general USF questions!

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of South Florida
1

<p>Hey guys! i just got accepted to USF today :D i don't know where i want to go yet, as i have applied to like 6 other schools, but i have a few questions about what i should do now...</p>

<p>-is the housing deposit refundable? should i send a deposit now so i know i have a room and then just withdraw it if i don't end up going?
-is the campus walkable? is it easy to walk to class, get food etc.? i'm from new york and haven't visited yet (although i plan to)
-can freshman have cars?
-what kind of housing do you recommend as a freshman?</p>

<p>anything else you think will be helpful for me to know? :D
thanks!</p>

2

<p>Congratulations on your admission to USF! The housing deposit is refundable, here is present policy: [Housing</a> & Residential Education - University of South Florida](<a href=“Housing & Residential Education | University of South Florida”>Housing & Residential Education | University of South Florida) You should try to get deposit and housing app. in now with dorm room request. All the dorms for freshmen are okay in my book, I’d avoid the older ones though with the Greek letter names. It is easy to walk to classes, plus USF has a convenient bus shuttle on campus to get you around campus and to some nearby off-campus shopping. Freshmen are required to live on campus and get a meal plan; there are now 3 dining halls, plus a new dining hall will be open next fall designed for student-athletes that will be open for everyone too. Freshmen may have cars, I never had one on campus and do fine without one getting around.</p>

<p>Video of USF campus: [YouTube</a> - USF from High Above](<a href=“USF from High Above - YouTube”>USF from High Above - YouTube)</p>

3

<p>The way deposits work at USF is that on your student account, they put all of your charges for a given semester, including tuition, student fees, housing, and meal plan (if applicable). When you pay your deposit (and this applies for the tuition deposit as well), it gets applied to your account as a payment, and when your financial aid disburses, all of the charges minus the payments will render your final balance. If your financial aid exceeds your charges, you will get the deposit back. However, if you end up with a negative balance, you will not get that deposit back. </p>

<p>The campus is big, but completely manageable if you walk. Things aren’t that far from each other, plus there are places to eat pretty much in every academic building. I got bored of walking, so I bought myself a Razor scooter, though most non-walking students go for a longboard. </p>

<p>Almost all freshmen I know have cars, but I don’t and I manage just fine. The in-school bus can take you wherever you need to go, whether it’s your class, the gym, the neighboring mall, or Walmart. Also, USF students get to ride the city buses for free.</p>

<p>As far as housing goes, it depends on whether money is an object or not. I currently live in Delta, an older (and much safer) andros building. Any building in the Andros area is the cheapest you will find, and you have more privacy than the traditional halls because we have suites. It really depends on your own personality, how outgoing you are, and how you feel about privacy. The most popular place to live lately is the newest buildings, Juniper-Poplar, but I have lived there already and… Let’s just say it wasn’t for me. If you really want your own room, then Holly would be the place for you, if you like the idea of an all-girls dorm, then Cypress-A is for you. I would suggest looking at the housing website’s layouts and prices, then making an informed decision.</p>

4

<p>Hi! I just took an official tour at USF. I didn’t see the housing except Juniper and did not see the football field. I kind of felt based on what we saw,the campus was not that exciting. Please give me your thoughts. I also am wondering if anyone knows how long I have to decide about a specific dorm buddy before I am just assigned one? I AM ACCEPTED AT USF AND UCF AND WANT TO BE A PHYSICIAN"S ASSISTANT AND AM UNSURE IF I MUST COMPLETE THE NURSING PROGRAM FIRST~OK~MY COMPUTER IS STUCK ON ALL CAPS~SORRY</p>

5

<p>USF plays its home football games at Tampa’s NFL facility, Raymond James Stadium. The stadium seats 65,000 and is first class having hosted a few Super Bowl games, every seat has a back and armrests for comfort–no bleacher seating! Students ride from campus the 10 minutes to the stadium for free on the school’s shuttle buses for games. USF’s 3 new football practice fields are in USF’s athletic district on the east side of the campus. USF & UCF have played football against each other 4 times, USF won all 4 games.</p>

<p>Sorry the campus didn’t look that exciting to you, USF is an institution for higher learning, it’s not supposed to look like Las Vegas.</p>

<p>You should check with the housing office about what to do if you have somebody in mind to room with instead of getting a random roommate.</p>

<p>I don’t think USF offers a physician assistant degree; in Florida I think only UF, Barry, Nova, and Miami-Dade College offer degrees for Physician Assistant–you should check with them for entrance requirements. Too if you call USF admissions, they can assist you with study programs at USF that would prepare you for entering a graduate Physician Assistant program down the road. You need to complete a course of study similar to entering other health fields like medicine, nursing, pharmacy, etc. I doubt you need to be a nurse first to be a physician assistant, but being an experienced RN couldn’t hurt you preparing to be a physicians assistant, same for other experience like EMT, or other hands on medical type experience. Anyway, good luck with your college future!</p>

6

<p>One of my friends graduated as a biomedical sciences major with the pre-med track and is going to the University of Utah to do his one-year program to become a physician’s assistant. I’m sure there are different tracks you can take to get to that end goal.</p>

7

<p>The Campus is definetly walkable and if you want to get in shape, don’t bring a car lol, although freshman are defininetly allowed to drive.</p>

8

<p>HEy, anyone ever use campus transporter? Some dude gave me a flyer for it. I wanted to know if it was any good because I need a ticket to see family.</p>

9

<p>Without trying to cover what others have already answered, as a freshman I definitely suggest suite style living. When I was a freshman, I lived in Castor Hall which was a co-ed traditional style dormitory. Although the traditional style is what many people have come to consider a “stereotypical” aspect of the college experience, I say if you have the option to go suite style (which I’m sure you will because upperclassmen tend to live nearby on off-campus apartment housing), definitely choose it. You still get the social interaction of having a roommate yet you don’t have to share a bathroom with as many people as in a traditional style environment (you share with only 2 other people, also known as your “suite-mates”). This also helps create closer bonds with these people, aside from just bypassing strangers in communal bathrooms. While the apartment style of living is also available, I wouldn’t suggest it unless you consider yourself an introvert because research has shown that the more doors you place between you and others, the greater the possibility of becoming a shut-in. In fact, USF is basing their decision to make it mandatory for freshmen to live on campus based on research, so I suggest choosing the option that encourages interaction while still maintaining some quality of reasonable privacy and relationship bonding… suite style! Check out Juniper-Poplar (suite style), it’s the newest dorm building on campus and it’s absolutely awesome. While kind far from the center of campus, it has it’s own dining facility downstairs as well as a Starbucks. There are other suite style options on campus though.</p>

10

<p>One thing that JoshBULL has left out is that JP is reserved mainly for living learning communities, and there are only a few floors left for regular freshmen. This makes JP a very high-demand place to live and it goes out quickly, making it extremely difficult to be assigned there. The only other option for freshmen that is similar to this layout is Cypress A, and that is a building for the women’s only community. </p>

<p>Most of the suite-style buildings are in the Andros area, and those are 4-bedroom 1 bathroom per 8 residents. They do clean your bathroom weekly, but cleaning it is up to you and your suitemates for the rest of that week. If cleanliness is an issue for you, I would suggest traditional-style because their bathrooms are always spotless. They are constantly being cleaned. You are sharing with your side of the floor, but the bathroom itself is probably the cleanest on campus.</p>