<p>We have gone the Florida Prepaid route, but I'm starting to wonder about the selection of schools. My daughter is fairly studious and not a partier (hopefully will remain that way!)...not into big crowds, etc. She is currently most interested in the sciences, perhaps something in engineering and is in the IB program in high school. She's lived her whole life in a very conservative area and I'd like for her to attend college somewhere that will provide more diversity of thought.
UF seems to have a good reputation in science/engineering, but it is also huge and I fear it's main reputation is for partying and football. Do I have the wrong impression? Is there a Florida prepaid school that might be a better fit? She loves the idea of MIT, but barring a huge scholarship...I'm keeping my sites on a Florida University. ;-)</p>
<p>UF is in the top 10 party schools every year…i’ve visited friends there for the weekends and have never seen a drunker student body in my entire life. They’re all smart though!</p>
<p>Any college in Florida promises crazy weekend plans. That’s if your daughter decides to take part in them. Every school offers a party scene (whether it’s stopped by a few drinks or the police), it’s the extent to which a student wishes to involve themselves with it. UF is considered one of the top 10 party schools, but a student could go to UF and sit in their dorm/the library every weekend.</p>
<p>Any large school is going to have a rep for parties. But that is just a reflection of numbers…there will also be large numbers that are quite the opposite, especially in engineering.</p>
<p>Nearly all colleges have parties. My nephew is at Tufts, and he and pals head to MIT on the weekends because (his words): MIT has the BEST parties.</p>
<p>You seem to be assuming that schools that don’t have big Div I football are the schools that don’t party. Nearly all schools have parties…unless it’s a bible school.</p>
<p>At any school there are serious students. My kids go/went to Alabama. They and their friends partied very little because it wasn’t their interest. </p>
<p>MIT doesn’t give scholarships…just need-based aid (based on income/assets). </p>
<p>Are you instate for Florida? If so, then your D may also qualify for Bright Futures. What are her test scores and GPA? If she qualifies, she’ll have both the pre-paid and BF.</p>
<p>And, she could apply to some schools that will give her scholarships for stats.</p>
<p>Interesting you mention MIT. Yes, we had some amazing parties. That plus having Cambridge and Boston as your playground certainly was a recipe for non-academic distractions. But for some reason, you never hear people too worried about the very real issues with going to school in a city.</p>
<p>New College of Forida in Sarasota is the state’s public honors college. No football team and very small (about 900 students). Stats are among highest in Florida for admission. Very liberal, no engineering though. A lot of students go on to grad school.</p>
<p>I was also going to mention New College of Sarasota. Very smart [ CaL Tech PHD] DS would have been very happy there if they had a strong Geology program. </p>
<p>Is your D a NMSF?</p>
<p>The University of Miami is a good school that has a lot of parties but many fewer than UF.</p>