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Carolina Experience

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Apply to be a Carolina Experience Peer Leader

Carolina Experience Peer Leaders are third- and fourth-year undergraduate students at USC Columbia who work to assist students beyond the first year in their transition through the university. They assist with the SophoMORE Year Success Experience, the Junior Year Success Experience, Transfer Student Success, Senior Year Success, and faculty-student interaction programs such as Mutual Expectations. Specifically, they meet one-on-one with students in the associated population via Success Consultations, serve as a mentor, help with a variety of programming efforts and other duties as assigned.

Eligibility  

To be considered, students must:

  • Be an undergraduate student at the University of South Carolina-Columbia.
  • Have and maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 or above (on a 4.0 scale) while employed.
  • Be in their third year or beyond at USC at time of employment. If a transfer student, they must have one year at the Columbia campus completed at the time of employment.
  • Have effective interpersonal and communication skills.
  • Have strong organizational and time management skills.
  • Have a desire to help their fellow students.
  • Have experience with event planning or mentoring. Preferred, but not required.
  • Must commit for the entire academic year, early August to the end of the spring semester in early May.
  • Must be willing to return to campus in early August for training prior to the start of the semester.  

Job Responsibilities

  • Serve as a mentor and role model to fellow students.
  • Help guide and support sophomores, juniors, seniors, and transfer students while at USC.
  • Hold one-on-one consultations with students in regard to the sophomore year, junior year, senior and transfer year.
  • Help plan and implement all programming and outreach for sophomore year, junior year, senior year and transfer students. (Programs include, but are not limited to: SophoMORE September, Transfer Welcome Series, National Transfer Week, SophoMORE Halfway There, Adulting 101 Series, and others. )
  • Aid in survey and focus group analysis of targeted populations.
  • Help in the development of the Carolina Experience office by providing feedback and sharing ideas when requested.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Breakdown of Weekly Hours

  • 1 hour-long staff meeting (scheduled prior to the start of the semester).
  • 9-12 consultation and project hours (scheduled at the start of the semester).
  • Bonus hours opportunity for working events or workshops outside of scheduled hours.

Application Process 

  • Application opens on Friday, February 28, 2025
  • Application closes on Sunday, March 30, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.
  • The application will require you to fill out key information and answer questions. You will also need to upload a current resume and give permission to the office to review your transcript as a part of the application.
    • Note: Please do NOT use AI platforms to generate responses to your personal open response questions in the application.
  • You will also need to have a letter of recommendation submitted in a separate form. Letters of recommendation are due via the online form no later than April 9, 2025. They can come from a faculty or staff member at USC, a former teacher or counselor, someone who supervised you in a job or a volunteer experience. It should NOT be from a family member or close friend.
  • If selected for an interview, you will hear back from the office in early April.
  • Note: Required CEPL training will start on Monday, August 4, 2025. The position will run from August 4- late April 2026. The full academic year commitment is required.
  • Questions? Email us at carolinaexperience@mailbox.sc.edu

Information Sessions

Not required for the application, but interested students are encouraged to attend an information session to learn more about the role and the application process! You can talk to current  CEPLs to learn about their experience, learn about the application process, what the pay rate is expected to be for 2025-2026, and more!

  • Thursday, February 27 at 3:30 p.m.- Career Center Classroom (Fifth floor of Thomas Cooper Library)
  • Monday, March 3 at 5:00 p.m. – Career Center Classroom (Fifth floor of Thomas Cooper Library)
  • Tuesday, March 25 at 4:00 p.m.- Student Success Center (top floor of Thomas Cooper Library)

RSVP to attend.


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