 Hi everyone, thank you so much for clicking on this video. Today I'm going to be doing an in-depth guide on the College of Charleston. So if you're a prospective student and you really want to know like details from a real person who goes there, I'm going to be covering topics from dorms, majors and minors to meal plans to party culture, literally everything in between. So if you want to skip to a certain time because you're only interested in one or two of those topics, I'm going to leave time stamps in the comments below so you can go check that out. So first, I thought I would start off with my story. So I would be a rising junior at the college right now, but I'm taking a gap year because of COVID. I was supposed to be studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh for the whole entire year, so I just decided to take the year off so I could experience that. Still, I'm hoping to reapply and go next year. So I was a college freshman in 2018 and I had a really good time. I met some of my best friends at the College of Charleston. I took some really great classes, which I'm going to talk about. And overall, I've had a really nice time. So if you're looking for like a bashing video, this is definitely not it, but I will give you the real tea because like everywhere, there's pros and cons. So I am an arts management major and a creative writing minor. And what you might not know is for arts management, which is sort of a rare undergraduate degree, College of Charleston is one of the leading programs in the country. So I actually ended up picking the College of Charleston because of the arts management program. And because there's a lot of accessibility to arts internships in Charleston, because you're right downtown. I also knew that I wanted to be in a city school and CFC just offers so much. There's so many great restaurants, arts venues, you can go to the beach, you can go shopping. And when my friends come to visit, like we just, we have such a blast. Another thing you should know about me before you watch this video is I'm very wholesome. So if you're looking for like a big like party video, this is probably not the video. When I was looking at the College of Charleston, there's not really many YouTube videos about it. And when you start, when you search College of Charleston into YouTube, you find a lot of like very scary dirty footage. And I would just like to advise you to take some of that with a grain of salt, because that is not everyone. That's a fair few, but that is not everyone. I'm just going to start off with the reasons that I love College of Charleston personally. So the staff, I have had the most amazing professors at the College of Charleston. I don't know about anyone else, but when I was in high school, like every single year, I had to deal with at least one or two very problematic teachers. And that's just not a very fun experience. So really at the college, I have not had one bad professor. And I think that that puts it, that should put it at the top of your list. I don't know about many other major programs, but I have to, you have to take a lot of liberal arts classes at the College of Charleston. Oh my God, drink every time I say College of Charleston. You have to take a lot of liberal arts classes when you're at the college. So I have not had any bad professors, which is saying a lot. I've had some that like aren't my favorite, but I have not had one professor that like I hate, which is, which is I think a very good thing. So first I'm going to talk about freshman programs. This is one of the best things about College of Charleston that they just don't really advertise. And I think it is so awesome. So they have this thing called the freshman year experience. So your freshman year, you have to take one of these classes and it counts towards your like full graduation requirement. So every freshman has to take this class. And like every college, you have to take like the seminar where it's like here's the library, here is the Center for Educational Learning or stuff like that, which is really boring. And honestly, my TA was so sassy. He was so sassy. But I took ghost stories. So I think this is one of the coolest things. So I got to take this class in Charleston ghost stories, which was literally it was so cool. I still think about it to this day. Like I think it was so interesting with these freshman year experience classes, it really gets students out into the city, which is another really surprising thing about the College of Charleston is a lot of students aren't really willing to like venture out beyond the campus, which I find really strange because literally a block over is the main shopping street. Like Charleston Peninsula is very small once you start living there. So you can walk to everything in like 20 minutes from where either where you live or where you're going to class, it's just it's all very compact. And it has just everything that you need. Like the food is so good. Everything's so good. I love it. So when we went on this ghost tour, like all these kids were like, Oh my God, I've never been this far before, which was so interesting. Oh, also Charleston is the number one haunted city in America, which I think is super cool. So I'm so glad I got to take this ghost stories class, because