UNF is a typical directional school. It’s got industrial style buildings, a pretty nice athletic area, and is close to the beach. It used to require freshmen to live on campus but no longer does. My friend’s daughter didn’t like the dorms because they are more like motels, with doors that open onto balconies (don’t know if they are all like that).
Jacksonville is a ‘low’ school, set along the St. John’s river. You can see the cruise ships and the cargo ships across the river. It’s got a lot of area and the buildings are sort of spread out. They are also low, with maybe 3 floors. Sort of 1970s modern. There are some businesses in the area but it’s not downtown. Also not far from the beaches.
We didn’t care for Stetson at all. There are buildings spread along one main street but also fields and athletic buildings woven into some regular neighborhoods. There are some big Dutch style barn buildings and those had the administrative offices in them. There were some big, modern classroom buildings and I think a pretty impressive library. The law schools isn’t near the undergrad school (it’s in Tampa) so those students aren’t on campus. We only lived about an hour from Stetson but I never heard the high school kids talk about it, and I don’t think any kids from my daughters’ hs attended.
Both Jacksonville and Stetson are D1 schools but my daughter wasn’t interested in either. They aren’t known as big sports schools, and kids looking for big football or baseball head to UF, FSU, UCF. There are often huge parties in areas near Stetson that aren’t students, and I’ve seen bonfires and crowds overturning vehicles, etc. on the news.
U of Tampa is close to downtown Tampa and has a much more urban feel than the other schools. It has walls around the campus. I remember a lot of red brick and some turrets that have middle eastern designs on them (like you are looking at an oasis). Very pretty. It is Division 2 and I know a lot of kids who go there do it to play sports.