University of South Carolina: insights

University of South Carolina

What University of South Carolina's own numbers say, from its Common Data Set 2025-26.

ApplicationsUniversity of South Carolina

From 30,889 in 2018-19 to 59,630 in 2025-26.

2018-1930,889

2025-2659,630

Source: University of South Carolina's Common Data Set 2025-26

Who says yesUniversity of South Carolina

Only 23% of admits enroll, so University of South Carolina admits far more students than it has seats.

Enroll23%

Go elsewhere77%

Source: University of South Carolina's Common Data Set 2025-26

The share of women in the first-year class has risen from 55% to 63% since 2019-20, about 1.5 points a year.
The admit rate has moved down steadily, from 68.7% in 2019-20 to 56.5% in 2025-26. If the trend holds, expect about 55.4% in 2026-27.
Applications rose 93% from 2018-19 to 2025-26 (30,889 to 59,630), faster than 92% of colleges here.
23% of admitted students chose to enroll, higher than 91% of similar colleges.
3,395 students stayed on the waitlist and 293 were admitted from it (8.6%).
Only 32% of enrolled first-years sent an SAT score, so its SAT range describes a minority of the class.
Men were admitted at a lower rate: 59.3% for women against 52.0% for men.

From students' own posts on Reddit and admissions forums: self-reported, unverified, never used in your odds.

Most admits who named a round applied Early Action (11 of 14), the rest Regular Decision.
Many admits had strong grades, 3.7 to 4.0, with SAT about 1440-1590, though one admit had a GPA near 3.3.
Several admits stressed a heavy course load, such as 10-11 AP classes or dual-enrollment college courses.
Several business-minded admits ran their own ventures or fundraisers, such as a $30K charity event, reselling or a school farm business.
Several admits held a part-time job while leading, like food service team lead, retail work or a math tutoring role.
Students report many Early Action applicants, even strong ones, get deferred, and many of those are admitted later in Regular Decision or off the waitlist.
Students report major matters: some deferred applicants were admitted to their second-choice major, and engineering is described as harder in early action.
Students report waitlist odds are low (about 15 admitted in fall 2023 per the Common Data Set), but waitlisted students can be offered a guaranteed spring start through the Verto program.
Students report merit aid can come with an early action admit, but money can run out for later admits, so sending a strong application early helps.
Students report Honors College is a separate application, found in the portal, with acceptances released in waves and not always matching admission news.