we got to go on a ghost tour at night and then like we got into some other shenanigans, but that's another story. But it was just it was just such a cool experience. And I got to take a class where the professor, this was his first time teaching the class to and he was really excited about it. So the rest of us were really excited about it too. And I just think it created a really nice intro to the college and the city. It was just it was really nice. Also my friend took the sociology of food and she had an extra ticket. So we got to go on a food like barbecue tour around the city on a boat, which is just so cool. Like my first semester, I was like really getting out into the city. So the next topic I'm going to get into is dorms. This is where the tea comes in because there's a lot of conflicting opinions about dorms. And I think it really depends on the people you live with most most of all. So the one number one thing that I would recommend is do not do random roommates like just don't do it. I did random roommates and it was such a disaster. My whole mindset going in, I was like, oh, everyone wants to make friends. Everyone like is going to be so nice. I'm not, nope. Okay. So anyway, I lived in Warren 10 my freshman year. The first thing that you should know about Warren 10 is that it's sweet style. So you walk in and you have a kitchen and a living area. And then you have a hallway. And with each hallway, you have two dorm rooms to a bathroom. So in total, there are four rooms, two bathrooms, one living room and kitchen. I'll get into the other dorms after Warren. So Warren is far down this side. So it's probably about a 15 minute walk to campus. So that can definitely be a con if you want to be like really in the action. Warren 10 is sort of a little bit more removed, but it's still close enough. So it's not that big of a deal. Another con is Warren 10 is really far from the dining halls. So I'm going to talk about this later. But my favorite dining hall was at the opposite end of campus. So if I wanted to get dinner, which you got to eat dinner, I had to walk probably like 25 minutes in either direction. So it took a really long time. So I either had to like make sure I was getting dinner like right after class or just had to I had to really like finesse when I could eat because it was just that was that was not fun. I will admit also hallways and Warren 10 are really creepy. They look like a murderous island. But when you get into the actual suite, they're pretty nice. I think for college, I mean, it's a college dorm. So like what do you expect? But they're pretty nice. Warren 10 is also an older dorm. So if you're looking for like the cool new dorm like Warren 10 isn't it. And then here's sort of my biggest con about Warren 10 is it's not super social. So I remember I was moving out in May and I came out of my hallway and I saw people in my hallway that I didn't that I had classes with that I had no idea they lived like one suite over from me. Everyone just stays in their suite in Warren 10. I don't know about other floors. My floor was so quiet. I barely ever saw another person, which I think was the biggest con for me in Warren because I really wanted to like get out and meet people. Now I'm going to get into the pros of Warren 10 because there really are a lot of pros. I think there's it's a it's a good mix of both. So pros of Warren 10, I had great windows. I loved the windows and Warren 10. They were like old New York City windows and I would like open mine up at night and had a screen and I could like see the sunset from where I was. I could also see the dumpsters, but I could also see the sunset. So that was super cute. The rooms are usually very big. So that was one of the reasons that I chose Warren 10. But when I showed up in my freshman year, they had an overload of students. So I was put in a single room with two beds. Eventually I'm not going to tell this story right now, but my roommate moved out and then eventually I had the other bed and furniture removed. So I had the room all to myself and then it was like gigantic for a dorm room. But when there were two people in it, it was tight. But the other girls who lived in my suite who had double rooms, they were gigantic, like some of the biggest rooms on campus. So that is a pro if you're living with another person, which as a freshman, you are most likely going to be. Another good thing about Warren is it's really safe. The doors are really heavy and they lock. I never felt like safety was an issue. I your doors are really like they're all of the doors are like fire doors. So and oh my gosh, when you when you close your door, it automatically locks and there's no way to fix that. So if you're forgetful, I mean, you have to get your keys one 72 hour period, I had to go to public safety like four times to get my key removed. Oh my God. And then one time, the wind when I was in the shower because I had my window open because I love my window, it pushed my door closed. So I had to go out in like, with wet hair in my shower shoes, all the way to public safety at like 10 o'clock at night to get my key. So anyway, you're very safe. Oh, also another thing I loved about Warren is it's on such a beautiful street. So like the trees just like arch over it just like a