<p>Hi, I have a question about being a Capstone Scholar.</p>
<p>Appearantly, I was selected as one... and would like to know more about it and its benefits... the USC website was somewhat vague...</p>
<p>I would have applied for Honors College... had I known you actually had to apply.</p>
<p>Right now I have to decide between USC and UConn.</p>
<p>Both gave me scholarships but UConn also admitted me into their Honors Program and right now I'm leaning more towards that school... the only thing drawing me to USC is its International Business program. (My intended major) Costs of both schools are just about equivalent.</p>
<p>More info... my family is moving down to Charlotte in two months from Connecticut so USC would be closer than home. I'm sort of the... why change when I've got a good thing going kind of guy... and right now a lot of my social life is with friends up at UConn... and potentially my gf going there as well. I've heard all about not letting friends and whatnot affect my decision but I'm also trying to pick what's best for my future... socially which would greatly affect me academically.</p>
<p>I've been contemplating this situation for the past 3-4 weeks and haven't gotten to a distinctive decision yet although it's about 55/45 towards UConn at the moment.</p>
<p>Any input or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>My guess is you havent visited USC? If you could visit before May 1 to help you decide that would be a plus.
I'll let someone directly associated with Capstone answer you,but for Int'l Business I would think USC is the way to go...
S also considered UConn (we're from NY) but when he saw where the campus was located (we made a visit) it came off his list..just too rural for him.USC's campus is in the downtown area of the city of Columbia,you can actually walk to things and there's no cows LOL.It sounds like you are familiar with the UConn campus already.
Anybody directlu associated with Capstone that can give him a rundown?
I know the dorm is really niceLOL</p>
<p>Thanks, I was just there a couple weeks ago for Scholars Day actually but I wasn't entirely comfortable with the campus. It's much nicer than UConn that's for sure. As for the UConn campus, I could see how someone from outside of CT could be turned away by the rural setting but I know CT very well and could always find something to do. I've got lots of friends who come down to the Htfd area (where I am) to hang out all the time so finding something to do isn't my main concern. Ironically, I'm a city kid at heart and I would've preferred to go to NYU if I had gotten into the business school there. But UConn's only an hour from Boston and two-three from NYC. The main concern with me and it might sound foolish is I feel that if I go to Storrs, I can concentrate better since I'll have people I've known who will motivate me and keep me focused on academics whereas I feel like if I come down to USC, I'll spend too much time socializing and not concentrating on what's important.</p>
<p>The thing about Intl Bus. is that you apply into that program for junior year so my planned course of action was to go to a school for two years and then either try to transfer into (Stern, Wharton, or Sloan ~ if I go to UConn) or stay for my jr/sr year, should I go to Columbia.</p>
<p>nyfan,
S had decided on USC a while back, but we took our third visit to campus this week. We spent a good bit of time with the director of the Capstone program, and he was very informative. One thing you might be interested in..he said that about 30% of Capstone Scholars are Business Majors. Minmum SAT for Capstone Scholar is 1250 this year. It is about 50/50 In-state and OOS, also about 50/50 males and females. Capstone is a community with a school. Scholars live in Capstone Dorm, are offered English class together, take University 101 together, have some social activities and service opportunities , and have a chance to compete for some scholarships that will help fund a study abroad semester. If you are visiting the campus in the next few weeks, the visitors center will be happy to set up an appointment for you to speak with someone in the Capstone office. The Capstone office was also able to let us speak with an RA in the Capstone dorm and look at one the dorm rooms.</p>
<p>All I can add is that my D is an OOS Capstone Scholar who has found that being a Capstone really made a difference in her freshman experience. Her circle of friends is wide but includes a large number of her dorm mates many of whom are living together again next year in sophomore suite style housing.</p>
<p>Capstone is 50/50 in-state and OOS which really helps in the acclimation process since many of the people around you are also going through all the things that you are.</p>
<p>If you are leaning to UConn mainly because of existing friendships, I would tell you that that is the worst thing to base a decision on. College is about growing and developing new interests and friends and going outside your comfort zone. If you really want international business, Moore is the place as well. </p>
