Ya assume the 1st, but that’s a hilarious typo from a place of higher education. Would you pronounce that February “toost” or “seconst” ?
Is there a thread somewhere that describes housing? Are Presidential students guaranteed McCarthy? Thank you!
The McCarthy Honors College is a unique living and learning environment for freshman honors students holding either the Mork Family, Stamps Leadership, Trustee or Presidential scholarships.
Assignment to the building is available to qualified scholarship holders on a first-applied basis according to housing configuration preferences. While McCarthy Honors provides a greatly expanded number of spaces to Honors students, assignment to the building is not guaranteed.
Kevin Feige, USC School of Cinematic Arts alum, president of Marvel Studios, and the creative force behind the MCU, will give the keynote address at the 2023 USC Commencement. Very cool.
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^^^ Follow the excellent advice above regarding freshmen housing. For those admitted who want to post a housing deposit… you cannot do so yet, but save this link:
Welcome to the USC Housing application portal!
It will open for new applications on February 1st.
The banner explains how and when you can do so. Even if you are not 100% certain about committing to USC, it is worth the $55 or so housing deposit to secure your spot in line. It’s the best way to get preferential housing assignments. And you can even do so without paying the overall commitment deposit to enroll at USC.
The actual best way to get exactly what you want… or at least one of your top two choices… is to locate a roommate (CC or facebook, etc. is a good starting place) and then select each other and match your preferences (1-5, etc.) exactly the same. By doing so, you make the housing office’s job super-easy, as they can match you two and accommodate the goals of two freshmen simultaneously. They also go with whichever of you had the higher preferential order in terms of signing up.
You can check the Housing Options for Freshmen via USC Housing | USC Housing
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From uscadmission instagram:
Early Action admits: want to know when you’ll be receiving that important email from us? Get ready, because scholarship updates will be released on Friday, February 10!
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The VERY LONG housing post for Feb and March admits…YMMV!
I’ve had one or two students consistently at USC for last 10 years and spend a lot of time on campus, so this is what I have learned/seen over my time there and gleaned from my kids and their friends. I try to update this best I can, sometimes they add a building to the freshman housing list, but generally it stays the same. And hopefully other posters can share thoughts. But generally speaking…
First for the merit students - you obviously have priority for McCarthy and many will choose it, but there are also those merit students that go a different way because they don’t want the more closed door style, or their non-merit room mate choice can’t live there, they want to be in freshman quad area, or they just want the typical old school college experience of a regular dorm. There is no wrong choice. It is YOUR choice and preferences that matter. As a sophomore, you will more than likely have choice to live at Village, so if you want to do it one or both years, that is up to you. Aside from McCarthy, the Village is really a sophomore community, but the honors in McCarthy becomes it’s own little family, and any dorm can feel like home if it is what you want. (Future reference/mental note - if your student applies for Village at some point, keep in mind that the loft layout is beyond TINY. (You really do get what you pay for in dorms.)
Many love the wowness of the Village (parents do for sure). There are great things about McCarthy besides the obvious shiny newness of it - they check in a few days before everybody else and start their bonding activities, then have their food and everything right there. It certainly has a regent feel to it. They have done a better job getting this group to bond/have activities more than they did the first year it opened, and have done a good job making it more social for the freshman. But if a merit student wants to choose something else because a room mate that can’t live in McCarthy, or they want they fun experience of a dorm, or they don’t want to just be with honor students, those are all valid reasons that students choose something like a Birnkrant.
For students accepted during regular admission in March, keep in mind that housing at Village is for merit student freshman that choose it, otherwise it is sophomore housing (and some upperclassman) and there is very very low probability for other freshman, so don’t waste all your choices on the Village.
And don’t stress it, there are so many great places to live and you will become a family in any of them. Meeting people during the year that become college/lifelong friends is way more important that being 100 steps closer to Wahlburgers (although they have very yummy burgers). Talk to friends, check on line and decide what you think you will like. If you aren’t that social, the suite/hotel style may be more isolating (but only if you let it) than being in an open door/floor type experience, so be sure to get involved with things and people early on. Think of how you will/can grow. Maybe a little discomfort is good for that. You know yourself best.
