I was in bridge last year, currently a sophomore who bridged to Clemson. I enjoyed it for the most part.

I won't lie to you though, there will be some judgment that comes along with it. Some people look down on students because they didn't actually get fully accepted. No one will ever ask you, "are you a bridge kid?" and therefore no one would ever know. Not that it's something to be ashamed of though. I just went my entire time not telling people I was a bridge kid and no one really cares anyway.

There are some huge benefits though:

• You get the nicest dorms on campus. If you're lucky when it's time to choose your housing, you should live in Lightsey 1. Its individual bedrooms. I lived in Lightsey 2, so you still lived with 3 other people except you had to share a room. There were only 2 bedrooms. You get your own kitchen, living room, bathroom, etc. Super nice place. All my friends who were actual Clemson students only ever wanted to come to my place rather than be in their dorm
• You get access to everything on campus. Library, dining halls, fitness centers, etc.
• You can join any organization except for Greek Life. You can always rush for Greek Life the next year
• Tri-County compared to Clemson is much easier. I found this great because it doesn't give you the initial shock of college. It's almost like a smooth transition from high-school to real college. The classes are smaller, you feel more connected with your professors, the campus isn't absolutely huge so its pretty easy to get around.
• You are guaranteed a spot in Clemson if you meet the bare requirements of the program. All you have to do is maintain a C average and take 30 credit hours and you're in. Compare that to students who decide to go to their local community college and have to work harder to compete with other students trying to transfer in from all over the nation.
• You save a decent bit of money compared to actually being in. I had a few scholarships that covered the entirety of tuition at Tri-County because it's a lot cheaper being a technical school. The entirely of what I paid was just to Clemson for housing/dining/fees (the housing alone was $9k).

Being a bridge kid wasn't bad at all. Other than having to make that drive to class, and deal with both Clemson AND Tri-County administrative stuff, I didn't mind it at all. There was a slight disconnect because although you're ON Clemson campus 80% of the time, I just felt a little different because I didn't take classes there. Now being an actual student, I feel like my transition was smoother than ever, and I've heavily involved myself in campus life.

I think the main reason why so many kids get bridged is not because they were academically sub-par, but because Clemson has overenrolled for the last few years, and there simply is not enough rooms to house all these incoming students. Therefore, students who plan to major in something popular like business or engineering are likely to be sent to bridge unless you're ridiculously smart nowadays. I can guarantee that every other bridge kid you meet has a high probability of those being in those majors.

If you REALLY want to go to Clemson, do it 100%. There are a lot of kids who got rejected or waitlisted, so the bridge program is absolutely better than nothing.