Clemson University Admission
Clemson University Undergraduate Program
Clemson University Application

The Facts

Clemson University is a rather large, public university located in the town of Clemson, South Carolina, and is home to over 13,000 undergraduate students and approximately 3,200 graduate students. The university is perhaps best known for its Communication-Across-the-Curriculum program that helps students to integrate their newfound thinking, writing, and communication skills learned from all of their classes. The university is actually divided up into several smaller undergraduate colleges including schools of agriculture, forestry, life sciences, architecture, arts and humanities, business and behavioral sciences, engineering and science, and health, education, and human development. The university offers its students more than 80 majors; some of the most popular choices include general engineering, business, mechanical engineering, marketing, and nursing.

Admission to the schools is actually quite competitive, and many of the student who apply are already quite successful academically and extracurricularly. Last year, over 11,500 students applied for admission, 7,000 were accepted, and 2,750 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1110 to 1290 and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 24 to 29. Additionally, over 77% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.99.

Clemson University has a rather large student to faculty ratio of 15:1, and many classes are held in massive lecture halls with a complete amount of anonymity. However, there are some upper level classes with an emphasis on preprofessional studies that have much fewer students, usually well under 20. Students do say that their professors make an effort to be accessible as much as possible, even the ones who teach the larger lecture courses.

The Social Scene

The town of Clemson is quite small, and surrounded by gorgeous lakes, woods, and green spaces, and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains surround the campus. Water sports are popular activities on the weekends, and many students do own cars, so they often drive to the city of Atlanta, which is about a three-hour drive.

There is definitely a lot of partying happening at Clemson; the football team plays in one of the largest on-campus stadiums in the country, and most students are involved in sports of some kind. The fraternities and sororities are also quite popular, and are constantly throwing loud and rowdy parties, which a vast majority of students attend. There are also lots of student clubs and organizations, and there have even been some amazing concerts brought to campus by the student life office like U2 and Outkast!

The dating scene is amazing; people tend to be extremely friendly, and there are a lot of opportunities to meet someone who likes to have a good time just as much as you do.

What’s Good

“There is such a great party scene here, but people know how to focus during the week.”

“I mean, we've have U2 and Outkast here. How awesome is that!”

“The faculty is really incredible. Although they are professionals in their fields, they pay a lot of attention to us.”

What’s Bad

“The surrounding area is really kind of boring. Once you've water-skied, you've done everything.”

“Some of the housing could use some work. It feels like you're sleeping on top of one another sometimes.”

“I don't know if I'd eat any of the food here. It's pretty sketchy stuff.”

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