BUT IT WAS AWESOME!!! 
For all of us over here in Admissions, Accepted Student Day (affectionately known as CC Day, for the abbreviation used in our computer systems for “accepted” applications) has been a whirlwind of excitement, stress, and on my part, a slight slacking in my academic studies (sorry Mom and Dad!) I was brought onboard this project around October to serve as the Special Events Intern for the Office of Admissions, and have so far helped to plan such events this year as our in-state Columbia and Greenville Yield Receptions and Scholar’s Experience. However, we’ve been planning for the College’s First Annual Accepted Student Day this whole time; a day designed for accepted students to come to Charleston and make their final decision about whether or not the College of Charleston is the place for them in the fall.
It turns out, we DID succeed in helping many of you make that all-important college decision. My favorite story comes from two girls who had never met before; both of whom were uneasy about even attending Accepted Student Day this weekend. They met at one of our Friday night events, spent the day exploring campus on Saturday, and by Sunday had both paid their enrollment deposit and have decided to be roommates in the dorms in August. Do you have a similar story? I want to hear it-THIS is why we planned this day for you!
When we initially began thinking about developing this day, Director of Freshman Admissions Jimmie Foster assured us that he didn’t imagine more than 800 students registering. I’m excited to report that y’all proved Jimmie wrong, and come Saturday morning over 900 of you were in Charleston for the Accepted Student Day Opening Ceremony. We were ecstatic to welcome over 3,000 people total to campus this weekend, and hope all of you enjoyed your time in Charleston.
For those of you who weren’t able to attend, or those of you who are juniors this year, the pictures just 
don’t do it justice! We kicked off the morning in the Carolina First Arena with entertainment from our very own Admissions Counselor Chris Gay, the Dance Marathon Morale Team, the Cougarettes Dance Team, the National Panhellenic Council’s Step Team, and the CofC Computer Science department’s Twitter demonstration.
We then headed down to main campus for mini-lectures from our awesome faculty, a street fair of just some of the 150 clubs and organizations on campus (including the Water Sports Club’s huge speedboat parked on George Street!), and a fair of Student Support Services.
By mid-afternoon students got the chance to visit all 14 of our residence halls, take a guided tour of campus, attend various alumni and current student panels, and even pre-select their Orientation date for this summer! (For those of you who missed out, Orientation will officially open on Cougar Trail on April 2nd) Plus, everyone who had paid their deposit on or prior to Saturday received a College of Charleston beach towel to take home and show off this summer!
Saturday’s events were preceded by our Cougar Activities Board’s (C.A.B.) event “Recess on George Street” on Friday night, where we played elementary school recess games and showed “Goonies” in the Cistern Yard. For those students who stayed in town after Saturday’s events we offered a light reception on the President’s driveway, followed by a free performance of Mankind from our theater group on campus, Center Stage. While this year’s event focused mainly on Saturday’s programming, our goal is to make this a full weekend of events in future years-hey, you’ve got to start somewhere!
Now I feel badly; I’ve gone on and on, rubbing in just how much fun we had without the juniors this weekend! Juniors, don’t worry, you’ll have your turn-our Open House is coming up on April 18 and will offer you the chance to see campus, talk with our numerous academic departments, and get a glimpse into what life at CofC is all about.
For the seniors who missed Accepted Student Day, Open House is a great option for you to get to visit campus, as are our tours at 10am and 2pm daily throughout the spring. If you’ve been accepted to the college and are in town, you can set up a class visit; (available Monday through Friday) please submit this request at least two weeks in advance so we can set you up with an awesome class in the area of your interest. We hope to see you on campus soon!
Thank you for helping us to make our first Accepted Student Day a success; the 200+ student volunteers and over 100 faculty participants enjoyed providing this day especially for you. Accepted Student Day is just one of many examples of how the College of Charleston community comes together for the greater good; all of our volunteers from Saturday wanted to help you make your college decision, and were excited to be a part of your Charleston experience. We all hope to see you on campus this summer for Orientation or in the fall as a COUGAR…and if you had a good time this weekend, don’t forget to volunteer to help out next year!!
