My son is deciding between University of South Carolina and University of Alabama. He will be a Computer Science major. , and we need more info on a few things to help him make a decision.
First, does anyone have experience with summer internship opportunities for engineering or computer science students? Does USC help kids find them? Do they usually have to wait until the summer of their sophomore or junior years to get summer internships? What’s the typical pay? Does USC have internship opportunities within Columbia as well as out of the city or out of state? (We are OOS.)
Second, he decided not to apply for the Honors College. (Right or wrong, we worried that it could be overwhelming freshman year.) He just got an email telling him he has been selected as a Capstone Scholar. I looked on the website to read about it, but has anyone been a Capstone Scholar? Is it worthwhile? Are they required to live in the Capstone Scholar dorm?
Third, has anyone who attends USC studied abroad? Does the school help a lot with arranging a place to go and make sure that classes transfer to USC? Is it hard to do as as a CS or Engineering major? (He will be coming in with at least four AP and dual-credit classes.) We learned that students can do it during a semester or a Maymester. Any thoughts on which is better? Are the Maymesters only for Honors College kids or Capstone Scholars or can anyone do it?
Last, does anyone know much about the computer science professors – specifically, I see that several have last names that indicate that they may not be native English speakers. While many are easy to understand, I’ve heard of stories from other kids at other universities that they’ve had professors that they can’t understand because of accents or language barriers.
Sorry – lots of questions! Thanks for any help you can provide!
Usc is very good with study abroad.
At MANY research universities your TA 's will be non native speakers. That’s just the situation . Getting used to accents is important for tech though.
However you can’t ‘guess’ anything about nationality based on a person’s name, and remember that your child will interact mostly with TA 's since he’s not in the honors college.
Capstone scholars helps with smaller size classes, a ready-made community of motivated students, and better housing options. The study abroad stipend definitely helps :).
D had engineering friends that did study abroad. USC is very generous with AP/IB credit which can help loosen up the schedule or make it easier to be gone a semester. Number of engineering/CS students she knew had internships and REUs during the summer. If Capstone, be sure to take advantage of Magellan grant to do research. There are specific capstone related Maymester trips - these offer credit and good for students in majors that are hard to plan around for study abroad.
I saw your this post, and it may have reopened discussion on USC for my D. She has been chosen a Capstone scholar as well. One specific thing she is interested in is the study abroad, which is unavailable at 2 of the three schools she has been seriously considering. So, I have been reading about it, but haven’t found anything about the study abroad stipend. Can you tell me more about it?
We visited USC for a second time last Friday and literally on our way home, my son got an email inviting him to the Capstone program. He did not apply to the Honors College on purpose. He has decent stats (33 ACT, around a 4.5 by USC recalculations), but we kinda felt like freshman year of college is a tough enough transition on its own so we didn’t want to add the pressure of HC too. Anyway, I wish we had received the Capstone email before we visited because then we would have gone to check it out.
He doesn’t like the idea of Capstone because of the location of the dorms. It looks far away from the main part of campus; is it? Can anyone describe the dorm rooms to me? Are the floors co-ed or are there girls on one floors and boys on the other floors?
Also, I read another post on College Confidential about how the Capstone dorms have a reputation of being party dorms! That sounds crazy but is it true?
I assume kids in Capstone are required to live in those dorms, right?
Last, is Maymester study abroad only available for Capstone and Honors students or can anyone study abroad at this time?
@SwimMom87. D lived in the Capstone dorm for freshman and sophomore year prior to moving off campus junior yr. Capstone is definitely an older building so the dorms are typical of any other older style dorm. It has not been upgraded like many of the other dorms but d didn’t care. Yes , the floors are coed and it did seem like they tried to put same majors together . D had a bunch of nursing students, as well as business and engineering students on her floor . She had guys on either side of her room freshman year and not sure about sophomore yr. D and her friends are all academic and not crazy partiers ( I was concerned about all those issues going in as well ) . She is not in a sorority but several of her friends did pledge freshman yr so they were definitely social but all seemed to be responsible . Maybe she lucked out but her floor was fine and even had certain " quiet times" to study etc, although she did say there were other floors in the building that had more of a party reputation freshman year. She had friends in other dorms around campus that definitely seemed to have much more of an issue with parties than Capstone did .Anyone invited to Capstone has been offered a merit scholarship . Many of the OOS students have instate tuition so they realize they have to do well to keep the scholarship. I have had 2 others in college at the same time as d ( at other colleges) and there are partiers everywhere on every campus and in every dorm especially during freshman yr so I did not feel like Capstone was any more likely to have the issue than any other dorm on campus and it was very important to me that my d not become involved in that either . Yes you can be in Capstone and choose to not live in the dorm but I think some students regretted that according to d. Also d never had a problem with the location at all …it’s not in the center of campus but is probably a 15-20 min walk to the farthest buildings on campus .
