For the many students and their families contemplating college decisions this time of year, I thought some might appreciate perspective from a parent of a D who went through that same grueling process last year. One year later, I’m thrilled to report that USC has been everything my daughter hoped it would be. She was admitted into the HC last year, awarded with OOS Coopers Scholarship and chose USC based upon the merit scholarship offered, plus everything else the school has to offer.
Academically, her first year experience has been exactly what she is looking for. Her classes have been challenging, particularly in the honors courses where class sizes are relatively small and more is expected from students. The freshman HC dorm is top notch and in living there, she has met a ton of like-minded students from different parts of the country (OOS admissions is relatively higher than most schools). She also rushed and joined a sorority which has not been a distraction (as I feared), but rather a benefit in meeting and networking with other students – especially upperclassman students who have graciously shared tips on everything from campus living to academic and career path strategies. Not to mention that of course, they do have fun.
If you have not done so yet, take a visit there and check it out yourself. We toured a lot of different schools and I thought the USC campus shows very well on tour and it did not fall short once D was enrolled. Then go ahead check out the stats for admitted HC students. You will find it matches up very well with even the most selective private universities.
For many parents who simply just don’t qualify for financial aid, its worth asking this question. Do you want to invest north of $60K per year at an elite (where other incoming students might attend for a cost next to nothing – often on your dime!), or do you take advantage of the OOS merit scholarships that USC offers and pay as much as 70% less? The difference over 4 years can be staggering and I can tell you from my D’s experiences, the quality of the education and instruction has been fantastic.
On top of all else, campus life seems to have something for just about everyone with lots to do on campus and throughout downtown Columbia. Like with any city, you really have to be careful about where you go and what time you’re out at night, but these days I think that’s common with just about every campus. Last but not least, football Saturdays are a really, really big deal down there as is homecoming weekend. If you’re from the northeast or other parts of the country where pro sports teams typically rule the day, it’s really something to see how much locals get behind college sports teams – even in a down year as last season. This Spring, you can also add men’s and women’s basketball programs to the list of big events as each have been drawing sell outs. Overall, I think it that also makes for a really great college environment.
Hope this helps some of you who are thinking about USC. Just wanted to put in a deserving plug for the school. Academics have not disappointed. D is very happy there and so far, choosing USC was a great move.
Good luck to everyone making same decisions this year.
Have to agree with SECfan 1234. My daughter is also a first year OOS student in Honors. Living away from home for the first time is an adjustment for everyone, but she seems to be thriving in all respects. The classes are challenging, she loves the college spirit surrounding the football and basketball games and she has made many good friends particularly through her sorority. Compared to what some of her other college options would have cost us, even with merit scholarships, we do really feel like we are getting a lot for our money at USC.
Thank you @SECfan1234. We attended admitted students day at the end of January and made our deposit. We are OOS also, just waiting to hear which scholarship is awarded. My daughter is very excited to live in the honors dorm!
Hello! My OOS-NJ daughter has been admitted to USC along with the two other SEC schools she applied to. She did not qualify for Honors but did receive a Sims Scholars offer; she would plan to apply to Honors. She also plans to join a Sorority. My question is how “expensive” the additional costs for sorority membership may be? It appears to me that the cost at another of the SEC schools (with gorgeous on campus “mansions”) may be more than we can afford.
If you search on greek life there is a page with lots of links and info. The following link is the booklet from last year and it looks like it has cost for each sorority. It will vary depending on the individual sorority. Not all have a campus house. This is from 2015 and so cost may be higher for next year but it will give you an idea. The basic information should be the same.
Remember that depending on the house or meal plan you would ordinarily have, that part of cost may be close to a wash - you have to pay for meals and housing anyway. I don’t think there is a requirement to live in the house, in fact there can’t possibly be room but I do think there is mandatory meal plan. Look at summer orientation schedule when up and see if there is a session on greek life for parents to answer questions.
Sharing what I learned as a parent of a first year student was that there is always hidden, additional costs beyond tuition and books that apply to every college and every student. Looking back to this time last year, I didn’t fully recognize all the extras that go into college, from setting up D in dorm room and supplies, sorority dues, travel costs, weekly spending money and all the other misc. expenses that come along from laundry, printing, etc. It really can add up quickly and should definitely not be overlooked in budgeting. To me that’s yet another reason to really take a long hard look at benefits USC offers when it comes to merit aid.
Like scmom says, there is some info out there on what to reasonably expect sorority dues to run based on which chapter your D pledges with. Like scmom also says, if her chapter has its own house in Greek Village (from my understanding most chapters do), your D’s university meal plan that you already pay for will be switched out and replaced by the House meal plan in the second semester of your D’s freshman year. In so far as to living in the Village, the earliest a student may live in the Village is their sophomore year. For next year, my D has not opted to do so, however if she elected to do so, I don’t recall the prices being that far off from existing university housing or even some of the closer to campus, new off campus apartments (btw really nice!) being built just about everywhere you look this school year.
USC also has strong service sororities (Epsilon Sigma Alpha for example) and other fraternity groups (like the Engineering Honor fraternity Theta Tau) that are not housed in Greek Village so have no meal plan or housing payments. Therefore, they have much lower membership fees. They offer service, leadership, and social opportunities. It’s preference, but an alternative for students who want a lower profile or more inclusive social group.
In addition to ESA, another service sorority is Omega Phi Alpha. Both have dues and costs less than $300 per semester. Recruitment happens the after school starts in the fall and again after winter break. Some girls do a Greek Village sorority and a service sorority – but that is a big time commitment with both having mandatory weekly meetings, required event and volunteer hours.
