My USC Freshman Housing Experience: Parkside Arts & Humanities

This blog post is part of a series written by the Viterbi Student Ambassadors on our Freshman year dorm experiences. For more posts on this topic, check out Viterbi Voices.

Coming from Northern California as a Freshman, I did not know much about housing options at USC. So, after checking the numerous options online and talking with some current students, I decided upon living in Parkside: Arts & Humanities Residential College.

As a new dorm, Parkside made up for what it lacked in location and social scene with numerous amenities — air conditioning, personal study rooms, a brand new dining hall, “private” bathrooms… the list just goes on. Instead of dorm style living like most other Freshman housing options, Parkside utilizes suite style living, where 8 people live in 4 rooms in a suite and share 2 bathrooms. Not only was this nice cleanliness-wise, but it also had air conditioning for our suite.

Compared to the other dorms on campus, Parkside–as I alluded to above–was a bit less social than the other dorms due to the fact it is suite style and in a different area of campus. This is both a positive and a negative depending on how you look at it. Parkside was definitely an easy place to study and relax when I needed time alone, and social when I wanted it to be. However, if you are looking for a more “constant” social scene (for lack of a better word), the other dorms provide a better outlet for meeting and running into people on a daily basis.

All in all, whatever you decide on as far as housing goes should work out for you… It’s the people you meet and what you make of it all that makes the experience what it is! –and with that, I must say I enjoyed my time at PAHRC (as we call it) because I made the most of it 🙂

As always, feel free to private message me with questions about where I lived or any of the other dorms on campus. For a complete list of USC Housing options, please check here and select the “Freshman” option.

R