Schools in Zip Code 29528

Zip code 29528 is home to a single public high school, HCS Early College High, which serves grades 9-12 with an enrollment of 360 students in Conway, SC, and operates within the highly-rated Horry 01 school district.

As the only school in this zip code, HCS Early College High stands out as an exceptional institution on a statewide level. It is ranked 5th out of 245 high schools in South Carolina for the 2025-2026 school year, earning a 5-star rating and placing in the 98th percentile. The school has shown consistent improvement, climbing from 7th to 6th to 5th in state rankings over the past three years. Academically, it outperforms state averages by 16 to 35 percentage points across all tested subjects. Most notably, the school achieved a perfect 100% proficiency rate on the English 2 EOCEP exam for two consecutive years, and posted a 96.12% proficiency rate in English 1, a 90.74% rate in U.S. History, and a 98.81% rate in Algebra 1. These scores far exceed both district and state averages, demonstrating a rigorous and effective academic program.

Beyond test scores, student outcomes are equally impressive. The graduation rate is 97.3%, compared to 89.6% for the district and 86.7% for the state, while the dropout rate is just 0.3%—seven times lower than the state average. Chronic absenteeism is also remarkably low at 8.2%, less than half the district rate and roughly one-third of the state rate, indicating strong student engagement. With a student-teacher ratio of 15.6:1 and per-student spending of $14,777, the school delivers strong results efficiently. The early college model, which allows students to earn college credit while in high school, likely drives much of this success by attracting motivated students and fostering a culture of achievement. However, the lack of free/reduced lunch data makes it difficult to assess the socioeconomic diversity of the student body, which is an important consideration when evaluating how transferable this success model might be to other schools.