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Here are just a few highlights of recent achievements by USC students, as well as a few current rankings. Recently, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine named the University of South Carolina as one of the “100 Best Values in Public Education.” That’s not the only list you’ll find us on— U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of South Carolina as one of the best national public institutions. When your son or daughter attends Carolina, you’ll find that excellence doesn’t have to be expensive.

Student Accomplishments

Since the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs was established in 1994, University students have won about 400 national awards, earning more than $12 million for advanced academic study. Included are Marshall, Rhodes, Truman, National Science Foundation, Fulbright, Goldwater, Madison, Cooke, and Javits Scholars, among others.

Seniors Stephanie Maddox and Tyler Ray have won National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships, valued at more than $150,000 each. The awards are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. Maddox, an experimental psychology major, will attend graduate school at Yale. Ray, a mechanical engineering major, will continue his graduate studies at South Carolina.

Barry Blitch, Sarah Elizabeth Chakales, Samantha Martin, Ashley Rhoderick, and Kimberly Vinci were named Rotary scholarship winners and will study abroad in 2008-09. Chakales, a senior broadcast journalism major, and Martin, a 2007 graduate of the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management, earned $25,000 academic scholarships for nine months' study and will travel to Hong Kong and Northern Ireland, respectively. Blitch, a junior sociology major; Rhoderick, a senior chemical engineering major; and Vinci, a sophomore exercise science major, earned $12,500 cultural scholarships for three months' study. Blitch will study in Senegal, Rhoderick in Egypt and Vinci in Tanzania.

Asma Samir Jabar, a junior International Studies/Anthropology major, has been named a 2007 Harry S. Truman Scholar. The scholarship, worth $30,000, has been given to a Carolina student every year for the past five years. Jabar plans to use the scholarship to obtain a joint degree in law and master’s of public health, integrating both areas with refugee studies.

Two South Carolina students have been named 2007 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars and a third was an honorable mention selection. Oliver Ralf Gothe, a physics and chemistry major and mathematics minor, and Joseph Harold Montoya, a chemical engineering major and mathematics and music performance minor, are the University's 33rd and 34th Goldwater winners. The one- and two-year scholarships are worth up to $7,500 a year. William Walter Kay earned an honorable mention.

Rankings

The University of South Carolina is ranked No. 52 in the nation among public universities, according to the fall 2008 rankings from U.S. News & World Report. Among the criteria in the ranking of universities are acceptance and graduation rates, retention, class size, faculty resources, SAT scores, and alumni giving.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has designated the University of South Carolina as an institution of “very high research activity.” USC is one of 62 public and 32 private research institutions—and the only university in South Carolina—to earn the distinction.

U.S. News & World Report's college and graduate school guides rank the Moore School of Business No. 1 in the nation for its undergraduate international business program (fall 2008) and No. 1 among public universities—No. 2 overall—for its graduate IB program (spring 2008). The Moore School has 12 consecutive No. 1 rankings for the undergraduate program and 19 consecutive years with the No. 1 or No. 2 overall ranking for the graduate program. The school's overall ranking from the magazine is 24th among public universities in “Best Business Programs.”

In its latest guide (fall 2008), U.S. News & World Report ranked USC's University 101 program for freshmen in the category “Programs to Look For,” among those at Duke, Dartmouth, Princeton, and Stanford universities.

The School of Hotel, Restaurant, & Tourism Management is ranked ninth in the nation by the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education.

The University's Marine Science program (marine biology, biological oceanography, and physical oceanography) has been ranked in the top 10 nationally in the most recent Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index.

The University has been recognized for leadership in the field of student character and development in “The Templeton Guide: Colleges that Encourage Character Development,“ a guidebook for students, parents, and educators.

The University is included in Peterson's Competitive Colleges: Top Colleges for Top Students 2009 edition.

See more highlights of the University of South Carolina.

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