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HImom · April 12, 2010, 2:10pm

Many students DO attend orientation alone. The great advantage of attending is that the student can take all placement exams, get advising, and register for classes & times they prefer. Parents CAN attend but are not really necessary. The student doesn’t HAVE to attend, but we felt it was very helpful & the other students we spoke with also felt it helped them.

singlechildmom · April 12, 2010, 2:36pm

Thank you, HImom!. We probabely will go for the orientation as you suggested. I wish USC could schedule the orientation right before the school starts so we don’t have to make a separate trip for orientation only.

josebiwasabi · April 12, 2010, 4:18pm

I went to orientation alone and it was fine. Your student has to be organized and motivated to go take placement tests etc on their own though!

Like HImom said, the advantages are course registration, advisement, meeting people (I actually met my future rooommate there).

shinywing · April 12, 2010, 4:24pm

How is the campus? Is there a lot of trees there? How big is it?

HImom · April 12, 2010, 4:30pm

If you’re going for orientation, you might as well spend some time scouting out the area so you know where you might want to stay if/when you go back. Yes, it is inconvenient that they have the oreintation on a different day from move-in day, but they have a lot of kids they need to work with & I guess it works for them.

Parents don’t HAVE to come (we economized by only me & S going to his orientation & only D going to the transfer orientation, alone). When we went to LA, we always tried to include some fun too, Disneyland, visiting friends, many other attractions. We even went to San Diego Zoo & Wildlife Park! We wanted our kids to feel that southern cal had a lot to offer beyond just school.

For images of the USC campus, you can just google it. There is a camera on campus that shows real-time images as well. It is a very pretty campus.

We also made appointments & had our kids visit the USC family practice docs at the health campus because our kids had health issues & we wanted to be sure they could get continuing care, as needed. This was NOT part of orientation, but something we did when we moved the kids in as part of helping them be settled.

josebiwasabi · April 12, 2010, 4:56pm

Here are some pictures of campus I took back in 2006:

bonus! old commons
<a href=“http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v40/116/56/3430801/n3430801_31593017_606.jpg[/url]”>http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v40/116/56/3430801/n3430801_31593017_606.jpg</a>

poncem · April 12, 2010, 5:18pm

The campus is big and beautiful

the pictures taken by josebiwasabi say it all. I think that while you’re there it even looks better, I remember being amazed by the campus when I went to visit, plus the LA sun makes it look much “greener”

singlechildmom · April 12, 2010, 5:22pm

I’d like to know how easy to arrange the shuttle from/to airport and how flexible the shuttles are. We took taxies when we went to USC Explore and the cost was over $100 round trip. My only concern for my D to go alone is the transportation from/to airport. She had lots of fun when she stayed with her host during the interview.

We live in MO right now and my D has very bad allergy, like sore throat, itch eyes. She really hopes that the allergy will go away when she goes to LA. We used to live in Monterey for a few years and back then she did not have allergy at all. Do people get allergy in LA?

josebiwasabi · April 12, 2010, 5:33pm

singlechildmom,

Please never take the taxi again lol.

[Airport</a> Transportation Reservation System](<a href=“http://primetimeshuttle.hudsonltd.net/res]Airport”>Airport Transportation Reservation System -)

It’s $15 one-way per person. They will pick you up from the airport and drop you off at school at almost anytime. I’ve been picked up at 1am before, and I know people who have been picked up at 5am.

There is an alternative route with Flyaway shuttles that will take you from LAX to Union Station for something cheap like $5, and then you can take the USC tram for free from Union Station to either the Health Sciences or University Park campuses. It’s a bit more of a hassle and the trams don’t run late into the night so that’s why I prefer Primetime.

I’m not sure about allergies since I don’t have any… but from my experience with friends very few seem to be affected severely!

singlechildmom · April 12, 2010, 5:48pm

Thanks a lot! We’ll definitely try the bus this time! We anticipate lots of travels in the next four years and I don’t want to waste on taxi again :)

Kulakai · April 12, 2010, 6:09pm

Once the exposition line is open, you could just take the subway all the way to campus from LAX pretty much if you aren’t in a hurry enough to justify the lax shuttles.

itry · April 12, 2010, 8:05pm

how is the hazing processes for the frats at USC?
the only thing I’m worried about is physical violence, not so much excessive drink or other stuff

theblackmamba24 · April 13, 2010, 2:25am

^ that is one of my questions too.

also, how hard is it to get internships in the business field?
and iyo, what is the best residence hall to live in? (parties, staying up late, social)

itry · April 14, 2010, 6:01pm

bumpbump10

Angela12 · April 14, 2010, 11:48pm

My friend got D- in a class, and the deadline to withdraw has passed. Can he fail the course and retake it next semester? Will the grade (F) be counted on his transcript??

wanderlusting · April 15, 2010, 2:43am

itry: you aren’t going to find that answer here. Ultimately depends on the fraternity and I am definitely not going to mention names, especially because as a girl, I only know what my fraternity friends have told me.

justrelax · April 15, 2010, 3:09am

how do students treat spring admits? are they seen as inferior to the fall admits?

itry · April 15, 2010, 4:32pm

wanderlusting: just trying to get the gist of what its like. Just want to make sure that at least in some frats, are the rituals extremely painful?

poncem · April 15, 2010, 6:10pm

@itry try checking this discussion on the USC facebook group, if you answer isn’t there you can always ask them: <a href=“Facebook”>Facebook;

starlight68 · April 15, 2010, 9:53pm

About housing… I was considering the special community floors, specifically the "Women in Science & Engineering (WiSE) floor on New Residence College. What makes that different from the other dorms?

Also, what’s the difference between a “residence college” (new/north, arts&humanities, international, etc) On this site they had it separate, but was not sure what the difference was…
[Housing</a> Options - Residential Colleges](<a href=“http://housing.usc.edu/HousingOptions/ResColleges.aspx]Housing”>http://housing.usc.edu/HousingOptions/ResColleges.aspx)

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