OP: Does your daughter have any interest in playing tennis ?
She started to play on her high school tennis team Fall 2020 before deciding to homeschool. Sheâd never played before but liked it. It would be something sheâd enjoy banging around with friends for fun, but thatâs about it.
UCFâs Honors College is excellent.
You can read about it on the website âpublic university honorsâ.
The University is HUGE but they try very hard to create a great environment for top scholars (theyâre in a rivalry of sorts with UF as to who will attract the most NMFsâŠ)
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But there is no way to do the math to get any of the Florida Big 3 to become a small college or even a medium sized one. The schools are huge, they are all D1 for sports and the greek systems are huge with each house being huge too.
The OP is dealing with a 16 or 17 year old who says she doesnât want big, doesnât want Greek life, doesnât want sports. Both my kids said the same things and both agreed by the time they were 18 and in college that a bigger school would have been just fine (and a lot of fun). Both joined sororities when they didnât have that intention heading off to school just weeks before.
Many a kid has said they donât want football until they find themselves having a really good time on a Saturday afternoon. The non-drinker or partier in high school doesnât always stay that way in college. The bigger the school the bigger the sports, but a big school also means lots and lots of choices for other things too - more clubs, more study abroad choices, more libraries and cafeterias, more pizza choices. Most schools only have 8 home football games per year, so those 40k students have to find something else to do, and they play frisbee, softball, go for hikes, go to the beach, or (gasp) study!
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I agree, but the sports&Greek life will be much more diluted in Burnett Honors College at UCF than at Rollins or UMiami.
Wilkes Honors College in Jupiter would be an awesome combination for Pickleball and high level academics.
I should clarify. We just did a drive-by of Stetson and had lunch on the Main Street there. She was ok with what she saw (didnât dislike it), but then we went Rollins and Stetson was long forgotten.
I think same with Florida Southern. We toured Southeastern (this was very early on in the hunt and we were just traveling through, so I think maybe FS tours were booked and I just wanted to get my daughter on an official tour to start the process). She just really didnât like Lakeland, even though the area around FS was better than that around Southeastern, so she wrote both off.
Florida Techâs virtual tour is really well done. If she were STEM, weâd definitely look there.
Iâve tried to research Wilkes Honors College but thatâs a challenge as there isnât a separate listing for it on any sort of review websites. I even had trouble determining how many students attended, but it looks like only 500. Itâs hard to imagine what the college experience would be with that small of a student population. Personally, I would have a hard time with only one dining hall :).
FunnyâŠmy son had a similar reaction. We toured Stetson and had lunch downtown. He really liked the school and the downtown area but once he saw Rollins, Stetson moved to âjust okayâ and âI probably wonât apply thereâ. We also had a tour guide at Stetson that was a really nice kid, but he was a commuter from the same town and had just transferred there from a CC. So it made the school seem very regional to my son. Our tour guide at Rollins was from CA, I believe, so it made it seem like kids come from all over to go there.
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If she would like a small liberal arts college, New College of Florida is excellent and has a beautiful, waterfront campus in Sarasota. It comes at state college tuition because it is the honors college of the Florida state college/university system. Itâs liberal arts, so no business and it has less than 1000 students. But it is in a consortium with several other nearby Sarasota colleges where she can take business courses and expand her circle of other college students to mingle with. Given that sheâs coming from home schooling, 800 might seem big to her.
It really checks all of the boxes youâre looking for
- Cost is $40,000 Tuition, Room & Board (out of state)
- Well respected reputation
- Major in English/Writing
- Highly personalized experience
- Close relationships with professors
- Study abroad
- Beautiful residential campus in attractive small city for lots to do
- No Greek life
- No big football culture
In addition to digging deeper into FL schools, it would be great if your daughter has a chance to get in touch with current students involved in Pickleball at Elon, Furman, Rollins, Chapel Hill and other schools sheâs considering.
Hopefully some of the students currently involved in Pickleball at the various schools can give her an idea about the intramural teams at the school as well as chances to get involved in the wider community (Greensboro, Greenville, etc) and other tournaments.
Also, it sounds like sheâs got a very good chance of getting merit money at several of these schools. Good luck in her search.
Florida Tech only has one official dining hall, but it has many stations with all kinds of food, like salad bar, deli sandwiches, hot entrees, international foods, soups, etc. I think there are something like 15 choices within the dining hall. The dining bucks also work at the deli in the student union, at the pizza place, at little grocery store where you can buy food and cook it at home (most dorms, and all freshman dorms, are suites with a kitchenette).
Lots of schools have that arrangement so donât rule a school out because it only has one main dining hall.
I agree that Florida Tech is good choice for STEM, business, or psychology (big autism study program), athletes (daughter had a few teammates who majored in communications and had jobs at graduation), but not for most liberal arts. It is in a good location for travel to other parts of Florida and access to airports to fly to pickleball tournaments. Winter Park would also be a good location for travel away from school for tournaments.
U of Tampa would also have good access for travel. Itâs a very modern looking campus and right in a commercial area with a lot going on.
