I’m in a bit of a bind. I put down my deposit at IU because that was my best option a few weeks ago, and I thought everything with all of my other options was set in stone. I am a direct admit to the Kelley School of Business and have been invited to the Hutton Honors College, plus they gave me scholarship money. I visited, loved the campus, bought the hoodie and put down my deposit. After some deliberation, I’m a Hoosier! Or so I thought.
A few days ago I got accepted to the Honors College at the University of South Carolina, which is the best of its kind and has a ton to offer. It also solidified me a spot in USC’s competitive and very well respected International Business program. They also are giving me a scholarship that has me paying, at the most, in-state tuition (I live in MA) meaning I will graduate debt free - and with money to spare from my parents for graduate school. I visited the campus, and it’s nice, but I wasn’t thrilled with it or the area. Columbia SC cannot compare to Bloomington IN. However, the IB program offers the opportunity to study abroad for a large chunk of my undergrad, so this isn’t as big of an issue as it could be. The honors dorms are stunning, and I did love their buildings and what they had to offer. The business school is also brand new and incredibly nice.
Now, this is hardly a problem to complain about (having to choose between two very good programs) but it gives me a hard decision to make. My family doesn’t care about losing the deposit at IU if I change my mind, as it’s only 100 bucks. From an outsider’s perspective, which is the better choice? IU-Kelley graduating with a marketing degree and $25,000 of debt or USC Honors with an international business degree and money to spare for graduate school (either MBA or law school).
USC honors for IB and no debt is better than IU Kelley honors for marketing with debt.
Have you applied to one of the ‘cohorts’?
Check into the possibility of adding a statistics minor to marketing at IU though, as it’d make the major more marketable. Kelley is excellent but not especially known for marketing whereas IB at USC is nationally known.
A plus for USC: year round good weather. (It’s super horn in the summer…when you’re on internships elsewhere).
A plus for IU: Bloomington.
Really there’s no ‘wrong’ choice, regardless you’ll be attending an awesome school.
I have never been to Bloomington but understand that IU has one of the prettiest campuses around. Also, the Kelley School has a terrific reputation. So nothing I say below is meant to “diss” IU as it’s a wonderful option; but I have a kid in the Int’l Business program at SC so would like to point out some of the pros of choosing SC.
Are you pretty certain that you want law school? If so, keep the undergrad debt down and go with SC. You’ll do a lot of writing in the Honors seminars–choose wisely–which will be helpful.
Are you leaning more toward an MBA? You’ll want/need a few years of work experience before you start. If any decent school will do, you may be able to get an employer to pay so you can get the MBA P/T. If you want one of the top schools, where you’ll be leaving your job for 2 years, that extra $25,000 (which if invested for the 4 years you’re in college and a couple after, could be more like $50,000) will come in handy.
Now for some of the intangibles: U of SC’s campus is really very lovely, with palmetto trees, lush landscaping (that stays in bloom much longer than it would in Indiana or Mass), and temperate weather. You’ll only be in the Honors Dorm for one year so don’t let that be too much of an influence. Then you’d move down to 650 Lincoln or an off-campus apartment. There are many available, fairly reasonably priced, and a number are within walking distance to campus.
There are two areas near campus where students hang out (Five Points and the Vista) and both are super popular (although the Vista is definitely pricier). Football is huge and basketball is quite good. But there are so many undergrads (about 25,000) that if you’re not into sports, you won’t be the only one.
The Darla Moore building IS gorgeous.
If you do the traditional IB program, you’d typically study abroad for just one semester (Spring of junior year). The tuition will match your regular SC tuition, so that’s a wash. However, rent and food may be higher when you’re away (as Columbia is pretty easy on the wallet). Also, if you plan to work P/T during school, that’s a semester without those extra funds. My kid is in Spain now and it is somewhat more expensive than we’d predicted. However, a lot of that comes from travel, as she has visited at least 5 cities in the 7 weeks she’s been gone. We’d told her in advance not to worry about those extra costs. Like you, SC was a lower priced option and we agreed that at least some of the “under budget” amount would go to her for study abroad, She also did a Maymester (3 weeks) trip abroad after first year that cost close to $4,000 and we covered that, as well.
As noted above, try for one of the cohort programs if you’d really like to spend a bigger portion of your time abroad.
I am going through a relatively similar conflict to you. I got into Michigan Ross, and I also just go into South Carolina honors (and international business). I live about 20 minutes from Umich, so the out of state idea with USC is much more appealing to me. Plus, SC has a great honors program and would be a bit cheaper than Michigan for me. That being said, Michigan Ross has an amazing job placement rate and starting salary, and a more known name. SC is where I want to go overall and I thought I was set on it, but the job opportunities out of Michigan are making me think a bit.
As a South Carolina resident, my D and I know both schools well. She was accepted into Kelley direct as well. It’s best to first decide what direction you want to take. Personally, I’m not overly impressed with the USC campus “feel” or their Darla Moore College of Business EXCEPT FOR the acclaimed International Business program. We liked what we saw at Clemson (given the STEM influence in business). Still, USC’s IB stands out from the rest. IU recruits like few other public schools and is great for getting into Big 8 firms, Wall Street, etc. If your direction is elsewhere (like my daughter’s), consider another school. In our case, we chose the University of Florida and their Innovation Academy. The toughest thing for us was putting less importance on overall school reputation and more importance on individual program.