Pros and Cons

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of South Carolina
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<p>Hi - I am a Maryland parent - son will be a hs senior this year - and he is applying to USC. This school is newly on my radar and we have not yet had a chance to visit. He is applying because I believe he will be able to get in-state tuition for the Sports Mgmt major through the Academic Common Market - making it a very affordable option. His stats are also in line with the qualifications for the McKissick Scholarship as well.</p>

<p>I have read through the past year of threads on this forum and have looked at the university website - still looking for a few more nuggets of info. What do you like best about this university? What are the drawbacks? How are basic things like class size, ease of registering for classes and on campus housing? Any insights appreciated. Thanks.</p>

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<p>Hi Rockvillemom,</p>

<p>Do you believe your son is competitive for acceptance to the Honors College?</p>

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<p>Maybe - but he is not interested. He is a decent student - but not an avid reader. I’m not sure he has the intellectual curiosity one would want to see in an Honors College applicant. My feeling at this point is not to pursue that avenue - if it is something he wants to explore on his own once he is in college - great - but I am not pushing it for now.</p>

<p>The website shows this info for admission to the Honors College:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>He has a 30 ACT and his weighted GPA is only a 3.93 - so he does not appear to be eligible to me.</p>

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<p>My knowledge of USC is pretty much limited to the Honors College so someone else will have to provide the insights :-)</p>

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<p>Carolina is a great university, hands down. The campus is very beautiful for being an urban campus. Class sizes are awesome, you can check the department limit of each class here: [Columbia</a> Master Schedule for Fall 2011](<a href=“University Registrar - University Registrar | University of South Carolina”>University Registrar - University Registrar | University of South Carolina). USC has a one day orientation where you do everything to prepare you for the fall. You meet your academic advisor whom helps you when registering for classes. The dorms are not that great but not that bad either, I have seen a lot worse. It really depends on your luck of where you get placed, but even the worse dorms on campus are better than a lot of university’s. One downside is parking, but if he doesn’t bring a car then it won’t matter. Parking is not really that bad once you get used to it and find good spots in Columbia. I have lived here my whole life so I am very used to parking in Columbia, it just takes some getting used to. That is all I can think of right now but if you have any more questions I would be glad to answer them :)</p>

<p>Also, I will be a freshmen at USC in the fall and both of my siblings went to USC.</p>

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<p>^^had no idea that USC was an urban campus…</p>

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<p>I know - I’m having trouble picturing it myself. The image I have in my mind at the moment is that it is like American University in DC - where the actual campus has green spaces and feels suburban - but step off campus and you are in a city. I am hoping it is NOT completely urban - like College of Charleston as S2 did not care for that at all. I have looked on the website and seen photos that seem to support my impression - but it would help if someone more knowledgeable would describe it more accurately.</p>

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<p>^^maybe urban “Columbia, SC” is not really “urban”?..got me curious…</p>

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<p>It’s somewhat like American U. (That was my first choice for forever, but I ended up not applying because of the cost factor and I fell in love with USC… So if your son is interested in AU, I’d totally tell him to check out USC. haha.)</p>

<p>But, I remember with AU is that it might technically be in Washington, DC, but it isn’t in the city. It’s close-ish to a metro stop, so you can easily get into the city, but it isn’t really there in the heart of it all.</p>

<p>USC is in the heart of Columbia. It is a very urban environment. (No it isn’t DC, NY, or Chicago… South Carolina doesn’t have anything like that. But it’s one of SC’s largest cities and is the capital). It is not suburban or rural in the least though. My dorm, for example, will be right across the street from the SC Capital Building.</p>

<p>You can kind of get an idea for USC’s campus if you put it into Google Maps and look at it from satellite view. USC starts where all the trees are. The rest of the city looks like a typical city.</p>

<p>When you’re on USC’s campus, you do not feel like you’re in the middle of a city. You feel like you’re on a college campus. There are lots of trees, lots of open space, lots of students, etc. You can, however, almost immediately step off of campus and feel like you’re no longer on campus… At least that’s my opinion.</p>