This is a school that Iâve had trouble figuring out in my research. It seems that lots of student reviewers have extreme opinions on it. We really love Sarasota and as a family have been looking for a second home in SWFL, and it would be a good location for pickleball. Itâs possible that we would move at least part time (six months) and qualify for in-state tuition at some point during her undergrad. Interesting that NCF has some consortium opportunities - I did not know that. Thanks for the suggestion.
Definitely talk with current students at NCF. The few I know who have gone there hated it and transferred out (cliquie, no grades, too small to find your own niche if you donât fit in). Obviously some graduate from there, so it fits some students. I just havenât come across them.
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Rollins does have a club of beginners. Rumor has it that Chapel Hill has a court and some recreational players and Furman has a court that is used by a community group. But, as far as advanced play, the community of junior players is small enough that we know most of the competitive players across the country. My kids (and all competitive kids) have always played against adults. They will have to plug into the advanced groups in the nearby community. Pickleball is exploding, especially in the younger age groups, so much so that my younger daughter (rising freshman) has been told by the top pro to maintain her amateur status and ensure her classes are NCAA approved because college PB is likely in her future. Itâs just not anywhere near that yet.
NCF has long had a reputation for frequent drug use. Not sure if still accurate.
I read the reviews for NCF on â â â â â â â â â . Under one category with about 27 responses,some of the replies appeared to be cleverly worded warnings (response #13 through 27contain helpful thoughts). The replies emphasized that one should be very sure about the campus culture / environment and to value other scholarship offers. Very well written & very carefully written responses.
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Rollins is known outside of Florida because itâs consistently rated the most beautiful campus in America.
Do your due diligence with Tampa. We live in PA. Some kids from our HS will be attending. Apparently they had a higher yield (much higher) and canât get everyone housing.
Miami is nice but not sure about scholarships. S20 only got $15k and had higher stats. Five years ago absolutely wouldâve gotten higher merit. Friends daughter graduated from Miami this spring. Loved it. Sheâs a work hard, play hard type.
Furman isnât for everyone. Beautiful campus and good academics though. I went to USC and knew several Furman grads. Went to a few games there.
You can make a big school smaller, but you canât make a small school bigger. S21 is going to FSU. Got into the Honors program and in-state tuition. I must admit itâs a nice campus and everyone Iâve met seems to enjoy their time there. It has a rep as a party school but you can find parties/alcohol/drugs on any campus in America if you want. You can also find your non-party niche anywhere.
BTW. FSU has a very good communications school and they offer study abroad freshman year.
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This list of the most 50 beautiful colleges campuses includes Rollins College, Flagler College,but not Florida Southern in Lakeland (lots of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings).
Furman University also typically makes these type of lists.
The consortium is called The Cross College Alliance. The University of South Florida-Manatee is so close that the New College book store is located there. Just a 5 minute walk from New College campus. The consortium was the initiative of New College President Donal OâShea about 8 years ago and is modeled on the 5-college consortium in Massachusetts where OâShea was formerly a Dean at Mount Holyoke College. (Others in that consortium are Amherst, Smith, UMass, and Hampshire.) New College was once a part of USF.
There are both indoor and outdoor pickleball facilities in Sarasota. âThe Pickleball Clubâ is scheduled to open later this year, the first dedicated pickleball facility in Florida and one of only a couple in the country. The Pickleball Organization in Sarasota coordinates activities, tournaments, etc.
I guess the extreme opinions mean that if this school appeals to a student, she wonât just like it, sheâll love it. It really does check all of your boxes so itâs at least worth a look while youâre down there.
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Well, you actually can make a small School bigger. Colleges all over the country have done just that from the 5-college consortium in the Amherst/Northampton area of Massachusetts to the Claremont Colleges outside LA in California. And New College has done just that by leading the development of the Criss College Alliance with 5 other colleges in the Sarasota are with a combined enrollment of 18,000 students.
OTOH, how do you make a big College like Florida State smaller? Regardless of the beauty of the place, it still has a campus with more than 40,000 students on it and another 15,000 staff. Thatâs the size of a small city. Itâs a massive place. You need a bus to get around campuses this size. While I get your point that a student can join or build a small community within a bigger place, it doesnât change the fact that itâs still a bigger place. Someone who is adverse to something that size canât change that.
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Hmm . . , I read the Unigo comments and saw students saying that the stereotype isnât accurate. Maybe we found different comments.
I think your caution is wise and should be heeded by parents at any college. My cousinâs son dropped out of SUNY Albany a few years ago after his best friend died of alcohol poisoning during a fraternity hazing incident. Lehigh University made headlines just 3 years ago because their fraternities were so out of control. New College formed a Drug & Alcohol Task Forve after a bad incident 6 years ago, so older comments may reflect a culture existed before the college came to grips with some issues. But frankly these issues are everywhere and once theyâre out in the open, itâs a lot easier to be successful making change than when theyâd swept under the rug and a community is living in denial. Itâs also a lot easier to be successful with a community of less than a thousand students than those with tens of thousands. And realistically the biggest problem on college campuses is alcohol. Thatâs the elephant in the living room.
Just my 2 cents. YMMV.