<p>I am currently a rising senior with extreme interest in the University of South Carolina. Unfortunately I am out of state, New Hampshire, and the cost of tuition is just a little too much. I was researching the website and found various scholarships for out of state students, mainly the Sims and Woodrow that I think I could qualify for. I have a 3.57 unweighted GPA and a 1220/1840 on my SATs. Do you think I would have a shot at these scholarships?</p>
<p>Also, would anyone like to share their stats if they recieved these scholarships this year?</p>
<p>If you have look at the Money Matters page under admissions, you see the average SAT/ACT and GPA for each scholarship and whether or not OOS tuition waivers are part of the deal…and that makes it a really good deal. As with any average, you might find people who received these scholarships with lower stats but USC is getting more competitive each year. What I don’t know about these scholarships is if there is some more subjective measures (I know there is for mcnair and carolina scholars) so your ECs may help or hurt.</p>
<p>You seem to fall in the general parameters of some of the scholarships but I would encourage you to try and improve your SAT to have the best shot possible! While it is interesting to hear how other people did on CC, I always encourage kids to talk to an admissions officer. They will be your best guide for where you stand and what you need to do.</p>
<p>OOS tuition and fees for 2011 is about $26352.</p>
<p>The Sims and Woodrow get you reduced tuition, but not the full OOS waiver - the Sims gets you tuition for $18852, the Woodrow is $14680, minus the $500 for the scholarship.</p>
<p>The real jackpot is a McKissick or better, which gets you in-state tuition of $10168, plus at least $2000 off for the scholarship. </p>
<p>I think you have a decent shot at a Sims or Woodrow, but if you can raise your SAT by 100 points (which is possible my DD did between Jr and Sr year) you’d be in the running for a Mckissick.</p>
<p>Pay attention to the application deadlines, you have to apply early to be eligible for any of them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice guys! I will definately be taking the SATS again in October, but will I still be able to submit these scores under the early action deadline? Will they be considered for financial aid?</p>
<p>Also, do you know how many of these scholarships usually give out? I was on the website but I wasnt really able to find the information.</p>
<p>Call admissions for a definite answer but I’m pretty sure they will look at Oct and maybe Nov scores when considering admittance and FA. Final FA decisions go out in March .</p>
<p>Scholarship letters typically aren’t sent out until March. Credentials aren’t required until February (which includes final SAT scores). So, with that in mind, I think you’d have a good chance at your new scores being considered at least for scholarships, but the best thing to do is call the Admissions Office and ask.</p>
<p>Question: My D doesn’t not necessarily want to be in Honors (and don’t know that she would qualify) since if she goes to SC it would be as a recruited athlete and I think that would be tough to manage, plus she would want to live in the dorm with the other freshman girls from her sport. However, to make the cost competitive with an academically excellent in-state school that is also recruiting her, she would need the academic aid that gets you in-state tuition (McKissick?). Her stats are in that range, plus she might have the “talent” boost as she is an All-American in her sport and is involved in her sport on many levels.
I know they say that you only have to do the special Honors application/essays if you are applying for Honors; you will be considered for the other academic aid without it. BUT, do you think there is benefit to just going ahead and doing the Honors app, in that it could help you get the “lesser” aid b/c they get to know you through the essays? I haven’t seen the essays/app and hear they are a lot of work, but SC is her first choice. OTOH, she is a very busy girl with training, her coaching job, etc…</p>
<p>i sure wish the apps came online before August!<br>
Thanks!</p>
<p>^^What sport would your D be doing? I know that with a lot of the sports, they don’t get ‘special’ housing. My English class was about half student athletes this year and I don’t think any of the girls lived in the Quads. I know a girl on the track team who lived with a girl from her high school in Preston. I think a lot of the teams are simply too large to have them all housed together. The track team has over 100 students and swimming has over 60. I guess they’re allowed to live with other student athletes, but I think most get placed in normal freshman housing across campus.</p>
<p>Also, student athletes get a lot of academic advantages (such as tutoring, the use of the Dodie, scheduling classes first, etc) that being in the Honors College might not be completely daunting. Students in the HC aren’t required to live in the Honors Dorm, so if there is special housing (or students are grouped together by sport), then she could definitely still live in that housing.</p>
<p>I know a few student athletes with some really competitive and challenging majors and they’re handling it well.</p>
<p>The catcher for the USC baseball team, Greiner, is in the honors college. As to your question about scholarships. I know honors app is required to be considered for McNair and Carolina scholars. Look on money matters link on admissions page. I think the scholarship stuff will tell you if separate application is required. I don’t think you do, but as someone said, money is too important to leave up to CC…call admissions.</p>
