USC Law Forum

[Danteshek]

No human in L.A. can survive without a car. Even if you weren't at SC, I would say you need a car. Thank us later. Btw, best bar hopping spots are on Hollywood blvd, Cauengha blvd, and on Sunset blvd., followed by Main St. in Santa Monica. After that, guess you can go to Westwood. If you want.

I haven't had a car for 18 months in LA. I'm doing fine thank you very much. It's perfectly doable if you live along Wilshire. Buses come every three minutes.

[musicfor18]

No human in L.A. can survive without a car. Even if you weren't at SC, I would say you need a car. Thank us later. Btw, best bar hopping spots are on Hollywood blvd, Cauengha blvd, and on Sunset blvd., followed by Main St. in Santa Monica. After that, guess you can go to Westwood. If you want.

I haven't had a car for 18 months in LA. I'm doing fine thank you very much. It's perfectly doable if you live along Wilshire. Buses come every three minutes.

Do any of these buses go to USC?

[GermX]

^ Prepare to hate your existence if you take the bus. Btw:

I haven't had a car for 18 months in LA. I'm doing fine thank you very much. It's perfectly doable if you live along Wilshire. Buses come every three minutes.

How's the ride? Lots of immigrants, homeless people, the works? Fun!!!!

Seriously, get a cheap car (used) and drive around. What if you want to go to the grove or the beach for fun? Are you going to take a 2 hour bus ride? What could be a 15 minute trip will turn into a 4 hour trip (to and back), not to mention waiting for buses in the rain, etc...

That's right, when its raining, you need to stand in the fucking rain waiting for your bus, there is no "bus shelter". lol.

Seriously, listen to someone who has lived here for all his life--GET A CAR.

[papercranes]

OP, I'm sure you have the sense to ignore this guy by now.

[scgoaliface32]

No human in L.A. can survive without a car. Even if you weren't at SC, I would say you need a car. Thank us later. Btw, best bar hopping spots are on Hollywood blvd, Cauengha blvd, and on Sunset blvd., followed by Main St. in Santa Monica. After that, guess you can go to Westwood. If you want.

I haven't had a car for 18 months in LA. I'm doing fine thank you very much. It's perfectly doable if you live along Wilshire. Buses come every three minutes.

Do any of these buses go to USC?

My friend who goes to UCLA shuttles back and forth to USC throughout the week by taking the 720 which goes from UCLA straight down Wilshire to Vermont and then hopping on the 204 which goes straight down Vermont. Drops you right on the west edge of campus. I think it takes about an hour usually during rush traffic. She says it works really well for her because it's a guaranteed hour of reading for class, for lack of anything better to do.

[JoyceL1986]

Here's the truth. USC is in a piece of shit area surrounded by gangs, especially at night, and its a shit load of traffic getting from USC to the beach or even to beverly hills, let alone westwood. So I would say, if you go to USC, get ready to do either:

1) Drive to school everyday in fucking traffic and curse and get in accidents and cry and get the finger by every road raged infused L.A. driver (I wish was exaggerating).

2) Live by USC and do the same driving shit except you will do it everytime you want to go out and have fun. Oh, and you will be mugged and robbed all the time (two friends of mine, living in the USC dorms, got their laptops stolen INSIDE their dorm rooms by random thieves...that is how unsafe it is).

Good luck and enjoy USC!!!!!

I'm seriously considering USC, is it really that bad? I visited recently, and while I didn't think it was in the best neighborhood, it certainly didn't look that bad. And as for the traffic, everyone in LA seems sort of used to it, and stresed that if you know how to naviagate the local roads, the traffic isn't that bad.

You should really check out this thread:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... +code+fail

[GermX]

That thread is SPOT on. You do need a car in L.A. You are dreaming if you think not having one is manageable.

[guacamolation]

all universities must disclose their crime statistics (Jeanne Clery act), so its easy to check out the 2006-8 info for yourself.

http://www.ucpd.ucla.edu/clery/Stats08.pdf

http://capsnet.usc.edu/dps/documents/ASR2009stats.pdf

Or, if you don't feel like doing all the work it looks like a student did a blog project on college crime at major CA campuses.
http://crimeatusc.blogspot.com/2009/05/ ... lysis.html

I think its really important to talk to people who actually are at the campuses you are considering. Most accepted student websites have links to student ambassadors who could answer whatever questions you have. PM me if you want re: car/traffic - I've lived all over town.

