With admission to the Smart Start Program, you will have automatic admission into the college's Upper Division with dedicated nursing honors classes as early as your freshman year.

Here, you will learn about health care delivery and policy from engaging, expert faculty. You will impact patients and their families with your clinical work, research and tenacious desire to make life better for others. 

Your studies will be enhanced by our innovative teaching strategies, including our state-of-the-art simulation center and flipped classrooms. You will enjoy study abroad options at all levels in this program, and benefit tremendously from our rapidly increasing global impact. You can network with 11,000+ nursing alumni who work across the nation and around the world. You will join a college with exceptional graduate and doctoral programs focused on nursing practice, administration and research.

Other benefits:

• Automatic admission into the College of Nursing’s Upper Division.
• Dedicated nursing honors classes as early as your freshman year.
• Program of study tailored to fit your interests and to help you discover new ones.
• One-on-one academic mentoring from College of Nursing honors faculty. 
• Opportunity to join the Galen Health Fellows, a groundbreaking interprofessional program for health care majors at the university. Learn and live alongside fellow nursing students, as well as other health science majors.
• Learn from among the best in the field. Your professors in this program are national and global experts in their fields.

You must apply to the University of South Carolina Honors College in order to be considered for the college's Smart Start program. All accepted Honors College students who declare Nursing as a major choice will be invited to join Smart Start.