Is Parkside Apartments the best dorm at USC?

Students rated Parkside Apartments a 3.1/5 stars. Here's what they had to say.

The pros are that it’s quiet and next to arguably the best dining hall. The cons are that the building is old, doesn’t have AC and can be very hot at times, and you will probably need to call maintenance at least 3 times a semester to fix things. Not worth the price.

Parkside Apartments has its pros and cons so it depends what you value when looking at a dorm. I think it deserves more credit than its ratings. I had 1 roommate and we shared a small kitchen, a bathroom, and a sink. We also had a table, extra chairs and a lounge chair. Overall it was fairly spacious Having our own bathroom and kitchen was really enjoyable especially as a freshman though we rarely cooked since we were required to have a meal plan and we were right next to a dining hall (very convenient). An apartment style living situation meant that the halls were usually quiet, but this also means that it isn't as social. There is plenty of space for storage, especially in the kitchen and there is also a full size fridge (we do not have a microwave so bring one if you want to quickly heat up food). Laundry was every other floor, but it wasn't much of an issue. The building itself is pretty old especially when compared to the other Parkside dorms and doesn't have many amenities though we can use the amenities at Parkside IRC (printing, study rooms, gym, etc.) The flooring at the other Parkside dorms is carpet, but we have wood. Parkside is in the corner of campus which meant that everything was a little bit of a walk (I didn't mind). A plus of this was that it was never very loud with students. There were a few times when the fire alarm went off and once when the sprinkler went off and one wing on the 6th floor flooded. On the occasion one of the two elevators will go out and getting up and down can take a long time. What compounds this issue is that there are no usable stairs (only emergency) so the only alternative is to wait for the elevator. There is also no air conditioning so during the summer months it gets hot, but if you bring a fan you should be okay (unless there is a heatwave). Heating is also set at a certain level so if you want to change the level of heating you need to fill out a work order. Overall, my experience with Parkside Apartments has been pretty great. Having a very chill dorm that had a kitchen, bathroom, close dining hall, table and extra seating was really amazing, especially as a freshman. These daily benefits outweighed any occasional problems that Parkside had and overall I was happy with my experience.

The studios are pretty great (for a dorm) with a small kitchen and private bathroom, laundry on all the even number floors. It's nice being next to Parkside which in my opinion is the best dining hall on campus, but this is a longer walk to class than the other dorms. It's on the South side of campus near the road so you hear more street noise and less campus noise. There is no AC which isn't great, so definitely bring fans. We could see the Hollywood Sign from our apartment though.

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