<p>Campus life, classes, off-campus life, food, dorms etc. I live overseas and don't know much about either (I've visited UCF, but only saw stuff...didn't get a tour or anything). Any info on either would be awesome! Thanks :)</p>
<p>I live about 20-25 minutes outside of Orlando, and have many friends who go to UCF who live on and off campus. They enjoy most things about the school, but it can get extremely repetitive. The campus is very nice, much better than UF from what I’ve heard. I visited the FSU campus over the summer, and it was amazing. Having eaten at both school’s cafeterias, I’ll fair the food about even. I’m not too picky, though.</p>
<p>There’s a bunch of off-campus options at UCF, for food, living, and after-school-life. Again, I don’t go to UCF but I’m friends with many people who do, so I’ve experienced most of it. There’s a lot of off-campus options, especially being a short commute from downtown Orlando. There are lots of clubs, and you’ll quickly learn which ones are truly trash heaps and which ones are appropriate for repeat attendance. Taboo is a nice club, a friend of mine has a brother who is a bouncer there. Classes can be extremely large, some ranging in the hundreds in some classes. Dorms are relatively nice from what I’ve experienced. UCF is by no standards a bad school to attend. There’s definitely lots of job opportunities post-graduation, due to its proximity to Orlando.</p>
<p>FSU is my choice though. The campus was great and the people were extremely helpful, which not the case at UCF. I’ve experienced the UCF atmosphere a lot during the last few years, being a senior in HS and dual-enrolled at Valencia Community College (sort of a pre-cursor to UCF, they have a partnership with them). The biggest thing that you have to look at is your major and how that school compares to others in the state or country. A few of my friends go to FSU, and they love it all. Everything is in relatively close proximity but it never feels crammed. When I visited the campus over the 2009 summer, everybody was extremely helpful (students and faculty). UCF has a lot of *******s, or so it seems. I’m sure FSU does too, I just didn’t have that experience in my visit to the campus. FSU seems to be a more personable school when it comes to class sizes and students. It makes you feel “at home,” while UCF sort of feels like a “get in, get out” school.</p>
<p>Again, your major is what you should be concerned about. Engineering is better at UCF, but overall FSU seems to defeat UCF in academics. Campus life isn’t bad on either, but if you don’t have a car or consistent transportation (or a lot of patience) then the UCF campus probably won’t fit you. I chose FSU, because I wanted a change of atmosphere (plus it has a MUCH better business program than UCF). About 75% of the people that I know who have graduated from UCF wouldn’t go back a second time if they had the chance; while all of my friends who attend and have graduated from FSU would gladly go back.</p>
<p>Informative reply! Thank you 
I plan on not having a car (it will be costly) and instead riding my bike/other public transportation. I plan on majoring in zoology, veterinary med, mathematics, or biological science. Do you know anything about these majors at either school? I know UCF doesn’t have Zoology :(</p>
<p>FSU is definitely more commuter-friendly. There are 4 different bus routes (many buses for each route going at any given time) for students, which are free, and city buses are also free for FSU students.</p>
<p>UCF has a nice medical program, but so does FSU. Business/mathematics is much better at FSU than at UCF. Looking overall, FSU is typically stronger in academics than UCF, but I’m sure there are many different ways to look at it. Based on your circumstances and majors, I’d probably say that FSU would be a more suitable college. I’m going to FSU in the fall, so I suppose I’m somewhat biased. If it comes down to it and the college you chose isn’t what you want it to be, you’re always able to transfer.</p>
<p>ucf - unranked in everything, will get laughed at if you put it in your resume. horrible architecture on campus. orange buildings. campus life- mediocre students who got denied from uf and fsu come to ucf.</p>
<p>^ Eh, I know some students who fit that last criterion, but UCF is not a completely horrible school. Also, they are ranked higher than FSU in engineering, so they’re not “unranked in everything.”</p>
<p>My cousin’s roommate while at UCF is now attending Harvard Law School.</p>
<p>Light Speed1 doesn’t know what she is talking about.</p>