<p>The one thing that doesn’t fit with that is where Koger is. Assembly Street almost disconnects the campus. It’s an extremely busy street with up to six lanes of traffic. You have to cross that street (or take the tunnel underneath) to get to the Music Building, the Colonial Center, the Strom, and a couple of other buildings. That’s really the only urban feel of campus.</p>

<p>But if you have any questions comparing USC to AU, then let me know! I heavily debated between the two schools for the majority of the fall of my senior year. AU was my first choice school from 9th grade up until the fall of senior year, but when it came right down to it, I just knew that there would be no way I could afford the school, so I looked at other options and happily settled on USC.</p>

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<p>USC is nothing like most of the urban campuses that I looked at in the Northeast (Philly, NYC, Boston). I’m guessing you’re familiar with cities like those, Baltimore and D.C. (like me, I’m from South NJ, not far from Maryland at all), and Columbia is much smaller. As for the campus itself, when I was there for orientation, I honestly felt like I could’ve been in the suburbs. </p>

<p>I thought registering for classes was relatively easy. If your son does end up attending, make sure he gets an early orientation date (this is probably true for most schools, tbh) so he can get good class times. I’ve seen people with 8pm Friday labs, which I would not want at all.</p>

<p>All of my classes are small (30 is my largest), but I am in the Honors College, so those classes are usually small. If your son is serious about USC and can bring his GPA up a bit, he might consider applying for Honors. You never know.</p>

<p>USC isn’t a small school, about 4500 kids in this incoming class if I’m not mistaken. Some people might not like that, but that was something I was looking for.</p>

<p>If you have any questions about coming from our area of the US to SC, let me know. I might not be able to answer it all now as I’ll be a freshman in August, but after some time in school I can help out!</p>

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<p>Hello, Rockville Mom,</p>

<p>I’ll agree with all the positive above. My daughter just graduated from the Moore School of Business and had a fabulous four years. The campus is beautiful and the classes were rigorous. When she talks about everything she learned, it makes my head spin! She double majored in Finance and Economics, minored in Chinese. Yes, she had a few large classes Freshman/Sophomore years but most were very reasonable sizes and she liked most of her professors very much. They were very accessable. (Her Chinese class averaged about 15 or so each semester with a native speaking Professor.) The Advisors were always very helpful and only once had a problem getting the classes she wanted. </p>

<p>The campus is smack dab in the middle of Columbia but not like American University. Columbia is a grid with wide boulevards. Think a slightly bigger Annapolis with wider streets and the Naval Academy.</p>

<p>The State Capitol building is n the middle. The campus abuts the government buildings. There are beautiful old buildings shaded by beautiful old trees. And, Thank God for those trees when you’re moving into the dorm in August! Columbia is very hot and humid in the warmer months. It’s very walkable and I’ve always felt very safe. Daughter never had a problem with safety – although, of course, you must stay aware of your surroundings. There is a “Five Points” area with restaurant/bars and small shops and another area called The Vista, also restaurants and shops, albeit more upscale than Five Points. The Five Points area is a real draw for the college kids on weekends. Again as with any city, you must be careful late at night. They have had some problems but what city hasn’t?</p>

<p>Futher out from the downtown there are shopping areas with the usual Target, Shopping Mall (Columbiana) etc. A car really is a good thing if you can afford it. It also makes coming home for holidays a lot easier!</p>

<p>If he’s interested in Greek Life, there is a fabulous new Greek Village built in a U-shape (to replicate the Horsehoe of originial buildings on campus) with sorority and fraternity houses. They are drop-dead goreous and all built within the last 8-10 years!</p>

<p>The fan loyalty to the Gamecocks is wonderful. Home football games are packed to the rafters with the Greek guys in shirt/tie and the girls in dresses. It is adorable. The baseball team just won the College World Series and the whole City of Columbia went nuts with parades and celebrations.</p>

<p>The only drawback is after graduation . . . most of the friends are further South! But USC’s presence in the DC area is growing and there is an active alumni association. Side story – the young man that was President of the Student Council at Carolina got a job in DC after graduation. DC proved more dangerous than Columbia – He was shot near one of the Metro stops last year. Thank God he survived. </p>

