While I currently live in an apartment, last year I lived in on-campus dormitory housing as most freshmen do. Although I didn’t know anything concrete about any of the dorms, I had heard that Birnkrant Hall was a cool place, so I decided to apply for Birnkrant housing. It was one of the best decisions I made during my transition to USC. Everyone in Birnkrant was great, and it seemed to be the perfect mix of social and studious. Although I lived on the 8th floor, I spent most of my time on the 6th floor since I shared a lot of the same interests with some guys on that floor, including SC Racing, Engineering Research, Soccer Intramurals, and more.
I loved everything about Birnkrant, from the ecclectic students that occupied it to the quirks of the building itself- like the two elevators (one for odd floors and one for even floors). And although it’s one of the oldest dorms on campus, it’s been constantly rennovated so it’s not out-of-date. If you do choose Birnkrant though, make sure to get a fan for your room! On particularly hot nights it pays to have a little breeze moving through the room. The guys across the hall and I actually figured out that if we both left our doors and windows open we got a really nice cross-draft going through, so on hot days we’d always keep our rooms open.
In general, people keep their doors open in Birnkrant anyway. It’s a great way to meet people and learn about people’s backgrounds when everyone welcomes other students to just walk on in to their rooms.
All the dorm choices are great, but I’m definitely partial to Birnkrant. It was my home away from home for a whole year, and many of my closest friends, whom I now live with off campus, lived with me in Birnkrant. The rooms are pretty big, the culture is fantastic, and it’s a fun place to be. Eight floors of open doors is Birnkrant’s motto, and it lives up to the name.
