Get Your Local College Crash Course!
Katye Gilliland
September 27, 2010
Filed under Community, Senior Stuff
College applications, college visits, ordering senior supplies, scholarship applications, essays, recommendation letters, resumes . . . I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of other things.
These are a few of the million concerns that seniors are stressed with at this time of year. College-bound seniors have many things to do early in the school year to prepare for the future. Most have already applied to colleges, many have already narrowed the list and visited the ones they are interested in, but others have not even thought about college yet.
This crash course on local colleges is for you late bloomers. If you haven’t decided where to apply, or maybe if you’re just now looking, follow this small guide to big opportunities. This doesn’t include all the local colleges or universities, covering all of them would take me until we graduated, and then it wouldn’t be of help to anybody. I hope this crash course in college will help you in your choices for the future.
So this is how this college crash course works. This crash-course guide is going to be broken down college-by-college or university, including all the major points of interest. There are 5 major categories in selecting a college: price, location, size, majors, and student life. *Price will be in-state (assuming that all students at North Augusta are from South Carolina) and will include all tuition, fees, books, and housing, etc for one year, or two semesters. These are in no particular order of importance, one may matter more to you than me. These are however, how most college searches categorize your interests. I will also include other important information as we go along. So let’s get started.
Clemson University
Price: $20,320
Estimated personal expenses: $6,378
Clemson Tiger Paw Photo Credit: Raycomsports/blog
Location: Clemson, SC
2 hours and 23 minutes from North Augusta, SC
Size: Total Enrollment-19,111
Freshman-3,386
Men-1,803
Women-1,583
Majors: Clemson has 80 undergraduate majors. The most popular include- Engineering, Bioengineering, Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Nursing, Business, Food Science, Parks and Recreation, and many others.
Student Life: Clemson has a very wide range of student activities. Football is a big deal at Clemson University. Their mascot is the tiger and the school colors are orange and purple. Clemson has a rush week for sororities and fraternities, intramural sports, and 50 or more clubs.
Application Deadlines: December 31 for early notification; May 1 for final admissions for fall 2011
University of South Carolina
Price: $17,850
Estimated personal expenses vary
Location: Columbia, SC
1 hour and 14 minutes from North Augusta, SC
Carolina's Logo Photo Credit: Sportsapparelsuperstore.com
Size: Total Enrollment-27,488
Majors: More than 350 degree programs; this includes International Business, Nursing, Business, Sports Management, Psychology, Natural Resources, Communications, Veterinarian Sciences, Environmental Sciences and many others.
Student Life: USC is an “urban living” campus in downtown Columbia, SC. USC has a huge football stadium (Williams Brice Stadium) and their mascot is the Gamecock. The campus life is also the city life for USC students, with classes spread out across our state capitol. USC is known for it’s weekend parties, especially during football season. Carolina has many sororities and fraternities as well as 300 student activity organizations on campus.
Application Deadlines: October 15 for early notification; December 1 for priority applications
University of South Carolina-Aiken
Price: $15,159
Personal expenses vary
Location: Aiken, SC
No more than 25 minutes from North Augusta, SC
Size: 3,203
Majors: USCA offers more than 30 programs of study and has many majors and minors to choose from. USCA offers Pre-Pharmacy classes, Nursing, Business, Communications, Health Science and many others.
USCA Pacers logo. Photo Credit: Peachbelt. com
Student Life: Unlike the previous schools, USCA does not have a football team. They do have 13 competitive NCAA teams that include soccer, softball, and baseball. Basketball is a popular sport, competing in the Peach Belt Conference. Their mascot is the Pacer. USCA does offer sororities and fraternities as wel l as a newspaper staff and other student run organizations.
Coastal Carolina
Price: $13,320
Location: Conway, SC
No more than 4 hours from North Augusta
Size: 8,400 undergraduate students; 44 percent freshmen
Majors: Coastal Carolina does not offer the same bachelor degrees as other four-year colleges. For example, they offer Pre-Nursing, instead of a full Nursing Degree. This also goes for Pre-Law, Pre-Engineering, and Pre-Medicine. They do, however, offer other degrees such as Elementary Education, Physics, Biology, Chemistry and others.
