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By Glyn Caddell, BSME · Author of Digital SAT Math Secrets · Tutoring since 2008 — Updated October 16, 2026

Twenty South Carolina colleges with pre-med programs, what they cost, and the SAT scores of the students they admit.

South Carolina runs three state scholarships, and a test score does something different on each one. The smallest does not ask for a score at all. The middle one treats it as one of three things a student can bring, any two of which will do. The largest requires it, with no substitute, on both of its routes.

Scores are given by section rather than as a single total, because a student at 650 Reading & Writing and 540 Math is in a different position from a student at 540 and 650.

Table of Contents

  • South Carolina Pre-Med Colleges by SAT Score
  • South Carolina Has Three State Scholarships and the Test Does Something Different on Each
  • How Those Numbers Compare With What South Carolina Colleges Actually Admit
  • South Carolina Has Three Medical Schools and No Route In From High School
  • What If Your Scores Are Below the Range You Want?

South Carolina Pre-Med Colleges by SAT Score

he table below covers every four-year non-profit institution in South Carolina enrolling more than 1,500 undergraduates. No college that meets that description has been left out.

Colleges are sorted by the midpoint of their two section ranges, with ties broken on the Math 75th percentile. The five colleges reporting no scores go last, ordered by size.

CollegeReading & WritingMathCost of attendanceUndergraduatesAdmit rate
Furman University650 to 720610 to 710$76,7982,37943%
Clemson University620 to 700620 to 710$35,01523,30038%
Wofford College608 to 680590 to 663$72,4411,81652%
University of South Carolina-Columbia600 to 680580 to 680$31,63829,82060%
College of Charleston590 to 670550 to 640$32,36210,55860%
Anderson University560 to 650540 to 630$50,1923,18355%
The Citadel540 to 640545 to 645$33,8802,70523%
North Greenville University540 to 630520 to 610$42,0341,81967%
Coastal Carolina University530 to 620520 to 600$26,69210,37775%
Winthrop University520 to 630490 to 590$30,7103,52379%
University of South Carolina Aiken510 to 620470 to 600$21,5402,96279%
University of South Carolina-Upstate510 to 605495 to 570$25,1244,03867%
Lander University490 to 608460 to 570$27,2773,39781%
Charleston Southern University480 to 600450 to 560$44,5582,89396%
Francis Marion University450 to 575420 to 540$23,8502,62886%
South Carolina State UniversityNot reportedNot reported$30,0152,93483%
University of South Carolina BeaufortNot reportedNot reported$24,3532,05272%
Bob Jones UniversityNot reportedNot reported$36,5802,005Not reported
Claflin UniversityNot reportedNot reported$33,5301,70665%
Benedict CollegeNot reportedNot reported$32,0001,53696%

Each range covers the middle 50% of admitted students who submitted scores. A quarter scored below the lower number, and the top quarter scored at or above the upper one. Being under the lower number does not rule a student out, and being just above it is not as safe as it looks.

Four things in that table are worth stopping on.

The most selective institution in South Carolina is The Citadel, which admits 23% of applicants. Clemson admits 38% and Furman 43%. A military college asks for a commitment most applicants will not make, so the people who apply have already sorted themselves, and the admit rate reflects the size of that pool rather than the difficulty of the academic bar.

South Carolina has twelve public institutions in this table, a lot for a state this size, and five of them cost under $26,000 a year. The cheapest is USC Aiken at $21,540. The most expensive college on the page is Furman at $76,798, a spread of better than three to one.

Charleston Southern costs $44,558 and admits 96% of applicants with the second lowest reported ranges in the table. It sits more than $20,000 above USC Aiken in cost at a far higher admit rate. A cost column exists to make exactly that visible.

Five colleges report no test data at all, and Bob Jones reports no admit rate either. Benedict also admits 96%, so the two highest rates on the page are effectively tied at 96.5% and 95.7%.

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Furman University

Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville with 2,379 undergraduates, and it reports the highest cost of attendance in the state at $76,798. Admitted students scored 650 to 720 in Reading & Writing and 610 to 710 in Math, so the top quarter were at or above 720 and 710. Tuition and fees are $59,770. Furman admits 43% of applicants.