^^ Also wanted to add I think Capstone is perfect for a student who either chose not to apply or didn’t get accepted to honors .My d was like your son and had high stars but chose not to even apply because she was nervous about getting the GPA required to be admitted to upper division of Nursjng . This was a good compromise because all of the Capstone students have high enough stats for scholarships so for the most part they are motivated and like-minded students .
Thanks to everyone for all the info! It really helps. I talked to the study abroad office for a bit today and they gave me some info. It sounds like he might be able to study abroad as a CS major even without joining the Capstone Scholars. He is really hung up on the location of the dorm, but it sounds to me that the study abroad might be more likely if he joined.
Does anyone know the boy/girl ratio in Capstone? While he loves that there are more girls than guys at USC overall (haha! opportunities!), all of the pictures on the Capstone page of the website look like there are way more girls. It could be that girls are also just more willing to let you take their photo – at least that’s how it is in my house.
Last, with regards to partying…do you know if there is a lot of partying going on in the regular dorms?
^outside of honors dorms, quiet dorms, or substance-free dorms, expect noise and partying any day of the week in freshman dorms, especially the first months, and vomit in the men’s bathrooms on weekends. Trying to be honest here.
D says there were pretty much equal amts of guys as girls in Capstone her freshman yr ( 4 yrs ago) . A lot of her guy friends were business and engineering majors from Capstone . I’m sure it varies each yr though. As far as partying , I do think if a student wants to party at college they will find a way regardless of the dorm they are in . On the other hand , If they have no interest in partying they will seek out others who feel the same . Tell your son to be honest when he fills out the housing questionnaire because they do try to match people with common habits (i.e. Study habits etc )
In terms of location, you are really talking about freshman year. Capstone is close to enough to the center of campus from that perspective. Close to core humanities, math and social science buildings. Business school has moved to new building further away, but there are still some lecture classes and overflow classes from other disciplines that meet in old business which is right near Capstone. Engineering and music furthest away but as of a couple of years ago USC changed schedule to give 20 minutes between class, so only really a problem if back to back with engineering. There is dining there so don’t have to go far. Plus one of benefits is that there are sections of a few classes specifically for Capstone that meet there.
^ don’t underestimate the appeal of a class right in the same building as you are. Roll out of bed 15mn before class, splash some water on your face, put on flip flops, go to class… That’s the life for college freshmen. Think I’m kidding?
Thanks again for all of the great info (and honesty info!). What classes do the Capstone kids take together? Are they smaller classes and/or more discussion based than regular sections of other classes? Are they more challenging than other classes?
So grateful for this thread - thanks for all who are posting. Son heading to Columbia next weekend for Admitted Student Day, event at CEC and Scholars’ Reception. Not accepted into Honors, but plans to appeal in after freshman year. Hadn’t even thought about the conflict btwn. CS and study abroad. I also am wondering about Capstone opportunities - are these worth searching out? Smaller classes? I have also heard that one need not be in the HC to take honors classes - true? Any recommendations on dorm choice/request for freshman boy who is intent on studies, also intent on not drinking, but enjoys having fun - just doesn’t think alcohol=fun :). Lucky mom, I know.
Thank you so much for asking these questions! My son is a Computer Science Major as well selected for Capstone. He is also worried about the focus on partying and not being able to find like minded kids more academically inclined. He is very keenly interested in internship, co-op opportunities as well. It would be helpful to know what Capstone really entails.
We went to the Scholars’ Reception and Engineering Big Friday on March 24 and to the Admitted Senior Day on March 25 (Capstone session, Engineering session, and dorm visits). We got great info at all of the sessions. I thought there would be a lot of repetition but they made a point of discussing different things on each day. My son liked what he heard and has officially decided to attend USC and live in the Capstone building.
@vikemom and @NCMom26, our boys sound a lot alike. Are your sons on the USC admitted student web page thing where they can meet other students?
My d was not into the drinking/ partying either and I’m pretty sure when u fill out the dorm checklist for roommates ( she let the school match her which I realize was a risk ) there were questions related to this . She was matched with a non drinker who liked to study and was in her same major so it worked out well for her , although I know that is not always the case . There are definitely non drinkers on campus .
