Honors College Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of South Carolina
1

Hi, I was accepted into the Honors College and into the International Business program and I am very excited! I just have a few questions?

  1. Does being in the Honors College come with having a ridiculous amount of work?
  2. Being in the Honors College and having to double major with International Business, will that be possible?
  3. Does the Honors College isolate students from everyone else?
    Any help is appreciated.
2

Based on D’s experience:

  1. In general, no. And it depends on the class. D prefers small classes and lots of interaction within class and with professor. She doesn’t think writing is harder than a bunch of multiple choice quizzes. The work for her has not been too hard. (Actually, the one class she took where she felt the reading, etc was out of proportion with what the class was suppose to be was a non-honors entry level class.) There is a huge benefit in having (usually) the best professors teaching you - no grad students except for maybe a lab. For instance, honors accounting gets a professor - regular sections do it mostly on-line with only one class a week to meet with professor. D has never had a situation where she couldn’t be involved in other things because of work load and she is double major.
  2. IB and business as whole is popular major in honors, so it looks to me like a there are a lot of offerings specifically in IB. Definitely easy to get a lot of core classes in honors. Look on honors website at class list for the spring to get an idea of what is available. D ahs good friend who is in it and went to abroad last spring. He was an RA his first two years while doing honors and IB.
    3)Only if you let it. Honors students are involved all over campus. Just within my D’s apartment, the list of things she and roommates are involved in - religious groups, ambassadors (tour guides), student government, greek life, major specific groups (premed, math, etc), club sports, intramural teams, leadership groups and service groups. These groups include active students of all kinds. Last years student body president was an honors student and also the mike guy at football games. Honors students are geeks and jocks and everything in between.
3

Congratulations. My S is a International Business program and is a triple major.

  1. Does being in the Honors College come with having a ridiculous amount of work?
    No. My S prefers taking honors classes whenever possible due to the small class size and the professors teaching the classes. He does not think that the honors classes require more work.
  2. Being in the Honors College and having to double major with International Business, will that be possible?
    Yes. My S is a triple major in the International Business program, but he came in with a lot of AP credits. The IB program is fantastic. Look on the USC website for why the program is consistently ranked #1.You will need to manage your time well, but it is doable. Also, it is better to be a direct admit to the program rather than trying to transfer in your junior year. You can always change you mind if decide that you just want to be a business major. Upon graduation you will have a very attactive resume. You will have at least a double major and a minor in a foreign language. You will have studied abroad and will have taken a comprehensive IB curriculum.
  3. Does the Honors College isolate students from everyone else?
    No. I would definitely live in the honors dorm, but there will be a group for everyone in the honors dorm. I think that due to holistic approach to the honors application, you will find that there are a lot of well rounded students in the honors dorm. My S is in a fraternity and also a couple of clubs, so you have options to interact with non honors students if you want to.
4

Thank you for the help! @atlkaw6‌ I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about your son’s international business experience? What language is he combining IB with? What are the potential jobs for an IB major? I may have some more but that is all I can think of right now. Thanks!

5

His main language is spanish, but he has also taken a few portuguese classes. Your job opportunities will probably be related to your 2nd major (ie. Finance, Marketing, GSCOM) for an international or multinational company if that is of interest to you. Consulting companies like Deloitte will also be an option.

In addition to being ranked #1 for international business, USC is ranked #12 by USNews for Supply Chain (GSCOM), so you have a lot of large companies on campus interviewing for those positions.

If you do well in IB, you should have plenty of opportunities.

6

NFL2015 if your interest is ultimately working in the Southeast, French and German affiliated companies are well-represented. Just to get an idea of international companies in SC, go to the South Carolina Department of Commerce site and click on one of the country flags in the top banner. A map will pop up displaying locations of foreign-owned companies doing business in SC. You can click on a dot to see a name and address.

7

To piggy-back off of @GCBMIB‌, SC has quite the number of German companies, including some big-time BMW gigs. I would definitely consider German as a minor. It is my minor here, and I was able to spend 6 months abroad in the beautiful town of Bamberg as a result.