<p>it really depends on what you are gonna major in. both schools are great, and there are plenty of people who are accepted to fsu and uf, but choose to go to ucf. both schools have beautiful campuses and great medical schools. maybe ucf isn’t ranked on the princeton review, but you definitely won’t be laughed at if you have ucf on your resume.</p>
<p>I’m from west palm beach and majoring in engineering at ucf. My first choice in highschool was FSU, but when I was offered a scholarship to UCF, I made my decision. here is a solid breakdown of the pros and cons of both campuses:</p>
<p>UCF: It’s very new. we’re only now celebrating our 50th anniversary. because of this, we don’t have much tradition. That being said, we are the second largest school in the country and have not reached that status by being “unranked” like a previous poster said, our engineering department is internationally renowned and offers tons of internship opporitunities for students as young as freshmen. There is a heavy campus emphasis on community and most students are involved in our over 400 clubs and organizations. ALong with engineering, our psychology and bilogy programs are huge and have tons of resources and partnerships with local businesses like SIEMENS and Lockheed Martin. If you’re looking for academic success and opporitunity post graduation, this is your choice. </p>
<p>FSU: This campus is beautiful and full of a rich history. As the first college for women in florida, the architecture is stunning and everywhere you look there is a monument to it’s history of rich education. It’s located in our state’s capital so there are a lot of opportunities if you’re looking into a business or political major. They are also known for their arts. Statistically, it is easier to get into FSU (they admit 60% of applicants while UCF accepts 46% -collegeboard.com). The tradition on campus is rich with a lively Greek life. This school was #8 on the country’s list of top party schools. My ex boyfriend goes there and he’s in sigma chi and absolutely loves it. The downtown scene is active every night and you will never be left with nothing to do. Unfortunately, I don’t go there so I can’t offer much insight into the school aspect of it, but every time I visit it’s a crazy party! They also have the largest study abroad program (with over 50 countries) in the state and their football team kicks ass.</p>
<p>FSU is known for its excellence in arts and sciences. FSU has the [only</a> National Laboratory (The Mag Lab) in Florida](<a href=“http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/]only”>http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/), for example. FSU also has the highest NSF investment of all Florida universities. FSU also has the first chapter of [Phi</a> Beta Kappa](<a href=“http://www.pbk.org/infoview/PBK_InfoView.aspx?t=&id=102]Phi”>http://www.pbk.org/infoview/PBK_InfoView.aspx?t=&id=102) in Florida, which speaks greatly to overall arts and sciences quality.</p>
<p>Lastly, the student-faculty ratio is substantially better at Florida State than UCF. I cannot imagine a talented student seeking LESS access to faculty.</p>
<p>[UCF</a> class size: UCF student-faculty ratio is one of the highest in the nation - Orlando Sentinel](<a href=“http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-08/features/os-ucf-class-size-20120908_1_ucf-president-ucf-finance-professor-provost-tony-waldrop]UCF”>http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-08/features/os-ucf-class-size-20120908_1_ucf-president-ucf-finance-professor-provost-tony-waldrop)</p>
<p>Is bigger better? UCF’s growth worries education leaders</p>
<p>The University of Central Florida prides itself on being the nation’s second-largest public university by enrollment.</p>
<p>But is that really a good thing?</p>
<p>UCF finance professor Stanley D. Smith isn’t convinced. The rapid growth at UCF spanning more than a decade, he says, has hurt students.</p>
<p>He’s among the faculty members who say class sizes, in some cases, have nearly doubled and instructional quality has suffered.</p>
<p>In 2010-11, UCF’s student-faculty ratio was 31-to-1 — the highest in Florida’s public-university system.</p>
<p>Nationally, UCF had the fourth-highest student-faculty ratio of all public universities in fall 2010, the most recent period for which data were available from the National Center for Education Statistics.</p>
<p>By comparison, the national average was 18-to-1.</p>
<p>~more at the link~</p>
<p>In response to hookedonbrooke:</p>
<p>Admission rates don’t mean anything by themselves. It really depends on the quality of the applicant pool. FIU actually has a lower admission rate than than all other Florida public schools, including UF, but which school do you think is more selective?</p>
<p>For some perspective, here is a list of the big public universities in Florida with their acceptance rates, along with their applicant statistics (according to last year’s US News data):</p>
