The College of Information and Communications welcomed more than 200 prospective students and family members to the School of Journalism and Mass Communications on April 5.
The gathering was one of many held across the University of South Carolina campus each spring as part of Admitted Student Days to showcase programs of study, student organizations and the buildings where students could anchor their college careers.
While the admissions team at USC schedules the activities across campus, each college plans its own presentations to help prospective students solidify their college choice.
“We just want them to see that we have built a really strong community and that when we say that our students are a community and that they enjoy being in the CIC, it’s genuine,” CIC recruiter Dora Stryffeler said.
Two years ago, the CIC began a new setup, splitting the time between an information session and time to explore other opportunities and the building itself.
During this year's information session, prospective students learned more about their major, study abroad opportunities through the CIC, and academic student organizations they could join. This year’s presentation highlighted CreateAthon@USC, an overnight student event to support local nonprofits, and The Carolina Agency, USC’s student-led advertising and public relations agency.
“We want students to walk away understanding a little more about their major but ultimately knowing what the college does and all of the opportunities they can have in the CIC,” Stryffeler said.
After the information session, families had the opportunity to hear from CIC organizations and faculty in the atrium. This year’s event included academic advising staff, career services and first-generation students, among others. Families also received tours from student ambassadors, who shared their experiences at USC.
Chloe Findlay, a junior CIC Ambassador said that meeting with ambassadors has a big impact on prospective students, because it shows them what their life could be like. “I really love my school, and I think the goal is to show that passion that all of our students have and demonstrate it to the prospective students,” Findlay said.
The impact of Admitted Students events is not lost on Stryffeler. During those events, she gets to begin relationships with students and show them the community that exists in the CIC. “It’s one of those things that I love to do because I see the impact it usually has on families, and it’s just exciting to meet students in that space, too,” she explained.
For ambassadors, the goal of the day is to help prospective students connect what they see on paper to the actual experience that they could have at USC.
“Yeah, you’re going to work hard, but you also have the best faculty, one of the top programs in the country. You’re in a great location, so it’s really all about selling the school, but it’s not hard because the school doesn’t really need to be sold. It just needs to be told,” Findlay said.
Participants at Admitted Student Day are making their final decisions, and many will begin their own journeys at USC in August.
Madison Harvey wrote this story as a part of Bertram Rantin’s Honors Writing for Mass Communications class. She is a first-year sport and entertainment management major and a mass communications minor.
Beyond the classroom, she is a part of Alpha Gamma Delta International Sorority, USC Dance Marathon and the Honors Ambassadors program. She is on the pre-law track with the intention to work in sport and/or entertainment law.
