A lot of these were answered elsewhere but a few ones I wanted to help with:

-USC freshman retention is around 93-95% every year. That's pretty good. Most people don't drop out or transfer after one year. That has been a big focus for USC in the last two decades.

-In terms of graduation rate, it's hard to get good info on it. Some students come in with a plan to take two very "fat" majors and know it's going to be 5 years. Others transfer in without a whole lot of credits that take the place of GEs and they can't catch up. The most important thing is that USC does not have any impacted majors at all and never will. I was in the most popular major (business) and the most popular dornsife major (IR) and in both I never had any doubt that I'd be able to graduate on time as long as I stuck to the plan I made with my advisor and passed my classes. You don't, especially early on, always get your first choice in classes, but you generally will always be able to take stuff that progresses you toward graduation (one of the reasons they tell you to take GE's early).

-I always say freshman housing comes down to preference. If you like dorm-style living, the dorms are good. If you don't, then don't live in the dorms. Same goes for suites, apartments, singles, doubles, triples, and an air mattress out in the middle of the quad. Only advice I give is to take advantage of campus life in that first year. I made a lot of friends in that crazy first few months and only kept a fraction of them by the time I graduated, but those that stuck are some of the best people in my life. That's not an uncommon experience.

• A lot of kids (especially guys it seems like) worry about the greek system. Don't. Despite popular belief, USC is only about 20% greek, and that's including all six councils (so also your professional fraternities, which are, in some cases, very different from the more traditional social houses). Like most things at SC, greek life is available and excellent if you want it, but not at all a requirement if you don't. Go to rush, talk to people. See how you feel. If you join, that's a great community to be a part of. If not, then you are like at least 3 out of 4 guys who go to USC and aren't affiliated. Those guys have fun too.

-USC has 19,000 undergrads, there is no such thing as a typical experience. Lots of people do lots of different things and there is no way to take advantage of everything, which is one of the coolest things about SC, in my opinion. Loads of people study abroad, but a ton don't as well. Plenty of students will intern all over LA, but thousands will never intern and focus on research on campus instead. It's college. Do different things and figure out what you like and who you are (easy, right?) and focus on finding the majors, classes, clubs, organizations, programs, professors, and opportunities that fit that. USC in 2015 is insanely diverse, in a way that is very hard to see from outside of it. I know guys who drank and raged their way through all four years and had a blast, and guys who never touched alcohol and spent all their energy in religious organizations who probably think they had even more fun. There is no wrong way to do it, as long as it's your way.