The senior check is a required appointment with your academic advisor held the semester BEFORE your planned graduation or once you have completed 90 hours. During this meeting, you and your advisor will review your transcript, degree program course requirements, and complete necessary paperwork specific to your academic unit. For more details, contact your academic advisor.

A senior success consultation offers an opportunity to meet with a Carolina Experience Peer Leader who is a senior or graduate student to discuss your senior-year experience. It’s encouraged but not required. Make an appointment via Navigate!

Schedule an appointment with your academic advisor to review credits and graduation requirements. You can also look at Degreeworks for a quick glance. 

Yes, there are a lot of surveys. But please know that your feedback is vitally important to the university. Some common surveys you will get as a senior year are the First Destination Survey from the Career Center and a survey from your college or school. Both of these surveys go out in the weeks before and after graduation. Please complete these surveys. Every other year the university also participates in the NSSE survey, or the National Survey of Student Engagement. This goes to both senior and freshmen, usually in the spring semester in odd years (2025, 2027, etc.). Again, your participation in these surveys is so very important. Thank you for completing them!

Graduation with Leadership Distinction (GLD) applications are due by the class add/drop deadline of the semester you plan to complete your E-portfolio. Schedule an appointment with the Center for Integrated Experiential Learning (CIEL) office to explore this option. As long as you meet this deadline, it is typically not too late! You have likely done the experience already and now need to focus on the E-portfolio.

Consult your academic advisor for classes without prerequisites. Some unique classes are listed annually on the USC website. Interdisciplinary certificates are also available. Interdisciplinary Certificates

The University Registrar’s Office is your official source for guidance on graduation. Another good resource is your academic advisor. Both can provide great direction for the process!  

Regularly check your email for graduation updates. You’ll need to apply for graduation, order regalia (a cap and gown), claim your tickets through your Cockpit Account (each graduate gets five), and verify the pronunciation of your name. Look for emails from graduate@sc.edu with “Commencement” or “Graduation” in the subject line. There is also great info on the Registrar’s office website.

Graduation regalia, or academic regalia, is the formal attire worn by graduates and faculty during the official graduation ceremony. Students will need to purchase the official university cap and gown, typically sold in the bookstore. Students MUST pre-order and you will need your height measurements. Students will also order a graduation tassel with this order. The color of the graduation tassel is determined by the college or school that the student belongs to. For example, the College of Education graduates have light blue tassels.

Honor cords and stoles are typically purchased by the student. Officially, USC notes that students who are graduating Summa Cum Laude (institutional GPA of 3.95-4.00), Magna Cum Laude (institutional GPA of 3.75-3.949), and Cum Laude (institutional GPA of 3.50-3.749) all wear gold cords. There are also cords for students who have achieved GLD. Additionally, many student organizations, honor societies, and other groups issue cords and stoles to their members. These processes are all managed by the respective organizations and not the university.

USC holds commencement ceremonies in May and December. The exact dates vary each year. There are usually multiple ceremonies in May and only one in December. In May the ceremonies are grouped into academic college or school. Students participate in the ceremony day assigned to their college or school. Visit the Registrar’s website for the official dates each semester.

You will NOT get your diploma on graduation day; it will be mailed to you! That’s why it is so important to make sure that you put in a permanent mailing address that someone will for sure be living at within the few months after graduation. Many students put their parents' address as they are not sure what their post-graduation plans exactly look like yet. Also, make sure you have paid any fines or bills you have outstanding at the university. You may not get your diploma without it!

Students who have achieved at least 60 credit hours can purchase a class ring. The official class ring is sold in both the fall and spring semesters from the university's ring provider and a ring ceremony is usually held during each of those semesters. Students can purchase online outside of those times as well.

The Career Center is an excellent resource for exploring career options. Attending career fairs and completing surveys provided by the center can help you identify job roles that might suit you well. You even have an assigned Career Coach! They also offer services like resume reviews, mock interviews, and professional headshots. You can schedule appointments with the Career center via Handshake!

The Career Center’s GradStats resource lets you view the career paths and potential salaries of alumni with your major. It is a great resource!

The Student Success Center offers money management consultations, and the Carolina Experience Office’s "Adulting 101" series hosts financial and life skills workshops. If you have student loans, now is a great time to start looking at your re-payment timeline and making a plan for payments.

Everyone has a different path and that is great! Don’t stress comparing your process to what your classmates are doing. Whether you are planning to attend graduate school or start a new job in your chosen career path, the Carolina Experience office can help you brainstorm and organize your goals for the upcoming future. Sometimes all it takes is a conversation with a peer leader to relieve anxiety. Schedule an appointment with us and we can talk about post-grad prep among other things about your senior year! There is also the Career Center, your academic advisor, and trusted faculty and staff all around campus!

Schedule a meeting with the Office of Pre-Professional Advising to get their tips. Talk with trusted faculty and staff. Get insight from your family or support system. Make a list of what you are looking for in a program. Consider factors like location and scholarships. Be sure to take time to visit the campus before making a decision!

Connect with professors, mentors, and advisors, as they may have useful contacts in your field. Prepare questions to learn more about their career paths. Consider doing an informational interview of job shadow with an alum in your field. Keep your Handshake profile and LinkedIn profile updated!

The Career Center provides resources and assistance for crafting resumes, cover letters, and personal statements. They have so many resource available to help YOU at no extra cost!

The Career Center offers mock interviews and salary negotiation resources, including tips on pre-interview research. It is important to practice before the real deal, and this allows you to do so! They also offer salary negotiation tips, as well as how to conduct pre-interview research. Ultimately, making an appointment with the Career Center is always a good idea.

Share your contact information with those you want to stay in touch with, and plan regular catch-ups to maintain connections. It is never too early to start planning your first reunion with your roommates or to connect with a favorite professor on LinkedIn.

Join the USC Alumni Association to stay informed, make connections, and access campus services. Remember you are student for a short time but a Gamecock for life. Forever to Thee! Not only are you connecting to the alumni networking, but being a member also gets you discounts to many business across the country!

There are a lot of emotions that go along with graduation, that is normal. Don’t think of it as saying goodbye. Think about it as moving onto the next chapter! You will always be a Gamecock and connected to this great community! But to start to wrap up, we have a few suggestions:

• Make a bucket list for senior year!
• Reflect on your experience at USC.
• Complete the Senior Exit Interview Reflection document
• Make a senior success consultation to talk about all of this and more!