In required courses for admission, U of SC website states
Social studies - 3 units
1 unit U.S. history
½ unit economics
½ unit government
1 unit world history or geography strongly recommended
This may be a stupid question, but are the first three (US history, 1/2 unit econ, 1/2 unit government) mandatory?
My daughter has taken World History and AP European History and is set to take APUSH next year and AP government senior year. That’s 3.5 units of Social Science, but no economics. To fit economics in, she’d have to either drop AP Biology senior year or take zero hour PE one semester, which she’d rather not do. Economics is not a required course for graduation in Illinois.
My daughter did not have economics or government–not offered at her private HS. It was not a problem.
Considering her course rigor I think she’d be fine. She could also try to take a regular economics class online over the summer.
If she’s aiming for the honors college and a scholarship, it might be helpful if she finds a way to meet that requirement (and an online not very rigorous class from Illinois k public online system would certainly suffice.)
Is PE offered “online” ie., Over the summer with a Fitbit recording activity? The might be another solution.
@MYOS1634 , thanks for your thoughts. We thought about summer school; that’s always a possibility. She definitely is aiming for Honors College and a scholarship. I looked up the South Carolina HS graduation requirements and exconomics and governement are required. Illinois requires government but not economics. Interestingly, Illinois requires 8 units of PE (including one unit of health and one unit of Drivers Ed in there) and South Carolina requires one, so no wonder they have the ability to have an economics requirement! I emailed the admissions office this morning with this question, so I will see what they have to say.
Wondering if you received a response @3kids2dogs This school recently popped up on my daughter’s list and have a similar issue - although it’s the 1/2 unit of government. While our state actually requires government it’s waived for students in the full IB program. She will have taken Pre-IB World History, Pre-IB US History, and IB Economics SL. I suppose she could try and find something online for second semester to squeeze it in, but would really, really prefer not to her senior year.
@Darcy123 Yes, I did. Here’s a copy of our exchange:
From me:
I have a question about the Social Sciences requirement for admissions. My daughter was not planning on taking economics (not required to graduate from High School in Illinois). She has already taken World History and AP European History. She will take AP US History in 11th grade and is set up to take AP Government senior year, so that will be at least 3.5 units of Social Sciences – she is scheduled to take a consumer sciences course in lieu of economics in 11th grade – not sure if that falls under social science or would substitute for economics.
She toured Carolina on Thursday and thought it was fantastic and is now concerned about this one part of the High School requirements. She will meet or exceed all other requirements (4 years of lab science, 4 years of foreign language, 4 years of fine art, etc). Thanks for your help!
SC’s admission response:
I apologize for the delay in getting back to you!! From what I understand she will have the minimum 3 units of Social Studies (including the required US history and world history). We completely understand that not all states require economics and government.
The high school courses that we require are based on the core course curriculum required by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. When it comes to the Social Studies Courses we have a little bit of flexibility in them and will not deny an otherwise qualified student for missing one course, particularly when it has been made up with another equivalent social studies course. Whenever possible I do encourage students to fit in all of the listed requirements but she should not uproot her whole schedule to fit it in.
Thank you so much @3kids2dogs
My S is in a similar situation, with no Economics or Government classes offered at his small private school. His HS GC reached out to our local UofSC admissions rep a few months ago to ask this same question and got a similar response. It’s reassuring to hear it again from another source.