The change of classes at the University of South Carolina is a sea of garnet sweatshirts and baseball caps, moving in waves along the brick paths that crisscross campus. USC students are fanatics about their sports teams, which are named after the Carolina Gamecock, a moniker the British gave to South Carolina planter and Revolutionary War hero Thomas Sumter for his fierce fighting tactics.
“Sports are a huge part of the culture,” says Katy Hallman, a junior public health major from Greenville, South Carolina. So much so that the fight song is played every morning at 9. “It puts some pep in your step to make those early classes,” she says.
The school was founded in 1801 as part of a movement spurred by Thomas Jefferson to establish public colleges in the South. During the Civil War, its gracious Federal-style buildings served as hospitals for both sides, and thus were spared when Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman torched much of Columbia. Today, the university is anchored by the oak-lined lawn known as the horseshoe, flanked by the original buildings that now house honors student apartments, the president’s quarters and the country’s oldest freestanding college library.
While the campus spans some 480 acres, its historic heart feels more like a leafy liberal arts college than the center of a large public university in a city of 132,000. Yes, there’s sometimes too much bureaucracy, students say, and occasional lectures with 100-plus attendees. But they also remark on how small the school can seem.
[Get tips to make a large college feel like home.]
“It doesn’t feel like 30,000 people are here until you’re in the stadium,” says Erik Telford of Columbia, who recently graduated with a management major. Some 400 student organizations, from the Clarinet Association to the skydiving club, provide newcomers access to others with similar interests.
“If you find the right place, [it’s] going to feel like a family,” says Lauren Harper, a sophomore public relations major from Fort Mill, South Carolina. More than a fifth of students belong to a fraternity or sorority, but “if you’re not Greek, you’re not going to feel left out,” says senior broadcast journalism major Sydney Patterson, from Lancaster, an hour or so from campus.
Like a lot of universities, USC boasts multiple living-learning communities — niche housing designed to bring like-minded students together, both in class and socially. Administrators also tout the University 101 class, a semesterlong course to help smooth the transition to college by introducing resources and teaching study skills.
[Learn about steps colleges are taking to help freshmen adapt.]
“The whole focus is to take a large group and make it a small group,” says Jerry Brewer, associate vice president for student life and development. An honors college gives students the opportunity to design their own course of study, take small discussion-based classes and live in a tight-knit community while enjoying access to the facilities of a large university. Roughly 65 percent of the population hails from South Carolina, with most of the out-of-staters coming from the East Coast.
A city that often is defined in terms of its proximity to the beach and mountains (both two hours away), Columbia is becoming a destination in its own right, with a revitalized downtown, a world-class art museum, Riverbanks Zoo and year-round festivals. Nonetheless, the action comes to a halt on the fall Saturdays when the Gamecocks play at home.
More from the South Carolina College Road Trip:
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Colleges 2015” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
More from U.S. News
Take a College Road Trip to Eastern Pennsylvania
Take a College Road Trip to Missouri
South Carolina College Road Trip: University of South Carolina originally appeared on usnews.com