Clemson University

Clemson University is the second largest campus in South Carolina with 23,300 undergraduates, and it admits 38% of applicants. The admitted range runs 620 to 700 in Reading & Writing and 620 to 710 in Math, with the top quarter at or above 700 and 710. In-state tuition and fees are $15,554, the highest resident figure among the state’s publics, and out-of-state tuition is $40,866. Total cost of attendance is $35,015.

Wofford College

Wofford College is a liberal arts college in Spartanburg with 1,816 undergraduates. Admitted students scored 608 to 680 in Reading & Writing and 590 to 663 in Math, so the top quarter were at or above 680 and 663. Wofford charges $56,005 in tuition and fees against a total cost of attendance of $72,441, and admits 52% of applicants.

University of South Carolina-Columbia

The University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus is the largest in the state with 29,820 undergraduates, and it houses both the Kay and C. Edward Floyd School of Medicine and the South Carolina Honors College. The admitted range runs 600 to 680 in Reading & Writing and 580 to 680 in Math, with the top quarter at or above 680 in both sections. In-state tuition and fees are $12,688 and out-of-state tuition is $35,972, against a total cost of attendance of $31,638. USC Columbia admits 60% of applicants.

College of Charleston

The College of Charleston is a public liberal arts university with 10,558 undergraduates in the historic district. Admitted students scored 590 to 670 in Reading & Writing and 550 to 640 in Math, so the top quarter were at or above 670 and 640. The College charges $12,978 in-state and $38,296 out-of-state in tuition and fees, against a total cost of attendance of $32,362. It admits 60% of applicants, the same share as USC Columbia.

Anderson University

Anderson University is a private Christian university with 3,183 undergraduates in the upstate. The admitted range runs 560 to 650 in Reading & Writing and 540 to 630 in Math, with the top quarter at or above 650 and 630. Anderson charges $34,970 in tuition and fees and costs $50,192 in total. It admits 55% of applicants, a lower share than any public university in the state except Clemson and The Citadel.

The Citadel

The Citadel is South Carolina’s military college, in Charleston, with 2,705 undergraduates, and it admits 23% of applicants, the lowest rate on this page. Admitted students scored 540 to 640 in Reading & Writing and 545 to 645 in Math, so the top quarter were at or above 640 and 645. In-state tuition and fees are $12,570 and out-of-state tuition is $38,508, a gap of $25,938 that is the largest in the state. Total cost of attendance is $33,880.

North Greenville University

North Greenville University is a private Christian university in Tigerville with 1,819 undergraduates and a 67% admit rate. Admitted students scored 540 to 630 in Reading & Writing and 520 to 610 in Math, with the top quarter at or above 630 and 610. Tuition and fees are $25,800, the lowest private figure on this page, and total cost of attendance is $42,034.

Coastal Carolina University

Coastal Carolina University enrolls 10,377 undergraduates in Conway, near Myrtle Beach, and admits 75% of applicants. The admitted range runs 530 to 620 in Reading & Writing and 520 to 600 in Math, so the top quarter were at or above 620 and 600. Coastal charges $11,640 in-state and $29,628 out-of-state in tuition and fees, against a total cost of attendance of $26,692.

Winthrop University

Winthrop University is a public university in Rock Hill with 3,523 undergraduates and a 79% admit rate. Admitted students scored 520 to 630 in Reading & Writing and 490 to 590 in Math, with the top quarter at or above 630 and 590. In-state tuition and fees are $14,678, the second highest resident figure in the state, and out-of-state tuition is $28,676. Total cost of attendance is $30,710.

University of South Carolina Aiken

The University of South Carolina Aiken is a public campus with 2,962 undergraduates, and it reports the lowest total cost of attendance on this page at $21,540. The admitted range runs 510 to 620 in Reading & Writing and 470 to 600 in Math, so the top quarter were at or above 620 and 600. In-state tuition and fees are $10,760, the lowest resident figure in the state, and out-of-state tuition is $21,218. Aiken admits 79% of applicants.