<p>You must go take the tour! Be sure to wait until the students are there to get a real feel for the school. You’ll be amazed how pleasant, polite and friendly the students and employees are! Stay at the Inn at USC on Pendleton Street-- it’s right on campus and makes it very easy for y’all to walk around.</p>

<p>Best of luck!
(P.S. Our first house many, many years ago was right off Bel Pre Road!)</p>

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<p>Class sizes at USC can be all over the place. Generally the 101 type of classes can be quite large, my son has a couple of classes with around 200 students (which really freaks my out because I never had classes with more than 30 students). If you search enough on the website there is actually a page that shows the maximum class size for each course. I believe English 101 is only 24 students max, but my son’s psycology 101 is is capped at 265 and it’s already full. Of course the jumbo classes tend to dissapear once students get beyond the entry level classes. More specialized classes will be much smaller, I have seen some class “caps” in the 5-15 range. My son actually has one class that meets twice a week, the first meeting consists of 23 students, the second is a private one-on-one class with just the professor.</p>

<p>Another “plus” that rarely gets mentioned is that they tend to have a lot of well known guest speakers and lecturers and visiting professors. Discovering that was a big factor into my son changing his mind about going to the more “prestigious” college that was origionally his first choice. He’s a music education major and trumpet player, it turns out that Allen Vizzutti (one of the worlds most famous trumpet players) will be teaching at USC for 3 weeks each semester for the next three years, and my son will actually be performing with him, and taking classes and private lessons from him during those 18 weeks. I’ve been told that it is the same way in other disiplines, but I couldn’t vouch for that.</p>

<p>The urban campus is one of the things that initially my son didn’t like, I think he was expecting a more traditional college setting where the campus is very distinct from the surrounding areas. Personally, I think that the downtown location makes it more interesting, and convinient. There’s a heck of a lot that you can walk to or take a bus to, so I wouldn’t think that you would feel isolated, especially if you didn’t have a car. It’s an urban campus, but a small city urban campus. I guess that’s a little different than being in downtown Detroit or NYC. I haven’t found traffic to be bad at all when I have been in the USC area, but then again I have never been there during rush hour.</p>

<p>USC invented the “University 101” class (that’s offered at a lot of colleges now) and they highly recommend it for all students, but generally it’s the BA students who take it. They claim that student’s that students who take it tend to achieve higher college gpa’s than those who dont. It basically goes over study skills and college and life success skills, but it also provides general info about the college, area history, etc. My son elected not to take it because it just didn’t fit into his already overloaded schedule and demanding curriculum. </p>

<p>USC is big into sports, I assume that everyone knows that they have won back to back baseball national championships, and the football stadium is one of the largest in the US, even larger than a lot of professional football stadiums.</p>

<p>The International Business program is always rated in the top programs internationally, and this high ranking tends to have a coattail effect for all business related majors.</p>

<p>The combination of the business program being highly ranked, and the sports program doing very well may make a good combination for what your son is looking for.</p>

<p>And as AUGirl mentioned, USC was not origionally my son’s top choice. He did get accepted into his top choice, and with good size scholarship, but when it came time to actually make the enrollment deposit, the USC appeared to fulfill his academic needs as well or even better than his first choice, and at a much more reasonable cost.</p>

<p>Double check me on this, but I think that I once read that USC has been ranked very highly (like in the top 20) for “value” by several authorities.</p>

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<p>Signing up for classes definitely isn’t difficult if you go to an early orientation… but the people who had orientations in July… well, they really got the shaft of things. I know several people who ended up with a Friday bio lab that goes from 8-10:45 PM and that isn’t even considered an “evening” class. Some people were luckier to have that lab on Thursdays from 8-10:45… but not all.</p>

<p>Class sizes aren’t too bad. I have one large class (Stat 110; 200 people). All of my other classes are capped at 25 and some look to be smaller. My French class, for example, only has 14 students in it. I think I remember reading the average class size is 25 at USC. I’m not in the Honors College, so my classes supposedly should be larger, but it doesn’t seem like they will be. (My French class, however, is a 300 level course, so I’d imagine it would be a bit smaller than the average freshman language course.)</p>

