Blog
Post 8
Truthfully, I had never heard of
University of South Carolina Beaufort until about a year ago. When I moved to South Carolina from Illinois
in the middle of my junior year of high school, the only two colleges I looked
into were Clemson and a bunch of out of state schools. It wasn’t until last October, the beginning
of my sophomore year at Clemson, that I realized I was not in the right
major. I was not able to easily switch
my major at Clemson, so my mom suggested I look into attending a semester at
University of South Carolina Beaufort before transferring to University of
South Carolina in Columbia for my junior year.
I have only been a “Sand shark” for a few months, but in that time I
still feel like I’ve managed to at least pick up on some of the rites and
stories of the campus.
From what I’ve heard, it seems like
a fair amount of people end up transferring or dropping out by their junior or
senior year. The graduation ceremony
takes place outside, which seems pretty unusual to me, in front of the Hargray
Building. One of my roommates told me
that there was a big celebration when the school hit an enrollment number of
2,000 students and that everyone received a free t-shirt. I’ve noticed that the campus hosts a lot of
events for both students and members of the community, such as the wellness
festival that took place outside the library.
Another “rite” on this campus is how many upperclassmen live in the
dorms. Granted, the dorms are fairly
nice for dorms, but at most other universities the older students choose to
live off campus. Because so many
students live on campus, the housing office is very active. A few weeks ago, there was a snow cone truck
outside of the dorms for “Resident Appreciation Day” and just a couple nights
ago the RAs organized a “Building Battles” competition. I do not know much about award ceremonies at
this school, but I received the email link for a survey about it, so I know
they exist. The campus security is extremely
diligent and there always is some sort of patrolman riding around on a golf
cart. There are not a lot of gathering
places for students on campus, but the library and the dining hall are always
well occupied.
I took a brief tour of the school in
November, but I honestly do not remember most of the information that I was
given. However, my tour guide mentioned
that they are looking into forming a school basketball team within the next few
years. When I met with my advisor for
the first time, he talked about how much the school had grown over the past
couple years, and that there were barely enough classrooms available to meet
the demand. My advisor also said that he
liked teaching at such a small school because there was not the competition
among professors to obtain research grants.
In regards to sororities and fraternities, I have heard both positive
and negative things. For one, there is
only one fraternity and two sororities.
The culture of Greek Life seems very different than the one I was a part
of at Clemson. The rush process is
supposedly is much less selective and more welcoming, instead of terribly
stress-inducing. The tight-knit groups
formed though seem to be similar, and I know of certain people who do not
generally interact with people outside of their sororities. The professors at this university really seem
to each student as more than a random number in their class and are more than
accommodating in providing extra help if needed.
In conclusion, the University of
South Carolina Beaufort provides a close-knit community for its students. I know that the school is rapidly expanding,
and consequently the number of clubs and organizations must also be increasing. Greek Life is prominent, but there are still
opportunities to get involved without pledging a fraternity. The professors care about teaching instead of
merely going through the motions.
On-campus living is the preferred option for most people, and there is
usually always some event going on somewhere.
~L.L.S.