classic Charleston street. It's just like it was so pretty. It was such a nice place to like walk home to it felt very homie. Like I felt like I had a nice place to go. The other thing is which I don't think you should take this into consideration, but I was very excited about it is there was a pliables like right on my street. So I was there like probably two three times a week, which is too much. I spent way too much money applyables that year. So finally, would I choose this dorm again? Yes and no, I met a really good friend there, like a friend I'll have for life. So I would not trade that for the world. And it was my experience and I don't like to have regrets. But looking back, I don't know if I would have chosen it just because that social aspect really wasn't there. And I think that that is the most important thing freshman year. So I think if you're going to do Warren 10, don't do random and just really try and cultivate a nice group of girls online before you move in. Now I'm going to talk about the other dorms that I know about. So everyone says that McAllister is the best dorm. It's not. I'm just gonna put this out there. People say it's like the newest coolest dorm. It's kind of been trash over the years because everyone loves that dorm. But it's the party dorm. It's where everyone goes for pre games. And not to say that Warren wasn't a party dorm, but not nearly as much as McAllister. And McAllister also had a lot of issues when people moved in where things were not clean. I know that they maybe had like a bug issue. It's just take that into consideration and you know take this with a grain of salt if you know people and you want to ask them about it. Certainly do. But it's just something to keep in mind. The other two dorms I've been inside of are Beust and Liberty. So Beust is the all girls dorm and it's very much like a classic dorm. So the floors are like linoleum and the walls are like concrete bricks and it's a hall style bathroom. But the rooms are really really big. Like bigger than Beust could be a good option for you. They had really big common rooms where people could like kind of congregate, which I thought was really nice because Warren didn't have that. The other dorm that I was in was Liberty. Liberty is the one that they show you on the tour. It's pretty decent. I would say it's a very standard dorm too. But I know that Liberty is really social so people get to know each other a lot more there. They also seem to have like these big rooms with like pool tables and stuff like that, which I would have loved to have. Like I feel like I missed out on that like quintessential experience and I don't know if people like actually like go and like hang out like in play pool. But like I just like in my college head like that just that's so quintessential. I got so cute. I would love to do that. Anyway, well the another thing you should know about Beust and Liberty is they are in really like excellent spots on the campus. So they are just like right in the center of the action. Beust is a little more tucked away and it's actually connected to the other dorm Rutledge, which is the nicest dorm. Like I that is really the nicest dorm. It's the newest dorm. And if you're thinking of as a freshman, you're going to get in there. I met one girl who got in. I submit in my housing application literally the minute that it opened and I didn't get in. I also applied for all single rooms and I didn't get it. So I would just be aware that as a freshman, probably your first top two choices, if they're a single or their Rutledge, you're not going to get it. Everyone wants that dorm and like I was really on top of it, but you just you just you won't get it. A lot of seniors juniors and sophomores live in Rutledge. So it's sort of more of a mix. So I would just save your top pick for something else because most likely you're not going to get into Rutledge, but it is a really beautiful dorm. If you're looking for something, you know, your sophomore junior or senior year could be a great option. Those are really all the dorms that I have knowledge about. But if you have any specific questions, leave them down in the comments below and I'll try and answer it to the best of my ability. Now I'm going to talk about off-campus housing. There are a lot of options for off campus housing. There are a lot of college apartment companies that have built apartment buildings in Charleston. So I lived in Sterling Center, which was a great experience for me. I applied very early and I completely recommend doing that at Sterling. I had the most beautiful view. My room was actually bigger than my roommates because I applied so early. So they really do take that into account. Off-campus housing can be very expensive, especially in Charleston. So that is something to take into account. Also another great thing about off-campus housing is you can sub-lease in the summer. So I go home for the summers and my roommate actually ended up taking over my lease because she just wanted to live alone. There are a lot of people who want to live downtown in the summer. So if you want to sub-lease, I would just get on early and get talking and try and secure someone because that can lighten the load. And actually at that point, it sort of levels out with on-campus housing. So