[westcoastlover]

Here's the truth. USC is in a piece of shit area surrounded by gangs, especially at night, and its a shit load of traffic getting from USC to the beach or even to beverly hills, let alone westwood. So I would say, if you go to USC, get ready to do either:

1) Drive to school everyday in fucking traffic and curse and get in accidents and cry and get the finger by every road raged infused L.A. driver (I wish was exaggerating).

2) Live by USC and do the same driving shit except you will do it everytime you want to go out and have fun. Oh, and you will be mugged and robbed all the time (two friends of mine, living in the USC dorms, got their laptops stolen INSIDE their dorm rooms by random thieves...that is how unsafe it is).

Good luck and enjoy USC!!!!!

I considered not replying to your "candid" response... but can't resist from responding. Basically, I got into UCLA and USC. USC gave me a 50% tuition scholarship and UCLA gave me 0% scholarship. So the choice was pretty obvious. In addition, I went to school in an "unsafe" area in the midwest - and I can say safety is all about street smarts. In addition, your constant put downs of USC on every thread are pretty unnecessary, and really make students at UCLA look petty. If you are really a student at UCLA, I am guessing you have work to do and your time could be better spent than griping about what a "shit-hole" USC is.

[scgoaliface32]

oh snap lol. Fight on, you.

[Duralex]

I live in Westwood and will be commuting to LLS next year. I know people at LLS who have (much) longer commutes. This is something you just deal with in LA.

And, yes, Adams (where USC is) is a bad area, but it has been steadily improving over the last decade. That said, while some friends of mine briefly owned and renovated a house there their block featured multiple crackhouses as well as a fairly open and notorious brothel.

Good times!

Nothing bad ever happened to them, though. (IIRC.)

Also, LOL at the idea that food downtown is better than on the Westside. In LA, the main 'restaurant row' (if there is one) is centered around West Hollywood, just on the east side of Beverly Hills. Beverly, Melrose, etc. Certainly it extends eastward a ways, but downtown isn't the foodie capital of LA or anything like it (Blue Velvet, Church & State, Ciudad etc. nonwithstanding.) At least in my view.

I grew up near UCLA, my parents went to LS there, I went to summer camp there, love the campus, blah blah blah--I'd have been thrilled to have been admitted there (I wasn't.) But if I were admitted to both USC and UCLA and had a 50% ride at USC I'd be awfully hard-pressed to turn it down in favor of paying full price at UCLA, all of that nonwithstanding.

[lovelylegal]

Congrats

!

[feyonce]

i went to usc for undergrad, and actually one of the things i was most impressed with was the neighborhood. i did not even consider ucla for undergrad AT ALL for this very reason. usc is incredibly committed to their neighborhood. they had the option awhile back to move their campus to malibu, and they chose not to because they had committed to the neighborhood and did not want to just up and leave. they run a number of schools and enrichment programs in the area, and students are known for volunteering and giving back to the community in any number of ways.

it's a working class neighborhood, so i suppose if you're scared of "immigrants" (ahhhhh! people from another land!!) and "homeless people" (what!!! they're real???) then yes, you wouldn't like the neighborhood, haha. however, seriously, grow up! there's a pretty even mixture of USC students and families, and what do you really gain from living in a bubble? i guess you gain the kind of attitude that GermX has... what an achievement! but DPS (Department of Public Safety) is really good at what they do, even if they do look funny on their little scooters. they have jurisdiction in the area, so basically function as a much more present, caring and competent LAPD.

besides, the campus is BEAUTIFUL. absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

on a somewhat related note, for anybody interested, a trader joe's will be opening just a block off campus in the next year! there still is a ralphs, and a grocery store called superior. and a number of new shops and food places have been opening up in the past few years as well. the nightlife has traditionally not been great around USC, but in the past couple years downtown has been getting awesome, and it's one short bus ride away. and around campus, the 9-0 sucks, but there is the lab and la barca. otherwise, get a bunch of people together and take a cab somewhere, it won't be too bad if you all cram in. monster massive and electric daisy carnival all happen in walking distance from USC, if you're into massive dance parties. if you're into museums, USC is RIGHT by exposition park, so you're walking distance to a lot of museums.

[scgoaliface32]

DAMMIT Trader Joe's is coming?? Of course after I move Oh well, at least I got 21 Choices for a year.

[estevanrey]

where is Tjs going to be?

[estevanrey]

bump