Student Perspectives: First Year Housing

Hello everyone! My name is Juliana, and I’m a member of the Class of 2026 studying Law, History, and Culture with a minor in Psychology. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to live in first-year housing twice during my time at USC, first as a freshman and now as a Resident Assistant (RA)! Though we have three different housing styles for freshmen, including residence halls, suites, and apartments. I’m most familiar with apartment style housing as it’s the only type I have lived in on campus.

As a freshman, you’re not required to live on campus, but about 98% of our first-year students do! Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to experience living in university housing, so even though I live just about an hour away from campus, I was still so excited to have the opportunity to live on my own and make new friends in USC housing. I applied for housing as soon as the application opened because I was determined to get an apartment at Webb Tower, since I really wanted to have a kitchen. I was fortunate to get placed into a freshman apartment building right on campus, and I was super excited to move in and decorate my room.

At USC, you can choose your roommates if you know someone already or met them online. Alternatively, you can go through a random roommate selection process where you fill out a questionnaire, and you’re matched with someone with similar living preferences. I personally chose to go random, and I was matched with three other girls: two suitemates and one I shared a room with. I really enjoyed having roommates I’d never met before because it gave us a lot to talk about and we were able to get to know each other throughout the year.

Another fun way I got to know my roommates and other housing residents was through events happening in my building. As a freshman, I went to pretty much every building event offered both for the free food and to meet others in the building. Once I even entered a raffle and got tickets to go to a Dodger Game with others from my apartment building, and it was genuinely one of my favorite USC experiences so far. I also remember attending events like trivia and karaoke nights through the Residential College Cup Competition hosted each year. It was a truly fun and rewarding experience to get to know other residents as well as the Resident Assistants in the building, the latter of which actually inspired me to apply to become a Resident Assistant myself.

This past year I started my role as a Resident Assistant (RA) in Webb Tower, the same freshmen apartment building I previously lived in. My favorite part of this role is being able to host events for residents so that I can get to know them better and allow them to get to know one another. So far, my favorite events I have hosted have been a vision board making night, a build-wide harvest festival with boba, and a winter wonderland event! These events always have a good turnout, and I always hear great things from students after I host them.

Also, as an RA, I’ve really appreciated the opportunities I’ve had to get to know residents by hosting Trojan Talks, which are one on one conversations. All residents in USC housing have the opportunity to participate in these conversations in order to get to know their RAs and talk about their experiences so far in their first year. Getting to know my residents on a deeper level and hosting these events has been the most rewarding part of this position, and I’m very grateful to be able to work with first year students who may need a little extra support adjusting to living on their own, generally for the first time.

Overall, I have been really grateful for the opportunity to live in USC housing, both as a first-year student and now as an RA. All of the first-year buildings provide a wide range of opportunities for residents to adjust to living away from home and build strong relationships with others in order to create a strong genuine community.