<p>Any one have any experiences with the U of South Carolina with OOS students? Do they give good merit aid? How's the honors program? Did you or your son/daughter like it if you visited...etc etc</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Anecdotal:</p>
<p>My neighbor's D applied to USC and received a merit scholarship that decreased the COA to less than the COA of her own instate school. She was admitted to the Honors Program. She loved the school, the students, everything.....</p>
<p>Amother friend's daughter is about to start at USC in a week or 2. Her mom says she's nervous but excited. She's not on a merit scholarship but just loved the school so much more than her instate schools. Ironically her roommate should be going to the other USC as the roommate is from sunny CA.</p>
<p>I was going to suggest USC to you in a previous post as they do offer nice merit aid. If you are offered a scholarship over a certain dollar amount you also receive in-state tuition. This makes the cost of attendance very attractive for OOSers. My daughter was not that interested until we visited and now she is attending in 9 days!
The campus is really beautiful, the people are very nice and the school offers a ton of programs. There is a lot of school spirit - practically every student we saw was wearing a Gamecock shirt and I hear that the football games are really quite a scene.
The town has a lot to offer as well. There are plentyof shops , restaurants, parks, etc. Beach is not too far away either.
The weather is just an added bonus!
We are all very pleased with her choice - I would say it is definitely worth a look. FYI - We also know 2 local students who are currently attending SC and love it.</p>
<p>We have had many students from our high school go to USC as OOS, and I would say most are in the Honors College. They all have nothing but fine things to say about USC. Echo the comments of PA Mom, especially regarding the people. The admissions staff went to great lengths to match my D up with professors and other advisor types to talk to to help her make her decision.</p>
<p>They have terrific opportunities for merit aid! </p>
<p>D can't wait to leave. She's 75% packed!</p>
<p>Sorry for the multi postings! I thought I only pushed that post button once!</p>
<p>S applied from OOS in 2005. He was offered $4000 per year (Coopers Award) plus in-state tuition rate. He was also invited to be in the Capstone program which offered $1500 more per year I think. We were very impressed on our visit and would have been very happy if S had chosen USC. He ended up going to our own state u because the major he eventually settled on wasn't offered at USC. Four other kids who graduated with S chose USC. Three of the four got a scholarship so oos tuition was waived.</p>
<p>DD was offered a McKissick Scholarship ($2000 per year) plus reduction to instate tuition. They could not have been more accommodating and easy to deal with. In the end she chose to attend a smaller school. I think if she had been accepted into Honors or Capstone she would have chosen USC...but the size of the student body was just too large. HOWEVER, when she sent her letter saying she was going elsewhere, the director of admissions sent a letter saying they would hold her acceptance for a year and if she wanted to enroll to contact him. I honestly think the school has a LOT to offer...and so did dd.</p>
<p>sounds like usc is a winner! thanks guys!</p>
<p>btw, could u post the stats of your son's and daughter's along with the $$ amount and yes/no to honors?</p>
<p>thanks so much!!</p>
<p>For those who are oos, and were offered instate tuition with a scholarship, is there a gpa one must maintain to keep the instate tuition (I would be more concerned with that, then the scholarship)? Is instate tuition lost, if the scholarship is lost because gpa requirements were not met? What are the gpa requirements? Thank you.</p>
<p>The GPA requirement is 3.0 to keep the scholarship, which is a requirement to keep the tuition waiver as well. We discussed this with our daughter while she was deciding where to attend and she decided that she was willing to put in whatever work was necessary in order to maintain at least a 3.0. Also, there seems to be a good support system at the university for students if they seek out help with their classes. I don' t think it will be a problem for most of the scholarship students as they are high achieving ( high school) students so hopefully that carries over into college for them as well. ( knock on wood..)</p>
<p>PAmom, That is what I thought. I wonder how many students do lose it freshman year (adjustment to college and I assume some large intro classes). The oos cost of attendance is expensive without any aid. If the student can keep a 3.0 this USC sounds like a good deal. I have heard some nice things about the school.</p>
<p>University of SC honors and merit programs can be very good options..I know kids in them who are getting good instruction. I have a relative who has a huge banking career from their well known business program. However, it is one of those very large universities with a big handsome Frat house row and Rush starts before school begins. This is true also at Georgia and other schools in this category. You have to really make up your mind re frat world and hang tough either way to find your own crowd sans frats and stick out the seasons when freshmen are frat-crazy, or to find a way to study and get focused on your academics with frat membership if you join up.</p>
<p>Is USC on the consevative side, being that it is a southern state?</p>
<p>The honors college application for U of South Carolina is one of the most demanding I've ever seen. Just get going on it early. The essays topics take some time and thinking. DD had 1230 combined CR/Math...a bit low for their scholarship awards we thought. BUT she was also top 5% of her class with a very aggressive courseload and a top GPA. They must have looked very holistically at her application when they awarded her the McKissick Scholarship. However, we did call about Capstone...the cut off was 1250 minimum SAT score and there was NO leeway on that one. Capstone Scholars do not necessarily get any money...but it's a great program.</p>
<p>while the frat/sorority village is quite beautiful,membership is less than 15% of the University population,and this included the historically back frats and sororities.Greek membership #'s we sayw at eastern/northeastern schools were sometimes much higher.We've been assured that one can be "independent" at USC and not suffer socially at all. And while Fall recruitment does start immediately, there is also a Spring recruitment and one can also join later on in their college career if they so wish.
GetOutta,I sent you a PM about USC..did you receive it?
Northeast...student must keep a 3.0 for any scholarship, and since the OOS waiver is tied to the scholarship,I imagine the OOS waiver would be rescinded.S has three different scholarships and the req is the same for all of them.
So far we've been nothing but impressed with advising,communications,etc.Just this week,S got an email confirming the receipt of his official AP scores from the registrar's office and details on how to access them after the first day of classes,an postcard invite to a "first night" celebration and a reminder to attend a lecture/discussion of a book all freshman are reading,with the subject of the book giving the lecture.</p>
<p>Also USC waived the app. fee if SAT was over 1300.
Here are S's stats Getouttabuffalo...SAT 1400, GPA 4.675w,class rank 7/450
He got the Coopers($4000/yr. instate tuition) and Capstone. Don't know what the cut-offs are for the different scholarships.</p>
<p>thanks pack mom. question though...how did they know to waive the fee if you have to apply and send the app fee in order to send your scores? did they like refund it or something</p>
<p>He just wrote a note and attached it to the app. (he used the paper app. not online version.) saying that his SAT was over 1300 and they would be receiving his SAT scores from the college board shortly.</p>
<p>Is it a written policy that they'll waive the app fee if the scores are high enough? Do you have a reference for that? I can't seem to find it on their web site. Perhaps I'm overlooking this info. Seems it's a great way to get the 'high achievers' to consider their school! Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>i couldn't find it on the site either....i'd really like to see a reference because fee waivers are going to be huge for me this fall in helping me get my application in at as many schools as possible to see where the best fin aid comes in from</p>