USC definitely made a good first impression on family members. It’s only been a few hours, but I already miss him. 
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Yeah, a lot of cousins and aunts wanted to check USC out for the first time… it could have easily been more but we asked people to stay home, thankfully.
Tip from my son after one night in McCarthy: Classes don’t begin until next week so there are fun events this week to get the students adjusted. Get to know your dorm RA because they know the schedule of activities.
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My daughter moved into McCarthy on Saturday. I brought her myself from the Midwest. For us, USC’s move-in was well-organized and everything went smoothly. They had a lot of staff on hand, all friendly and eager to help. There were more than enough bins for the students. I even wheeled one bin back to the USC Hotel to get my daughter’s extra bag. Staying at this hotel was a big plus for us. I didn’t have to rent a car and only used Lyft and Uber once each, to and from the airport. I was favorably impressed by how seriously people took LA county’s and USC’s masking mandates. Everyone, students, staff, and families, wore their masks, as did all the Angelenos I saw over the weekend. And the USC Village is incredible, worth every penny of its $750 million price tag. The mix of students and local shoppers gives the place a distinctive feel, at least on the Saturday of our move-in. All in all it was a great move-in for us and I feel very happy that my daughter is a Trojan.
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Sounds like move in went great at McCarthy. USC def knows how to run any event! I still can’t get over 10 people moving someone in. That’s a record and certainly a surprise during a pandemic. Didn’t know they would allow that, although move in is a bit crazy no matter what.
They have activities scheduled all week before classes start and great friendships start now! They keep them busy!
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We didn’t move anyone in but we visited last week with D22. Everything looked stunning.
We could only do a self- guided tour but they had admissions officers and student ambassadors on hand to answer questions. It was a great visit and she will definitely be applying! Very exciting!
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They were very careful not to set a limit for the number of people allowed to accompany a student during move in. I believe they said to be “reasonable.”
Move in is continuing this week for the freshmen dorms and tonight is Light Up the Night. Instead of one big event there are several events across campus - a roller rink, LED playground, a couple of bands/karaoke and a silent DJ.
McCarthy/Ilium went on a retreat yesterday. It included a Sparks game at Staples Center.
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Nice to know my $ is being put to good use.
Work hard, party harder? 
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My daughter said it was an exciting game, with the Sparks coming from a dozen points behind in the fourth quarter to tie it up at the buzzer. They went on to dominate in overtime. Watching a WNBA playoff game sounds like good healthy fun to me, not partying 
Once the fraternities begin their “meat market” parties, then I’ll get nervous 
, but I’m guessing that’s at least a week away.
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Move in went smoothly with tons of enthusiastic students everywhere. However reality is setting in now I hear. Many living on campus are frustrated and disappointed with very limited dining options and hours open. Some rumors are circulating it will be back to zoom studies after the covid positivity rates come thru and will be announced as soon as tuition becomes non refundable for the year :(( I hope this is far from the truth!
Can anyone share what to expect for Family Weekend? Should I purchase football game tickets?
Ya, my D brought that rumor home too about them shutting down after tuition payments are made. I don’t think they are part of an evil conspiracy and believe they will do everything they can in their control to keep the school open and moving forward. Mine lived at USC throughout the pandemic and they were amazing throughout with what they had to work with. Super supportive of the students, using the USC Hotel for quarantining students that were still around campus in the middle of it all. Vaccines and health and mental health appts/checks easy to get. They are also very involved with the city and fed government on many studies and research going on re covid. I don’t like everything they do, but it terms of the pandemic, I have to give them five stars. We were able to attend a real graduation ceremony in May (unlike many others in college around the US and CA) because of their efforts (it was a lot to pull off), as was the big re-boot they had for the fall semester. The only reason they would go back to online would be out of necessity versus greed. They made the decision to do on campus when things about covid were looking much brighter (pre-Delta), and now they have to work within this continuing saga (again), so any action they take going forward will be dictated by the pandemic numbers, not their dollars or withdraw deadlines. I do understand some teachers are offering students the option to come to class and/or watch it via Zoom. I think they everyone is doing the best they can. For the students or anyone to think it could be 100% back to normal at this point is a bit unrealistic, I’m just glad they get to be back on campus, but there are likely to be things that aren’t up to the usual standards. Football games will require masks, but at least there will be football for example. 
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What I have been able to glean is that there must have been mention that it takes 2-4 weeks to see if there will be an outbreak or significant spread. Some are talking doom and gloom and saying the school will shut down. Others are saying, “If we can make it through the first month, we should be good.” Fortunately, LA County’s numbers are improving so hopefully the rumors will be just that.
I have heard that most (if not all) professors have some sort of provision in their syllabus if a student gets sick or even if they are just exposed but unable to go to class while they quarantine. There also seems to be provisions for professors as well. Some have small children who where were exposed at school which lead to the whole family to have to quarantine. In those cases, the professors switched to Zoom until they can get the clear to return to campus.
As far as food, that was a nightmare. I don’t know if it was a staffing issue or poor planning but it sounds like, starting today, they added hours back to EVK. They also opened on campus food venues over the weekend and will soon bring breakfast back to Parkside.
Another problem is on campus Wifi. It sounds like they might have identified the problem and are in the process of fixing it but it is causing students a lot of grief.
Finally, I don’t know why they didn’t plan for the number of students who need to COVID test. I like the idea of giving the test to the student to do at home but they need to make it faster and easier to drop off the test and pick up a new one. UCSD and UCLA have vending machines. Maybe they need to look into that.
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Did you end up getting in? My daughter applied for Fall 2022 and I was wondering what stats you need. Thanks
Have been unsuccessful trying to contact a financial aid officer over past three weeks. The portal via automation is requesting a completed 2021 tax return and our accountant won’t get to it until mid-April; like you, we would like to have a preliminary package.
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