University of South Carolina-Upstate

USC Upstate is a public university in Spartanburg with 4,038 undergraduates and a 67% admit rate. Admitted students scored 510 to 605 in Reading & Writing and 495 to 570 in Math, with the top quarter at or above 605 and 570. Upstate charges $11,588 in-state and $23,090 out-of-state in tuition and fees, and costs $25,124 in total.

Lander University

Lander University is a public university in Greenwood with 3,397 undergraduates, and it admits 81% of applicants. The admitted range runs 490 to 608 in Reading & Writing and 460 to 570 in Math, so the top quarter were at or above 608 and 570. In-state tuition and fees are $11,700 and out-of-state tuition is $21,300. Total cost of attendance is $27,277.

Charleston Southern University

Charleston Southern University admits 96% of applicants, the highest rate on this page, from a student body of 2,893 undergraduates in North Charleston. Admitted students scored 480 to 600 in Reading & Writing and 450 to 560 in Math, with the top quarter at or above 600 and 560. Tuition and fees are $32,520 and total cost of attendance is $44,558, the fourth highest in the state.

Francis Marion University

Francis Marion University is a public university in Florence with 2,628 undergraduates and an 86% admit rate. It reports the lowest ranges in this table, 450 to 575 in Reading & Writing and 420 to 540 in Math, so the top quarter were at or above 575 and 540. Francis Marion charges $11,160 in-state and $21,544 out-of-state in tuition and fees, and costs $23,850 in total.

South Carolina State University

South Carolina State University is a public historically Black university in Orangeburg with 2,934 undergraduates. It reports no SAT or ACT data in the 2025-26 release, so there is no published score figure for it. In-state tuition and fees are $11,060 and out-of-state tuition is $21,750, against a total cost of attendance of $30,015. It admits 83% of applicants.

University of South Carolina Beaufort

USC Beaufort is a public university on the coast with 2,052 undergraduates and a 72% admit rate. It reports neither test. Beaufort charges $10,730 in-state and $21,776 out-of-state in tuition and fees, against a total cost of attendance of $24,353.

Bob Jones University

Bob Jones University is a private university in Greenville with 2,005 undergraduates, and it reports no test data and no admit rate. Its row carries cost and size and nothing else. Tuition and fees are $24,470 and total cost of attendance is $36,580.

Claflin University

Claflin University is a private historically Black university in Orangeburg with 1,706 undergraduates and a 65% admit rate. It publishes no score data. Tuition and fees are $18,282 and total cost of attendance is $33,530.

Benedict College

Benedict College is a private historically Black college in Columbia with 1,536 undergraduates, the smallest in this table, and it admits 96% of applicants. It reports neither test. Tuition and fees are $17,440 and total cost of attendance is $32,000.

South Carolina Has Three State Scholarships and the Test Does Something Different on Each

South Carolina funds three merit scholarships through its education lottery, and a student may hold only one of them at a time. What separates them is not only the money but what each one asks a student to prove.

The HOPE Scholarship pays $2,800 and covers the freshman year only. It is not renewable. A student needs to be a South Carolina resident with a cumulative high school grade point average of at least 3.0 on the SC Uniform Grading Scale, and that is the whole academic test. No score of any kind is required. HOPE exists for students who do not qualify for the other two, and a HOPE student can move onto LIFE after his freshman year by meeting LIFE’s credit hour and grade requirements.

The LIFE Scholarship pays $5,000 a year for up to four consecutive years, which the Commission on Higher Education breaks down as up to $4,700 plus a $300 book allowance at a four-year institution. Initial eligibility asks a student to meet two of three criteria. The three are a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on the SC Uniform Grading Scale, an 1100 SAT or an equivalent 22 ACT, and a rank in the top 30% of the graduating class. Grade point averages and class ranks are both reported to two decimal places and are not rounded, and the ACT composite may be based on multiple test sittings.

Read that requirement carefully, because the consequence is easy to miss. A student with the grade point average and the class rank qualifies for LIFE without ever sitting a test.