<h2>School: Acceptance% Avg HS GPA 75 Percentile SAT/ACT</h2>
<p>UF: 43.22% 4.0 1360 / 30
FSU: 59.5% 3.8 1290 / 28
UCF: 46.38% 3.7 1280 / 28
USF: 44.56% 3.6 1230 / 27
UNF: 50.79% 3.6 1230 / 25
FIU: 39.5% 3.7 1210 / 27
FAU: 50.73% 3.3 1150 / 25
UWF: 66.05% 3.3 1150 / 26
FGCU: 69.9% 3.4 1120 / 24
FAMU: 61.11% 3.0 1020 / 21</p>
<p>The difference is that UF (and FSU) are not located in big metro areas so most people don’t bother to apply unless they have good grades/test scores (or they play football) so a higher percentage are admitted. Basically, they have a “higher-quality” applicant pool.</p>
<p>FIU, UCF and USF have to reject many, many applicants. A large number of wildly unqualified people in their respective metro areas apply because they are the nearest, half-way decent schools. Many people probably assume (incorrectly) that these schools will just take anyone.</p>
<p>A guy who lives in the Miami, Orlando or Tampa metro area with a 2.9 weighted GPA and a 1000/1600 SAT isn’t going to bother applying to UF or FSU (unless he plays football) but I’ll bet he applies to FIU, UCF or USF who will most likely reject him, thus lowering their “acceptance rate.”</p>
<p>I wish USNews would include some of this information when they mention admission rates in their rankings, because a lot of people seem to take them at face value.</p>
<p>More up-to-date data:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/florida-state-university/1389988-2012-fall-admission-statistics-fsu-vs-uf-et-al.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/florida-state-university/1389988-2012-fall-admission-statistics-fsu-vs-uf-et-al.html</a></p>
<p>Here is a modified breakdown that I posted a few months ago:</p>
<p>(Disclosure: I grew up in Central Florida and currently attend FSU.)</p>
<p>UCF has a newer campus, not necessarily better. It’s just a matter of preference. FSU has red brick buildings and rolling hills. UCF looks like a modern office park.</p>
<p>UCF is notoriously overcrowded–much moreso than FSU or UF–check the student-instructor ratios if you don’t believe me. Classes are larger and it is more difficult to schedule courses that you need. The nickname “U Can’t Finish” happened for a reason. Despite the complaints about crowding, UCF just keeps growing and growing every year.</p>
<p>The Orlando area may have more jobs, but most of them are jobs that don’t require college education and are probably not what you are looking for, unless manning the snack bar at Sea World over the summer is your idea of an internship (OK, a bit of a cheap shot, but you get the idea). While Tallahassee is smaller, it is also the state capital. There are probably at least as many skilled jobs in Tally as there are in Orlando. Several times a week, I get an email regarding internship or job opportunities for CompSci majors at FSU. That being said, I’m UCF CompSci majors have plenty of opportunities as well.</p>
<p>UCF began as an engineering college to supply NASA with engineers. Accordingly, they have a well-developed engineering school. Other than engineering, most of FSUs majors are higher ranked, including–contrary to popular belief among UCFers–Computer Science. </p>
<p>Outside of Florida, FSU is much better known than UCF. If you plan to live in Central Florida, this obviously won’t matter. If you plan on living outside of Florida, if might make a difference.</p>
<p>UCF supporters hate it when people say this, but UCF is still a bit of a commuter college. There’s nothing wrong with that. Plenty of smart people work and go to school part-time. On the other hand, UCF is so big (almost TWICE the size of FSU) that even if a lot of students commute, there are still thousands of “traditional” students on campus.</p>
<p>It is often pointed out that UCF is much newer than FSU and UF, and therefore has made amazing progress compared to the older schools. This is slightly misleading. The 1850s dating for these schools is due to their tracing their roots back to tiny agricultural schools and a small teacher college. The reality is that FSU was not a major university until around 1950, which is only about 15 years before UCF. UF has been a major university since around 1900. </p>
<p>This is possibly an odd point to make, but I should mention that Central Florida has insane electrical storms nearly every afternoon during the Summer. I don’t know if you are from Central Florida, but people who are not from the area are sometimes unnerved by this. If are you are bothered by lightening, keep this in mind. North Florida has lightning, but nowhere near as frequently as Orlando and Tampa.</p>
<p>This map provides perspective:</p>
