My freshman year I lived in Parkside Arts and Humanities Residential College (PAHRC). There are three buildings that actually make up the Parkside area: Parkside Apartments (1 or 2 bedroom apartments that include a living room and kitchen), and Parkside Arts and Humanities Residential College (PAHRC) and Parkside International Residential College (PIRC) (both fairly new buildings with suite style living). Parkside has a giant grassy field right out front where you can see lots of students tanning, playing frisbee or throwing a baseball. PAHRC focuses on bring the arts and humanities to its residents and includes a music floor for students interested in music. PIRC tends to have a lot of international students living there. PAHRC and PIRC both have suite style living that includes 5-8 students living in a suite. I lived in an 8 person suite, with 4 bedrooms (2 people per bedroom), and 2 bathrooms. It was nice having 8 roommates because it allowed me to get the chance to get to know more girls than just my roommate. It just so happened that all of us were from out of state too, so I got lots of different perspectives from my other roommates.
Although, the building is in the far corner of campus, the best thing about PAHRC was the location. Right across the street is the Viterbi School of Engineering which made it more convenient if I ever needed to go to Ronald Tutor Hall, the main engineering building. Parkside cafe is also right downstairs. I loved having the dining hall so close because even if all I wanted was an apple for a snack, it wasn’t that big of a deal to just walk right on down stairs. Parkside International College, a similar building to PAHRC that’s right next door, also has a small gym which gave me more motivation to get my exercise every day. The Parkside area is also known to be the more quiter dorms on campus. Because you aren’t near the main quad where most of the events are held, you don’t have to worry about loud music or people keeping you up at night.
Each USC housing has its own building government that plans yearly events throughout the year. Although PAHRC doesn’t have a signature event, they do have a tradition of planning one big event each semester. My year we had a Halloween Carnival in the fall and a Screen on the Green movie night on the lawn out front.
Here’s a picture of the common room. There’s a small table and a few chairs and one giant cork board. I really enjoyed decorating our common room for holidays.
Here’s an example of the floor plan for PAHRC suites
Hi Ashyln,
Tks for your sharing. I’m planning to go to USC this Fall 2012. I’m considering PAHRC Suites, the Double with Bath – DBLE-WB – for two person. However, I can’t seem to find the floor plan on USC housing website. Do you know where I can get that floor plan? I’d like to know what kind of floor plan it has before finally deciding.
My priority list is: 1. Webb, 2. International (Parkside), 3. A&H (Parkside). I’d really appreciate if you can give some insights to my intended list of priority.
Tks a lot,
Dom.
Hey Dom!
I’m so glad you’re planning on USC. You are going to love it for sure! Unfortunately, the USC housing website doesn’t post every single floor plan on their website. They only post the most general floor plan. I haven’t actually seen what a double with a bath looks like, but my guess is that it will still have a small common room and bathroom as soon as you walk in the door, and a small hallway with two doors leading to the bedrooms.
As for your list of priorities. Webb is pretty popular as it is more apartment style living with a small kitchen. However, I have heard that the dorms by the Lyons center, including Webb, are undergoing a little bit of construction because the University wants to make all dorms on campus for freshman. Cafe ’84, also right by Webb, is also undergoing construction to turn it into a dining hall. Webb has a good location next to the Lyons center and new dining hall plus the renovations might make it newer. However, Webb is a little farther from most of the classrooms and the main quad.
Parkside IRC and A&H are practically identical in floorplan and location and share the same amenities like the gym and Parkside Cafe.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.
-Ashlyn
Hey Ashlyn,
Thanks for sharing this post, I thought it was incredibly helpful.
I’m going to be attending USC this Fall 2012 and I got the 8PDBLE PAHRC. Firstly, I was wondering if this is an 8 person suite style living (like the flow plan you attached to your post above)?
Also, I was wondering is PAHRC was mostly only for Engineering students? I plan on majoring in Business with a minor in Cinematic Arts! Do you think it’s a good option for me to stay at PAHRC?
Thanks,
Priyanka
Priyanka,
Yes, the picture I have in my post is going to look just like the 8 person suite. The other suites will all look very similar.
PAHRC is NOT mostly engineering students. The “Arts and Humanities” part means that there will actually be a lot of arts and humanities majors. My year we had a music floor so there were lots of music majors and also an architecture floor. There were also quite a few cinema majors. But really, unless you’re on a specialty floor you’re going to be living with a mix of different majors no matter where you live.
Hi Ashlyn,
I will also be attending USC this fall. I’m just wondering, how many suites are on each floor? I searched it up and they only said that Fluor Tower had 4 suites/floor but not any of the other residence halls.
Hi. I will be attending USC thsi fall, may i know what size are the beds so i can purchase the sheets in advance? Thanks
Hi Jim!
To answer your question, beds are a Twin-XL size. Be sure to make sure that the sheets are specifically “XL” so that they don’t end up being too short!
Naish