<p>If you want to get a jump on filling out applications for any school, be sure your student has done a resume…that will force them to remember what they’ve done and when and you’ll have all the dates ready to plug in. You can also go ahead and contact potential references. USC’s general app allows you to do a personal statement/essay, but that’s not required. HOwever that’s something you can start on that you can use not only for USC but maybe tweeked for other schools also. We didn’t do one because we (D1&2 that is) did honors application which has tons of essays.</p>
<p>^Greiner was actually in one of my classes last semester. He was roommates with Tanner English (another freshman baseball player) and I don’t think they lived in the Honors Dorm. I didn’t even realize he was in the HC. </p>
<p>Both gave a really solid 20 minute presentation in my class, though. They actually had more work than the rest of the class. The other groups (which were all assigned by the teacher) had 4-5 people. Theirs had three, but the girl dropped the class, so they were left as a group of 2. The rest of us had to only each speak on our presentations for about 3-4 minutes each while the two of them had to speak for 10 each! That’s a huge difference. Anyways, it was actually a really good presentation. Definitely not perpetuating the dumb jock stereotype.</p>
<p>Definitely look into honors college no matter what, even if rather live with athletes than honors dorm. Of the 8 honors classes D2 had freshman year only one would probably fall under the category of “harder” than regular and it was an upper level seminar. The regular classes just honors sections were no harder, just smaller classes and better professors. She enjoyed the fact that all students in the class were engaged in what was going on.</p>
<p>There was one science class that she didn’t love the prof and would have rather had the guy teaching non-honors, but that’s just the way it is. It’s nice to get extra advisement support. D2 loves her honors advisor and finds her a good person to talk to about changing majors, etc. Pretty easy to get classes you would have to have anyway in honors. There are honors sections of classes like Eng 101, 102, sciences, math, etc. And if it gets too much down the road, no one forces you to finish in honors!</p>
<p>One other thing, honors really stresses that students should be involved in USC as a whole, not just academics so I think they would be very supportive of athletes. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight on the Honors classes. Interesting that they weren’t necessarily “harder”, just better in size and support. I am going to urge (nag?) D to do the special app, b/c you never know!</p>
<p>The coaches pointed out on a map which dorm she would likely be in. I think they said they put 4 freshman girls per suite and it looked to be across the street from Blatt. </p>
<p>SC was actually a surprise favorite for my D (and her parents too!) By far the best facilities and athlete support. AND friendliest!</p>
<p>I will edit my comments to say that what’s not hard to my honors daughter may be a reflection of the calibre of honors students, but there wasn’t significantly more to do than in any other class. There is probably more expectation of participation which is not a problem for an honors student. There’s also an element of small class giving you more access to actual professor which makes some topics easier. Now when you get to upper level seminars, you may see more difficulty. Overall a good mix!</p>
<p>Sounds like South Quad would be her dorm. And the handful of honors college athletes that I know/know of didn’t live in Honors last year, so she wouldn’t be the only one or anything like that.</p>
<p>Depends on the honors class, I think. I was in honors Physics 211, which is definitely harder than the regular one. And my honors English 102 professor explicitly said she expected more out of us than non-honors students and graded us accordingly. But any other honors classes are probably the same and/or easier.</p>
<p>Our daughter applied out of state to South Carolina last year with a 1290/1980 (all 3 scores over 600) and did not receive any scholarship money. She also played lacrosse year around from middle school through her senior year and had won a district award. When I called to ask why she was not qualified for a scholarship, I was told with her SAT scores she would have needed a 4.0 overall GPA to meet the requirements for even the lowest level of scholarship. I called back again and got the same response. Her GPA was low because she spent her Freshman and Sophomore years at a private school with tough grading standards, resulting in a 2.9 GPA. When it came to scholarships they did not take into account the quality of that school or the work she did there. The admissions office told me they recalculated her GPA at a 3.36 overall and that they did not give any weight whatsoever to her private school grades. That was a shame because she surely proved through her junior year record of all As and Bs while taking 6 academic classes and earning a 3 and a 4 on her AP exams (not to mention her SAT scores) that she had put in the work necessary to excel even if her grades at private school did not show it. Also, she had a 4.4 weighted (all As and Bs and an A final grade for micro econ) for the first semester of her senior year taking 5 APs including calculus and