So, anyway. I'm in Clemson. After taking a tour of USC on Monday, there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered if Clemson wanted to be close in the race again. I had already been to Clemson twice in 2013: I went up to see the Tar Heels play them in men's basketball (The Heels won by a moderate margin, and I was probably the loudest Carolina Blue-clad spectator in Littlejohn), and I took an official campus tour in the summer. So, I knew what the campus looked like and I'd seen all the pretty buildings and fields and water and whatnot. Today, I focused more on getting the information I needed to compare it to what South Carolina has to offer for research and job opportunities. And I'll be damned if I didn't get some answers.
The morning session started with a campus expo, with a bunch of booths set up in a ballroom to showcase all of the key services the school had to offer. There were representatives from the different colleges within Clemson (Engineering, Agriculture, Arts, etc.), some folks from the Honors College (named after the crazy secessionist John C. Calhoun, no less), and some general services like housing, dining, and recreation. Also, there was a poor old man who had to sit alone at the LGBT services booth, which you would not expect many people looking at school in backwoods SC to even glance at. I pity that poor old man representing a good cause (in my mind, at least. I can debate it later). So, if you're a bit on the left end of the political spectrum like myself, you might want to think twice before coming to Clemson (I mean, this school even has its own its own equivalent of Fox News).
I won't waste time with all the minor details. Some of you probably won't understand terminology. But I found that almost all of the key things that made USC stand out--research and internship opportunities, Honors College, studying abroad, and the like--were matched (and possibly even exceeded, sometimes) by Clemson. In that respect, the "recruitment race" should be considered a dead heat. I suppose I did jokingly say to myself "I'm sold!" when I saw the following course description of the first-year engineering requirements at a presentation:
ENGR 1020- Stuff 99.99999999% of the population can't do
CH 1010- Alchemy for the rest of us
ENGL 1030- (we know your ACT/SAT reading scores)
MTHS 1060- Really hard math
ENGR 1410- Magic and Sorcery or CHE 1300- Plumbing for dummies
MTHS 1080- Really, really hard math
PHYS 1220- Stuff Einstein couldn't do
(In case you were wondering, they did show the actual class descriptions after having this bit of amusement)
But there is one thing that might end up being the selling point for me if I end up at this school (and frankly, it might have just given Clemson the lead). Freakin' hospitality.
Now, before I go on, I want to go on record to say that I think that the concept of "Southern Hospitality" should only exist if used to create a warm and fuzzy sweet tea commercial. Hospitality is no more real in the south than in any other part of the country, and frankly, a lot of Southern people are assholes. But this is not the hospitality I am claiming that Clemson has.
As I said before, the opportunities for research and a damn good education are really about the same between Clemson and USC. But what sets Clemson apart from its garnet counterpart (at least, from what I've seen) is that Clemson goes more out of its way to make sure that its students get these opportunities and succeed. When I toured USC, I heard a lot about the research there and how I could always find an opportunity myself, but it seemed as though most of that finding had to be done on the student's part. Clemson, essentially, dumps everything in its students laps, and they would be damn fools not to follow those opportunities. That's not even mentioning all the other conveniences that Clemson has that USC doesn't: a great shuttle service that caters to its students, an on-campus Episcopal church for me to find community in (more on that later), and so much more, really. The guy in charge of recruitment for engineering even said directly to the audience that he wanted most for everyone to find the school they are comfortable with, even if it is elsewhere. And he meant it. That took some freakin' heart.
This is what is really selling me on Tigertown right now. Every person there seemed devoted to getting the best for everyone visiting. Now, I believe it's still possible that USC has similar efforts, and I welcome any Gamecocks to enlighten me about said efforts. But something just feels right about Clemson right now. Maybe it's just a sense, but even if I'm wrong about it, my next option is a damn fine school to go to just as well.
During the day, there were many times where I felt close to home. I saw a few old friends from Happening across campus, each one of them unexpected but very pleasing to see. I walked down the shops on College Street and ate at a few local restaurants (note on College Street: has a great vibe to it, kinda like Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, but I don't worry about my safety there like I do in Columbia's Five Points). In the evening, I took in Maundy Thursday service at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (seeing a few more folks I knew in the process), and immediately after service, I was immediately invited to come as a guest to their youth gathering. I didn't stay for long, but I did get to participate in a bit of egg-dyeing while talking all about my past youth experiences with a bunch of new people. I got a little carried away, and as a way of saying goodbye, I painted this little sucker and left him with the other youth.
Ah, but it's still too early to commit.
More on the rest of the Clemson visit tomorrow evening.
Mornin' Hays, signing off.
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