sbdreamin
Reged: 03/22/03
Posts: 308
Loc: S. Fla.
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We are planning a road trip to look at 2 colleges. Can anyone suggest nice restaurants for either Columbia area or Myrtle Beach/Conway area? Can we see both in one trip? Would it be too far to drive to Charleston..?I was told to go to McCradys...Any thoughts would be a big help..
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Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
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Myrtle Beach cant be reached by any direct road from Columbia. It would be about a 2.5 - 3 hour drive. Charleston is slightly less than two hours from columbia and slightly over an hour from myrtle beach.
What two colleges are you going to see?
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sbdreamin
Reged: 03/22/03
Posts: 308
Loc: S. Fla.
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University of South Carolina and Coastal Carolina U.
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Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
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If you are looking at University of South Carolina, then you must give Clemson and College Of Charleston a look.
Coastal is in Conway, a once sleepy little village that is now the gateway to the Grand Strand. Not a bad place or anything but not my first choice.
U of South Carolina is in Columbia, a somewhat confused city that doesn't know if it is a big town or a small city. Unlike Charlotte which has gone uptown, or Charleston which wants very much to stay Charleston, Columbia tries to be a little of both. Again, not my first choice but a lot of people seem to like it.
Clemson was and is big fun and a great school to boot.
College of Charleston is very solid and Charleston is BIG FUN. Most of the stories you have read about Miker in his youth could also apply to me when I was in Charleston. Having been spared Sherman, they got me instead for four years. Some people still wonder whether or not they came out on the short end of that deal.
LOL.
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Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
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Kiplinger just named clemson the 24th best value in public education (in their annual Top 100 Values) based on academics and price.
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sbdreamin
Reged: 03/22/03
Posts: 308
Loc: S. Fla.
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We had looked into Clemson earlier in the process, and thank you for the info, IV. My daughter is mainly interested in a Physician Assistant program, and the majors in biology at Clemson seem to be environmental, although I assume you majored in a science capacity there. P.A. program is what led her to Univ. of South Carolina, South Florida, and Tampa. She is totally warm blooded and wouldn't even entertain any northern schools such as Northeastern or Michigan.
Tell me, though, everyone up here in the "north" tells her that Clemson is out in the middle of nowhere. Is it isolated? That was one of her concerns..
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Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
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Clemson is in the rolling hills that seperate the Piedmont of South Carolina from the mountains of North Carolina. It is 17 miles from Anderson (a small town with the usual restaurants, etc), about 30 miles from Greenville (a small, but proper city), 2 hours from charlotte, 2 hours from atlanta, slightly over one hour from snow skiing and under four hours from the beach.
The town exists to serve the school and therefore feels a lot more like a large fraternity than a city in which a school resides. Indeed, the town is named "Clemson".
A lake (with over 500 miles of shoreline) borders the campus and provides watersports galore. If a kid needs Club 54 and The Theatre, they might find Clemson a little quiet. But if they need lake, a town servicing them, mountains nearby and a beautiful campus with great academics and a real college town environment, it is perfect.
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sbdreamin
Reged: 03/22/03
Posts: 308
Loc: S. Fla.
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Thanks so much to IV and Ric for your insights into higher learning in South Carolina! Andrea will be packing up in August to go live with the Gamecocks for the next 4 years. Clemson offered her an acceptance in January, which was disappointing, but not surprising, and haven't heard from Charleston yet, so it's still a player..She is very excited with her choice, and we turn another corner as she moves on to new adventures..(I don't look forward to the quiet house though..)
I appreciate the advice, Ric, and we are looking forward to taking advantage of all that S.C. has to offer while she is there!
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Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
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sbdreamin: Congrats on the choice. Clemson has a lot of different biology courses and is known as a Medical School Feeder school.
South Carolina also sends a lot of kids to medical school. She should do fine there. Columbia has its good and bad points (as does any city) but an enterprising youngster can usually find some fun there. Winters are fairly mild, a snow in Columbia may occur once a year or so, but usually not much accumulation. Temperatures in the twenties are cold and anything below that is unusual. A day in the forties would not be at all unusual in the dead of winter in Columbia. Alas, Columbia is the hottest place in the English-speaking world. Even their former football coach commented that "It must be next to hell" one August.
There are reasons for the heat:
1. Columbia is in the Sand Hills which used to be the beach back before CATACLYSMIC GLOBAL COOLING froze up a lot of the ocean. As such, the subsoil is sand and positively radiates heat
2. Surrounded by trees, Columbia does not enjoy the salutory breeze that Charleston does.
3. The lake/river bordering town is the ABSOLUTE WORST SIZE a body of water could be. It is just large enough to throw PLENTY of humidity into the air and too small to generate wind
4. The state grass in Columbia is marble and concrete.
I have lived in Charleston in the summer - piece of cake. I have also lived in San Antonia Texas and anyone in San Antonio that complains about heat is a wussy as they have NO humidity out there.
But Columbia is famous for The Double Triple.
You boys aint never seen hot until you have had The Double Triple.
"Good morning Columbia! Another hot one today! Expecting downtown temperature of 100 degrees with humidity approaching 100 percent". It is like walking through a sauna.
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sbdreamin
Reged: 03/22/03
Posts: 308
Loc: S. Fla.
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Yikes! Sounds like a bad combo for a girl with hairdo issues!
Freshman year is all about "adjusting", right...??? We shall see.
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Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
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"Yikes! Sounds like a bad combo for a girl with hairdo issues!"
Let me say it this way:
In a Double Triple, you can walk from your air conditioned car to an air conditioned building less than fifty feet away and be DRENCHED. Yes, you will be sweating but it would not matter if you weren't because you are walking through a cloud of hot water/fog in the air.
On RARE occasions, Charleston can produce The Double Triple. If they get a huge rain on top of a high tide that floods a lot of the streets downtown, you walk through water with steam rising off it. I used to have to take off my shoes and roll up my pants to walk to class on those days. There was enough steam rising that I felt like I was at a Doobie Brothers concert.
But, fortunately, that does not occur too often. And the breeze will usually save you in Charleston. And if you make it out to the beaches, God hath provided a MOST agreeable wind to keep it quite pleasant in the shade.
Oh, one other thing about the river next to columbia: It is VERY shallow right by the city and therefor heats up really easily, thereby producing more humidity.
So, what is my advice for a girl with Hairdo Issues?
Get over them REAL FAST.
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