Email the department heads of all three and ask what their graduates typically do. they are usually very eager to help!
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Kelly29 - thank you. I will. I never thought of that. doh! Just assumed each school would try to sell their institution. Yet with an overload of applicants I see how itâs more beneficial for them to retain students once enrolled, so they probably want a good fit too.
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Clear edge? Iâd say it depends. I couldnât find u of SC - just Darla Moore School. But if you call the career center, theyâll have them.
Center for Career and Professional Development Annual Report 2021-22 (clemson.edu)
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We know several happy grads from Clemson, but we have never visited.
We also know some VA Tech grads but they were all engineeringâŠand loved it.
University of South Carolina was our daughterâs second choice. And it came down to the last minute for her. The school really rolled out the red carpet for her. She did receive a very sizable scholarshipâŠand when she wasnât able to attend the scholarship weekend, they put her swag aside and created one just for her the following week. I have to say, they were really notable in how they treated her as an accepted student.
We liked Columbia SC because it was a smaller but urban area. There was a lot of development happening near the universityâŠIâm guessing a lot has been completed.
I think USC flies under the radar screenâŠand in the shadows of the other southeastern flagship universities.
I think you have three really good optionsâŠand itâs all about personal preference.
tsbna44 - thank you! Very useful reports.
thumper1 - thanks. I appreciate your feedback on personal experience. What was/is your daughterâs major?
For Neuroscience, USC has a medical school and there is a hospital within walking distance of campus. So lots of great opportunities to internships, research in labs, etc⊠If she switched to business at USC she would have great course options as well.
For campus life Clemson or VT are both a step up from USC. But all are great.
Make sure itâs the department youâre checking with and not admissions. Better yet, have your student check. Admissions rarely knows and could just support their school. Departments know whoâs been there and what theyâve done and will often be candid. Plus, if your student asks, wherever she ends up going, sheâs started getting involved.
Many professors arenât as thrilled with too much parent involvement.
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Received zero merit from Clemson, only a loan. 
DD is very very sad. Pretty sure it has to go since itâs too expensive oos and I just canât justify that oos tuition payment. Now I am back to VT, U South Carolina, or in state honors at UNCW. She does not like UNCW but was rejected from UNC. Wish she applied to USC honors but she didnât. Feeling defeated. So hard trying to find a place that accepted her that she feels comfortable at and we can afford.
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I think she can apply to South Carolina honors later, my daughter applied to Clemson honors freshman year.
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Can she go to U of SC sans Honors ?
Is VT affordable ? Itâs personal opinion of course but in mine it blows Clemson away. Looks. Food. Academics.
Itâs a win âŠagain in my opinion.
You could do a lot worse than being on Americaâs nicest campus with the nationâs highest rated food.
Just sayinâ
Sorry to @S-sMo
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OOS VT cost is about the same as Clemson OOS cost. Why is Clemson out but not VT?
VT might carry a little more cachet. Maybe. I think Clemson is probably a tougher admit these days plus I think only half the kids are in-state.
What other options are on the table?
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IS VTech affordable?
Without Honors itâs probably better than USC (STEM rep in the VA/DC/MD/PA area) but for neuroscience either one would be fine.
I can understand preferring either one to UNCW (even if I really like UNCW Honors) as long as both are affordable. However if theyâd involve parental loans, UNCW is a good choice.
Finally, if neither is affordable but she doesnât want to feel âback into a cornerâ, some colleges are still accepting applications, so she can compare them to UNCW.
Hendrix or Knox are both matching instate tuition and offer excellent academics in a personalized environment. Of course, if she wants a large school with spectator sports that get on TV, neither would be a good fit 
If she is set on UNC, she can do a year at UNCW, rock her GPA and try transferring to UNC. We know 2 who did.
Most places will let them apply for honors if they meet the required GPA after the first semester.
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Sounds like a great idea and a good way to make UNCW-H more palatable, although attending a college wanting to transfer right off the bat hinders the studentâs integration into the college community.
@S-sMo only you know your daughter and whether itâd help or hinder
Honestly these schools are relatively peer schools.
Iâm dining next to U of SC as I write this. Havenât been in two years. Gorgeous campus. Was my daughterâs #2.
VT is gorgeous. UNCW is fine. Clemson is fine.
Honors is great but non Honors is great too.
Many donât go to pedigree schools or dream schools and end up saying - I canât envision having been anywhere else.
And UNCW could very else end up that way.
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My daughter was a bioengineering major with a double major in biology. She easily could have done an engineering/biology major at University of South Carolina.
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She may end up falling in love with Wilmington and never wanting to leave. As NC residents, we know tons of kids there and they all love it. The two that transferred - one was at the top of the class and got into UNC initially - not sure why they chose UNCW (maybe the beach?) They loved UNCW but felt that UNC met more of their academic needs. The other had a high school love interest there and was spending more weekends at UNC than UNCW.
Weâre lucky to have many great in-state options in NC. Sometimes the hype of UNC, which starts at a young age, and the difficulty of admission can make kids feel that if they donât get in, going to another state school is somehow a failure. Itâs not. UNC lives up to many aspects of its reputation but itâs not perfect. My older daughter is a 2017 grad and has done very well. They said no to my younger daughter, despite her meeting their qualifications and sheâs thriving out of state at another university - VT actually (it stung a little, but she was not heartbroken about it). I recently asked her if she wanted to try to transfer to UNC, as she has maintained a very nice GPA (my bank account would have been thrilled) but she said nope - sheâs happy where she is.
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Say yes to UNCW Honors next week (she can let them know sheâs changed her mind before May 1, deposit for housing).
Based on your review , Iâd say VTech is out.
You already said Clemson is too expensive.
U-SC being ânonexistentâ for her major sounds like a big problem (unless she can figure out how to cobble something from major/minor offerings???)
So if you still want to do visits or revisits, the only universities you need to include would be UNCW and perhaps U South Carolina. If you can afford to, Iâd rather invest in visiting UAlabama and/or Miami OH since these two are affordable and visiting would likely change the current âmehâ impression your child has - not that sheâd like them better than UNCW but perhaps and sheâd at least give them a chance or wouldnât summarily dismiss them as easily?