<p>I'm currently a Junior, from St.Pete and I may want to apply to UF but I know that I will not be able to visit the school-mainly because I don't want to bother my mom and make her drive up to gainesville. (She would like for me to go to USF, and go to a school closer to home) For those who have been there, how would you describe the school?</p>
<p>If I were you, I would really try to get up to Gainesville. It it’s less than two hours from St. Pete, not really that far. It’s really none of my business, but you probably need to help your mom come to grips with the idea that you aren’t going to live at home forever. If you want to go to UF, then tell her that.</p>
<p>My mom really wanted me to go to UCF, but I liked UF better. She wasn’t happy at first, but she accepted it and is now a proud Gator Mom. If your mom absolutely refuses, see if you can tag along with someone else from your school that is visiting. Don’t be afraid to take charge here, it is YOUR education, and you need to be happy with the place you decide to spend 4 years of your life. </p>
<p>UF is a fantastic school. The academic programs are generally superior to those offered at USF, and I think the “college experience” is too. Gainesville is really the epitome of a college town, a good portion of the city is oriented toward UF, which is something you won’t experience in a big city like Tampa. </p>
<p>Do you have any specific questions?</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. I know how important it is to physically see the school and get a feeling of the school’s environment. As for my mom, I guess I’ll have to talk to her about visiting the school- even if that makes her upset- hopefully she’ll understand that that UF is a tremendously good school.</p>
<p>You and your mom should go on a college road trip to visit campuses. We’ve been to a lot of them this year while searching for the perfect college for my daughter. Go online to the school’s admissions section and click “visit us”. You can set up an appointment with the group tours very easily. We’ve toured both UF and USF. UF takes you on a walking tour of the campus. They don’t take you inside the classroom buildings or dorms, but it’s a very informative tour. My husband and I both went to UF, so it was fun for us to see the changes. USF gave an excellent tour. I was VERY impressed! The buildings are new and newly renovated. USF takes you inside several buildings including the library, fitness center, dorms, cafeteria, science building and more. At the end they had a presentation by an admissions counselor. Something interesting to learn about USF is that they superscore ACT scores for admissions and scholarships. Most do this for the SAT, but rarely for the ACT. Good luck to you! I am an only child and my Mom was very upset about me going to college too.</p>
<p>Re: UF not taking you inside buildings during the campus tour. </p>
<p>While its nice to have the tour guide for questions, there is nothing stopping you from going into most buildings at UF and looking around. The dorms are about the only buildings of interest to new students that you can’t get into. </p>
<p>When I was at UF for Preview I took a walk around the campus and was able to get into Library West, Anderson Hall and a number of other buildings I wanted to see with no problem, and this was at night well after dark.</p>