McCarthy Honors Residential College needs to go


USC is the No. 18 school in the nation according to the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education 2020 rankings, joining the ranks of the Ivy League, top technological institutions and prestigious liberal arts colleges from around the country. But USC has one defining characteristic that distinguishes it from every other school in the top 20: an honors college. 

The McCarthy Honors Residential College is a residential living community for first-year students located in the newly built USC Village. Housing approximately 500 merit scholarship recipients, the “vibrant, tight-knit community of scholars” all “share a commitment to rigorous intellectual and academic achievement.” According to Residential Education at USC, the building boasts state-of-the-art architecture evocative of the quintessential East Coast college look and houses a “magnificent” honors dining hall. Rather than dealing with communal bathrooms, students enjoy private bathrooms in their air-conditioned suites. Along with multiple study rooms, lounges and a laundry room on each floor, the exterior consists of “two spacious landscaped courtyards” with “luxury outdoor furniture.” 

Honors colleges are prevalent at schools where there is a wide range of students with different academic abilities and goals. In many cases, “publicly supported state schools often create honors colleges to attract talented students who might otherwise select a liberal arts college or private research university,” according to Best Value Schools. However, USC — a private institution with an 11% acceptance rate — already attracts and accepts academically motivated, engaged and like-minded students. 

According to the Class of 2022 student profile, the middle 50% ACT scores for fall admits ranged from 31 to 35 while the average GPA fell between 3.79 and 4.0. Even receiving a 31 — the lowest score of the class average range —  is the 97th percentile among high school students, demonstrating that most USC students are among the top 3% of scorers on the standardized test nationally. 

So what is the purpose of stratifying high-achieving, academically inclined students in their first year from fellow equally motivated students? 

Located at USC Village, McCarthy is the only freshman residential college located off the main campus grounds. Some of the most populous freshman living communities, such as New North, Birnkrant and South Residential Colleges, are on the other side of campus, isolating McCarthy from other freshman dorms, hang-out spots and activities. 

In addition to how it geographically ostracizes some first-year students from their peers, the existence of an honors college creates a hierarchy among students, which is problematic at an elite institution. Once students make it through the competitive college admissions process and arrive at USC, the University should not continue to compare them to one another, as it is detrimental to students both within and outside of McCarthy. Every student adds a unique touch to the greater USC community, and no first-year student should be considered more or less worthy than another. 

It is time to phase out the honors college and group all students into residential communities not by whether they have a merit scholarship but by what they want from their freshman living experience. USC does its students a disservice by assigning housing based on something as irrelevant as their merit scholarship status. The freshman experience is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and students should have the freedom to tailor it as they choose — regardless of whether or not that means living in McCarthy. 

Overall, the honors college at USC is unnecessary to first-year students, isolating students within McCarthy and inadvertently degrading those outside it. At the end of the day, isn’t USC already a “vibrant, tight-knit community of scholars?”