Having a hard time deciding between UF and FSU

[moooop]

Thanks, & good luck!!

[Joblue]

I’ve never been to either school, but the hideous blue and orange uniforms and obnoxious gator arm gesture would be enough to keep me out of Gainesville.

Personally, the commitment of the Tallahassee police and FSU’s administration to protecting their star athlete’s from sexual assault charges and their eagerness to vilify victims trying to get justice would keep me out of Tallahassee, but then I admit to being biased.

[Zinhead]

But there’s little evidence that attaches rankings to post-college success once you control for student inputs (wealth, ambition, student preparation before college). A really excellent student who got into UF but chose FSU for personal reasons could do just as well coming out of FSU as they could out of UF. There’s a study that provides evidence for that (it followed kids who went to Dartmouth and compared them to kids who got into Dartmouth but chose to go elsewhere).

Unless the school is very highly rated or has a specific program that other schools lack, there is likely little long-term difference between the outcomes of the same person attending different universities. When choosing between colleges, people should generally go with the least expensive possible option instead of chasing prestige.

However, Florida is blessed with a number of high quality, inexpensive universities. UF is slightly better than FSU, which in turn is slightly better than UCF/USF. FAU and FIU are both improving and should be at the UCF/USF level soon. Since they all cost roughly the same, why not go to the highest ranked school?