For the most part, who you live with and around (having ability to meet people) is more important than the physical aspects of building. An 18 year old is adaptable, more than us old parent types! If the student doesn’t care about AC and wants a good social aspect (not saying party dorm, just super friendly atmosphere with lots of activities and ways to meet people) then Birnkrant, Pardee, Marks Tower are all great and part of the freshman quad. New North is definitely known as the fun dorm. But keep in mind the academic level of USC nowadays, no dorm is Animal House. Birnkrant kept it’s honors reputation (it was honors dorm prior to Village) and it is known as “8 floors of open doors.” There is a Starbucks in the bottom of it. I haven’t known anyone that didn’t love living there. Not fancy and a traditional dorm set up, but its academic/social balance remains strong. All these are just across the street from the Village shops and food. Birkrant could be labled studious and social, but frankly they all are. If you look at stats, there isn’t a real difference between students at USC, so you aren’t gonna find housing with a “certain kind of student;” they are all great Trojans.
If you want AC and suite set up, then Village, Parkside A&S or Webb Tower all offer that. Webb has large apartments but has been more closed door feeling at times. Parkside is on the far side of campus, but newer building (relative to some others) and super nice suites (pretty large), close to engineering, tends to be social for suites, and they include 8 person suites. In suites, 2 share a room and 4 rooms share a bathroom. Parkside residents do a lot together because they are off to themselves more, but of course make their way to the freshman quad area and Village too - the campus isn’t that big! Also known to have great food.
For those accepted in March, do not put all five configurations in one building because if full, then they get to make your “second choice” and will put you wherever they want. Do not only list all 5 choices in the Village - or you will be surprised when you are stuck “wherever” because you don’t list enough choices building wise. If not in McCarthy honors, the Village is an outlier of random/leftover spots (if any) for freshman (other than honors who get McCarthy). There are other places on campus where freshman living is focused. I get AC is a must for some people, but I would suggest adding additional factors to that as the highest priority of your USC living experience if you can. Although there can be a couple periods of heat, it is California, not the south, no humidity. There is a reason shacks go for millions here.
Again, give them some choices of at least two buildings, for sure for the March accepted students. For merit students that want McCarthy, I would put first 4 configuration choices in McCarthy and the 5th choice in Birnkrant, as an example. For merit students that don’t want McCarthy, you would most likely get your first choice anywhere else. And remember, you can change your preference after you submit and before the app closes. So don’t stress this early decision you have to make!
From being around a lot of students over the years, what I have heard consistently is the entire freshman quad area (Birnkrant, Pardee, Marks, New North, etc.) is one of the best places you can live, even without AC. It is where you do the most as a freshman and can meet the most freshman. USC is a HUGE school with 40,000 people, a lot of them graduate students. In the freshman quad area it is great to be grabbing coffee at that Starbucks or sitting out by the pond with other freshman. If you are throwing frisbee in the lawn, or studying at a table outside, it is likely a freshman sitting next to you and walking by. Anyone in that area is a freshman - all those buildings might as well be considered one building, they way everyone interacts. So if you choose or end up in the freshman quad area it will be great too. It is so easy to make friends over there. Parkside has it’s own little community on it’s side, and students are really happy there too, it’s just a bit of a haul (relatively speaking) to the other corner of campus. I think they do a great job room mate matching if student answers the questionnaire honestly and openly. Be who you are and they will match you with a good fit the majority of the time.
Kids that are interested in going Greek tend to live in New North. It has been known that way for years. It has a big sorority/fraternity contingency that chooses to live there. It’s not all those interested in Greek, just seems to be a reputation that follows it.
Don’t worry about living by your “major” school, as freshman you will likely be all over campus with GEs and activities. It’s not that big a campus, everything is pretty close really and there’s plenty of great options!
Mine have been out of on campus living for a couple years, so please, current parents add any perspectives or update you may have. Webb floats in and out of freshman access and I think Fluor was under construction recently, so fill us in. But generally, things don’t change that much year after year.
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This is fantastic. Thank you. Can you specific requirements to be able to apply for McCarthy. Specifically - is my son was accepted and is NMF-likely merit - can we sign him up for McCarthy on the Feb 1 date? TY!
