University of South Carolina Early Action for Fall 2025

Colleges & Universities University of South Carolina
21

Thank you so much for this response! Makes me feel a lot better about submitting

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23

Did anyone get a snail mail letter (not a post card- a letter on letterhead) from undergrad admissions office saying “x student, your academic record caught our eye and you may be eligible for merit scholarships
”?
Can’t tell if this is just a marketing letter or something meaningful. Letter is dated 10/7; My student applied 10/4, sent ACT 9/24, so I’m not sure what they are basing this letter on since they can’t have had time to review anything other than her score which is decent but not amazing (31).
Thoughts?

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24

Yes, we did too. I suspect it was sent to those whose scores are over a certain threshold. D25 has started the Common App but not submitted yet

25

My son got it and a similar email. I don’t put much stock in it, but it would be nice if they only sent this to students they intended to admit! It’s cruel to send it and then defer/deny.

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26

Does everyone who indicates an interest in honors college get the “optional” application in their portal? I can’t tell if this is automatic or based on some “invitation”. Thoughts?

27

My daughter marked not interested when she applied. About a week after that, they sent her an email notifying her that theyve invited her to apply and that the application is available thru the admissions portal. So, not sure that it matters if you check the box or not. Seems they send it depending on your stats

28

You won’t find out until mid Dec

29

Reading posts from last year, it seems that they uploaded honors college applications to a lot of applicants, even those that ended up being deferred or rejected.

30

With SAT score just above the 25th percentile (GPA 4.22) should DD submit or not?

31

College advisors we have spoken to say the rule of thumb, regardless of school, is that if you are not at or near the 50th percentile for test scores, don’t submit. Would be curious to hear if others have heard the same.

32

Absolutely, otherwise they’ll assume that her score is low and she would be at a disadvantage.

33

It’s hard to know. My son’s college counselor is advising only sending his scores to schools where he is near/above the 75%. He has until Friday to submit them, and at this point I am leaving it up to my son to decide.

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34

My D25 goes to a super competitive magnet school for gifted kids. Her counselor said to submit her scores no matter what. The counselor’s opinion was that because test scores at her high school are normally quite high, if a student doesn’t submit it’s a red flag for admissions officers that their scores are probably low(er). D25’s scores are very good compared nationally, but really only at the median for her high school. They’re highish for U of SC but below the 25-50 range for SC honors college. They’re lower than some of the 25th percentiles for the more competitive schools she applying to. We are in a quandary here because that counselor’s advice seems to go against everything else we’ve read. Basically, we’ve gotten tired of fretting over it, so the scores will be sent, on a wing and a prayer with fingers crossed.

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35

So, this is just my one kid, so not data.

He applied to 10 schools, including SCHC, and submitted scores to 8/10. He was accepted to all schools where he submitted scores, including SCHC, where his scores were below the 25-75 percentile, but his GPA/rank was at the high end. He also had strong AP scores that he submitted to all schools. He was rejected by one of the schools where he did not submit SAT scores, and deferred, but later accepted at the other. My non-scientific takeaway for my kid was that not submitted close/near range scores hurt.

He now is at SCHC, and it is phenomenal.

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36

Thank you for sharing your experience! This is what we are hoping for :crossed_fingers:. This is so stressful for D25 (and me by extension) and I’m so ready to have everything submitted and out of our hands! :heart:

37

Would you (or anyone really) mind sharing the pros and cons based on you and your son’s experience with SCHC? It sounds great on paper but curious on people’s thoughts who have direct experience with the HC. SCHC is choice 1b along with a couple of other schools, if he doesn’t get into his probable top choice UVA as an OOS (MA). Thank you.

38

Our daughter is in SCHC this year as a freshman, same scenario with the super competitive magnet high school. I don’t mean to disrespect any guidance counselors, but I take their advice with a grain of salt (and educated myself so I could guide both of my kids). The schools typically have a good sense about the high schools kids are coming from, so they likely know she’s coming from a super competitive magnet school already (regardless of her test scores). Honors also doesn’t look at just SAT/GPA - it’s the whole resume of activities, volunteering, research, etc. so my advice is if her overall portfolio is strong, submit the SAT scores. If not, I’d probably still submit the scores based on the caliber of the school she’s applying from. Good luck - she will love Honors!

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39

Thanks!

40

Our daughter applied to numerous very competitive schools and got into all of them (except Georgia Tech OOS). One of her best friend’s got into UVA in-state and opted to attend SCHC for Darla Moore business - they met this year as freshmen
 From the first time she visited, she wanted to go and despite very good offers elsewhere, she chose to attend (Neuroscience, pre-med track) due to opportunities in Neuroscience, affordability and wanting a transformational experience from her ‘sharp-elbowed’ NJ magnet high school.
Pro’s:
-Early selection of housing (important as it’s not guaranteed after freshman year)
-Early advising and course registration (important as classes fill up)
-Great communication
-HC residence is great - dining hall/coffee shop on first floor (super convenient) and her floor is very social so she’s met a ton of friends early
-Advisement for national fellowships is frequent and strong
-Small class sizes
-Not Honors perk, but first year experience is great for all students and the level of engagement and things to do is vast.

Con’s:
-Honors advising is being phased out, so she will no longer have an Honors advisor next year. Not sure how impactful this will be, time will tell
-Supposedly Honors funded research may be phased out, but haven’t seen any evidence of this yet, so will wait and see.

41

Thanks for taking the time to respond, it was very helpful. He really enjoyed his visit to USC, probably more than he thought he would. It was the first of five colleges we visited on a 6 day trip to SC, NC, and VA, so being first probably helped! The con’s are very interesting. Those are items they obviously don’t advertise. He liked the thought of an honors adviser and it was something they specifically mentioned when we visited in Feb, along with some of the other pro’s you listed. My antenna goes up when things start getting phased out.

UVA is tough because there is no direct admit into the School of Commerce. I personally worry about that and him having a “Plan B”.

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