The University of South Carolina - Columbia

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Geography and Geosciences (This Major's Salary over time)
I was supposed to work with one professor…did the whole e-mail, phone call, writing sample, transcript, test score thing; he was not on campus when I visited. He agreed to work with me but then decided that, instead of research, I would spend time ONLY doing things for what he was going to publish, totally blew off appointments and was unwilling to explain or teach at all. I now have an excellent advisor, one of only 2 people at the university that I've found who can teach, but he has no funding and isn't doing anything close to what I came here for. Virtually none of the teachers here know how to teach. One even told us that he didn't like to teach and didn't want to be there but they were making him. The department treats the TA's horribly. They recently increased the workload 50% with no additional compensation and punished anyone who complained with even more work and less funding. The undergraduates here are really very stupid. Maybe 10% are college quality students but they all expect good grades and get them. Grade inflation is rampant at the undergraduate level. If I was a hiring manager and the only education on the resume was an undergraduate degree from this college, I wouldn't hire the person no matter the GPA. Money at the university is spent to build more buildings and sports stadiums(taking away student parking for which they charge and which there isn't enough of as it is). Meanwhile they've taken all the journals out of the library. They don't spend money on the students. I actually ended up getting very sick for weeks after going to health services for a physical. The board of health closed down one of the cafeterias last fall. I hope to be out of here very soon. I don't know where I'll go but not here. If you are considering a graduate program here, run away while you still can.