<p>What about the campus were you not comfortable with?</p>
<p>One stat that is a negative is the difficulty of getting into the international business program. They only allow 50 students a year into the program and about 120 apply. We were also told that there are about 1000 freshman business majors and about 70% of those stay in business. It looks pretty tough to me. My D is in the last week of deciding between U Az, Az St and U SC.</p>
<p>Thanks, but friendships is not the main driving force for UConn. It's the honors program and the prestigousness of that. There's also the gut feeling telling me that for some reason... I will do better academically and get the higher GPA here, I've tried to pinpoint the source but can't effectively find it. The friendships part of UConn is only a slight supplement supporting that school.</p>
<p>To be honest... the course of action I'd really like to take is two years at either university... than attempting to transfer into Stern, Sloan, Wharton, Kenan-Flagler, Calloway, Goizeuta or Moore (if I get into Intl Bus. program) and get a degree from a much better school. I realize that when the time comes... it might be hard for me to leave whatever I've built in the past two years but I feel that this would be best for my future and I'm prepared to go through with it.</p>
<p>Dggt
I know that only 50 students are accepted into the IB program, that's why it could be a gamble to choose Moore because of the IB major, unless you are a stellar student with foreign languages etc.</p>
<p>But, are you saying that you were told 30% of the pre-business students were not accepted into a Moore program in their sophomore year, and were forced to change majors?</p>
<p>dggt
My older D went to ASU (S is at USC) are you aware that the Business School at ASU is a pre business/apply in junior year /weed out situation? D's friend didnt make the cut and wound up at the East campus doing their business admin program.Many kids stay on the main campus and are forced into different majors.Just something to consider....but want to say D loved her time at ASU and we loved the school as well.</p>
<p>If international business is your thing, you probably want to go to USC. Current USC students may be given preference over potential transfers when it comes to IB applications, but I'm not sure. I recommend looking into it.</p>
<p>chocolholic - Sorry for the confusion. No, I am just saying that 30% leave the program for a variety of reasons, so out of ~ 700 business students 120 apply and 50 are excepted. I think that just the difficulty of getting in persuades many students not to apply.</p>
<p>cathymee - Thanks for the info. This year ASU changed admissions to business and now allow some students direct admission as freshmen, my D being one of those. ASU was very nice to us when we visited, the honor's college seems very attentive, but Phoenix seemed not very nice.</p>
<p>we didnt see many parts of Phoenix we didnt like but mostly we stayed in Tempe (which we loved) or Scottsdale.we visited D's roomates family in Gilbert,which was a really nice upscale suburban area (houses built n artificial lakes).I thought Tempe was charming.D attended the Symphony many times, and the Heard Art Museum.She has friends who have stayed in Phoenix after graduating and are living downtown.
The airport there, I thought,was great.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’ve made a decision yet, but for what it’s worth, I had similar concerns. I plan on going into int’l business next year as well. For me, my college decision was between USC and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. It’s no surprise which school is more prestigious, but when i found out that I had been accepted as a Capstone Scholar at USC, it was brought to my attention that being part of that specific living community allows its members to automatically go into the Moore School of Business freshman year without any application or paperwork. As soon as I heard this, naturally I called admissions to see if it was possible, and sure enough it was. All you have to do is call and say you want to be in international business and they transfer you right in as long as you haven’t started your first semester yet. It was simple and made my decision really easy, not that saving 132K wasn’t enticing enough.</p>
<p>Anyone can apply as part of the application process from what I remember. You just click either yes or no if you’d like to be considered. I think they only consider students with a certain SAT and above though.</p>
<p>If you don’t get in, it really isn’t the end of the world. The only thing I’ve noticed about Capstone students is that they tend to have had higher SAT’s in high school, but college-wise they’re not really taking any special classes. They just basically live in the Capstone Dorm.</p>
<p>My son is graduating now, but when he was a Capstone freshman, there were certain sections of English that were only open to Capstone scholars. He really enjoyed his English class.</p>