<p>My D has a housing question for you. She likes the sound of the Cinema Hall in New but would also like a room with a sink. The housing people told her she has to choose one or the other. What would you pick? </p>
<p>Also she's not a Cinema student and wonders if everyone else there will be - any advice welcome.</p>
<p>Hmm. Now, maybe it's because I witnessed a horrific experience with a sink in New/North (it was malfunctioning and started overflowing... the room was flooded with dirty, BATHROOM water... ugh), but I would personally pick the Cinema floor. I would think that probably most of the students on the Cinema floor are Cinema students, but if your D loves films, I don't see why she wouldn't fit right in :) However, some people do absolutely love having a sink in their room... and most everyone at this school loves movies anyway, so it's not like she wouldn't have people to talk to about them. It's a tough choice I guess. If your D uses the sink/washes her hands every hour or something like that, it might be more practical to get the room with the sink?</p>
<p>I think I'm just rambling here haha Your daughter should just weigh the pros and cons of each, and figure out which one is more important to her... living on a floor with fellow movie buffs (though there are plenty of movie fans in general) or a room with a sink (although the bathrooms are close by).</p>
<p>Excellent reply. You made her laugh. I personally love the idea that she washes her hands every hour - uh, no. She is actually your basic slobby girl but I guess she just thought it would be handy to have a sink for makeup purposes, etc. And a flood hadn't occurred to either of us - yuck.</p>
<p>To add to the rambling, she isn't a serious film buff - more of a movie fan. Your point is well taken that there will be lots of those around and that is, of course, one of the reasons she chose USC. So I expect that she will weigh and choose. Again, thank you for the advice</p>
<p>Even if I get the presidential scholarship I will most likely be living in one of the 8-person suites in Fluor...it's close to the Lyon center and the Cinematic Arts school (even though I can't start taking my classes there until second semester my sophomore year...which SUCKS but oh well)</p>
<p>ok i'm 90% certain i'm gonna choose birnkrant. my mom is pushing me to get fluor for the suite, but i want the dorm experience. do most people study in their dorms or in the library? i'm not sure which one i'll choose and i thought birnkrant would keep both options wide open.</p>
<p>ahhh i forgot about the lyon center. i'll be working out every day so that will be a handy thing to live in fluor. so torn!</p>
<p>No problem, ForToto :) Glad I could be of help.</p>
<p>haha bluebeard... people go to the Lyon Center all the time from dorms that are rather "far" away (it's only two blocks or so away, not bad at all).. I always see packs of people leaving together in their workout clothes. Even if you don't live in Fluor, you'll always have someone who will go work out with you, and at all hours too (for the life of me I don't understand people who wake up early to exercise... any extra sleep I can get my hands on is a priority. But whatever floats their boats I suppose)</p>
<p>Studying in rooms.. it really depends. Some people like to study in the library environment, but I personally find it a bit stifling and I prefer to just plop down on my bed and crack open a textbook, and Birnkrant's not very loud usually, so it's not bad at all.</p>
<p>From what I know, most Birnkrant people study in their rooms or on the 2nd floor (study floor), though I do know of some people who go to Leavey to study (Leavey is a whole.. 20 feet away so it's nice and convenient :)) </p>
<p>Hope I answered your questions!</p>
<p>thanks so much. i guess the whole idea of living closer to the lyon center so that i can exercise more is kind of contradictory haha. yeah i just have to keep telling myself that the dorms will be much easier to meet new people. i'm the kind of person that likes to just walk down the hall and talk to whoever has their door open, regardless of whether i know the person or not. i imagine that it'll be a little odd to just walk into someone else's suite and plop down on the couch.</p>
<p>getting a big dispenser of that alcohol-gel hand sanitizer can be a good alternative to washing hands every hour, which can get tough on the skin.</p>
<p>If you end up in Marks, but aren't pres/trustee/TO/RHP...do you still go on the "Dean's Hall" outtings (it's like an option for "special interest" floors/groups)? So would a non-honor's student feel out of the loop kind of? Or does everybody in Mark's Hall go to the outtings/dinner/etc.?</p>
<p>^ i dont think the outings are for the whole building. i believe that there are a number of outings exclusively for rhp, etc.</p>
<p>aight, im gonnna put down marks hall for first (special program rhp) and new as my second choice (women in science and engineering special interest group)</p>
<p>umm when I looked at the residential buildings the new Arts/Humanities tower looked very appealing to me, esp. since I want a suite and a nice, new, clean bathroom!!
