<p>How do they differ? I know that they are equally different but anyone know anything else or does anyone actially go here</p>
<p>anyone????</p>
<p>college of charleston is more of an liberal arts school.
usc is more buissness. and idk about coastal.</p>
<p>as an SC resident i can give you a personal viewpoint.
USC is #1 school in the nation for international business. Compared to CofC and Coastal, its academic rigor is a lot more higher. It offers many majors, scholarships, clubs, and honors/capstone programs. The honors program is special too in that it gives you an “ivy” league education-most applicants are in the 1400-1600 SAT range-in a smaller and more personal environment. Plus, new dorms for freshman!! 
the campus is historic, pretty, and natural.
It’s larger and located in Columbia, obviously. USC has a huge football team-so if football/team spirit is your thing, then USC deftinately has it. </p>
<p>CofC-the majority of people i know who are applying there love the beach and a “relaxing envrironment.” the beach is super close and the campus is pretty. Academics aren’t as great it seems, and they don’t offer a major in nursing. so yeah, i guess you can say its more liberal^. Also, I’ve heard that its a huge party school and many people get drunk…</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>USC is also a pretty good party school…</p>
<p>My neighbor’s D went to C of C for two years but found it too liberal arts oriented. When she decided on a major, it was not offered at CofC. She transferred and graduated from USC.</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard- Coastal hasn’t had the strongest academic reputation, but I don’t know much a about it. I hear it’s a huge party school, and kind of regarded as a back up school. I would suggest USC or College of Charleston.</p>
<p>USC is more if you’re into Football, the kind of “classic southern” atmosphere, and solid academics.</p>
<p>My personal top choice in South Carolina is CofC. Yes, it may not be as good academically as USC, but Charleston is an amazing city, and beats Columbia. CofC is if you’re not so much into sports and perhaps as said a little more liberal.</p>
<p>also read through reviews by current and former students at students review.com site</p>
<p>College of Charleston is a very fine college with quite strong Life Sciences departments. USC is a comprehensive research university, so naturally it has a cornicopia of undergraduate majors. Socially, students at both report that the college experience at both places can be lots of fun. The definition of fun depends on your perspective; either in a crowd with 50,000 other people at the football stadium in Columbia, or at a funky bar, club, ice cream shop or the Battery in Charleston. You decide.</p>
<p>USC is the flagship for the state of South Carolina. Located in the capital city of Columbia, it is a big research university. It’s about 30% out of state. All types of majors, big school spirit, etc. EXCELLENT honors program - and the new honors housing is amazing. PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>CofC is smaller and located in Charleston. It is more or less a public liberal arts college. No football, but their basketball team is supposed to be decent. I have heard that it is more of an urban campus, and that not very many people live on campus after freshman year.</p>
<p>Both schools know how to party, but you’ll find lots of people that don’t as well.</p>
<p>Both school’s populations generally are very happy with their experience. Like LakeWashington said, it just depends on your idea of fun. If you can’t live without football and school spirit, USC might be your choice. I also know a lot of people that could care less about sports that love it here. That’s the beauty of a large school: lots of opportunities and different people to meet. It’s only about 90 minutes from the beach anyways. If you want a little smaller environment in one of the cooler cities in the South, CofC might be your choice. Knowing several people that chose between the two, it seems to come down to personal preference.</p>
<p>As for Coastal, I can’t say I’ve heard great things about it. It’s in Myrtle Beach, it’s not very challenging, etc.</p>
<p>College of Charleston Honors Program. My D is waiting to hear from them. Anyone heard yet? Any current Honors students who can tell us about program. It is D’s first choice if she gets into the Honors Program.</p>
<p>Coastal Carolina University is the fastest growing University in the State. The only one, that has not furloughed staff or faculty It has great facilities, strong faculty in several fields, largest Marine Science Program on the East Coast, a very strong business college, excellent professional theatre training program. It is an emerging school. Yes, there are students who drink and think the beach is fun. There are students at Penn State who drink and think… middle of nowhere is fun. All colleges are party schools when you come down to it. How the student functions is more important than whether or not people drink at the school.</p>
<p>Kjgc said Coastal Carolina University has “…the largest Marine Science Program on the East Coast…”</p>
<p>Did you mean UNDERGRADUATE marine sciences program? And graduate or undergraduate its the CCU department larger or more comprehensive than SUNY Stony Brook, College of Charleston, U of New Hampshire, Duke University, U of South Carolina or U of Miami?</p>
<p>Being a student at Clemson, we dislike the University of South Carolina as they are our rivals but at the end of the day we still have some respect for USC because they are a legit learning institution. However, we consider a degree from Coastal Carolina to be just as worth as much as toilet paper. There’s nothing we enjoy better (other than beating USC) than absolutely destroying Coastal Carolina.</p>
<p>Just thought I’d bring the humor me and my friends have about the South Carolina schools into this.</p>
<p>Personally, I would pick College of Charleston without a doubt.</p>
<p>Forgot to mention that Coastal also has a great baseball program.</p>
<p>Coastal Carolina has clearly put extra effort into attracting students from the Northeast, but not necessarily over-acheivers, who find the environs attractive.</p>
<p>The person who said that the College of Charleston’s academic’s isn’t as good as USC is smoking crack. The C of C is by far the best school in the state as far as academics are concerned. The science department is rated the top 15 in the counrty. More students from C of C of will enter a graduate program than any other school in the state. </p>
<p>USC has a large student population that attended public schools. Tests are largely in a scantron format because the professors are lazy and do not like to read essays. </p>
<p>The C of C also has an honors program which is more competitive that USC’s program.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure if your assertion that C of C sends more students to graduate school is actually true, but if it is, you’re ignoring a very obvious explanation: C of C has a strong liberal focus. </p>
<p>Students in the Arts & Sciences realm will generally attend graduate school directly from their undergrad out of necessity. Students in functional areas, such as business, engineering, nursing, etc. will normally go directly into the workforce as graduate degrees are not a prerequisite to find meaningful employment. USC and Clemson are more balanced than C of C in terms of majors, so of course the percentage will be higher.</p>
<p>As to your claim that USC professors exclusively use scantrons- it’s ill informed and ridiculous. Certainly some professors use them because an essay format is not the most effective way of testing technical subjects, but again, go to any liberal arts- based classroom at USC and you will be hard pressed to find a scantron sheet. Also, the student-to-faculty ratio at C of C is 16:1, so don’t delude yourself into thinking that it has any big advantage over USC or Clemson in terms of personal attention.</p>
<p>Finally, the South Carolina Honors College is one of the oldest and most well regarded programs in the country. Not to knock C of C’s program as I’m sure it is wonderful, but to even put them on the same level is ludicrous.</p>
<p>You should check out Clemson for sure.</p>
<p>Cuse, yes Coastal has a great baseball program. Funny you mention that though because 3 months after your post another school in this thread would go on to win the College World Series.</p>