<p>Hey!
So I’m not an engineering major so I can’t tell you about that, but I did want to respond to your meal plans question, since I’m a freshman.
This is how it works: If you live in any freshman dorm or suite (and I think Parkside Apartments requires it too) you are required to get a meal plan. There are 3 choices for meal plans- Cardinal, Trojan, Unlimited. (The website says there is another one, but I don’t know anyone who has it.)</p>
<p>1) Cardinal- the standard meal plan. If you register for freshman housing then you are automatically enrolled in this plan. It has 10 meals per week and $510 dining dollars. The meals roll over weekly if you don’t use them all, which is why it is easy to accumulate many. Neither the meals or dining dollars roll over to the next semester, though.</p>
<p>You can upgrade to:
2) Trojan- which is a few hundred dollars more, but it is all dining dollars (I think around $3000/semester.)</p>
<p>3) Unlimited- which is cheaper than Cardinal, but it gives you access to unlimited meals at the dining halls. However, there are no dining dollars.</p>
<p>There are two dining halls on campus: EVK and Parkside, which is where you use the meals at. You can use the dining dollars at any other USC Hospitality food place on campus, like Cafe 84, The Lot (which probably won’t be here next year since the new Campus Center will be opened), Trojan Grounds, and any of the cafes. </p>
<p>Yup! That’s about it. Hope’s this helps you.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, your meal plan/dining dollars are on your USCard, so you just swipe when you want to use them.</p>