South Carolina College Report, Part 1!

There’s way too much to share for one post! Less College Stress families: Look for my trip photos in the Notes for every college this week. 

Let’s start with Furman and Clemson Universities:

The 800 acre Furman campus (lots of space for under 3,000 students) brought Colgate to mind (the lake), but the landscape is truly southern. So was the NJ admissions rep’s hospitality (not always a cliché). Many students from NY and NJ’s top private high schools choose Furman for its strong business, health science, communications, and international studies programs. The “semester-plus” calendar begins in late August, ends right before the holiday break, begins in January and ends with a three-week May Experience. Challenging, small classes, a huge Greek system, and D1 Southern Conference Athletics, with the cheer (“F.U. one time, F.U. two times, F.U. three times, F.U. all the time!”) round out the fun.

Greenville–a city of 72,000 offers Furman and Clemson students downtown shopping, dining, cool local museums, and theatres, nearby hiking and biking trails, plus the Furman Golf Course, voted top Public Golf Course by the South Carolina Ratings Panel. We walked the trails and bridges in Falls Park (waterfalls!) on the Reedy River just steps away from the middle eastern restaurant where we had dinner. 

Hope you saw my picture of Clemson’s huge bookstore! (No worries if not--will repost it). School spirit reigns, but opportunities are amazing. We toured with a sophomore business major in the Calhoun Honors College (also a Chapman Scholar, described below) who was given 4K to market a new product and will attend an all-paid-for entrepreneurship conference in Holland. Applicants (8 from the Powers Business School and one from each of the other 13 colleges) may be selected for the Thomas F. Chapman Leadership Scholars Program. Strongest programs are in the sciences, tech, and business, but students of all majors are attracted to Clemson’s sports culture, shaped by its rivalry with the University of South Carolina and its multi-year winning record in the D1 Atlantic Conference. 

Next week: the University of South Carolina and Coastal Carolina University.