There are many! We offer over 600 Honors College classes per year, or over 250 per semester. These classes are small, averaging about 18 students, allowing for you to engage deeply with your classmates, your professor, and the course content. Our classes are distinguished by discussions, demonstrations, debates, and much more.

Our students also get free printing, priority registration and an advisor who specializes in Honors curriculum to help keep them on track with requirements. There are also study abroad trips, research opportunities, internship programs and service learning experiences available exclusively to Honors College students.

No, only Honors College students who declare International Business as incoming first-year students receive direct admission. Students transferring to the SCHC (either internally or externally) who declare International Business are not eligible for direct admission and will be required to apply through the standard process.

No, only incoming Honors College first-year students who declare Nursing at time of admission and maintain both minimum GPA and upper division progression requirements will receive direct admission. Students transferring to the SCHC (either internally or externally) who declare Nursing are not eligible for direct admission to upper division and will be required to apply through the standard process.

SCHC transfer students can apply for Honors College departmental scholarships as well as departmental scholarships from the college that correlates to your major. 

Internal transfers who have previously received a university scholarship will retain their scholarship. SCHC transfer students are not eligible for additional university scholarships through Admissions. 

All Honors College students, including those who transfer in, are expected to complete the Honors College Requirements.

While the curriculum requirements may look complicated, you will be assigned an advisor who specializes in the Honors curriculum to provide guidance on fulfilling requirements and graduating on time.

Courses you have previously taken will not count towards Honors requirements. Requirements of the Honors College curriculum can only be filled by classes taken through the South Carolina Honors College. Credit earned through AP, IB, dual enrollment or other first-year classes cannot fill Honors College requirements.

In rare cases, current USC students may have completed a course in their first year that is pre-approved to fulfill the Beyond the Classroom requirement. Your advisor will help you determine if this is the case for you.

For example, Honors students must take at least 3 credits of an Honors social science course. Options include Honors versions of courses available to the general university, such as PSYC 101 or ECON 221, or signature Honors courses that are only available to Honors students, such as “A Recipe for Entrepreneurship: The Business of Food” or “Foundations of Public Health Leadership.”

We primarily look at work done at the college level. SAT and ACT scores and high school GPA factor very minimally into our decision.

We do have a hard cut-off, so if your GPA is less than 3.6, you would be ineligible to apply.

While we do prefer faculty, it is to your advantage to ask for a letter of recommendation from an instructor who can best speak to your academic abilities and work ethic — and that may be a staff member or graduate student.

No, but we expect that the letter will address your academic ability and academic work ethic.

If accepted, you will receive your acceptance in late May/early June before fall classes begin in August, and you will be advised and placed into Honors classes for the fall semester sometime shortly after. 

No, you are not required to live in Honors housing. It is also difficult to get into Honors housing in the semester immediately following your acceptance. However, you are welcome to apply for Honors housing options in future semesters. 

Being a student in the Capstone program does not, in and of itself, give you an advantage in transfer consideration, but Capstone students tend to be competitive transfer applicants. If you are accepted as a transfer student into the Honors College, you can be both a Capstone Scholar and an Honors College student if you choose. Note that there are fees associated with both programs.

Because the Capstone Scholars program invites students based on the presence of a university scholarship, students who transfer into the Honors College will not lose their university scholarship. These scholarships are granted and revoked independently of the Capstone Scholars Program. Additionally, a student’s decision to accept transfer admission into the Honors College, whether in addition to or in place of the Capstone Scholars Program, will not affect their university scholarship.

The current fee is set at $575 per semester. The fee primarily helps defray the costs of offering almost 600 Honors courses per year. It also allows the Honors College to fund student research, internships, study abroad, service learning and senior thesis research. Other educational and social events that help to nurture the SCHC community are funded through the generosity of donors, our alumni and friends.

The Office of Financial Aid provides the full breakdown of the estimated cost to attend.