<p>You went through the college selection process and choose to attend FSU. Now that you're there, how is the experience compared to your expectations of it?</p>
<p>What, if anything, is better than you anticipated? What is worse?</p>
<p>I thought everyone else would be smarter than me when I showed up at FSU. I ended up discovering that I can hold my own with other students fine.</p>
<p>I think this will be a long post, so I apologize in advance :). </p>
<p>I tried to not bring too many expectations to FSU, just because I didn’t want to have high expectations and then be disappointed. But generally overall it’s pretty much as I expected. It’s going to be what you make of it- if you find the campus boring, anti-social, and all that, then it’s because of you. </p>
<p>I have noticed that, while it was drilled into us in high school that you couldn’t get through college on procrastination and doing as little work as possible and all that, it really is possible- and so far, nothing has really made me believe otherwise (aside from a course or two having so much content that cramming before a test wasn’t the way to do things). </p>
<p>I’ve noticed a lot of courses aren’t as difficult as people try to make them sound, especially if you put in effort. Let’s face it, any student that’s taken Ancient Mythology with Dr. Branscome will tell you that the class is pretty much a cakewalk. </p>
<p>One thing that is worse than I expected is parking. A lot of it is due to the constant construction- the new Wildwood building took out a lot of parking there, the construction next to Salley took out much of that parking lot, among others. McCollum’s parking lot is usually overflowing during the week- leading to people parking along the curb haphazardly. That situation was made worse by the construction outside that building, which took out half a dozen much-needed spots. </p>
<p>What isn’t as bad? Having roommates. So far I’ve had an interesting roommate history. My freshman year was the always awesome roommate from hell. This past year wasn’t too bad in McCollum- I had one roommate that was pretty bad (my peeve was him turning the thermostat down to 64 at night, no joke), but my actual roommate left after fall semester ended and I never got re-assigned, meaning I had the room to myself. That appears to have just been a case of amazing luck.</p>
<p>What’s better and worse at the same time? Florida State being designated a Florida Flagship school. It’s a great designation, but it also comes with a nice hike in tuition, which is continually made worse by Bright Futures being nearly destroyed since I started. </p>
<p>One thing I’m indifferent about is the lack of campus-wide WiFi. Even in the dorms that were wireless, I know people that had issues with the WiFi being reliable, so wired was the way to go. I say I’m indifferent only because using an ethernet connection isn’t a huge deal to me- although to someone who is coming to FSU, if they buy a Macbook they either have to get creative with how to get a wired connection, or they have to pony up more cash, because the Macbook is discontinued and the Macbook Air (lacking ethernet) took its place. </p>
<p>Another as expected is the campus food. I’m lucky in that my mom is a great cook and my dad can be a good one at times, so campus cuisine is a significant drop in quality. However, it’s not the worst food in the world, so people shouldn’t act like it is.</p>
<p>I mean, there’s some things that are worse than you’d expect, and some that are better. But if the worst thing I can think of is that they are temporarily removing some parking in order to better the campus, that’s pretty good I think.</p>
<p>Parking is pretty lousy at FSU and at most state U’s. The upside is the Wildwood construction is an entire new wing and dorm space is much needed. They have started on a new parking garage, parking garage #6 as it is being called. It is near the Wildwood area and should help. </p>
<p>Construction is always disruptive, but so worth it in the end. The improvements to Landis and Gilchrist and all the old east-side dorms were great. The Johnston Building is another great redo. The new Student Health facility will be top notch.</p>
<p>My D agrees that food never lives up to mom’s home cooking, but is tolerable. She says she has had both easy and challenging courses. She has a tough major, and is sometimes envious of those who seem to cruise through for four years. She also said to say that one’s experience is what you make it. She got involved with a campus activity freshman year. She was basically just a participant. She then volunteered for a committee sophomore year. Fast forward and she is the overall director this, her senior year with lots of responsibility, a paid trip to a leadership conference for the second year in a row, and experience that rivals an internship. The Career Center is great, but you have to USE IT. So many students do not avail themselves of the services. </p>
<p>She says GO TO GAMES, football, basketball, baseball, etc. Join the Student Alumni Associaion, and the Student Boosters. Nice perks, book discounts.</p>
<p>@Pasbal: what time do you think the parking is the least? My classes in fall all start from 8 in the morning monday to friday. So will I be able to get a good some spots?
@sunnyflorida: If I may ask, what activity did your D get involved in?</p>
<p>lol I forgot to mention, I will be commuting from home!</p>
<p>It depends. Most parking lots next to dorms are full weekdays no matter what time, and then empty slightly on the weekends. With McCollum’s parking lot, it is full or near full during the week, but after about 3 pm on Friday it starts to empty. And I mean empty.</p>
<p>With the parking garages, the mass exodus in for parking starts around 8:30-9am or so, and then the exodus out really occurs around 4-5pm. Of course, there’s a nearly constant stream of cars in and out during the day, but the rush times are around then.</p>
<p>With your classes starting at 8, you most likely will be getting to campus around 7:30-7:45 am, you’ll likely have no problem with finding a parking spot somewhere.</p>
<p>Thank Pasbal. It was relieving hearing that. So are the garages supposed to all day parking and the lots supposed to be commutor parking?</p>
<p>It’s kind of a mesh of both. Parking garages from my experience have been more commuter friendly (especially the one next to the Union), but some lots are also more for commuters than residents. </p>
<p>Generally though, garage = commuter, lot = resident. Generally.</p>
<p>Here was what my expectations at FSU was</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sadanduseless.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/403.jpg[/url]”>http://www.sadanduseless.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/403.jpg</a></p>
![http://www.sadanduseless.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/403.jpg[/url]](http://www.sadanduseless.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/403.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>FOREVER ALONE.</p>
<p>^Dude,</p>
<ol>
<li> Get off the computer and out of your room.</li>
<li> Go play frisbee/football/whatever on Landis Green in a pickup game.</li>
<li> Drinking alcohol does not help. Minimize drinking. Ditto drugs - except don’t do drugs at all.</li>
<li> Pick a church, synagogue, whatever and be a benefit to others. Stretch your ability to help others.</li>
<li> Become as healthy as you can through careful diet management and exercise.</li>
<li> Be sure you bathe regularly (daily) and your clothes are clean. While you are at this, clean your room. Wear deodorant. Brush your teeth twice a day and floss once a day. See a dentist every six months. </li>
<li> Buy some new clothes (take along a competent female friend to help if you are clueless about this).</li>
<li> Don’t whine or obsess about yourself - especially to others. Complement others.<br></li>
<li> Do your studies and learn as much as possible. Read the great works of literature.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>You’ll find you are just like everyone else.</p>
<p>I hope you know I was only joking about this. (500) Days of Summer is my all time favorite movies, and when I saw the forum title reality and expectations, I immediately thought of that movie. I just needed a creative way to post that picture up. =)</p>
<p>But then again, those tips could help others.</p>
<p>Hahahah definitely an lol.</p>
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</p>
<p>favorite current meme. >_>^</p>
<p>Let’s face it, any student that’s taken Ancient Mythology with Dr. Branscome will tell you that the class is pretty much a cakewalk. </p>
<p>So. Very. True</p>
<p>Too often true. Glad your post was a joke. </p>
<p>If you can’t get a date at college…see the list. ;)</p>