Having accepted the applications of many high school seniors this spring, USC Aiken invited them to an "Admitted Student Day," which was held on Saturday.
With tours, informational sessions and opportunities to hang out with other teenagers and the Pacer mascot, 175 students showed up from seven states - including one guy from California.
Kyle Kirk lives near San Francisco and had looked at several in-state colleges. But he also was interested in the East Coast. He discovered Aiken online and flew here early last week. Kirk returned home and a few days later, flew back for Saturday's event - much to the surprise of his parents.
"I fell in love with Aiken and South Carolina," he said. "It's beautiful out here. I've been a volunteer firefighter, so I went to the fire department to see about doing that here."
The university held the program for the third year, said Andrew Hendrix, the admissions director. Most colleges like to get formal acceptance notifications by May 1, and the "Admitted Day" gave the high school students another chance to make that decision. Many did commit on Saturday, beginning online processes such as housing with the assistance of counselors.
"The university is definitely growing," Hendrix said. "The (freshman) class should be slightly larger, from 650 to 675. Two or three years ago, it was 600, and 10 years before that, it was 450 to 500 ... We're being seen as the right choice for more and more students."
Two South Aiken High School students - Daneshka Padro-Perez and Sophia Miranda - have made that decision. A third, Sarah Przywara, is considering USCA as well. All three are Naval Junior ROTC members, with Padro-Perez the commanding officer.
"I chose USCA today," she said. "I was encouraged by a friend ... who told me how I could get involved. I talked with some underclassmen, and that helped me make the choice."
Brendan Spears, of Aiken, and Bradley Barrett, of Hartsville, are choosing USCA for the same reason - an interest in the university's growing engineering program.
"I really wanted to try to take advantage of that," Barrett said. He plans to focus on math and computer science, but said that engineering classes will help him in the future.
"It's my second time on the campus," he said. "I really like what I've seen. Actually, I want to say I love it."
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since September 2001. He is a native of Walterboro and majored in journalism at the University of Georgia.