USC Class of 2026 — Regular Decision

Are you asking about a housing reassignment?

For some reason I mysteriously put “USC Registration” in my calendar for Aug 15 and now I can’t remember what that’s for since my daughter’s class registration appears to be in early June. Would anyone happen to know? (I have Aug 17 as her move in - Pardee yay!)

Yes

Usually a few weeks after the semesters starts, students who want a room reassignment put their name on a list and when a spot becomes available they are given the opportunity to move.

In my opinion only one parent really need go; unless neither has been to campus and the travel expense is doable. It is a very beautiful campus. But in terms of the info, for a parent, there is no need for two. I’d say that about half the students have no parent attending and about half have one and very few have 2.

Hi. My son is an international student and will Major in CS. We are new to the American university system and and we are a bit lost about everything. There are many links in the usc web, but could not find a compilation of all the steps he needs to follow. Is there a guide for that? Thank you

I would start here…

https://parents.usc.edu/

If you look at the links from the webpage above that apply to your son, you should be able to gain a lot of important information and also work your way through their new student checklist. I would especially look at all the links under the section entitled, " My Trojan is New to the United States".

Good luck and fight on! :v:

The people at Viterbi are very helpful. If you are confused, you can call or email them.

Thank you.
Do you know where he can. Check if he has an appointment with the academic advisor?

Thank you

I am not sure. Both of my daughters attended in-person orientation sessions where they each first met with advisors. Thereafter, they would email my daughters to remind them to schedule an appointment. I am not sure how such would be arranged in your son’s case.

CS advising information can be found here.

If you open the section about undergrad advising, it says,

Undergraduates in our four majors (CSCI, CSBA, CSGA, CECS-Computing Systems track) and the CSCI minor have an assigned CS advisor. Students can view their assigned CS advisor via the myUSC portal in the “undergraduate advisement” module. Entering freshmen and pre-engineering admits are assigned their CS advisor during Week 1 of the semester and should continue to work with the Viterbi Academic Services Office until the semester begins. Students in CECS-Embedded Systems track have an assigned advisor in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department.

Thank you. That’s very helpful. I will pass to him. What I do not understand is that it says that the CS undergrad will be assigned an advisor during the first week of the first semester. We assumed that they would have met their advisor beforehand , to be able to choose subjects in advance

He will receive help in setting up his first classes. It may be at orientation or through VASE.

He should have received a Viterbi undergraduate handbook. This one is from last year. On page 15 and 16 it shows the general education class he needs. CS four year schedules start on page 48. If he has units coming in (ex. AP, IB, DE) then he might not need to take all of those classes. If not, then it is pretty straight forward. He will need to take a writing class, math and Engr 102 first semester.

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Thank you for your help

Students can look at courses and create different schedules by logging onto MyUSC and going to Web Registration. To view course availability without making a schedule, students can look here.

When registering for classes, there is a Chrome extension called “USC Schedule Helper.” If you install it, it highlights courses that have time conflicts or are full. It also links to Rate My Professor. It is especially helpful for notifying you when someone drops a class and there is an opening.

I should correct myself. In his first year, he will need to take a GESM course and WRIT 150. It doesn’t matter which he takes first semester and which he takes second semester.

The little * next to GESM means that they want him to choose a GESM that fulfills General Education (GE) requirement A,B or C. On the bottom of page 15 it explains, “Your GESM course should be taken in categories A, B, or C.”

Your son isn’t alone. All freshmen are new to this system. They will figure it out very quickly.

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My son changed dorms and roommates this past year as a freshman. There is an official reassignment week in early October. My son switched to room with a friend who had an empty bed in his dorm room. He lined up at the housing office at 7am and had to move the same day by himself. He was much happier though. I’m not sure you can switch any earlier. There is quite a bit of switching and housing publishes the list of availability a day or two before (since you select a specific dorm/room).

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McCarthy move in Question here. My DD moves in the weekend before regular move-in schedule. I guess there is some type of honors McCarthy retreat. My question is, once we move her in whatever time it takes / all of the day, is there much more we need to hang around four. Trying to decide about airfare as they start to creep up.

thx

There is not much reason to hang around after move in unless you want to take your child and her roommate/suitemates to lunch or something. But our experience is once you move them in, they are ready to start meeting other students and ready to say goodbye to the parents.

McCarthy kids usually move in a day or two early. Convocation is usually the day after regular move in. Several (but not all) departments have receptions for parents after convocation. We were told that the receptions are a way to pull the parents away from the students so the students can start acclimating.

I can’t find it on the event calendar but my guess is that it will be the morning of Thursday, August 18.