The academic calendar says August 17. McCarthy & Ilium residents move in a couple of days earlier because they have an honors retreat.
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And when is Freshmen Convocation?
I believe it is usually on the Thursday after move in. @CADREAMIN can you confirm?
Birnkrant. She got a great early timestamp and put the double and triple as first and second choice, so hoping she gets in there. Floors have male/female sides with about 20 kids each side. Gender exclusive bathrooms. Each side has a small laundry room and small study room.
Pros: location, location, location. On the freshman quad. Libraries, Starbucks and a dining hall attached or steps away. Big windows, beautiful view. Nice, happy vibe. Reputation as studious but social. Rooms are ok size. Hallway flooring, paint looked newer. Good study areas.
Cons: No A/C. Bathrooms kind of dingy. Small laundry room. No large lounge to watch tv or socialize.
Edit: Talked to tour guide and he said some partying happens but nothing like New North. Kind of depends on what RA is cool with. Said their practice of keeping open doors tamps that down and noted that kids were ambitious and wanted to study and do well in school — so much of it left to the weekends. Said if kids were uncomfortable with that they could ask to be moved.
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Did you son applied and not getting a USC housing for his junior year? Is it hard for junior/senior to secure/renewal a room in campus housing? I thought most junior/senior would prefer to live off campus
I want to change my top choice to Birnkrant after touring it, do you think I’d get it with a 3/31 5:56 pm timestamp? It seemed crazy popular yesterday so I’m a little worried
Yes, getting housing as junior/senior very difficult and usually just for special circumstances, which is fine because at that point they are done with dorm life anyway. Very very few jr/sr live on campus.
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Birkrant has always been most popular dorm, my D looooved it there and chose it over the option to live in Village. I think it is the quintessential college dorm experience there.
That “8 floors of open doors” is a real thing. No problem getting work done at all - super social fun, but great students there - omg the elevator and bathroom stories are hilarious.
What day did housing open… I forget…but you can change your app before it closes without affecting your time stamp.
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Yes, always been Thursday, even through covid when virtual. Many parents don’t hang around that long after drop off to attend, so no pressure to go or not go. Personal choice.
I can tell you we had the exact same experience. We went there ready to embrace the school and all it has to offer but left feeling like it was a cattle call. We got the sense there was some disconnect or bad feelings with USC village. I would have liked to see McCarthy residence halls, dining, etc. We were told that is separate over there so they can’t show it. The only way to see was to commit and wait till orientation. We also waited in long lines and felt it was unorganized. I would have liked to have seen inside the libraries, classrooms, rec center as part of the tours and not just a walk by and point. We understand it was the first time back since Covid but the event should have been broken into more dates and capped at 2000 not the 5900 that were in attendance. We traveled along way and left disappointed. We are thinking maybe it was a fluke so we will probably try to go back o time before May 1. We went from decided to undecided.
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So move-in on Wednesday and Convocation Thursday. Are there other scheduled activities for students? Parents?
There will be lots of activities for students that weekend. For parents, there may be a department reception after the convocation. They try to pull the parents away from the dorms and then send the parents on their way. 
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For those unable to attend an event on campus, or if you just did not necessarily see enough, here is a link to some excellent videos related to living on campus…
OTHER USC VIDEOS:
And this Visit USC video is very good…
Visit the University of Southern California - YouTube
Campus tour via Drone…
University of Southern California | USC | 8K Campus Drone Tour - YouTube
USC Village tour…
USC Village: A Visual Tour - YouTube
USC SCA virtual tour…
USC School of Cinematic Arts Virtual Tour - YouTube
And finally, likely the best, a detailed overview of USC SCA…
USC School of Cinematic Arts - YouTube
Happy viewing. Fight On! 
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Try to attend the convocation if you can. It’s pretty cool/special. And I agree with lkg4answers post below – once they get settled into their down and the convocation is over, it’s time to say goodbye and let them immerse into all of the activities they have planned for the student.
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Juniors and seniors have almost no chance of on-campus housing unless they apply to be and are accepted as an RA, which is highly competitive.
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Regarding move in, there are also plenty of parents that move them in and move on the same day and don’t stay for even a second day or convocation. Move in, nice dinner and out. There is no pressure to hang out three days around campus. If you can’t/don’t stay, it’s good for the students to start meeting people as soon as they can anyway. There’s lots of different family situations and dynamics at play, so do what works for you and yours.
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For older D we came the day before and took her out for a nice meal. For move in day, we moved her in, met the roommate and her family, then were out of there.
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Any suggestions on what we can do to get our financial aid letters. I’m waiting for two! (Two kids admitted. One has NMF and has listed USC.)
We’ve provided everything, it says they are waiting on nothing for several days, and then suddenly yesterday they ask for something else. I’m wondering if we will ever get anything.
Is it worth calling and if I did would I even get through? Thanks.
Deeply grateful to people on this forum for all the great information that you provide.
We are trying to pick between Rice and USC and have a few questions
1] My daughter got a half tuition presidential scholarship, and she thinks it has greater benefits beyond the cheaper tuition. Is that true?
2] She got into Dornsife for economics but wants to double major in Econ and CS. Can you double major across Dornsife and Viterbi? Does she need to apply with possibility of not getting it?
3] There is high chance that she wants to go to grad school and try to get into an Ivy if possible. Does USC offer similar opportunities as Rice towards this goal?
4] How competitive is it to get research opportunities in Economics and build good relationships with professors given the larger number of students?
Thank you again for all your help.
Presidential scholars are part of the Trojan Scholar Society and are offered honors housing. Did she see something else that caught her attention?
You can double major or major/minor across colleges. There is some paperwork and processes that she will need to go through but her advisors should be able to help her. https://viterbiadmission.usc.edu/2020/admitted-to-a-non-engineering-major-at-usc-but-want-to-study-engineering/
Not sure what Rice offers. You might start a separate thread for Rice vs USC.
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