<p>The University of Central Florida had previously been overlooked on CC, although there have been many references to it on other forums (Florida schools, college searches for the B+ student, etc...)</p>
<p>If you are one of those HYPS obsessed, type A CCer's, save your valuable study time and don't read any further. This school is not known for its prestige or US News ranking (third/fourth tier). It is known to be a beautiful school with great facilities, in (the outskirts of) a terrific city, with great weather, a good looking student population (really!), and is a terrific value. </p>
<p>Some forums where UCF has been discussed (before it got this forum) include:</p>
<p>I do not currently have a child attending UCF but I know of many people that do. My D2 has UCF on her short list. We recently visited the school (you can read my visit report). </p>
<p>For those of you unfamiliar with UCF, some facts:
It is a huge public university in Orlando, Florida (13 miles east of downtown) with an enrollment of 39,545 undergraduates and 7174 graduate students.
It is the seventh largest university in the nation and has the largest undergraduate enrollment in Florida.
The current UCF brochure lists the '07 est. Annual costs (including tuition, fees, room, board, and books to be;
Instate = $12,480 per year. Out of state = $26,005.<br>
This is based on 15 credit hours per semester, double room and unlimited meal plan.
The university consists of 12 colleges.
The main campus in Orlando is on 1415 acres of land and has 145 buildings including an 85,000 sq. ft. Recreation and Wellness Center, and new for this Fall, a 10,000 capacity convocation center (where they will hold graduations etc).</p>
<p>The common data set for UCF is:</p>
<p>What else? I used to think that it was a school for high school slackers but I have learned otherwise. UCF boasts 116 National Merit Scholars and its Freshman class had an average SAT score of 1201. The average high school GPA is listed as 3.7. </p>
<p>My elder daughter's friend choose UCF Honors (engineering program) over a multitude of higher ranked options. She loves the school and is very challenged academically. More and more students in this highly populated state are choosing to stay instate for college. You cannot beat the instate tuitions in Florida! UF and FSU are bursting at the seams with exceptional applicants who have chosen a lesser expensive undergraduate college ( and to be debt free) over the more prestigious and wildly expensive Ivy's and LAC's up north. As a result, all of the public universities (I believe that there are 11) in Florida have gotten increasingly competitive. It is called the "trickle down effect". UCF's academic reputation is definitely on the rise. It is definitely worth taking a look at.</p>