SAT scores highest ever for biggest group of first-year students
This year’s record sized freshman class is even larger than the university projected in August. Instead of an estimated 4,900 students, 5,034 first-year students enrolled at USC this fall.
Those freshmen were joined by 1,428 transfer students.
This year’s freshman class is 394 students larger than last year’s. There are 78 more transfer students this year as well.
Of this record freshman class, 80 students graduated as valedictorians and 152 students received the Gamecock Guarantee, which covers tuition and technology fees for first-generation, low-income college students.
Of the more than 5,000 freshmen, 58 percent are from South Carolina, with the most in-state students from Richland, Lexington and Greenville counties. Nearly all first-year students from South Carolina — 99 percent — received state-funded grants and scholarships.
East Coast states are the most prominently represented among the class of 2017. Students from North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and Georgia rounded out the top five states, with South Carolina in first. Ohio and Pennsylvania were the only states in the top 10 that do not touch the Atlantic Ocean.
But USC doesn’t just cater to East Coast students; 40 different states, one U.S. territory and the District of Columbia are all represented in the freshman class.
The average SAT score for this year’s freshman class is 1206, 12 points higher than in 2009. For Honors College students, that score has jumped 21 points since 2009 to 1431, and Capstone Scholars saw a rise of 15 points over the four-year period. Since 2003, the average SAT score has increased by 61 points and enrollment has grown by 47 percent.
Majors in the fields of health and business proved most popular for this year’s incoming students. The Darla Moore School of Business saw 948 new students, and 1,070 enrolled in pharmacy, exercise science, nursing and biological science programs.