The Palmetto Fellows Scholarship pays $6,700 in the first year and $7,500 in each of years two through four, and a STEM or Education enhancement can take it to as much as $10,000 a year in years two through four. There are two routes in, and both of them require a test score.

In-article image 1 Placement: directly after the paragraph below What it shows: the three scholarships drawn as a staircase, each step labelled with its award, its requirements and what the test does on it, from HOPE at $2,800 with no test, to LIFE at $5,000 a year with the test as one of three, to Palmetto Fellows at $6,700 and then $7,500 with the test mandatory on both routes Image annotation phrase required in the adjacent sentence: the test is optional on the bottom rung, substitutable in the middle, and mandatory at the top Alt text: South Carolina’s three state scholarships compared by award and by what each requires from a test score File name: south-carolina-scholarship-three-rungs Size: 2760×1440

The first route asks for a rank in the top 6% of the class at the end of tenth, eleventh or twelfth grade, together with a 1200 SAT or 25 ACT and a 3.5 cumulative grade point average. The second asks for no class rank at all, but wants a 1400 SAT or 31 ACT alongside a 4.0 cumulative grade point average. So the test is optional on the bottom rung, substitutable in the middle, and mandatory at the top.

That second route deserves a sentence of its own. At a competitive high school where the top 6% is out of reach for a strong student, a 1400 replaces class rank entirely. The test is the way in for exactly the student whose school makes rank hardest to earn.

What the Difference Is Worth

Run the three awards across four years and the distance between them is substantial.

HOPE pays $2,800 in total, because it covers the freshman year and stops. LIFE pays approximately $20,000 across four years. Palmetto Fellows pays $6,700 plus three years at $7,500, which comes to $29,200.

So the gap between the bottom rung and the top is approximately $26,000 over a degree. The STEM and Education enhancement can widen it further, and a student planning on a science major should check the Commission’s approved major list to see whether his intended major qualifies before counting on that.

Then there are the deadlines, and they are the most immediately useful thing on this page.

For the Class of 2026, a student applying for the Palmetto Fellows early award had to have an ACT score from no later than February 14, 2026 or an SAT score from no later than March 14, 2026. Early applicants could use tenth or eleventh grade class rank, but had to use their end of eleventh grade grade point average.

The late award ran later. The last accepted SAT was June 6, 2026 and the last accepted ACT was June 13, 2026, with scores needing to reach the Commission by July 15, 2026. Late applicants could use tenth or twelfth grade rank but had to use their end of twelfth grade grade point average.

Those dates move each year, so a student should confirm the current ones. What does not move is the shape of it. A South Carolina student aiming at the early award has to have tested by March of his junior year, which means the planning has to start in tenth grade rather than in the autumn of senior year.

One more rule applies to all three. No South Carolina state scholarship or grant may be used at an out-of-state institution at any time.

How Those Numbers Compare With What South Carolina Colleges Actually Admit

The table at the top of this page reports each section separately, and adding two section percentiles together produces a number higher than a college’s real composite, normally by approximately twenty points at each end. That caveat belongs before the comparison rather than after it, so what follows is directional rather than exact.

With that said, the comparison is striking.

At the 25th percentile, the lower edge of an admitted class, only two South Carolina colleges clear the Palmetto Fellows threshold of 1200. Furman’s two 25th percentiles sum to 1260 and Clemson’s to 1240. The University of South Carolina comes next at 1180, and every other college in the state sits below that.

In-article image 2 Placement: directly after the paragraph below What it shows: the Palmetto Fellows 1200 line and the LIFE 1100 line drawn across the summed section ranges of the fifteen reporting colleges, with the inflation caveat noted on the chart itself Image annotation phrase required in the adjacent sentence: at only two colleges in the state does the typical admitted student already clear the Palmetto Fellows number Alt text: South Carolina scholarship score thresholds compared against admitted ranges at the state’s colleges File name: south-carolina-scholarship-thresholds-versus-admitted Size: 2760×1440

At the 75th percentile the picture changes, and eleven colleges clear 1200 while four do not. The four below it are Lander at 1178, USC Upstate at 1175, Charleston Southern at 1160 and Francis Marion at 1115. So at only two colleges in the state does the typical admitted student already clear the Palmetto Fellows number, while at eleven the top quarter of the class does.

