During our first visit to campus, my daughter fell in love with Clemson! She came home and filled out her application immediately. Now that she’s been accepted into engineering (and Calhoun Honors), she’s trying to make her final decision.
We’re in the midwest, so going so far away from home is a big decision. We’d love to get input from current or former students and parents about their experiences with Clemson. What have you loved about it? What are the drawbacks? What advice would you give to an OOS student trying to decide if Clemson is for them?
Thanks so much! Any and all information would be appreciated!
I’ve posted several times on the Clemson board here. Our OOS son loves Clemson! I can’t give the school a higher endorsement! A few highlights:
-Professor gave son his personal cell phone number to answer questions and responded regularly well after normal work hours.
-advisors are very accessible.
-plenty of opportunities for internship interviews. Son interviewed with national “household name” companies and has accepted an offer for the coming summer. He will have only completed his sophomore year.
-lots of OOS students and regular dorm activities made for an easy transition. He did not pledge btw. but, has made many friends.
-Clemson really is a family. I’ve been hugged and/or greeted by strangers OOS for wearing a Clemson Mom t-shirt. Son was interrupted out at lunch by a Clemson senior citizen in order to talk to him about his memories. The gentleman shook son’s hand and said he just had to come over when he saw son’s Clemson jacket.
-the academics have given son the challenge he needed.
Negatives: There aren’t as many restaurants as our home city.
We are so thankful that Clemson has been such a great experience so far! Good luck to your daughter!
Thank you, PokeyJoe! That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear. We plan to visit again next week to get more of her questions answered, but it’s great to hear that your son’s personal experience confirms the “family feeling” she got when we visited the first time.
What is your son’s major? My daughter is planning to study engineering and she’s definitely looking for a school that has more of a collaborative vs. competitive environment in the engineering program. Do you have any thoughts on that?
I’m so happy your son is having such a great experience at Clemson! My daughter has narrowed it down to two schools at this point (the other is an in-state school), but I think Clemson is currently #1.
@startingsoon My son does not attend Clemson, but he has attended an info session by the College of Engineering. We were both extremely impressed by the presenter . He basically told us if your student was admitted into the engineering school, it was because they were expected to be able to complete that degree given their stats. He described a very supportive environment , especially the living / learning environment called RISE where many of the engineering and science students live. They help guide them into the engineering speciality that interests them and the one that they are best suited for. My son will be a CS major if he chooses to attend Clemson , but both he and I were very impressed with the program.
We have an OOS son in sophomore year at Clemson in COE and Calhoun Honors. He does report that the professors are readily accessible and the students help each other with their work. This is consistent with the family feeling at Clemson… it really is a very supportive environment. And yes, we great all Clemson shirt wearers wherever we are across the country! There is great enthusiasm for the school among its many admirers.
Decision points:
More residential campus/natural setting (vs. urban setting).
It is a state school, so a good portion of students go home fairly regularly. Our son has not found this to be a problem, but your daughter should be aware they will find this.
Football games are huge... not everyone goes, but it is a major focal point during the fall (and a lot of fun!)
He has found plenty of very bright, highly motivated students there. When asked about "honors" vs "other" classes, he says there is plenty to be learned/challenged by in both settings.
Administration -- the "new" president has continued the tradition of being very engaged with/accessible to the students, which we really like. The focus is on the student experience (there is also a lot of interesting research, but not at the expense of the student classroom experience.)
OOS: About 35% are OOS, so there will be plenty of others there. Greenville airport is readily accessible and with southern hospitality your D may very well be invited home with other students. Atlanta and Charlotte airports both less expensive and about two hours away. (Our son has a car on campus.)
Consideration: Clemson has a very good reputation for engineering (and several other programs), She can be very well served by Clemson and they have a very highly ranked alumni network (which really does help as my son has already tapped into it for help learning about an internship). However, she should consider where she wants to live/work longer term... while our son has found Clemson grads across the country, obviously there are more of them in the SC/NC/GA/FL area. We do not anticipate he will have a problem finding work on the East Coast, but I have no idea if people in Colorado or Washington State have any idea what "Clemson" is (unless they follow college football ; )
Great barbecue! Definitely a side of southern culture we've enjoyed learning about. If you're there on a weekend, try to make it to the Smoking Pig restaurant. : )
@startingsoon
My son started in engineering and declared ME before deciding on switching to Packaging Science. The atmosphere is definitely collaborative. I remember him telling me about one assignment where he had to list everyone who worked together on a particular set of problems. It seems like they are encouraged to work together.
He has also been invited home a few times with friends. The southern hospitality is real.
^^ totally agree with the “southern hospitality” comment above ! My d has been welcomed with open arms by the families of her instate friends ( invited to dinner multiple times, they’ve included her when visiting and running errands with their own student etc ) .I have had a few of her friends’ parents reach out to me after they’ve returned from a visit ,just to let me know how my D is doing ! They have literally taken her under their wings and made me feel like I have a safety net in case of an emergency etc . I can’t say enough good things about the people we have met at Clemson .
Thank you all so much! It’s reassuring to hear that your OOS children are enjoying it so much, and that there are people looking out for them when they’re so far away from home. We’re going down to visit again at the end of this week and I have a feeling she’s going to love it just as much this time around.
You made some great decision points, osaycanuc - I’ll be sure to share them with my daughter. So far she loves the residential/natural setting, school/football spirit and “Clemson family” feeling. Being from Michigan, the warmer climate is also very appealing right about now. Originally she thought she might want to live in the Chicago area after graduation, but the southeast is more and more appealing to her.
Thanks, everyone! We came home from another visit to Clemson this weekend, and my daughter loves it even more now than she did before.
I have another question for OOS parents - it appears that OOS tuition has been increasing 3-4.5% over the past few years. Has that been your experience? Do you think these types of tuition hikes will continue (or get even higher) given all of the construction and improvements being made to campus? When we first started looking at Clemson, the OOS tuition gap seemed doable - especially with a merit scholarship. The gap seems to be widening quickly, however, and I’m afraid it may take Clemson out of range, especially if tuition continues to increase at such a fast pace. What are your thoughts/experiences?
We are instate and experienced a rate increase as well. The most recent increase was larger than usual, but for some reason when they increased this last time I remember them saying it was not a typical increase. I can’t find the source though.
Now that she’s been accepted into engineering (and Calhoun Honors), she’s trying to make her final decision.