Moving to South Carolina?
 

I will be 21 this year. I am currently in Maryland at the local community college just working towards getting a business degree - though I am not sure what I want to do yet. I am almost to an associates so I'd like to complete it here at this community college and then look for schools to transfer to eventually. This could be a year from now.

I do have people that are like family to me that moved to Hilton Head area/Bluffton, SC a few years ago and I LOVE it there. Every time I visit I fall in love all over again and could just see myself living there. Though I've heard the summer can be brutal... I may look more towards the NC border, not sure if the summers are a just a tad less hot and humid? But in general, I love what I've seen of SC. Charleston seemed like a cool little town. I don't know if I'd want to go as far as Hilton Head though - might wanna stay closer to Myrtle Beach but not right in Myrtle Beach. I do have a close friend planning a move to Wilmington, NC in the next 6 months and I am welcome with her.

Basically, I am a young single girl and I am not a partyer. I enjoy going out to dinners and meeting up with friends, or having people over my house, etc. But not so much into the drinking scene or anything. So nightlife is not of super importance to me.

Obviously, Jackson is super important and it'd be neat to find a location that would be dog friendly. I did visit Savannah, GA (Loved it!) and it seemed very pet friendly from what I saw.

I'll be wanting a college nearby, have not really looked into them yet honestly. But that is important, so any suggestions would be great (to finish off my degree... and hopefully my credits from comm. college would transfer). Currently, I am doing my own dogwalking thing, it's not an LLC or anything but I've been considering making it into a business someday, but would be basically starting over in SC since I've made a lot of references and clients in MD. And not sure if this would go over so well in SC, I'm not sure the need for pet sitting services is as great here as it is in Annapolis, MD area.


But really- I don't know what I want to do. So I didn't know if there was something in specific needed more than something else in this state. I know jobs are scarce in a lot of SC... but my main focus will be school at first at least.

Did not know if anyone lived in SC, had any info about it, etc.

Charleston is a great town. My niece attends the College of Charleston and loves it. Southerners(I grew up in Georgia and my entire family is still there) love their dogs so your business should be a big success. Good luck making a decision but I don't think you can go wrong with Charleston.:)

My daughter is a junior in college and thinks she wants to go to grad school in North Carolina, so last summer we took a road trip. We looked at the University of NC at Wilmington & Chapel Hill. She liked how close Wilmington was the ocean and I loved the Chapel Hill area.

I've been living in SC for the last 22 years. I'm originally from MI and I love it here. Just to let you know College of Charleston is a BIG party school!! My daughter went to University of SC, great school, nice area.

Glad to hear how much you love it!

I didn't know Charleston was such a big partying school. That's not a big deal to me though, I can avoid it if I want to, I'm sure, hehe :)

What about the job market?

I live in the Upstate, jobs are hard to find in this area. I'm not sure about the Low Country (Charleston, Myrtle Beach). One area I know that is doing very well is nursing. My son in-law is a RN and had no trouble at all finding a job, nursing jobs here are easy to find.

This is what I figured.

I was considering getting a degree in radiation therapy. I've heard that's a growing career.

Hey Brit! How are you? Sounds like you had a terrific time in SC. I've been there, but never lived there. Have also been to the Outer Banks area in NC quite a bit. Love, love both.

The idea of a move sounds very exciting! I'd say go for it! You are young, and only have yourself & Jackson to take care of. Sounds like you would have a support system there, which would be ideal. Good luck with the evaluation!

Regarding careers - healthcare is definitely a growth industry. As is anything dealing with eldercare. You may want to explore some type of cross-over that incorporates your love of animals -- training animals to be service animals, for example - to interact with individuals that are either disabled, in nursing care facilities, etc. is a care concept that is growing in popularity. You are really creative - think outside the box a bit!!

Thanks Susanne! I feel like I have nothing to lose. Like you said, it's just Jackson and I right now, I'm young, and hey if I don't like it... I can always come back, right? My dad is all for it- he thinks it will be good for me. He will be moving down south within the next 5yrs anyways. He loves it down there!!

I was just thinking about eldercare as well... alot of SC (Hilton Head area, anyways) is retired, older folks so that may actually be something to look into. I agree, I would LOVE to training service animals!! Just not sure how to even get into that.

I'm thinking Wilmington, NC is going to be my best bet. I'll have a friend to move down there with and I'll be basically right in between. I'll be 4 1/2 hrs away from Bluffton, SC(where my people like 'family' live) and then about 6hrs away from here in Maryland. I've started looking at jobs, etc, down there and I'd want to set up a job FIRST before moving.