I agree that it is confusing.
"Well, reading an above post about how it’d be better if famu and fsu went their separate ways, and if the African American students had their own separate campus for engineering with only a few majors, it’s hard not to think of the legacy of segregation. "
Well, if segregation is a problem, then why not just merge the schools entirely? Isn’t it “segregation” to have a separate public HBCU in the same town as another public university?
FAMU is the one that is opposed to a merger, btw.
Yikes, FAMU does sound terribly mismanaged (and I thought fgcu was the worst). How did it climbing rankings to be that high then?
It still is a good idea to have a joint school for some subjects though (especially those that require team work, like engineering. I think it should be the same for business.) an ideal combination may be the type of relationship that Barnard has to Columbia.
I think FAMU has been attempting to be more selective over the last couple of years, which may account for their rise in the rankings.
I’m fine with some sharing. In fact, it would be great if FAMU let FSU take over the CoE, in exchange for having an articulation agreement that allows FAMU students to take courses there, as long as they meet the same prerequisites as FSU students. This would largely satisfy FSU’s complaints while adding long-term stability for FAMU, whose enrollment has declined by about 1/3 over the last five years. Potential students would feel more confident in the long-term prospects of the CoE if it was under FSU control. Right now, many potential engineering students are choosing UCF over FSU, even though FSU is higher ranked (overall) and better known.
So, on one hand, FAMU refuses to let FSU start their own CoE because that’s “segregation.”
Despite their objection to segregation, they refuse to merge with FSU, even though that leaves us with separate, predominantly black and a predominantly white colleges in the same town. Somehow, that doesn’t count as “segregation” to them.
On the other hand, they don’t want FSU to take over the CoE, even though it would probably be better for the students as FSU is better managed, and is more respected overall. I know FSU is not some super prestigious school, but the CoE would be more viable if it was under FSU control.
FYI, the president of FAMU just resigned today (under pressure from the trustees):
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-famu-president-steps-down-20160915-story.html
Given the ongoing infighting at FAMU, I’m not sure what qualified candidate will even want to apply. Look for the trustees to install one of their buddies into the office.
I am a senior at the COE, and I do not recommend it.
There are a lot of problems with the engineering school. You hear a lot about the problem that it’s shared with FAMU. We are also forgotten by the FSU administration. An illustration of that is that FSU and FAMU administrations forgot to coordinate the start/end dates together for this academic year, so we will be missing a week of class. I have not had a positive experience with many of my professors at the COE, unlike at the main campus. I have also experienced corruption in the administration.
The most important part of college to me is the end result, so you should know which companies come to our career fair to recruit. If you are interested in the companies that recruit from our school, then going here wouldn’t be a bad option because people do get hired from these companies. Here is the list:
https://fsu-csm.symplicity.com/events/students.php?mode=list&cf=engineerfall16
Lets clear up a few items…
A report was completed in 2014, that looked at splitting the program.
http://www.famu.edu/BOT/Preliminary%20Report%20of%20CBT%20UC_2.pdf
Next, you have to take into account the history between FSU and FAMU. At one point FAMU had the only law school in Tallahassee. It’s started in 1951. In 1965, the Florida legislature voted to close the FAMU law school and open a law school at Florida State University. Funds previously allocated for the FAMU law school were transferred to Florida State University’s law school. In effect, FSU took FAMU’s law school.
FAMU alumni (many in the state legislature), saw the same thing happening with the engineering school. The politics being what they are (forget about the cost), there is no way the programs will be separated.
By the way, FAMU finally has a new law school, but it’s in Orlando. It seems you can’t have two state law schools in the same town…
Also, due to it’s diverse nature, the FAMU-FSU program is fairly well recruited by companies. Some companies will actively recruit at FAMU-FSU, that wouldn’t at larger, better established programs.
If they use the 1964 law as a reason for keeping the college together, both universities should be merged entirely. There are many other duplicate programs at FAMU and FSU.
Using their logic we should also have the FAMU-FSU College of Business, FAMU-FSU College of Education, FAMU-FSU College of Nursing, FAMU-FSU College of Science, and FAMU-FSU College of Arts. At that point, there’s no reason to have two universities.
It was a mistake to create the joint college back in 1982. The only reason it remains together is because no one wants to touch it out of fear. If the college was never created and FSU requested an engineering school today, it wouldn’t be joined with FAMU.
There’s a lot more than just engineering that the two don’t share. One big one is that FAMU has a strong journalism program, and FSU doesn’t have a true journalism program at all.
FAMU and FSU serve different purposes, which is why they wouldn’t merge (ignoring the fact that merging the two would easily lead to intense public outcry and no one is going to bring that on).
It isn’t just fear for why no one will split the CoE up. Cost is another. The state legislature isn’t dumb enough to make a move that would cost taxpayers potentially a billion dollars just so some whiny people can get another second-tier engineering school, especially after the Florida Polytechnic cluster-you-know-what just a few years ago. Our politicians might do a lot of dumb things but even they aren’t that dumb.
Don’t go to FSU for Engineering. Go to UCF or UF! One of the two. Also, good private schools in Florida for Engineering to look at are Embry Riddle and FIT.
US News ranks FSU 2nd best engineering in the state behind UF
They don’t even have an Aerospace Engineering program and they are tied with another university. FSU as a university as a whole is a really good school and if I weren’t in Engineering I would want to go to FSU (over UF). I heard student life is amazing there. However, UCF takes the edge for Engineering over FSU. UF is the best one for Engineering. I am going to UCF in the fall because I couldn’t get into UF. I got into FSU as well, but I am not going there because they don’t have AE. Two things need to happen to FSU’s engineering program if they want to attract more Florida students. #1 they need to add more Engineering programs like AE (the space program is in FL) and #2 they need to separate from FAMU. Both schools need to go their own separate ways and if FSU wants to attract more students this is necessary.
Aerospace engineering is part of the mechanical engineering department at FAMU-FSU Engineering. (About ME | FAMU-FSU) I regret that you were not well-informed about the opportunities available at FAMU-FSU Engineering and the remarkable research and research opportunities available on campus. The strength of the programs offered is confirmed by the consistently increasing ratings by US News and World Report as well as the recruitment opportunities offered to students on campus.
Contrary to your opinion, the partnership of Florida A&M University](https://www.famu.edu/), a top-ranked Historically Black University (HBCU) and Florida State University, a top-tier research university, FSU and FAMU is a tremendous strength to the program. The college is on a separate, independent campus in the heart of the high-tech sector in Florida’s capital city, Tallahassee. It is supported by both universities and is unlike any other in the nation in terms of diversity, student demographics and opportunities for funding and research projects made possible by this unique model.
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Thank you for sharing this. It’s a really helpful perspective.