(SC-Columbia) I am an out of stater from the mid-west

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	D	Faculty Accessibility	F
Useful Schoolwork	F	Excess Competition	D
Academic Success	C	Creativity/ Innovation	F
Individual Value	F	University Resource Use	C
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	B-	Friendliness	C
Campus Maintenance	C-	Social Life	F
Surrounding City	F	Extra Curriculars	D
Safety	A

Describes the student body as: Arrogant, Snooty, Closeminded Describes the faculty as: Unhelpful, Self Absorbed

Female

Super Brilliant

Lowest Rating Faculty Accessibility	F

Highest Rating Safety	A

She cares more about Social Life than the average student.

Date: Mar 25 2009
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
I am an out of stater from the mid-west and to be honest: this school sucks. Don't believe the lies they spew during tours.

Social life: Only %20 go greek? Maybe %20 DON'T go greek. The greek presence on campus is overwhelming. From Strom Thurmond Fitness Center (a completely unnecessary addition to the school) to the dorms to Russell House to the class rooms, the division between greeks and GDI's is highly noticeable. Wearing their Vinyard Vines clothes, short shorts and croakies, frat boys ooze douchery. Elitist attitudes are generally developed before even joining a frat as most of their dads, grandfathers and their slave-owning redneck great grandfathers were in the same fraternity giving these brats a sense of superiority and entitlement. Most of the "fun" (read: drinking/partying) events are off-campus and often-greek related. Unlike most universities, South Carolina allows fraternity events to be completely closed ie: if you're not in the frat, having sex with one of the frat brothers or in a sorority then you are not allowed at the event. This basically diminishes the value of fraternities to the rest of the school to zero. Sorority girls are just the same. Sororities recruit pretty much all of the hot girls their first semester. From there it's an uphill battle for a single non-greek male to find a mate. For the first two weeks of school, girls hoping to pledge sororities aren't allowed to talk to non-greeks or stay out after a set curfew. This prevents them from meeting any new people outside of the greek system. If making friends here is hard then finding a girlfriend if you're not greek is impossible. But there is a glimmer of hope. For the GDI's and greeks alike there is 5-points in all of its vomit smelling, homeless person infested, cigarette smoke glory. There used to be a good bar or two that underagers could get into, have some drinks, meet some new people and dance the night away but now S.L.E.D. (South Carolina's special fun-busting nazi like police force) is cracking down on underage drinking harder than before. It is predicted that next year there will be NO places that allow 18 year olds in for fear of SLED. As of right now Jungle Jim's is your best bet for a underage bar. More aptly known as Jungles, Jungle Jim's reaks of vomit and pee but every Thursday, Friday and Saturday they have Power-Hour where you pay a $5 cover charge for entrance and can drink as many well-liquor drinks as you want for an hour, just be sure to leave a nice tip. Other than getting drunk in 5-points…well you won't be able to do that anymore without a fake I.D…and drinking in your dorm room there isn't much to do unless you join a fraternity or sorority and buy a set of friends.

Academics:

The people here are ridiculously stupid. I knew about all of the southern stereotypes involving toothless rednecks, inbred hillbillies and general retards but I didn't know that they were true until I came here. All of my classes within the liberal arts areas are taught at a snails pace and people STILL fail. My science classes have been short of spectacular but I can't complain because I actually enjoyed my chemistry class mostly because of my teacher. Professors are hit or miss, some are easy, others are more difficult (yet still insanely easy). The ongoing claim to fame here is the #1 International Business School…for getting a master's degree…among southeastern schools…based on classroom experiences…awarded to fifteen different schools. No, I'm kidding but the Moore School of Business is NOT the best international business program in the country. Obviously Harvard's business school kicks the crap out of ours, along with about forty other programs across the country but somewhere, sometime, for some reason, somebody said that our business school was number one in…something.

Campus and Columbia:

The campus is pretty. I'll admit that. The horseshoe is nice even though you will probably never set foot on it all year because it is really part of the "off-campus campus" and out of your way. All of the dorms suck, resident advisers are ill equipped to deal with the slightest of problems. If you are looking for a city with nightlife do NOT come to Columbia. Nothing in the city moves after 10pm 5/7 days a week. Likewise, campus is dead after 10pm. The dining halls close around 8pm (it's not like there was any food worth eating anyway) the library closes on the weekends which is just a testament to how dedicated South Carolina students are to success and that pretty much sums up campus. There is very little to do in Columbia and on campus.

My advice: Don't come here unless you are white, southern and plan on joining a fraternity/sorority and buying into the ego-trip that greek life mandates. If you come here and don't go greek you will not enjoy the same social outlets that your friends who went to real state schools are. Don't come here unless you are of average intelligence (don't kid yourself on this issue) and want the mediocre education gained by attending a lower-level state school. If you got in somewhere else I suggest you go there.

Responses

Night life??? are you 21? you are just a kid..being out in the "night life" is a good way to find yourself in trouble. Ppl who hang in bars are low lifes anyway.

First you sound like an arrogant bitch. Your profile says you are a girls, yet you complain how hard it is for nongreek guys to find a girlfriend.
Secondly i do not think you are as intelligent as you think. Why did you not post your sat or act score. Clearly you are not in the honors porgram since you bemoan your fellow classmates lack of intelligence.

I hate greeks. They are stuck up arrogant douchebags. But that being said, they do not control the campus they are not a major factor in the daily life of most students. IE. the 2011 election for student body, the candidate that was greek and campaigned only to greek came in a distant third place.
I have plenty of non-greek friends. We have an awesome time doing whatever the hell we want. You need to make some friends and stop whining. You dont need to be able to go to bars underage to have a good time. Heck we had alchohol in our dorm all the time. Your experience is your own fault not the schools. And the horseshhoe is in the mioddle of campus. there are 6 dorms right on it.

Maybe you need to go get a life instead of sitting alone in your dorm room all year long.

I actually agree with you on many points, but I have to clarify some things…

1.) I have lived in 5 Points, and I can assure you that the night life there is alive and well, and goes on WELL after 10pm…trust me.

2.) Southerners are not all

toothless rednecks, inbred hillbillies and general retards.

I get that you are angry and frustrated with a negative experience at this school, but those insults are tired, pointless, and ignorant.

3.) You are right about the lackluster social scene in this school, but not about the education. You get out what you put in. Some people graduate and are still morons, but that is universal and has nothing to do with this particular place. The Greek population does attract a higher amount of idiots here but the education quality depends on the program that you choose and the work you put into it.

Here is my summary after attending this school: 1.) If you are interested in the Greek life, you will fit in just fine here. 2.) If you do not relate to the Greek crowd, DO NOT ATTEND THIS UNIVERSITY, YOU WILL REGRET IT. 3.) In reality, many Northerners, particularly people from Maryland, come here with in-state tuition rates to be in a warmer climate and as far away from their parents as possible without blowing the bank. They are just as annoying as anyone else in the country. The problem is not Southerners, it's today's youth.

Funny, how the negative responses validated your opinion with the grammer and spelling errors!

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