Clemson University
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Political Science
Minor: Legal Studies
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Heterosexual Female
Summary
I’m a member of the National Society of Leadership Program. I’m doing a Study Abroad program this summer in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Herzegovina called Balkans. We meet with the government officials in those countries. I’m also in a sorority.
Background
Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
High School Experience: In the IB (International Baccalaureate) program at a public school in Columbia, SC with a graduating class of about 400 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Political Science
Minor: Legal Studies
Extracurricular Activities: I’m a member of the National Society of Leadership Program. I’m doing a Study Abroad program this summer in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Herzegovina called Balkans. We meet with the government officials in those countries. I’m also in a sorority.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
Since I’m a Political Science major, I have always had an interest in doing stuff with international law. The study abroad program I’m going on has brought me closer to a lot of people who have the same ambitions as me. We’ve met with people who have gone on the trip in the past who talk with us about the opportunities it set them up with afterward. Going into an interview saying you went gives you so many connections.
Academic Experience
Can you describe the weekly coursework for your major?
Most of the time it depends on what type of Political Science class you’re taking. When I take Political Theory classes, they’re mostly reading and essay-based. The classes I’m taking now as an upper freshman are more so classroom and exam-based. For my Political Theory class, we’d have a book to read and then a take-home essay where we would have to analyze the book based on how we interpreted it. I really enjoyed that because I don’t like multiple choice questions where I have to memorize things. The theory class is more so how I interpreted it, not a right or wrong answer. It taught me critical thinking skills and insights on how to write a well-written paper.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
I’ve always enjoyed the Political Science department because everything is so accessible. I don’t even have to know the professor and I could walk into their office hours and talk to them. It may be because it’s a small department. There aren’t that many Political Science majors. It’s easy to get to know everyone in Political Science and become friends with all those people. It’s a close-knit family.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
To some extent it’s competitive, but honestly I’ve made so many good friends through the department that in the end it’s more collaborative. We all know we are competing for the same thing in the workforce, but in general we’re so close-knit that it’s more collaborative than competitive.
How accessible are your professors?
Extremely. All of my Political Science professors are easily accessible. They give us their phone numbers and we can text them if we need anything. In bigger classes like my History seminar with 300 students, the professor tries to make it as accessible as possible, but I understand that it is kind of hard because there are 300 of us. In the Political Science department, I’ve never had a class of more than 30 people. [The average undergraduate class has 31 students.]
Do you feel that people are open to multiple schools of thought in the classroom?
Yes. In my experience, we had debates some days in the Political Theory class I took. You’d have to take a stand on one side, and then we’d debate with the class, but it was never derogatory. When we walked into the classroom we’d have our own exact thoughts on what we thought about it, but by the end of the class we understood where the other side was coming from and kind of come to a consensus that we were both right for different reasons.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice so far?
I transferred from Appalachian State freshman year. When I came to Clemson I was interested in Political Science, and I think I want to go to law school. I like the debates and hearing both sides of every story and hearing where they’re coming from. My parents are extreme conservatives, and I’m pretty moderate, so I think it’s interesting to be somewhere where there are lots of conservatives and liberals. In a Political Science course, I think it’s interesting to hear why people think the way they think is correct, and why people on the opposite side is incorrect.
Reasons to Attend
1) The football team is a benefit.
2) How close and supportive we are of everyone in the community.
3) The Tiger Pride. Everyone here is so happy and supportive of athletics.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) If you want an experience that isn’t in a small college town like this is. It’s literally just Clemson students here, which I love, but if you want to live in a city, Clemson probably isn’t the one for you.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Transferred to Clemson after freshman year.
Sophomore: Off-campus in a house with two roommates.
Junior: Off-campus in a house with three roommates.
How was transitioning from Columbia to Clemson, SC?
My sister went to USC, and I live 15-minutes away from USC so I had no desire to go there. I don’t like the huge bar scene of going out to 5-points every night. I enjoy more of the small, college town feel that I live in now. Going to App State was way different because I was in a completely new place, but I’d still prefer coming to Clemson over USC because I wasn’t into living in a big city. I like how chill it is here and how it’s a close-knit family.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I’ve never felt unsafe. I know there were a few car break-ins that were at off-campus housing, but where I live I’ve never experienced anything.
Social Opportunities
What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in at Clemson?
When I was an underclassman I went to a lot of Greek life events. Now that I’m an upperclassman and am 21, I kind of shy away from that. I like going to bars and stuff at night, and I do like darties, but the party life I experienced as an underclassman doesn’t interest me as much anymore.
What nights of the week do you regularly do things? Are there regular places you go or things you do on certain nights?
Sometimes Tuesdays, but mostly Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturday.
What’s the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
Greek life impacts a lot in the first two years you’re here. Coming in as a freshman and getting into a sorority, you’ll meet new people that you’ll probably form life-long friendships with. It kind of fades out a little bit once you become an upperclassman because now you can go to bars and do older stuff, so I don’t have any interest in going to what my [sorority] littles go to now.
What’s an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a night out?
I like going hiking. Usually if we don’t go out, my roommates and I will go to movies or hang out at our house and play cards and drink wine.
How happy were you with the weekend options at Clemson? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I enjoy going out on the weekends. I wish it were a little bigger, but I knew what I was signing up for when I came here, so it’s not like I was expecting some huge college town. Especially during football season the nightlife is really fun, and after football season is when the darties start happening which is something to look forward to. I don’t think I’d change anything.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
The first year I came here I lived with one of my old best friends from high school, and she introduced me to the other girl we lived with who was also from our hometown. My other roommate this year I met freshman year through one of our mutual friends, and I met a lot of close friends through my boyfriend who’s in a fraternity.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
Our social scene is oriented to bars, parties, and Greek life.
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
It’s not that important for girls. We can invite anyone we want, so if my friend isn’t in a sorority and I want her to come to a sorority event with me that’s fine. Last year I was dating someone in a fraternity, and anytime he had a mixer or anything he said I could bring any of my friends. It’s pretty exclusive for guys. If you come to Clemson and want the party life and don’t intend on joining a fraternity, you’re going to miss out on a lot, but for girls it’s a lot different.
To what extent do you feel people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I honestly don’t know many people that are not straight, but I don’t think if they came out they’d be discriminated against whatsoever. Whatever your ethnicity is, I don’t think it has an impact on how you’re treated here. My ex-boyfriend is Black and we hung out with a few Black people in his fraternity, it’s not exclusive. There are Black fraternities and sororities that don’t really interact with us, but I don’t think it’s a threatening place. I can’t speak for them because I’m White, but I don’t think someone of a different race would feel threatened in this community. [About 3% of Greek life members are involved in chapters in the National Panhellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council. About 82% of undergraduates are White.]
How do you like the size of Clemson in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How has that impacted your experience? [There are about 19,600 undergraduates.]
I like it. It’s much the same as App State, relatively small. I feel that the benefit of having smaller classes where the teachers learn my name and know who I am is beneficial, as opposed to being in huge classrooms where the teachers have no interaction with individual students. [The average undergraduate class has 31 students.]
Careers
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that will be helpful professionally?
I took a Physics of Climate Change class where I did a lot with Excel. We had two big Excel projects where we inputted data over 80 years of temperatures.