My daughter has been accepted to the Honors College and we are looking to plan a visit. We have not been to USC yet. We have been waiting hoping for an invitation to the McNair weekend but if that does not come through we are looking to plan a trip in March or early April. We are coming from OOS. Can we set up a tour or meeting at the Honors College and if so who do we do this with? Should we consider going on the April 11 date which I think is for all admitted students or should we go on a quieter weekend? Does anyone have any recommendations on a hotel and restaurants and finally if we are flying to Columbia should we rent a car or can we get around easily and affordibly with taxis and public transport? Thanks for all input.
Here’s the link to HC page about setting up visit. I did it this way for my D and we spent some time talking with one of honors administrators and they arranged a class visit. http://schc.sc.edu/admissions/visit-honors-college.
Of course you can probably find a number for honors to ask some specific questions. I don’t know about admitted student day dates, but I think they all have separate break out sessions or something for honors students. You would meet some other students that way - my D ended up rooming with someone she met at a college weekend. There are a couple of walkable hotels, but if you’re even tentatively thinking of coming on admitted students weekend, I’d make some reservation now even if you have to cancel later or end up invited to McNair. Inn at USC and Marriot Courtyard are adjacent to campus. Marriot uptown and Hampton Inn are walkable but a little further. But they are in areas students regularly walk to so good to experience.
I would really say to rent a car. Public transport is not great although if you can get a one of close hotels listed above, you can walk everywhere and just get cab to/from airport but you won’t to able to explore Columbia much. There’s a fight now about Uber, technically illegal but still operating.
I’m sure you’ve checked the calendars, but do note that the week of March 10 is spring break so weekends on either end won’t give you a full look at campus.
While the Honors weekend will be crowded there is something to be said of interaction with admitted students in April as they are seriously considering attending and would be peers of your daughter’s. If she is really not sure, it will give her a chance to picture herself in with them.If she knows she’s all in already, going on a quieter weekend will let you tour in-depth.
Once she’s at USC, the different offices like study abroad, fellowships & grants and, of course, the Honors College itself, do a wonderful job of keeping the students abreast of opportunities, deadlines etc. However, the student has to OPEN the emails and READ them 
or can make appointments/drop in the offices to talk about what’s going on. The college also has activities such as a tailgate during football season and promotes the intermural program to encourage involvement.
I know in years past they had separate weekends for Honors weekend but last year it was combined with the Admitted Students weekend and instead had separate breakout sessions for Honors. They also had a reception for the Honors students that Friday evening before the events on Saturday. So you might call Admissions and ask if they are doing it the same this year and when that Admitted Students weekend is planned. If I recall, they had 2 separate weekends to choose from last year too.
Thank you all for the input. There are two general admitted students weekends but we can’t do the March date. I have not seen anything about a separate Honors wknd other than for McNair so I guess I will call and check with the Honors College or admissions to see if there are activities planned for Honors students that wknd. Thanks scmom12 for the suggestions on hotels and transport.
@NEmom65: Can you post the results of what you find out from your phone call?
Chud182 i did check with the visitors center and there will be a break out session for the Honors college on the admitted students day. Still undecided as to whether it would be better to go that wknd or another more convenient day
The biggest advantage to going on admitted students day is to meet a number of HC fellow students and to interact with all admitted students that are in same place your D is in the college process. Maybe even meet others from the same home state. If she isn’t worried about meeting people it may not matter. There also may be breakouts on things like Greek life, athletics, etc.
The benefit of coming on your own is setting up a class visit, if on week day, and being able to soak things in at your own pace. I might ask more about honors breakout. Will students have a real chance to mingle and interact or is it just another large group presentation? My D like the informal interactions at some college events she attended, but overall hated info sessions or anything with large groups. So I think it somewhat depends on your D’s personality.
Also, the evening before Admitted Students’ day there is a reception for scholarship recipients - Scholar Social. We received info about this in the “at least” scholarship letter.