<p>College visit didn't give us a good sense of how hard/easy C of C would be, or how smart the kids are. What is the "rep" in that regard?</p>
<p>good question…</p>
<p>I’m a current rising sophomore at Davidson College. I am a Charleston-native and have been taking summer courses at the College of Charleston since I was 13. </p>
<p>My experience in summer classes (I’m about to take my fifth) has been an overall good experience. With one exception, the professors have been engaging, funny, clever, interesting, and good at holding the attention of their students throughout the excessively long summer semester day. The work I have encountered is moderate. I would say it was about as hard or harder than my high school (I went to a very difficult, challenging private high school in Charleston), but much less challenging than Davidson. That said, Davidson is consistently ranked among schools with the most challenging workloads, so I’m used to much more work focused on much harder material.</p>
<p>Even so, the work at College of Charleston is nevertheless substantial. In my current history course, Euro history (1700ish forward), we have been assigned EIGHT books, several of which are scholarly, to be read in their entirety. We have essay tests and sometimes bi-weekly quizzes. The reading is extensive. Totaling the pages we have to read and dividing them among the four weeks of class, we should theoretically have well over one hundred pages per night to read. Keep in mind, however, this is a summer course. When I took a Maymester course, the work was even more dramatic. I had sometimes two hundred or more pages to read per day. </p>
<p>I do all of the readings, I take notes on all of the readings, and I have made 100s in three of the four classes I have completed so far at CofC. So…I think it goes to show that if 1) you do your work, 2) you’re decently intelligent, and 3) you care, you can make a 4.0 “easily.” </p>
<p>I have really liked the students I’ve gotten to know. I have cousin in the Honors College. Their work is substantially greater and clearly more advanced. But the regular classes are nothing to joke about.</p>
<p>You have to keep in mind that because it is a state school, you get a lot of students coming in from South Carolina who are EXTREMELY smart, but simply can’t afford a school farther away from home. You will meet all kinds. CofC is almost undoubtedly the best of the public schools in South Carolina, and I would argue that it’s even better than Furman/Wofford/PC, etc. in some respects. Charleston is a beautiful city full of resources you can’t find in Greenville or Spartanburg.</p>
<p>I like CofC alot. I know many good students that go there. My two Ds did Governors School there before college.</p>
<p>CofC is alot like South Carolina in that its in the middle of a city and practically no dorms. If the city is important I would pick CofC. If you want a campu setting then Clemson, Furman, Wofford, PC ,Citadel are better. Although PC is in a very small town.</p>
<p>CofC is the closest public school in SC that is a LAC experience. Citadel is very good too.</p>