Thoughts on the Honors Colleges above, pros and cons? S would be OOS for all. Current HS Jr., multiple sport athlete (only interested in Club or intramural teams in college) from the Northeast. Generally focused on southern or mid-western state schools with lots of spirit, possibly interested in Greek life, looking for a balanced academic and social environment and internship placement. Merit money is important, the closer to state tuition rates, the better. 30 ACT, 3.8 GPA, 6 AP courses, Honors for all other courses. Likely Business/Marketing, Sports Management major, possibly Psychology double major/minor. Thanks for any feedback, suggestions.
I went to South Carolina and my brother goes to Alabama, so I’ll speak mainly to those two. USC, Alabama, and Ole Miss are very similar schools in term of overall profile: large Southern flagship university that focus on arts & sciences and pre-professional programs in the SEC that face agricultural in-state rivals. Greek life is huge at all three, probably most concentrated at Ole Miss. Alabama and South Carolina freshman classes are now majority out-of-state, so you will be in good company coming from the Northeast. I’ll highlight what I see as the major contrasts:
- Location: South Carolina grads, particularly from the business school, mainly move to Charlotte, Atlanta, DC, and NYC, with smaller numbers staying in Columbia or going to other smaller cities. Alabama sends students to Birmingham, Dallas, and Atlanta, while Ole Miss has a huge pipeline to Memphis.
- Focus Areas: Ole Miss advertises its accounting job placement rate (near 100% I believe), Alabama emphasizes Sports Marketing, and South Carolina excels in Finance (read: banking), International Business, and Sports Management. All three have strong alumni communities, but South Carolina's network is larger and more developed in the major East Coast markets. This makes a big difference when it comes to internships.
- Merit Scholarships: Entrance statistics are highest at South Carolina, followed by Alabama, and finally Ole Miss. As a result, you may have a better chance of drawing larger scholarships at the other two schools. South Carolina generally uses the SAT as its baseline, but I believe it publishes both scores. You can check the merit out-of-state scholar website to see where you might fall.
Let me know if you have any more specific question. SEC schools are known for providing the quintessential college experience, so I think you would love any one of them.
@fleagle10 Thanks so much for your feedback! You confirmed many of our thoughts, and brought up some great new points. The location of graduates is interesting. S is looking for a quintessential college experience, all three seem to fit the bill there, I agree.
The smaller size of Ole Miss and scholarships keep it on our radar, but we have yet to visit. The logistics of getting from home to all 3 campuses is a concern as well, SC is the easiest by far. How would you compare the campuses and surrounding areas of SC to Alabama and Ole Miss (if you have been to all three)? Safety off campus? SC is the only one of the 3 we have visited so far.
Thanks!
@Meant2B I have not been to Ole Miss, so I cannot speak to Oxford (though I hear it’s great). I’ve visited my brother in Tuscaloosa four times in the past four years and have always had a great time. Tuscaloosa is definitely smaller and more spread out than Columbia. Downtown Tuscaloosa is cute, with some really cool restaurants and a few shops. Bama has an area directly adjacent to campus called The Strip, where you will find the typical college fare - bars, casual dining, Publix (grocery store), a few boutiques. The rest of Tuscaloosa is pretty suburban feeling and development really trails off at the highway, a couple miles from campus.
Columbia, on the other hand, is a mid-size city. There are three major areas downtown: The (Congaree) Vista, 5 Points, and Main Street. The Vista is like a much larger, more developed version of Downtown Tuscaloosa that extends from the State House to the Congaree River. The area features a ton of restaurants, shops (think Urban Outfitters, boutiques), hotels (Hilton, Aloft, Hyatt), Publix, and the SC State Museum. The area continues to grow in popularity and depth. 5 Points is on the other side of campus and is best characterized as a student neighborhood. There are a ton of bars and restaurants and some nice locally-owned shops. That area continues to extend north as the local economy booms. Main Street is a true urban downtown with a series of 15-25 story buildings extending probably half a mile north from the State House. Main Street was traditionally the commercial district and is experiencing a rebirth with plenty of high-end restaurants moving into newly renovated shops.
Columbia extends probably 15 miles in all directions with some large population centers in Irmo, Forest Acres/Northeast Columbia, Fort Jackson, West Columbia, and Cayce. While USC is in the middle of downtown (imaging dropping a beautiful 200 year old campus in the middle of an existing city), there is great access to nature through the three rivers (Congaree, Broad, Saluda), a large state park (Sesquicentennial), and a wonderful lake (Murray). Because Columbia is at the intersection of two major highways, there is very easy access to Charleston (2h), Charlotte (1.5h), Greenville (1.5h) and Atlanta (3h).
I have always felt safe on campus, but there has always been a little bit of spillover by virtue of the fact that Columbia is in a city. Most of the issues seem to revolve around students returning from 5 Points in the early hours of the morning. The neighborhood between campus and 5 Points is very nice, but people become easy targets when they do not have their faculties and presumably most people in the area are asleep. I always advise students to take cabs or the University shuttle just to be prudent. Other than that, I never really hear about any other incidents. USC Police are pretty great about patrolling campus and of course there are call boxes everywhere.
I would definitely visit all three campuses if you have the chance. The schools themselves feel similar, so the biggest difference is probably the surrounding environment. I’m sure your son will love wherever he ends up!
@fleagle10 Thanks so much for your detailed replies, so much to take in, but very helpful. No way around it, need to plan visits to all 3 campuses in the spring. A bit concerned about the logistics of getting to and from UA and Ole Miss, more comfortable with USC in that regard. Critical we visit all schools while in active session to get the true vibe…for the right fit we can deal with complicated logistics if needed 
There are differences in what each school requires to graduate with “honors.” In addition to taking honors designated courses, USC requires a research thesis (or senior project for engineering) and presentation. UA only has coursework. I can’t speak to Ole Miss.