<p>[Roger</a> Russell’s Central Florida Lightning page](<a href=“http://www.roger-russell.com/lightning/lightning.htm]Roger”>Roger Russell's Central Florida Lightning page)</p>
<p>FSU did not start as a teacher college. UF did not start as an ag school. </p>
<p>Both started in the same law as the same kind of state schools for higher education, one east and one west of the Suwanee River. The Florida State Seminary in Tallahassee became the first university in the state called the University of Florida - NOT the school in Gainesville. While FSU remained in the same spot on Gallows Hill, not far from the Capitol in Tallahassee, what would become UF opened and closed and then moved from Ocala to Gainesville which in 1905 was merged with the state ag school (FSU also absorbed smaller schools, one a teacher college) from Lake City.</p>
<p>For a good read with period graphics and excellent references see:
[Florida</a> State University - Wikipedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_State_University]Florida”>Florida State University - Wikipedia)
[Florida</a> State University - Wikipedia, History](<a href=“Florida State University - Wikipedia”>Florida State University - Wikipedia)
[History</a> of Florida State University - Wikipedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Florida_State_University]History”>History of Florida State University - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>OK. I may have had the details wrong.</p>
<p>But, my point is that for most of their early history, UF and FSU were small potatoes, relatively-speaking. They would not be recognizable as the modern concept of a major state university until well into the 20th century. This mostly reflects the fact that Florida itself was a pretty small potato until fairly recently.</p>
<p>UCF & USF, on the other hand, were founded after Florida started booming, and grew rapidly, along with the state population. UCF was declared by legislation a full-service university a quick fifteen years after “Florida Tech” was founded in the 1960s. For FSU, the legislative transition to a full university took nearly 100 years.</p>
<p>In a way, FSU has only been a major university for about 20-30 years longer than UCF. There’s nothing wrong with this. I think it actually reflects well on FSU that they have come so far in a relatively small amount of time, compared to other state flagships.</p>
<p>SWC, FSU was THE state college and the largest state school of higher education until 1919 - even after the 1905 decision to send the boys to Gainesville (which lasted only until 1947). FSU was the first school in Florida to earn a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (1933) and the first school I can see which played some form of college football (1899). The volume of period graphics in the state archive show the wealthy sent their kids to Tallahassee.</p>
<p>FSU has been the primary state flagship university for a very long time. Students from the early school were soldiers in the Civil War, and the school changed to a Confederate military academy when all other state schools closed. Even in the 1970s those of us FSU students never thought much of the school in Gainesville, even though it is the legislative twin of Florida State. Ever wonder why FSU grads don’t just roll over when UF tries to claim special status? This is why. The UF people have tried several times to dominate the educational atmosphere in Florida and each time have been defeated by Seminoles. It’s not ever going to be tolerated by FSU grads. Even when Florida State was female-only in the 42 year period 1905-47 the fierce school pride was passed along having been given to them from the pre-1905 students, even though many of those ladies married male students from the other school down the road.</p>
<p>So to suggest FSU is somewhat new to the state scene is really incorrect. It is the oldest school of higher learning in Florida. To imply otherwise is to deny the rich history of Florida State University.</p>
<p>Thanks, P2n. Interesting stuff. I guess I stand corrected.</p>
<p>" The UF people have tried several times to dominate the educational atmosphere in Florida and each time have been defeated by Seminoles."</p>
<p>Ahh… having a good law school (and lots of FSU Law grads in the state legislature) has its advantages, especially when fending off proposals by UF-homers that could put the other universities at a disadvantage.</p>
Light Speed One. Open your mind. Rankings really don’t mean much to get a job. Unless you just went to get a piece of paper. UCF is a good school. I’ve had a good relationship with researchers there. Not so great in terms of finding talent thus far at FSU (computer science) but not going to degrade the whole university.