Thanks for all the helpful comments! My daughter is definitely interested in a “social sorority”, although she is very happy to include the service commitments for the Greek Village sororities joining two seems like it would be too much to “juggle”! Her current financial aid offer includes work/study she so would be working 10-12 hours/wk on campus.
My D had two roommates rush as sophomores so that is option if your D goes through recruitment and is not sure she wants to commit that much time her first year. They both got bids.
My daughter’s in a sorority at USC and lives in her house this year. DH and I were not in the greek system at all but two of our kids have loved it. It makes a big campus smaller (although there are other ways to do that, of course), and offered so, so many social opportunities. And they do so much service-wise within her sorority - we’ve been pleased.
Strongly advise pushing your daughter to live in the house sophomore year if she goes greek. We literally had to force our daughter to do it and now she is extremely glad she did. Made even more friends, lives in a gorgeous home for one year, and met kids in other frats and sororities nearby. Her friends who opted for apartments are not branching out socially at all, so she’s finding that interesting. Also, must mention the Greek Village at South Carolina is stunning AND right next to the rec center.
Feel free to pm me if you have specific questions I can help with!
My daughter is about to send in her deposit for Honors College at USC. I hope she has as good of an experience as you describe!! Message me with any more tips, input, etc. My daughter is having trouble finding a roomate though
Some of us incoming Honors College students have a group chat set up through an app called GroupMe, your daughters should look into joining the facebook group and getting added to the chat!
@SECfan1234 Agree with what you say. But our dilemma (not a bad one) is that USC is not as strong as Stanford in the field of my kid’s probable major: Int’l Relations and/or East Asian Studies. USC is great in Int’l Business though.
We applied to USC and will likely get at least Lieber (automatic) and Coopers (most likely) scholarships. Also, USC does not allow a deferral admission for kids who want to take gap years with the same merit award.
Some stuff I learned and my own thoughts from comparing Univ of South Carolina against top private (including Ivy) schools for an OOS family who will not be receiving that much or ANY financial aid from an expensive private school.
If you are from a low-enough income family and manage to get into HYPSM etc type of colleges, HYPSM will pretty much pay for your education, so there is no financial disadvantage in attending HYPSM. Now, if you get accepted at a high-ranked college but won’t be getting that much financial aid, USC (South Carolina) starts to look very attractive.
Also, if you plan to major Int’l Biz, go to medical school or major in business, USC is a very good destination even with no financial advantages.
In our kid’s case, he wants to study in the field of IR/East Asian Studies and fortunately got into Stanford and Honors College at USC. Not sure but USC doesn’t seem to have a top program in IR/East Asian Studies although I am sure they have a decent program in this area. He has a very tough choice to make. I told him I would be happy and proud (but definitely less wealthy or poorer by close to $300K if he goes to Stanford) whichever he chooses. My wallet says “Please son, go to Univ of South Carolina” though. I mean, he could attend USC for undergraduate and then get a Masters at HYPS or Georgetown in Foreign Service or Int’l Relations. I am hoping my kid says to me after visiting USC “Dad, I love people and everything about USC and I want to attend USC over Stanford.” This is literally a $250K question for me because I calculated that at worst, we will pay $40K to $50K for 4 years of USC (he can stack Lieber on top of Cooper scholarship) vs. $300K for 4 years of Stanford. This entire experience seems “funny” to me because I never seriously expected to be in this situation.
If your son is going on to graduate school, I see little or no advantage in spending an extra $300k. Even if a school has an excellent program, it is not realized by undergrads who are only taking classes (and core courses) their first two years. Nobody really cares where you got your BS if you go on for a Masters or Ph.D. Of course it will help clean out your bank account and stimulate the economy. We had a similar choice as yours. My D was set on a few northeast schools. There is strong pressure here to head that direction and nobody wants to be a nobody. USC was the last choice on her list of a dozen. They gave her a good offer and when we visited in January, her decision was pretty much made.
@Gora14 Frankly, he doesn’t know whether he will go to graduate school etc. Also, my wife and I disagree on whether it’s worth going to Stanford at a tune of $250k loss vs Univ of South Carolina Honors College. Even though we have money saved for an expensive private college, IMO Stanford is ideal for relatively “poor” or conversely wealthy families. We are well off but by no means very wealthy. Like I said, if we were poor, we would be super happy that our kid is going to Stanford because they will give a lot of financial aid. For me, the prospect of our only kid is definitely tempered with unhappiness at how expensive private colleges are without significant financial aid. If we had another kid, no way we could afford to send the second child to an expensive private college. I feel Stanford being so rich, should give some financial support to all families making less than $300k regardless of assets. Lol
@websensation As you know, there are many factors to consider. I was in a similar position as you, too rich to qualify for support and too poor to really afford an expensive college, although I’ve been saving since before I was even married. I did leave the decision up to my D and she responded well. It is hard to turn down an offer from a prestige school. Personally, I don’t think name schools are worth it. The best people I’ve hired have been over-performers at no-name schools. These students got extra attention and opportunities they never would have received if they went to Yale or Stanford, where they would have been nobody special. A student is much better off being a big fish in a small pool and the stats back this up. There is a chapter in Malcolm Gladwell’s “David and Goliath,” dealing with selecting colleges. This should be required reading for parents and students deciphering where to go. This might be the best $12 investment you make.
