College of Charleston

College of Charleston, in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, is stunningly beautiful. That said, Charleston is a gorgeous city and "downtown" does not have a particularly urban feel. It's a public institution that's been around since 1770. With just over 10,000 undergraduate students, it's that elusive, mid-sized, urban school with fabulous weather that every student seems to want. US News and World Report calls it the 4th top public college in the south, the 5th ranked college for veterans among southern institutions, number 9 for most innovative school in the region, and number 3 for best college for undergraduate teaching in the south. That's a lot of accolades! It's also listed as an "A+ school for B students," which I heartily agree with. Princeton Review also has a lot of good things to say, but I'd like to leave room to share my own impressions. Here are some things I learned during my visit:

Housing is guaranteed for one year. After that, about 70% of sophomores live on campus, 30% of juniors live on campus, and even fewer seniors do. There is a very defined central campus space, but university buildings do bleed out into greater Charleston. There's a beautiful red brick sidewalk throughout campus, and even when you leave the central section, you know you're on campus if you're on that sidewalk. Like at many urban institutions, they take safety very seriously. There is a student shuttle that runs from 11pm to 3am anywhere on the peninsula. There's no football team, but they were proud to tell us that the library is the size of three football fields stacked on top of each other. There is, however, huge support for their D1 basketball team, and tickets are free for students.

30-40% of students are involved in Greek life and there is a formal rush in the fall for sororities. So incoming freshman girls do come to campus early for that. Like many southern universities, you need to deposit early to get the housing application for the better residence halls, which I just hate.

On the positive side, our tour guide told us they cap classes at 60, but she has never had a class larger than 35. My favorite major there is Historic Preservation and Community Planning, and there's a South Carolina special collection in the library that is available to students, which is very cool. Some other interesting majors are Arts Management, Art and Architectural History, Computing in the Arts, Supply Chain Management, Astrophysics, Meteorology, Environmental Geosciences, Data Science Software Engineering, Public Health, and Exercise Science. So interesting! There's also an honors college which requires a separate application, but students can also apply once they have matriculated. Freshmen honors students live together and all honors students get priority housing and priority registration.

This college has become a favorite of mine after my sweep of South Carolina colleges. I predict that it will only get more popular and more selective!