Sorry - I didn’t mean academically.
I meant - in atmosphere, environment, etc.
From a ranking POV, if that was the concern of OP, all the SEC schools would be rated higher than Charleston because if you’re using the dreaded US News, Charleston is regional and all the SEC schools are national. And as an interested participant, I’ve seen Charleston is the WSJ rankings - and let’s just say - it ain’t pretty.
But I just meant - the actual environment. Conway is nothing like Charleston nor is the campus. Neither would be Harrisonburg or Boone.
Sorry I didn’t clarify.
As for football, I know I’ve seen a lot of U of SC shirts there and my daughter says kids go to the U of SC games. And there’s always neighboring Citadel - literally a walk or short uber ride away. He can go to their games.
@coastal2024 I can understand not liking coastal in that - Conway is not Myrtle.
Bama and Charleston are 180 degrees different - one is large (although you wouldn’t necessarily use the entire campus), stately, in a small town and just beautiful landscape wise, etc.
The other is smaller, small campus, in a city, and not a lot of grass / campus, etc.
I mean, they are really polar opposites.
What does he want to study? Bama will have much more variability - and depending on his stats, can be much less expensive.
Besides SEC and football and he likes the weather and location - what is he looking for?
Maybe Bama or one of the other schools is it? If it’s just weather, etc. and I don’t know what he’s competitive for, how about a USF? or FAU - these aren’t big time football but very good. Or SMU for a smaller school? Or Tulane if he’s a top shelf student? Or UAB which will be up and coming with Trent Dilfer as coach.
There’s trade offs - and one might be missing the 6 home games and 11 weeks a year of football. Truth is, you can’t pick a school from what you read on line. You need to go visit. Now, if you’re too far to visit these, then find a huge flagship by home and visit. Find a mid size, city one and visit - and see what he thinks - you need to get a feel for what he really wants, even if you’re using alternatives to do so.
Best of luck.