anyone have any additional info about this?</p>
<p>not to be cheap but
what would be the cheapest option</p>
<p>hahaha that was hilarious idlaunva...
if we both end up going to USC, lets be friends :)</p>
<p>Another housing question and I'll let her ask it herself:</p>
<p>I applied for my housing and put North as my second choice. (My first was New and from what my mom has told me about your responses, I'm going to tell them that I can in fact live without a sink if it must be so for me to live in the Cinema Hall.) But anyway, this is another sink problem. (No, I am not an obsessive compulsive hand-washer.) There are apparently two different Halls in North. One is Harris Hall, which has sinks, and the other is University Hall, which doesn't. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice as to which particular hall was better, if any. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>It is my humble opinion that all freshmen should experience the dorm life. Freshman year will most likely be your only chance to live in a dorm, unless you become an RA or something. After freshman year, you can go live in apartments or suites as upper classmen. Think of dorm life as a rite of passage - everyone should experience it at least once in their lives.</p>
<p>The New/North rooms with sinks are wider than the standard rooms. Also, those sinks in the room are pretty handy I must say - - I am glad that I have one. Never had any probs with it.</p>
<p>Pardee – I have heard all good things about this for the most part, it is single sex floors but it seems to yield a good balance of socializing and working. I heard maybe one complaint about the desk situation since there are not separate desks but rather one long table desk thing that you kind of split in half, but most people don’t seem to care. (and um if there are really safes, that is AWESOME, does anyone know if that’s true?!)
Marks Tower – this is where I live. My first choice had been birnkrant and then new/north, then Marks, but I couldn’t envision myself being happier anywhere else. It really has no perks but no negatives either. There are two elevators and one only goes to girls floor and one to guys, which is annoying but that’s not that big of a deal. Marks is sort of like pardee in that in is a good balance, and to be honest I don’t want to have to go to the library when I want to get anything done (though I still do go there pretty often) I have made a lot of friends and I personally wanted the mixed sexes floors but am happy with the way it worked out because there is so much socializing between floors anyway, and I can still walk to the shower in a towel without feeling people’s eyes on me.</p>
<p>Parkside suits – yes, it is far away, but I have a lot of friends there and the walk really isn’t that bad at all. From marks T we walk there for dinner all the time, and if you have a bike it can really take less than 5 minutes (maybe 10-15 walk). The actual building is really nice, and my friends love the AC the rooms and the set up. Its not that social between suits I have heard, but it does happen, sort of depends on how determined you are. The food at parkside is really good, so that is a major plus.
Flour – I have heard mixed things about this. My friend liked it because it can be pretty social and can be kind of quiet. I have heard of problems with the physical building that sort of come with age, plumbing etc. I don’t know that much about it but it seems sort of isolated, but then again it is close to the gym and caf</p>
<p>SouthSide housing</p>
<p>New/north - definitely a party dorm, all of the stereotypes you have heard about it are true. I have lots of friends there and they all love it, because you can go to the library to work and everything. The only thing is that the dorm is a little physically dirty, which makes sense cause of all the parties really.
Birnkrant – I have heard nothing bad about this dorm, besides that the elevators are slow and a little strange, but its good for you to take the stairs anyway, get some exercise woohoo. They have some good study rooms in the building, an entire floor with like 2 rooms I think (studied for finals in a group there last semester) I guess I have heard that you can defiantly hear lots of noise from the quad if anything is going on there. The triples are really nice here, since there are two rooms, and there is just so much space. One room for sleeping and one for desks and you can put in extra chairs or a couch. Real nice. The “fish bowls” are like mini study rooms on each floor where people get a lot done without having to go to the library</p>
<p>caf- that was supposed to say cafe 84, it got cut off, whew long post haha...ps all southside housing is VERY close to leavey, the library that is open 24 hours a day, and doheney, the really pretty one...southside includes everything i listed except parkside, radi, flour</p>