The LIFE threshold of 1100 is a different story. Six colleges clear it at the 25th percentile, including Anderson at exactly 1100, so for a larger share of South Carolina students the middle rung is within reach of the score they would have had anyway.

The conclusion is worth stating plainly, because it changes how a student should think about the test. At most South Carolina colleges the Palmetto Fellows score sits above what the typical admitted student arrives with. The scholarship is not a reward for getting in. It is a separate target with its own number, and a student who treats his admission score as sufficient will miss it.

South Carolina Has Three Medical Schools and No Route In From High School

South Carolina has three MD programs accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, all at full accreditation. They are the University of South Carolina Kay and C. Edward Floyd School of Medicine in Columbia, the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine in Charleston, and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. Three is a lot for a state this size.

The state also has an osteopathic campus. The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Carolinas Campus, is in Spartanburg, and AACOM lists it as a branch campus of VCOM alongside Blacksburg, Auburn and Monroe.

Neither of the pathways into those schools is decided from high school.

The South Carolina Honors College to Greenville MD program takes rising Honors College juniors who have completed four semesters at the Columbia campus. Students may major in any field, need a minimum institutional grade point average of 3.75 at the time of application, and must supply three recommendation letters including at least one from a USC science faculty member. The deadline is August 1, interviews are held in September, decisions arrive by October 1, and a $250 deposit is due by October 15. The MCAT is not required, which USC states directly. No seat count is published.

The Citadel runs an Accelerated Entry Program with the Medical University of South Carolina that lets Biology majors finish the bachelor’s degree and the MD in seven years rather than eight. Here the MCAT is required, with MUSC’s stated minimum of 508 against a standard described as a top-quartile score, taken before June 30 after sophomore year for early decision applicants or July 30 for regular admission. Students need an unadjusted grade point average of at least 3.50 and at least 90 semester hours completed at The Citadel, with AP, IB and transfer credits not counting toward that total.

Two programs in one state, and one drops the MCAT entirely while the other sets it at 508. There is no single South Carolina answer to what a medical pathway asks for.

Having three medical schools in the state is worth knowing about and it is not by itself a reason to choose a South Carolina college. Medical school applications are national, and proximity helps with shadowing, clinical volunteering and research during the undergraduate years rather than with admission.

The One Place a High School Score Still Reaches a Medical Pathway

The Greenville program requires membership of the South Carolina Honors College, and Honors College admission is decided from high school. So the chain runs backwards from medical school to a decision made at seventeen: Honors College as a senior, the Greenville program as a rising junior, then USC Greenville without an MCAT.

Two facts about Honors College admission sit side by side and the university publishes both.

USC states that SAT and ACT scores are not required for Honors College admission consideration. USC also publishes the profile of admitted students: a middle 50% of 1410 to 1500 on the SAT or 32 to 35 on the ACT, an average class rank in the top 4%, and weighted grade point averages between 4.7 and 5.3.

Both of those are true at once, and this page is not going to resolve them for a reader. A score is not required, and the students who get in report 1410 to 1500. What a family does with that is a judgment about their own student, and it is better made with both numbers in front of them than with either one alone.

What If Your Scores Are Below the Range You Want?

Being below a published range does not disqualify anyone. A quarter of the students admitted to every college in this table that reports a range scored below its lower number.

Admission is reachable across most of South Carolina. Charleston Southern admits 96%, Francis Marion 86%, Lander 81%, Winthrop and USC Aiken 79%, Coastal Carolina 75%. For most South Carolina students the question is not whether a college will take them.

What the score decides here is the rung.

Below 1100, and without either the grade point average or the class rank, a student is on HOPE at $2,800 for one year. With any two of the three LIFE criteria he is on LIFE at $5,000 a year. With 1200, a top 6% rank and a 3.5, he is on Palmetto Fellows at $29,200 across four years.