it's just something to consider. This is the question that I'm probably dreading the most. Is it a party school? Yes. Yes, it's a party school. We live in downtown. There are bars everywhere. People have fake IDs. If you really love the College of Charleston, it's very easy to not participate in party culture. So a whole city and a lot of beaches as your playground. So it's not really a necessary social component. Okay, so now I'm talking about meal plans. So if you live on campus, you have to have a meal plan. I hated it so much. The food at College of Charleston is so gross. It's so gross. So I often went to Marty's, which was the kosher vegan and vegetarian dining hall. And that one really wasn't that bad. They had pretty decent food, but it was the farthest one from my dorm. So it's definitely a walk. If you live on that side of campus, it won't be too bad. But City Bistro and Liberty Food Hall are just so gross. So the good thing is there's a Harris teeter that's about 15 minutes away. So I would stock up on things like soup or cereal or just like quick things that I could put in a microwave to eat. I also had a mini fridge in my dorm. So that kind of helped out that process. Also, I ended up eating out a lot on the weekends because A, I just didn't like the dorm food and B, Marty's was closed on the weekend. So my only options were Liberty, which I was just not about. And Liberty instead, they have, you know, options like bananas you can take or cereal or like if you drink coffee, you can get coffee there. I made my own coffee in my dorm. So there are just there are ways that you kind of have to be creative your freshman year. I was on the very lowest dining plan and I barely used my swipes. Now I'm going to talk about rush and sorority fraternity. So the College of Charleston has about a 20% ratio of Greek life. So 80% of people are not participating in Greek life. But it definitely feels very prevalent when you're on campus for sure. Like it's not something that just you don't ever hear about. It's very prevalent. So if you want Greek life, like it's very much available at CFC. I personally did not rush. Looking back, I might have. I think the whole idea of like getting dressed up and like trying to impress people, like just like scared me a lot. That just like does not sound like something that I would enjoy. But I think the outcome of it of, you know, meeting people and getting a nice group of friends would have been really nice, which not to say that you can't cultivate that outside of Greek life. But it's definitely an aid if you're a freshman and maybe you're an introvert, or you know, you're just not like a social but a lot of people who absolutely love it. So it just really depends and you'll get into the right sorority for you. So next I'm going to be talking about study abroad. So my freshman year, I did the freshman experience trip. So this is not the same as the freshman experience class that everyone has to take. But it does have the same name. So it's very confusing. So for spring break, only freshmen have the option to these trips. I went to Iceland for the week and it was so cool. I barely knew anyone on the trip and I just like went like it was, we had sort of these classes before the boat. There was really no opportunity to get to know people. And we did like crazy, crazy things like hiking on glaciers and going into lava tubes and like petting random horses on the side of the road and wild dogs. It was just, it was completely wild. The trip that I took was technically in the geology department. I don't know anything about rocks, nor do I care about rocks. No offense to geology majors, but literally I could not be further from interested in that. But don't worry about that because it's really just about the trip and you know, meeting people and and having just an incredible experience like that with new people and a new place. So the good thing about study abroad too, if you're planning on doing study abroad, CFC is a great school for this. They have excellent resources and if you're doing an affiliate program or an exchange program, there are so many options. So exchange, there are so many options at CFC. So if you're an in-state student, you can get your in-state tuition somewhere else. I'm out of state, so I chose to do an affiliate program, which is not connected to CFC. So I pay a separate tuition, which is a little less than my CFC tuition. So there's a lot of options for in-state or out of state. There are a lot of automatic scholarships to be had because CFC has a great partnership with a lot of affiliate programs, which is such a great thing when you're finally sitting down in planning study abroad. Also the advisors are readily available and they're student advisors. So if you, if you need help, it's, you can find it. It's very, it's very easy to find someone that wants to help you. So I hope this video helped you out in any way. If you have more specific questions about CFC, please leave them below and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability. Share to subscribe if you haven't already. I post new videos every Monday and Thursday about like lifestyle content, like girly things and it's just, it's just a fun time. So thank you so much for watching and I hope you have a great day.