This year’s freshman class is making a habit of breaking records.
The class of 2017 is, like many of the classes that came before it, the biggest and brightest class we’ve seen so far, with 80 high school valedictorians and 99 percent of in-state students receiving scholarships and grants.
The average SAT score has increased to 1206 over the past 10 years, while the average scores for Honors College students and Capstone Scholars have also seen a jump to 1431 and 1321, respectively.
This year’s class is also just a little bit larger than what university officials first assumed, meaning there are more than 5,000 students putting even more strain on USC’s infrastructure. This year’s class is also a 47 percent increase since 2003.
That figure isn’t just coming from USC’s backyard though. A slight majority, 58 percent of the class of 2017, still come from within South Carolina’s borders, but there’s been an increase in students from other parts of the country. Most of them are from up and down the East Coast, but in total, 42 states are represented.
While we’re not thrilled that the university is bringing in more freshmen than it can possibly handle, it’s good that the students that are being admitted are top notch. Clearly, the university’s recruiting efforts have been successful. Now, if we could just find somewhere to put all these great students, we’d really be in business.
USC has also done a good job cultivating top-notch programs that successfully attract talented students, which our university needs to improve its reputation and national rankings.
It’s good to see that our university is continuously improving the caliber of students it’s admitting. It might even make the insanely long lines in Russell House and the lack of on-campus housing for upperclassmen worth it. We hope they keep up the good work.