Coastal's logo-Yes, thatsa bird, a Chanticleer. PC: Happyhourvalley.com
Student Life: We’ve all heard: Coastal Carolina is a renowned “party school.” However, coastal is not just a party school. They have many oppurtunities for students. They have a Student Government Club, fraternities and sororities and many other clubs, such as Psychology Club, Pre-Health Fratenities, History Club, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Deadline for Application: December 1st for priority acceptance.
Winthrop
Price: $15,577
Location: Rock Hill, SC
2 hours 45 mins from North Augusta
Size:6,241 undergraduate students; 1060 freshmen
Majors: Winthrop has 80 undergraduate degree programs, including: Accounting, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Business Education, Performing Arts, Arts, Athletic Training, and Early Education, just to mention a few.
The beautiful Winthrop campus. Photo credit:campusshot@oldwingspan.com
Student Life: Wihthrop offers more than 180 clubs and student organizations on campus and off. They also offer intramural sports and compete in NCAA Division 1 sports. Winthrop also has 18 fraternities and sororities. Their mascot is the eagle and their colors are garnet and gold. Winthrop is a great academic establishment, a beautiful place to live and learn and it’s 15 minutes from Carowinds; what more could you ask for?
Application Deadlines: December 1 for priority acceptance
University of Georgia
Price: $ 37,496
Location: Athens, GA
No more than 2 hours and 30 minutes
Size: 26,142 undergraduate students
Majors: Georgia offers 22 baccalaureate degrees in 140 different fields. The proffesional degrees include law, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine.
The UGA dog. Photo credit: wisd.com
Student Life: Georgia offers about 600 registered student organizations, including 35 social fraternities and 23 social sororities. Athens is always jam-packed with Bull”dawg” fans during football season. UGA is big on football, and the mascot is an actual dog, “UGA”. U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 “Best Colleges” edition has UGA tied for 21st among national public research universities. Kiplinger’s Magazine ranks UGA 4th in its 2008 list of the “100 Best Values in Public Colleges.” And recently, Georgia was ranked #1 in party schools in the nation, yes the whole NATION!
Augusta State University
Price: $2,004.00 (does not include housing; Augusta State does not offer on-campus housing)
Location: Augusta, Georgia
15 to 25 minutes from North Augusta
Size: information was not availiable, but Augusta State is considered a small school, no bigger than USCA or Aiken Technical College.
Majors: Augusta State is big in Arts. If you’re not into artsy stuff, they also offer: Chemistry, Physics, Physics/Mathematics, Art, Performance, Music Education, Music, History, Communications, English, French, Spanish, Political Science, Sociology, Social Work, Criminal Justice, Accounting, Finance, Management, Management Information Systems, Marketing, Interrelated Special Education and more.
Augusta State's Logo Photo Credit:gacolleges.com
Student Life: Augusta State is also big on basketball. The Jaguar’s basketball team competes in the Peach-Belt Conference, along with USCA. The Augusta State golf team is also very esteemed. Clubs and activities, sure! They have over 100 student run clubs and committees. Augusta State students can also find plenty to do when class isn’t in, Augusta is a hot spot for parties, club scenes, the Masters, and restaurants.
Aiken Technical College
Price: $ $1853.00 (this is full time 15 or more credit hours)
Location: Aiken(Graniteville), SC
15 minutes from North Augusta
Size: information is not availiable, but Aiken Tech is smaller than USCA.
Majors: Aiken Tech offers technical degrees, duh. They offer associate degrees, certificate programs, and diplomas in applied sciences. Majors included are: Nursing, Welding, Radiology, Basic Business, Business Managment, Accounting, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and many more.
Aiken Technical College. Photo Credit:aikenproperties.com
Student Life: Aiken Tech is most known for it’s killer softball team. They also have a men’s basketball team. Aiken is a great little town to be a student in too. There is plenty to do. Aiken Tech does not have fraternities or sororities, but does have a few student-run clubs and organizations.
So, that’s a lot of information. College is a huge decision in your life, and can affect you in so many ways. I hope this information either helped you narrow your search or helped you decide where you’re going to go. Another tip for choosing college, make a pros and cons list and decide what is most important to you. Seeing it layed out in two categories will help you decide. Goodluck!