an AP lab science. Be aware that when you fill out the application depending on your combined math and verbal SAT score you will either be asked to apply to the honors college or not. When she applied in October, 2011, the score cut off was a 1260 I think and at that time she had a 1250. That 1260 was a considerable jump over the score required to apply the previous year. We have a close family friend who graduated this year. She applied with a 1270 (and a low writing score) and a GPA well under 3.5 as she also attended a private school with tough grading standards. She however received a McKissick which today requires a 1344 avg SAT and a 4.13 high school GPA. Here is the link to the current info on the website [Academic</a> Scholarships](<a href=“Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships | University of South Carolina”>Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships | University of South Carolina). Things have changed a lot in 4 years at South Carolina. Ultimately my daughter chose a private college that offered her money bringing the cost to what South Carolina would have been out of state. Interestingly, that university has much higher overall SATs and GPAs than does SC. But probably the most important reason she chose another school was the warning she received from her brother who is a rising senior in South Carolina’s Moore School of business with a 3.6 GPA. He told his sister to expect long lines and maximum frustration for practically everything (unless you are in the honors college) as South Carolina is struggling to accommodate its growing enrollment.</p>
<p>The information on the South Carolina website reflects scholarship criteria for the class of 2015. According to the admissions office, that is why even though my daughter’s SAT scores and their recalculated GPA were within the range for the two lowest level scholarships she was denied both. I am eagerly awaiting an update to see if they post a 4.0 GPA for the Sims and Woodrow Scholarships for the coming year.</p>
<p>AFAIK the OOS scholarships are not guaranteed at certain SAT/GPA levels. So even if you hit the numbers listed on the website you are not assured of getting a scholarship.</p>
<p>I don’t recall seeing what the other criteria might be.</p>
<p>I have a friend who was valedictorian of her class at a large private school and had high SAT’s (in the 1300’s I think). She didn’t even get offered Capstone and was given no scholarship money at USC. She chose it anyways and is doing well. She was also OOS. The competition for USC is becoming tougher and tougher. It seems that not only are the scores rising every year, but the incoming class is also getting bigger, which means they’re raising their standards. Typically when you think a larger class is coming in, you think the standards would be lower because there are more seats, but that’s being proven false.</p>
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Not my experience at all. I don’t know what long lines your son would be talking about. Paying tuition at the beginning of the semester in person can take about an hour, but if you do it online, it’s quick and easy. Lunch lines at 12 are pretty bad (from what I hear), but those can be avoided by just eating earlier or later (which is what I always do). Other than that, I don’t know what lines you’d be waiting for.</p>
<p>Some things are frustrating, like housing, but in the end, every returning student at USC was offered a place to live on campus even if it was in traditional-style despite the fact that USC only guarantees housing to new freshmen.</p>
<p>To be honest, I haven’t really seen that many advantages of being in Honors. By that, I mean, as a non-honors college student with a 3.952, I’ve never really seen the advantage for me personally to apply to the Honors College. Yes, they have some amazing things to offer, but I’m perfectly happy as a normal student at USC and I really don’t think that being in the Honors College will make or break your experience here. While the Honors College might add to it (with some cool classes, study abroad scholarships, and the Honors dorm), I don’t think that not being in the HC really puts you at a “disadvantage”.</p>
<p>I had small classes. My only large class was Stat 110 with 180 people. All of my other classes ranged from 7 people to about 20. I had some really great professors. I’m getting to take some really great classes. I got to live in a really neat learning community. There’s a lot that the university offers to every student, not just the special ones who are in the Honors College or are student-athletes.</p>
<p>This is why I always encourage people not to just take advice from CC but to talk to admissions/financial aid with questions…what got students accepted and what numbers got scholarship offers changes from year to year. Many have “my friend got in with X” and that may no longer be possible. While it seems that there are colleges (based on what I’ve seen on CC) that give scholarships for absolute numbers (make a 1300, get $) but I don’t think any of USC’s are like this. When you look at honors and the two big scholarships (McNair/Carolina), those take into consideration more than just numbers. Essays and interviews (for scholarships) means there are intangibles to the selection process. For other scholarships, I would ask if admissions about whether they are judged on minimums or if, in some cases, higher GPA offsets lower scores or if higher scores can make up for lower GPA. They’re the ones to address what other factors are considered.</p>