The College of Charleston

Date: Dec 28 2009
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
In high school I took all Honors and AP classes and worked hard. I was sort of worried about going to CofC because I thought the school wouldn't challenge me enough. I also worried it would be a huge party school. Both of these worries turned out to be unfounded!

Some of my favorite things about CofC are:

The size (10,000).

I like that it's bigger than my high school but it's not huge. I see people that I know walking around campus all the time but it's not so small that everyone knows everyone else (and their life story). 10,000 ppl is also small enough that classes aren't large. All of my classes, including intro/gen ed requirements, have been about the same as my high school classes (30ish people).

Campus/Charleston

Another thing I really like about CofC is the campus. Not only is it really pretty (like most college campuses) but it is IN Charleston. I don't have a car at school which really hasn't been a problem at all because everything you need is within 4 blocks of the school. We have a CVS, multiple convience stores, clothing stores, craft stores, and a million restaurants. There is also a Harris Teeter that is less than 1/2 mile away and very walkable. Even though we're IN Charleston the campus is pretty much exclusively students. Tourists and city people don't wander the block over from King Street to loiter on campus.

Liberal Arts

CofC is liberal arts which has been such a good thing for me. It's nice not to have to start in on your major requirements during your freshman year. Although I really hated some gen eds (like calculus for example), it's nice to have time during your four years to take classes for fun or ones you might like to explore but not major in. I've taken aerobics, women's & gender studies, and intro to religion to fill gen ed requirements even though I'm a psych major. And if you don't know what you want to major in, it's a good way to figure it out (I know that sounds like a college website - but it's true!).

CofC Clubs

There are a lot of clubs and it's really easy to get involved in them (if you so choose). I'm the secretary of the Student Alumni Associates, the secretary of my sorority, and I'm in Phi Eta Sigma honor society. There are a million other clubs to choose from also (Habitat for Humanity, Student Gov't, Charleston 40 tour guides, sororities - although greek like isn't huge…).

Nice dorms (suite-style, not hall style)

Cafeteria (Liberty) is actually good and I'm not kidding!

Things to Note at CofC:

The library is not open 24 hours a day. It is during exam time but otherwise it closes at 1. Although 1 is normally late enough it would be nice to have the option to stay longer.

School Spirit is lacking in terms of sports. Students really love CofC however sporting events are not huge (not like high school football games, for example). It may be partially due to the fact that the basketball teams are the only sports played in Charleston (the rest you have to drive to on James Island or where ever).

It is not a very religious school so if you are super religious it might not be a great fit. People are religious but clubs like FCA are not very big and many students do not attend religious services (for favor of sleeping in)

It's not diverse at all in terms of race. There might be one non-white person in each of my classes, hardly any hispanics, asians… The types of people at the school are diverse (artsy, smart, dumb, preppy…) but they are basically all white

CofC is NOT a party school. Like any college, there are parties but it's not crazy like it's reputation claims. My roommate freshman year was an expection but most students have a healthy balance on school work and fun.

I hope this is helpful and not just a rambling list! I got a little carried away but I feel like the more information you get when choosing a college the better! I had a hard time adjusting to CofC my first year but this year has been great and I really wouldn't consider going anywhere else!