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If I recall correctly, the housing portal may limit your selection options if not technically considered merit eligible at the time that you sign up. But no worries, if the portal does not yet allow you to select McCarthy, the option could be altered and become available in the future. As stated above, you can modify the options selected and roommate linked as many times as you would like to before the portal closes a couple months down the road. So, it could go both ways… and if the portal allows you to select McCarthy, but later you learn that you will not be given priority for it, you can always change your list of preferred options later. The key thing is to sign up asap on the 1st to secure your spot in line. There is no pressure to have it be perfect in terms of selections until much later on. But, if a roommate is chosen, it is just important to have the 1-5 choices match by the time that the portal closes finally.
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Thank you. These replies and info are fantastic. Do you have any idea how many students actually know their roommate in advance? My son is out of state and will unlikely have a ‘friend’ who is attending that he will know. In that case I assume they will just pair him with someone else. (like most of us had to do! 
You’re welcome. I am not sure of the exact numbers, but I assume that the percentage is fairly high in terms of roommate requests. I assume that most meet their prospective roommates virtually via social media or within the housing portal itself. My older daughter private messaged one first through CC and then just started texting & calling. Many meet them within facebook groups. There is also a matching service of sorts within the portal itself. He will be able to post parameters about himself and see others too. It will become more clear as to how that actually works once the portal is active. In my daughter’s case, they discovered that they had similar interests… and first realized that here. You can take the random approach, but it may be preferable to take control a bit of the situation. Plus, it greatly enhances your chances of actually getting the residence hall and configuration you prefer if you approach the housing process as a united front.
Within the housing webpage’s FAQ section, they describe it as follows: “How are roommates assigned? For new freshman (only) who are starting in the fall, roommates are matched based on their profiles and building preferences. However, all applicants, including new freshmen, can use our online tools to search for and contact potential roommates, and then request them.”
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Many come in without roommates. Just fill out profile and they do darn good job matching. My engineer son lived in 8 person suite and they stayed together all four years getting a giant townhome senior year. And post grad a subset have lived together in NY AND SF! Lifelong friends, USC did well in his case!
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Perfect. Thank you!
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Also want to add that the housing office is one of the most friendly and helpful to call if you have questions.
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My sophomore daughter didn’t choose a roommate, and she got her first pick and a perfect roommate match! She’d still be rooming with her if she wasn’t spending her sophomore year in Hong Kong. They still keep in touch and my daughter visited her and other friends last week for a few days. My daughter knew no one at USC (from Texas), and she had a wonderful social experience.
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That’s what I’m talking about! In these days of social media onslaught, do not worry if your student comes in without making a previous connection. Many do it that way and find new and fast friends! Thanks for sharing @tgd !
The room mate matching helps, but I’m sure it’s not perfect 100%, but the suite my son was in was other engineers, math major, bio major and other science majors - so they seem to match by major and study habits best they can (given on profile).
It was actually one of the big things that we didn’t like about UCLA - it was total random placement, so a study hard science kid could be with a “less than rigorous major” student. Great for diversity, but not so good for in room study and other similar study/living habits. I like the profile, it seems to work most of the time.
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My daughter went random and she and her roommate lived together very well. Not friendly outside of the room but had fun and were respectful of one another inside the room.
My experience with 3 kids, two not USC, is that it’s hit or miss with roommates whether you choose or go random. I told mine to all be respectful, flexible, and make compromises and most likely will turn out fine. It did for all 3.
A couple of examples. My non USC daughter was sick one night. Threw up on her bed. While she was putting sheets in wash at 2am, her roommate got up and put a clean set of sheets on her bed. My D did same kinds of things for her when she was sick.
My USC daughter and her roommate and suitemates were doing their agreement and discussed room temperature. My D likes it warm, others all liked it cool in room. At home we all like it cool as well. So she said she’s used to it being cool and they could keep room how they wanted.
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Son, happily admitted to Dornsife.
West coast, 4.0 unweighted, 1590 SAT, 4 APs, unusual extracurriculars, strong leadership, essays that really demonstrated his fit with USC.
We know lots of really amazing kids with very similar profiles who got deferred, though. Hopefully they will be admitted in RD. He feels fortunate that he was chosen - too many great applicants, not enough spaces, so it feels random. Dominant emotion right now is relief that he’s on the “admitted” side and can breathe a little easier.
Thanks for all the great info on this site. So helpful! And for those in the RD round, fingers crossed for good news in March!
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Grats!!!
Are you hanging in with ED at UChicago?
Have you been to USC? Are you gonna visit now in?
I lost track of your app count, I know you applied to 28 or 30? Have you just heard from a couple, like most will be March?