Work it against a real college. Coastal Carolina’s section midpoints are approximately 575 and 560, which sums to an inflated 1135. A student sitting there is already past the LIFE threshold, so his two-of-three is likely secure. The Palmetto Fellows number is a further 65 points away on an inflated measure, and rather more on a real one.

Based on the students we have worked with since 2008, a 70 to 130 point improvement takes approximately 40 hours of effective studying and a 130 to 250 point improvement takes approximately 80. A move of that first size, made in time, is the difference between $20,000 and $29,200 for a student who also has the rank and the grades.

The timing matters more in South Carolina than in most states. The early award cuts off in March of junior year, so the work has to happen in tenth and eleventh grade rather than in the autumn of senior year when most students start thinking about it.

The number worth aiming for at a college, as opposed to for a scholarship, is the upper end of its range, the one the top quarter cleared, rather than the middle. The reasoning behind that is on what SAT score you need for college.

How to improve your SAT score covers the method, including how to find which topics are costing points instead of guessing at them. If there is no recent score to measure a gap against, a free diagnostic SAT gives one, broken down by section and by topic.

Should a South Carolina Student Take the SAT or the ACT?

South Carolina is the most evenly split state covered on this site. Fifteen colleges report SAT section ranges and fifteen report an ACT composite.

This page shows the SAT because every college that reports an ACT composite also reports SAT sections. No college appears on the ACT and nowhere else, so an ACT column would add nothing and leave nobody out.

For a student neither test is worth more here. Every state scholarship threshold is published in both, at 1100 or 22 for LIFE and at 1200 or 25 and 1400 or 31 for Palmetto Fellows. The choice comes down to which format suits him.

One detail is worth checking rather than assuming. The Commission states that the LIFE ACT composite may be based on multiple test sittings. Whether the same treatment applies on the SAT side, and whether it applies at the Palmetto Fellows thresholds, is worth confirming with the Commission before building a testing plan around it.

On state testing, South Carolina law provides for a college entrance examination to be offered in grade 11 under SC Code 59-18-325, and the Department of Education lists it among assessments not required by federal law. The published material does not say whether every junior takes it, which test a district gives, or who pays. A student should ask his counselor rather than assume he will be handed a free score.

How to Read These Score Ranges

Every range on this page covers the middle 50% of admitted students who submitted the SAT. The lower number is the 25th percentile and the upper number is the 75th, which means a quarter of admitted students scored at or above it.

Five colleges report neither test, and one of those five reports no admit rate either. For them there is no published figure of any kind to measure a score against.

The sharpest illustration of what these ranges are sits in the section above rather than in the table. The South Carolina Honors College says scores are not required for admission consideration and publishes an admitted middle 50% of 1410 to 1500. Those numbers describe students who chose to submit, not a bar the Honors College set.

 

Every range on this page works that way. Students with strong scores submit and students with weak ones do not, so a published range sits higher than the true range for everyone admitted. More on test-optional colleges.

Pre-Med Programs in Nearby States

South Carolina borders North Carolina and Georgia, and plenty of South Carolina students leave for both.

Leaving costs more here than in most states, because no South Carolina state scholarship or grant may be used at an out-of-state institution at any time. A Palmetto Fellows student who crosses a state line gives up approximately $29,200 over four years, and a LIFE student gives up approximately $20,000.

North Carolina is the sharper comparison for a pre-med. The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina accepts applications only from North Carolina residents or from graduates of a UNC System institution within the previous five years, so a degree taken in North Carolina creates eligibility that a degree taken anywhere else does not.

See pre-med colleges in North Carolina and pre-med colleges in Georgia.

Pre-Med Colleges in Other States

We publish the same breakdown for pre-med programs in every state.

See pre-med colleges by state for the full list.

Glyn Caddell

Glyn Caddell holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from NJIT and has been tutoring New York City students since 2008. He founded Caddell Prep in 2012 and is the author of Digital SAT Math Secrets: Lessons & Tricks to Quickly Improve to a Perfect 800 on the Math Test, which contains over 900 practice problems and is used in Caddell Prep’s SAT math classes. He is founding president of the Staten Island Technical High School alumni association and teaches every lesson on this site personally.

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