What are the pros and cons of USC housing options for incoming freshman? What are the USC Village housing options and how is the food at the Village Dining Hall?
Here’s a rundown…of course individual experiences vary and room mates can certainly impact an experience. For the most part, who you live with and around (having ability to meet people) is more important than the physical aspects of building. If you don’t care about AC and want 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 there is a Starbucks in the bottom of it. It is known as “8 floors of open doors.” 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.
If you want AC and suite set up, then Village, Parkside or Fluor but be prepared for different social experience than the dorms since they are suites or apartments. Some prefer this, others find them limiting socially, depends on the individual. Fluor is nice apartments but more isolating and closed door. Parkside is on the far side of campus, but newer building (relative to some others) and nice suites, close to engineering. Do not only list 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, Village is an outlier of random/leftover spots for freshman (other than honors who get McCarthy). Sophomores fill it up with early assignment that has been done already. There are other places on campus where freshman living is focused. I get AC is huge or 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.
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. Give them some choices.
From being around a lot of students over the years, what I have heard consistently is the entire freshman quad area (Birnkrant, Pardee, Marks, 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 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 (although a lot socialize over at freshman quad side too) and is known to have great food.
Sophomores are given housing priority in the Village, so if you don’t live in the Village as a freshman (most don’t), you have a really good chance of living there as a sophomore (but there are some that don’t get it). If you do, you get to experience two different types of housing in college. It all works out!
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.
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.
There is a place for everyone and there really isn’t a bad living arrangement at USC, truly.
Thank you, CADREAMIN. My son is a PS candidate. I thought the McCarthy Honors dorm would have additional benefits that other housing options don’t; but I now see the quad area have much to offer, too. My son and I are doing the Explore USC visit in a few days. I will definitely advise my son to observer the student dorm social interactions.
You’re welcome and have a great Explore visit! The Village is certainly impressive, people just love shiny new stuff. But until a couple years ago, the Village didn’t exist, yet thousands of students got by for decades. If he loves it, great, because he would have the option as a PS, but I think it is important for people to know kids are happy about anywhere, because frankly, they are getting away from home for the first time. It is all an adventure wherever they live! Have him talk to current students - they are the ones that will be the most revealing about the pros and cons of any housing situation. I think the key for them is meeting as many people as possible as quickly as possible - Explore is the first place to start that process. Have fun, congrats and good luck to your son!
I would also suggest that as soon as the housing application becomes available pay the deposit ($50 I think) first thing on the morning it opens up. This guarantees that you will get your first choice of housing. My DS18, a Presidential Scholar was one of the first (they time stamp it) to submit the housing application and pay. We felt it was worth the $50? even if he was not sure he was going to choose USC. He got a his first choice of rooms in McCarthy Honors College (the only freshman option in the Village.) He got a 4DBLE-DB which is 2 bedrooms/2bathrooms with 2 people in each bedroom and a VERY small front room that is more like an entry with an extra closet. Other students who were NMF Presidential scholars did not get their first choice of room set up and some did not get into McCarthy since they had to wait to submit the housing application in March during the regular admission cycle. I agree with everything @CADREAMIN stated regarding the housing reputations. DS chose McCarthy even though he knew it would not be as social. It definitely was not as social but he said he would have chosen it again knowing what he knows now. McCarthy is really nice since it is so new and he likes that he has a private bathroom (shared with his roommate) It really depends on what is most important to you. First semester was a bit rough socially but he made some good friends and is now pledging a fraternity. He did apply for Village housing for next year but did not get in as his group of 4 guys all got last day lotteries. He did not choose to go with the Sophomore honors housing (would have almost guaranteed to get in) because not all of his roommates he was planning to live with next year were eligible for honors housing. They will be living in off campus housing next year. The Village dining hall is decent but Parkside is known to be the best dining hall food. Good luck at Explore!
Unpopular opinion, but I think the Village dining hall has much better food than Parkside (except for the omelets 
). The only problem with the Village is that they are understaffed.
As a freshman, I lived in Webb, which is no longer an option, but I lived both in Parkside A&H and McCarthy as an RA. Personally, I did NOT like McCarthy. The only water fountain is in the lobby, and there’s one tiny trash room for the entire floor. I had to cross the courtyard just to get to that one trash room, and the floors are huge. Also, the lofts are ridiculously small, and they didn’t use primer for the paint, so you can’t put anything on the wall (I know, small problem, but it’s annoying). Not sure about the community, since I lived here over the summer.
A&H only has one set up (unless you’re one of those special people who gets a single or a double, but there are only 1 or 2 available), which is an 8 person/4 bedroom/2 bathroom suite. The rooms are spacious, there’s A/C, and you have a nice common area with chairs and a table. There’s also an arcade room and music practice rooms! Plus, the way the floors are structured, you do get to form a community, and my residents were VERY social (but I’m biased…). Only downside is that some rooms face Exposition/the metro.
The only other dorm I can speak to is Trojan Hall. I lived there for six weeks over the summer (also as an RA), and I did not love it. It got ridiculously hot, and I had to sleep with the window open. Since I was on the ground floor, one day I woke up to a gardener literally staring at me (though I doubt this happens a lot haha). My room also faced Figueroa, so it was rather loud.
My D is in McCarthy and loves it. She does wish it was more social. Her best friend is in Birnkrant and she likes how social that dorm is. But she has no regrets because she loves her room and sharing a bathroom with just one other person. She spends a lot of time in the lounge and has met a lot of people that way.
She opted to not try for the honors dorm next year. Her friends were not eligible. They all got bad lottery times so won’t be living in the Village. They are fine with it though.
She says the village dining hall food is fine. Not great but not bad. She vegetarian and says it has the best options for her.
My D is a freshman in McCarthy, also in a 4-person double bath unit . She loves the facility, but doesn’t have a connection with her roommates. All her friends are in the freshman dorms, and she spends most of her time at North or Pardee. In retrospect, she wishes she had chosen North, and will be moving off campus next year to live with her friends.
Thank you, @kcheves. It seems the McCarthy layout can be socially limiting. Students need to go through 2 sets of doors to access their rooms. This is a social barrier that can be significant for incoming freshman.
Birnkrant was the “honors dorm” and back then mine loved how easy it was to meet people. There are people everywhere and great rooms to hang out in. Today, USC is not like some schools that have honors where there is an actual distinction in achievement. When kids with perfect GPAs and high test scores aren’t even accepted, let’s face it, there is really no difference of those that get scholarships nowadays from those that don’t. Scholarships have become more about demographics and luck rather than differences academic wise. (I expect USC will be evaluating scholarship/honors with a 10% acceptance rate.) The idea that one lives in McCarthy just to be with other honors kids doesn’t make sense as a primary reason since most of the school is honors kids. Some do prefer suites and that’s fine. Let them pick the housing environment that is best for them and what THEY want out of their experience.
@blueskies2day, I am right there with you. Unlike ASU or U of A, I don’t see any additional benefits staying at the honors dorm besides having the option to stay there. Every USC freshman has worked hard to earn his/her admission already.