Niche's 2017 Hardest Colleges to Get Into in South Carolina (Greenville: private schools, universities)

[ClemVegas]

https://www.niche.com/colleges/ranki...outh-carolina/

rankings of SC colleges by selectivity. i had always thought Furman was most selective in SC but that is not the case.

[Iam4USC]

Doesn't surprise me. The 2 most popular colleges have the most applicants and can't possibly allow everyone who applies to enter. The smaller private schools are struggling for enrollment and can't be so particular. The surprise to me is that Wofford is so low on the list.

[Iam4USC]

This must be based strictly on number of applications vs number of admissions. Clempson and Carolina simply turn more people down because of the sheer number of applications. Schools like Furman and Wofford have higher standards, they just simply get fewer applicants and turn down a lower percentage.

I'd be more interested in admission standards vs. raw numbers of how many are turned down.

[ClemVegas]

if you click on 'Ranking Factors', it shows the SAT/ACT scores. Clemson's scores were a little higher than Furman's scores.

[mrpeatie]

There is something off about their method. Schools with vary similar stats are 4 or 5 slots away from one another. I was actually surprised there was so little separation between Clemson-USC-Furman in terms of test scores.


One biggie they didn't list was class rank. I know when Clemson had the huge influx of applicants last year they would not budge an inch on class rank. That disadvantaged kids form some of the larger/stronger performing schools.


As 4USC said- sometimes acceptance rates are more tied to number of applicants than exclusivity. USC & Clemson are odd in that they are some kids' top pick and some kids' fall back school. No one applies to Furman or Wofford just to see. They basically know if they want or don't want those specific experiences and where they fall in the pecking order.


I was shocked by how low Citadel ranked- the 75% acceptance was also a stunner. But again- they are a very unique school so I doubt they have anyone applying who doesn't really want to go there.


And Kudos to North Greenville. I had no idea their standards rose that high.

[ClemVegas]

Clemson and and especially USC have a lot more spots to fill compared to small schools like Furman.

I think the reason Furman gets proportionally less applications is the tuition is much higher and there are less major options compared to the large state universities. Plus there are a lot more small liberal arts colleges than large state universities.

Davidson in Charlotte, a small liberal arts college similar to Furman, has a 10 percent admission rate. it probably helps to be near a major airport with direct flights to more cities to attract more out of state applicants.

[tnff]

Even though I'm a Clemson grad with a daughter there now, I was surprised to see Clemson ahead of USC on this list, simply because of shear number of applicants. USC must have room to admit more.

[moneill]

Originally Posted by tnff

Even though I'm a Clemson grad with a daughter there now, I was surprised to see Clemson ahead of USC on this list, simply because of shear number of applicants. USC must have room to admit more.

YES -- and Clemson is becoming quite the STEM school in South Carolina. You can't get into Georgia Tech -- you go to Clemson....;-)..Yes i'm kind of joking with that....but not really. I know a number of young 'uns that applied to Tech and didn't get in but they got into Clemson.

[ClemVegas]

Clemson was basically founded as a STEM school. Thomas Clemson was an European educated engineer and he wanted a university that did agricultural research.

Georgia is the 8th most populated state but Georgia Tech has a slightly smaller undergraduate enrollment than Clemson located in the 23rd most populated state.

For these reasons, G Tech is able to be more selective.

Clemson was the first choice for many of the students out of Atlanta at Clemson when I was there. They didn't want to go to college in their hometown or they preferred a small college town environment.

[ClemVegas]

Clemson would have to reduce its undergrad student enrollment from 18,600 to 7,400 students, a 60 percent reduction, to have the same undergrad enrollment to state population ratio as Georgia Tech.