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<p>This has been really interesting - thanks for the comments. Our suburban Maryland hs is sending 10 students to USC this fall - the most ever. And the reasonable price - Maryland students getting in-state cost either through merit scholarships or through the Academic Common Market seems to be a driving factor.</p>

<p>Son did not like College of Charleston - thought it was too urban - no real “campus” to it. I think what you are telling me is that USC is NOT like that - that there is more of a campus feel to it even though it is downtown. I wish now that we had visited USC back in the spring when we saw CofC - but it was not on our radar then. Maybe we’ll get there this winter.</p>

<p>Lynchburg - thanks for the hotel recommendation - I saw that on the map and it looked very convenient. Reminded me of when we visited Virginia Tech and did the same thing - stayed at the hotel on campus. And yes - I know Bel Pre Rd very well!</p>

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<p>AUGirl - so now I understand your user name! I have seen your other posts on the USC forum and was wondering if “AU” had some other meaning that I was not aware of! Thank you for the Google maps suggestion - I just did that - very helpful. It seems to have more of a campus than CofC - that is certain. It may still be more urban than he wants - but app is already submitted - so we’ll just see what happens and when we can visit. Thanks.</p>

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<p>From one Rockville Mom to another, you really have to make the time to visit the USC campus. We have a daughter who will be a senior and a son entering as a Freshman this coming fall. Ours has been a very positive experience to date. Another big positive are the USC Parent Weekends! Fabulous, well organized, and tons of fun. </p>

<p>As reported by others USC and CoC have a completely different feel. USC is technically “urban” but really it has a traditional college campus feel. Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.</p>

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<p>Well I never would have guessed that “Don Ho” was a Rockville Mom in disguise. I did send you a PM. You must love the school if both of your kids are there.</p>

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<p>I lived in Rockville as a kid, just off Aspen Hill Rd. if that counts. Anyway, my son is transferring USC from Anne Arundel CC this fall with ACM instate tuition. It is a great looking campus that seems to me like a very large version of College of Charleston. My daughter graduated from CofC in May, and it seemed to me like going to college in downtown Annapolis, not what I think of as urban. USC has alot more open space, but it has alot more space period. Perhaps the tight confines of 17th and 18th century streets in Charleston make it seem more crowded. Columbia is a newer, larger city with broad avenues. I think its just a matter of scale.</p>

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<p>That ACM thing is pretty cool! We did not originally have USC on the list - then someone educated me as to ACM - sports mgmt is on there - and presto - a USC app was submitted! </p>

<p>I think the turnoffs with CofC were crowded sidewalks - hard to discern “on-campus” from “off-campus” - other than by the brick herringbone pattern sidewalks - and lack of green space. No quad - lawns - landscaping, etc. I still would be fine with him applying there - at least you know there will be plenty to do - but he was pretty adamant that it was a no-go. Older son goes to Wake Forest - so perhaps his impression of what a college should look like is shaped by his visits there.</p>

<p>I still have concerns with the size of USC - but I think the low cost warrants a visit.</p>

<p>TurtlePhobic - so many people with Rockville connections - who knew! I hope your son’s off campus housing situation works out - it actually sounds pretty nice.</p>

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<p>Yeah – Do Ho – I always envisioned you with a uke in Hawaii! With all these Rockville connections, we could have a field day playing "Do you know . . . "</p>

<p>RockvilleMom – We were given advice when my daughter was looking – you can make a big school small but you can’t make a small school big. Once your son gets involved in clubs/Greek Life/club sports/whatever, Carolina will seem much smaller. </p>

<p>Mine also got into CofC but decided she really wanted the whole big school life, especially football and Greek Life. I can’t say enough about how happy she was there. CofC is also much closer to the seedy parts of Charleston. Of course, Columbia has areas to avoid but they’re further away and don’t seem to impact the campus. I think you’ll be surprised by how lovely it is.</p>

<p>One other advantage of Carolina is: if you apply early, you’ll hear early if they want you. Mine had it in her pocket by November or so of senior year. It really eased the stress of applying, knowing she had one sure thing! Then you can continue to look around but I would really recommend the Spring Scholars Day visit before committing elsewhere. They really put on the Ritz and Columbia is in all it’s botanical beauty so it’s quite intoxicating!</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>