<p>D is planing to apply to C of C as a safety along with some more selective schools. The only thing I know about it is that Charleston is a great city, its near the beach, it's relatively affordable, it has a more "urban" campus AND it has a very high transfer out rate. Can anyone tell me about it's reputation outside of the southeast? Other schools on the list are Tulane (high reach), Elon (match), Northeastern (low reach), UMDCP (low reach), UDel (match) and UC Boulder (match, but D is determined not to go as it is our local state school). She has only seen, Tulane, Northeastern and Boulder so far. No more trips until applications are out (and hopefully acceptances are in).</p>
<p>How did you find out what the “transfer out” rate was? That’s potentially valuable information about any school.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I can’t help you on the reputation – we live in the northeast, and there isn’t much word of mouth on the school. Although I do have one friend whose son went and transferred out, returning to the northeast. His issue seemed to be more one of missing family and preferring this area; no real commentary on the school</p>
<p>Not sure if I saw it here on CC or if it is in their Common Data Set. Either way, not all schools report it but when they do, it is very useful. The big question is WHY they transfer out.</p>
<p>Usually it is the % that does not return after year 1. Of course you can leave after years 2,3 too. COC would not be in the same league as those others.</p>
<p>My niece is a junior at COC and absolutely LOVES it! She just returned from London after completing an internship at the Olympics that the college set up for her. She will study abroad in Barcelona next semester.</p>
<p>She was also accepted at Tulane, the honors programs at both Univ of AL & GA, as well as several other small-medium sized southern schools. The town of Charleston just resonated for her as did the academics and social scene at COC.</p>
<p>CofC is currently D2’s #1 school (#2 is Brown & #3 is Lafayette; go figure.) She was very impressed with the meeting she had with the honors college representative. Loved the campus. The only campus she’s been on where her face lit up & she was visibly excited. Middle range stats are slightly lower than other schools on her list. </p>
<p>Their retention rate was 83%; lower than some on her list but not dreadfully so. You can find that number on the IPEDS College Navigator site for any given school under the retention and graduation rates section.</p>
<p>We are also from the northeast. College of Charleston has become a popular OOS choice for students in our area. DD visited the school, and if she could have played in their orchestra as a non-music major, she would have applied there. But they said NO to that question so the school went off of her list.</p>
<p>We know more than a handful of grads and they loved it there…and their partents loved to visit!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I have heard the same, that kids “love it”. But I do wonder about the school’s academic reputation out in the world as she begins to look for a job after graduation. I think she would be happy there but she is the kind of kid who will make the best of anyplace she goes and enjoy it. I just don’t want her to aim too low because the location is fun.</p>
<p>I don’t think transfer rate + retention rate will add up to 100%, many kids don’t return for reasons other than transferring to another school.</p>
<p>An 83% retention rate is not that far behind the two main public schools in SC, Clemson and USC-Columbia, and I think is actually decent.</p>
<p>DD loved the city but didn’t like the campus, and with the gender balance closing in on 70-30, CofC got pushed off the list. They gave her a decent package which made the price pretty reasonable (we are OOS for SC).</p>
<p>I don’t think it has much (if any) reputation in the northeast, at least I never heard of it before starting the college search.</p>
<p>It’s definitely on the radar for kids in my town (outside NYC). Has a rep for being a party school, and expensive (since most of your nights out are spent in Charleston).</p>
<p>^^Expensive, yes, as defined not by COA, but rather by cost to live in Charleston…agree</p>
<p>My son’s boarding school sent some kids there and they loved it. They were generally bright kids who had goofed up gradewise in high school and weren’t candidates for more selective schools but didn’t want a large state university. I think Charleston would be an awesome place for college! I think the reputation is similar to that of SMU or Elon.</p>
<p>It looks like it might rain a little more there than at SMU.</p>
<p>Some slideshow of rain.</p>
<p>[Slideshow</a> Landing Page - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports](<a href=“Home”>Home)</p>
<p>bump… bump…</p>
<p>On the federal data, for some colleges they report a transfer rate out, but for most schools they do not.</p>
<p>D is a recent CofC grad from the mid atlantic, absolutely loved it, and now is a PhD candidate at Duke. I guess the reputation is good enough. Be aware that the stats for OOS Honors College students are higher than you think.</p>