University of South Carolina Early Action for Fall 2025

Colleges & Universities University of South Carolina
42

Absolutely! I am happy to share my son’s experience at SCHC so far and, truly, it has been nothing but positive. I will say that I wish he would take advantage of more opportunities, like guest speakers, but all in all he is having a fantastic freshman experience.

First, the academic advising has been great so far and registration for his first semester classes was very easy and he had no trouble at all getting into all of the classes he wanted. The advisors also have been helpful in helping him plan for his likely major and study abroad opportunities. He is getting ready to register for Spring soon, and the early registration is great!

So far, he has had an excellent classroom experience. He is taking 3 honors classes (Econ, Accounting, and a Public Speaking for Business Majors class), plus the University 101 and an language class, and all of his classes are capped at 20 students, which he loves. He says his honors business classes are really good, and the professors are accessible and he likes them. He is really glad to be in small classes where they can participate and it is easy to ask questions. As a Mom, I like that he can’t hide in the small classes and it keeps him accountable.

The Honors dorm has been great for my son. He is in a double that shares a bathroom with another double, and he absolutely loves the set up and has become great friends with his roommate and suitemates. It is a very social dorm, and he has made a lot of friends in the dorm and the Honors community. His friends tend to be “work hard/play hard” types and they all are having fun, enjoying the football games, some have gone Greek, etc., but they also hold each other accountable and are doing well academically. It’s a good balance. The dorm is very conveniently located, and he likes that there is a dining hall in the dorm, and he says the food is pretty good.

Overall, it is a great fit for my son so far. He really likes USC overall, Columbia is a fun city with a lot going on, he loves the SEC experience, and the Honors college definitely makes the big school seem small and has helped him make friends and given him a great academic experience so far.

FWIW, he chose SCHC over UF and UGA, which are higher ranked, because he thought the honors college would give him a better academic experience, especially as a business major, and I think he is 100% correct. At UGA (which we LOVED!), his intro business classes would have been in person, but with 200+ students, and he would have had to apply to Terry for secondary admission after Sophomore year. At UF, the vast majority of intro business courses, and even some upper level courses, are all online. We actually have a friend whose child is a business major at UF who now is a Junior, and he has not take a single in person class at UF. That would not work for my son.

Let me know if you have other questions I can help with. Go Gamecocks!!!

2 Likes
43

My son would also be a business major so your response is very helpful. He likes the big school seem small idea. So all his classes were capped at 20 not just the Honors classes? I think he would only go to USC if he got into the HC so fingers crossed he does. Only 6-7 weeks before he knows!

44

University 101 is capped at 20 for all students, and his language class also was capped, but not honors. He is trying to take as many classes as possible in Honors sections next semester. Based on his conversations with friends studying business at other large public universities, the opportunity to take Econ and Accounting in a small class is extremely rare, and a huge benefit.

1 Like
45

The Honors advising phasing out is relatively new, it’s happening in waves. It doesn’t impact her until she registers for fall classes, but I have to think there will be some level of impact as practically, a specialist to guide her through HC requirements is important (and I’m not sure how good the transition will be).
Another thing parents got upset about was the Honors reception at Parents weekend. It was advertised as a Sunday lunch barbecue as that’s what they did before. This year, it was a drop-in event with lawn games and some cookies and lemonade. We didn’t have anything to compare it to, but it was a little anticlimactic compared to the lunch on the lawn with meet/greet we anticipated. People saw this as more evidence things were getting phased out for Honors.
A couple other thoughts that came to mind from another poster whose son likely knows my daughter :slight_smile:
-Honors was a deal-breaker for us anywhere she applied, particularly big schools, as I wanted her to have a like-minded community to travel with during her college years. She’s not particularly quiet, but coming from a small high school and going to a big state school is a significant transition and I wanted her to easily find her people, particularly since we are from NJ and she can’t come home all the time - Honors Residence delivered in this area.
-The funded research is a bit unclear - when parents started talking about it, the Dean emailed us and told us it was a bit of false information, but usually where there’s smoke, there’s some fire. So will have to keep an eye on that since research is key to STEM fields.
-The city is fun, they go to Five Pts. frequently and there’s also a huge market every Saturday that runs from the statehouse probably 10 blocks down into the city. I tell her to be cautious as it’s a city and she’s used to the suburbs, but they tend to travel in a big group with Honors, so I’m adapting.
-She’s in a suite (double bedroom connected to another double bedroom by a bathroom). Room is quite large so they bought a chair and a mat for kids to hang out on.
-Honors college has 2 therapy dogs, one is blind chocolate lab. The other is a rescue, but while it’s a small perk, it’s nice for her to have dogs close by as she really misses her dogs at home.

