Honors College/Top Scholars Class of 2024

Congrats to everyone!

Yet again, no luck here. I want to cry for my daughter…4.0 UW, 4.78 W, IB candidate, 2nd in class, 3rd in county, swim team captain/varsity athlete, cool employment history. I thought her essays were great and while I don’t know what we in her LoR, her guidance counselor wrote in her letter of support for parental waiver that she was one of the nicest people you’d meet and one of the brightest students she had ever worked with…so I feel like they were strong.

But I’m truly happy for everyone who had good news.! I know it’s very competitive…was just hoping for good news here.

@TrendaLeigh I’m in the same boat! Don’t lose hope yet. There’s still a chance of a few straggler invitations if people decline in the next week or so.

My D just got the email for TS!! We are SOOO happy and grateful. We are OOS (MA school, NH residence). 4.36W, 4.0 UW, top of class, >600 hours of community service, multiple science and Model UN awards, Harvard Book Award recipient, President of student council, Secretary of Model UN, NHS, NSHS, Marketing intern x 3 yrs., 2 years of volleyball, Co-President and Founder of Walking for Humanity 3 yrs., Student Ambassador 4 yrs., Tutors students at after school program; 1490 SAT.

How does this work? I’m confused. Do students and parents stay on campus or do we get our own hotel? Major road trip for our family in February…pray for good weather. lol

@hopeful1088, thank you! I was trying to edit my whiny post when time ran out. I keep telling her that things will work out just the way they should. Fingers crossed for both our kids.

Anyone from in-state get an email?

Congratulations to all who received emails! @ jas766 Did your email come in when you posted or earlier in the afternoon? Thank you very much!

Congratulations to all who received emails! @ jas766 Did your email come in when you posted or earlier in the afternoon? Thank you very much!

In state, nothing here. Sigh, so disappointed for my son. Anyone else in state hear anything?

My OOS daughter received her Top Scholars invite today too. Based on some of the posts & stats above it sounds like she’ll be a bit of an underdog!

Anyway, according to UofSC’s website they say :
"Approximately, 45 out-of-state students with strong academic records who are leaders in their high schools and communities will be invited to participate in an interview weekend.
Of these candidates, 20 will be named McNair Scholars and 20 will be named Horseshoe Scholars. Additionally, the top five candidates will be nominated as Stamps Scholars. "

Looking at the amounts listed in the invite and doing a little math, it sounds like the Horseshoe Scholars is a full tuition scholarship, the McNair Scholars is a full ride scholarship, and the Stamps is a full ride and then some scholarship.

That is not quite accurate. Our dd is an OOS McNair. She is also a Provost recipient (an additional $6000). With both, when she lived on campus in the honors dorm and then 650 (650 is super nice and worth the cost imho), we paid somewhere around $3000-3500/semester. Off campus, cooking on her own, and not in Darla, costs are close to being fully covered. (Darla has a lot of additional fees.) Anyway, with the Provost it comes close, but not quite.

All that said, TS is amazing. Jan and the rest of the staff are wonderful. New scholars wont get to meet the McNairs. It was an honor for our dd to meet him and be able to share how much his scholarship impacted her life. Great program and opportunities.

I am in state and have heard nothing. Has anyone in state heard back yet? Is it possible that U of SC has only released OOS?

Sincere congrats to all who were invited to Top Scholars weekend, and hugs to those who weren’t. UofSC obviously has a very strong pool of applicants. I don’t envy the people on the committee who have to make the choices. It can’t be easy.

All those who were in contention for Top Scholars were early admits to the Honors College, with at least the OOS tuition waiver. That’s big! I know it stings to not make it to the next level (we are disappointed at our house), but regardless, our kids have all obviously worked hard and will blaze trails at UofSC or wherever they end up. Onward!

@ShrimpBurrito Thanks for the positive words! Do you think there will be more invites sent out as others decline?

@Hopeful1088 Don’t know. Maybe. We aren’t holding our breath here.

My daughter is in state and got her Top Scholar email yesterday.

Extremely useful information - thanks for sharing! My math was the following:
The letter says that “The McNair Scholars Award has a four-year value of more than $184,000”, which means it’s a little over $46K per year. Their 2018-2019 costs listed on their website were :
Tuition & Technology Fee : $33627
Housing & Meals : $12184
Books & Supplies : $1085
That totals $46896

Now those are last year’s total, I’ll assume prices went up a little and call it $48K total.

My daughter also qualifies for the Provost, and I assume they did not include the additional $6K in the figures they stated in the letter (The Provost is $6K per year, not total over 4 years, correct?)

That would give her $46K + $6K = $52K per year, and the total cost is $48K - that leaves a $4K surplus! But you are saying your daughter got the same awards and has a $6K deficit. That’s a difference of $10K per year! I’m obviously missing something big - any ideas?

@KevinFromOC
The letter says the McNair is worth 184k? Their website says 143k. https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/undergraduate_admissions/tuition_scholarships/scholarships/nonresidents/index.php

What great news if they upped the scholarship!

@ShrimpBurrito
The letter says “Top Scholar Candidates who attend the interview weekend will receive one of the following three awards. The Stamps Scholars Award is worth
approximately $190,000 over four years of study and includes a $10,000 enrichment fund that can be used toward study abroad, research, leadership
training or unpaid internships. The McNair Scholars Award has a four-year value of more than $184,000, and the Horseshoe Scholars Award has a
value of nearly $129,000 over four years.”

I hope that’s the $10K per year discrepancy!

Got in yesterday,
Instate with an email sent and update in the portal

Yes, that letter is different than what our dd received. She received what is quoted on their website. (tuition remission + $15000/yr)

Mr. McNair passed away and it is now being run by a foundation. I wonder if there has been a change? Not sure why they wouldn’t have updated their website, though. Full-ride is a big draw. Kids from states like CA where they don’t qualify for NM, it really wasn’t much more than full tuition.

I wonder if they upped IS awards as well?