Hi,
My son was accepted into both NCState and University of South Carolina-- into different schools interestingly enough.
He is not positive of what he wants to do (I suspect many freshmen don’t;)) but he is interested at this point in pursuing engineering, agricultural engineering and environmental sustainability. Both schools are out of state schools for him; he liked both- probably loved the campus at USC the most- but NC State seems to offer more focus on engineering and Ag. He is also interested in pursuing Navy ROTC- Marine Corp option. Any thoughts? He is looking for balance and will probably thrive more in an environment where he can develop relationships with his professors and find the direction he wants to move… Any insight really appreciated!!!
NC State is a much better engineering and agriculture school than South Carolina. Raleigh is a heck of a lot nicer than Columbia too. In South Carolina, Clemson is the engineering school. For Engineering or Agriculture; Clemson, NC State, and VTech are all very good engineering schools (in the South East, GT is a cut above) and well regarded as such. South Carolina, ECU, NC Charlotte and some others are lower tier schools.
That is a decision my daughter had to make too. She was accepted into the Honors programs at both schools. One thing that swayed us toward NCSU was the availability and cost of housing. I have a friend whose daughter is at SC. Off-campus housing is more expensive and harder to find in Columbia. Our daughter doesn’t have her own car which makes it more difficult in Columbia. If you live out-of-state, the RDU airport has more flight options and there is a bus that goes directly to the airport. I have heard that the NCSU ROTC program is one of the best in the nation outside of the military academies,Texas A&M, etc, but I can’t find anything specific about that now. My daughter has found the NCSU professors to be very down-to-earth and approachable. They are happy to talk to students after class and during office hours. She has not regretted her decision to attend NCSU.
Do you still have spots at both schools or did he just come off WL at one? I would vote NCSU for school but USC campus does show better.