46

@Charmagfan would you still recommend honors given these two cons? These are really big perks imo, especially for the students for whom honors is a major draw to SC.

47

If I were you, I’d ask pointed questions about the consequence/impact of these changes for your student now that you know the first is absolutely happening and the second is still a bit of a rumor right now.
Practically, what we were told is that the non-Honors advisors who are taking over in advising Honors kids will be fully educated on scheduling of HC classes, pathways and degree requirements, so I’m skeptical but I’m not that concerned presently as she also has a major advisor and I believe pre-med advisor for that pathway.
As for Honors funded research, like I said in my other post, it’s unclear if this really will be phased out (or not).
One thing I forgot to mention which is perceived to be a positive change in course scheduling is going forward, students register themselves for classes, rather than advisors. Over the summer, my daughter and her advisor agreed on courses, but her advisor did the tactical course registration, which was a little challenging as she didn’t do it real-time (so my daughter couldn’t get the U101 she wanted). Now, after the course registration discussion with advising, the kids register themselves at the time they are given so should make it easier to schedule real-time (and not get locked out of popular classes).

1 Like
48

I think that 75% threshold was true 2-3 years ago but I’m hearing the 50% threshold is today’s standard for submission.

49

Anyone else logging into the Carolina Elite virtual session tonight?

50

We are.

51

Wish we could. My D25 has her sport practice and wouldn’t be done in time. Didn’t seem right for me to log in as a parent without her. If you see anything interesting or unexpected that maybe wouldn’t show up on their webpage, could you let me know?

52

Hi my daughter is an ea applicant from the west coast- we did not submit scores so went with grades an essays- wondering with holistic assessment if she will have any chance at oos merit?

53

I think it would depend on her grades, activities, essays and strength of ‘resume’ with the application submission. Hard to say without any details to react to. Good luck!

54

She is 4.0 unweighted currently 4.1 weighted with 4 total AP by graduation. Leadership clubs activities good essay and recs works-

1 Like
55

I think she has a good chance based on this info. Schools also look for diversity of student population. I know there are a good number of NY, NJ, PA kids, but haven’t heard so many from the West Coast, so that may factor in also. Good luck!

56

Does everyone get an invitation to apply to honors college? My daughter checked the box on regular application that she would be interested but her GPA is only 4.08 W and the mid 50% is 4.5-5.1. It’s a lot more work she doesn’t need.

57

I hope so- when my other daughter applied for 2021 she was given a lot of merit- but I know application numbers have gone way up since then….

1 Like
58

I wonder about that too. My S25 did NOT check the box and he’s still being inundated with emails about applying to the Honors College. He only has a 3.9W but a 35 ACT and he doesn’t think the extra work is worth it as it seems slim that he would be accepted.

59

Same
My child said the essay is alot of work and she has so much schoolwork as well

2 Likes
60

Did you listen to their latest video on honors program last week? It’s not about more work but how they teach. It’s more special projects and hand on experience rather than standard teaching, not about more work.

1 Like
61

I think the other posters are commenting that the application itself (for honors) is a lot of work, not necessarily the program itself.

1 Like