Hi all!
I’m a current highschool senior currently in my final semester of highschool. I sent in all of my applications before October 31 and got my acceptances before thanksgiving. Now I really don’t know where I want to go! Hope is close to home but not too close and Florida Southern is close to an older sibling and I’m very interested in going into physical therapy.
Please give any advice you can!
I know that not a lot of people will know both or either of these schools, but any help you can advise would be appreciated,
Thanks!
I can comment a bit about Florida Southern, as the school is local for me, and I have friends and relatives who go/have gone there. (My boys aren’t old enough yet, but it will definitely be on their lists as a local option when the time comes to apply!)
Florida Southern has a lot of majors for a small school. It’s been consistently voted one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation, and is listed as an “up and coming” school on some national rankings. It is somewhat pricey, but I do know they give a lot of financial aid (according to my friends whose children go there). My niece went there, got great grades, and got into several medical schools. (she’s now a resident) She commented that the professors are very accessible, she had great relationships with a number of them, and got to go on special programs/opportunities as a result.
Location wise Lakeland is a small city, it has a nice shopping area with Lakeside Village. (you would need a car to get to that, though, or a friend with a car) It is located about halfway between Tampa and Orlando – I like having the option to use either airport when flying! Tampa and Disney are 45 minutes away’; downtown Orlando and the Orlando airport are an hour away.
Thank you very much for your response!
Florida southern really interests me for a number of reasons you touched on. It’s warmer, so that’s obviously a plus over Michigan. I am also part of a very disney oriented family so I would definitely be spending time there as well.
I will probably not have a car in the beginning. So how easy is it to get around campus and Lakeland without a car?
This is going to be a really hard decision because Florida is so far away, but one of my family members thinks it would be a great opportunity for me to be in a new environment and I very much agree with them and I loved Florida Southern’s campus when I visited last June.
Once I get my financial aid packages back maybe that will lead me too, but so far the two schools are very similar. Though florida Southern will pay my room cost as well as the base scholarship, so that’s something to consider. Though it costs money to get me and all my stuff down there as well
Can you tell us what the cost is, if you calculate (tuition, fees, room&board) - (grants, scholarchips) = ?$ …,000 ?
I think Hope is stronger academically - especially in the sciences. While both schools are conservative, Hope is also Christian and that’s an important part of its identity. Obviously, weather is another big difference - but college is the perfect time to move and discover another part of the country.
Both are about 32,000 a year. Which is a lot. I did not accumulate the best grades throughout highschool. But due to the academic rigor of my school, being a private christian institution, i think schools looked at my grades in a more positive light. Through 7 semesters I had a 3.25 gpa with that being about an 89 average and a 24 composite ACT score. Both schools offered me a base 8,000 a year and Florida Southern included another 5,000 a year towards housing costs. I know I’m probably going to have more school after all of this as well, as I’m looking into physical therapy which is requiring a doctorate. I know also that there is a large chance that I will end up changing my major and my track as well. Other majors I’ve thought about were occupational therapy and psychology. I’ve also never ruled out going to med school, but I don’t know if that is attainable for me. I’m also very interested in music and possibly exploring music therapy, though I know this is a sought after field as well.
How much can your parents afford to pay per year? Are they saying either school is affordable for your family?
It would be a lot better if they were less, but as they’ve paid for christian education for the past 13 years of my life they know and have taught me that sometimes in order to get a good education you have to think of the money as in investment. And that’s what I’m trying to do. Though I do know the struggle, as I am seeing my sister who graduated college three years ago come to grips with the fact that her money is disappearing now as she earns it. I’m not going to college to have fun, I am going to college to get a good education for continuing my education through most likely doctorate programs
Let me start off with saying absolutely nothing about Hope, and I know a pretty good amount about FSC, so keep that in mind.
If you can, I’d recommend going to one of Fl Southern’s Scholars Weekends. I was at the first one, which was this past weekend, and it was really informative and i think it really changed a lot of peoples thoughts of the school, in a positive way. I know a few students from FSC and they’ve said that it’s convenient to have a car, but not necessary, and you’ll definitely meet people who have cars if theres anything you really need to drive to, they could help you out. FSC also guarantees at least 1 internship before graduation, which is valuable since you’re unsure of what your next step will be after undergrad, that could help lead you into (or away from) a certain direction.
if you have any other questions about fsc i’ll try my best to answer, i’m all about being organized and stuff so i researched different colleges to their cores before committing to one.
I cannot comment on Florida Southern but I can address a positive aspect of Hope College. You have expressed an interest in physical therapy and also occupational therapy. Admission to these graduate programs is extremely competitive (I know this to be true as our family includes both a recent PT grad and a recent OT grad). When we looked at Hope several years ago, the school had a very supportive and proactive program to provide their pre-professional students with internships and other opportunities that would enhance their applications for graduate programs. If you not yet investigated Hope’s pre-PT program, now would be a good time to do so.
Two comments:
(1) While I have no direct involvement with either school, I did spend some time last year on a flight from Chicago to Kalamazoo with a seatmate who attended Hope College. It was not his first choice – he did not get admitted to Northwestern University – but he raved about Hope College, and did not have enough good things to say about it. I think that he ended up getting a degree in economics or something like that, but he was a very strong advocate of everything about Hope.
(2) If you are interested in health occupations and wish to attend a Christian school in a warmer climate than Michigan, you may wish to look into Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee: http://www.belmont.edu/ . They have a strong nursing program as well as a pre-professional program in occupational therapy; I know someone who started out there in nursing, and went on to go to medical school. I think that you can still apply for regular decision admission, and they have rolling admissions decision. Just a suggestion.
Thank you so much!
I could not attend the florida southen scholars weekend as there was a snowstorm over that weekend.
I am very interested in being able to going away to school. Florida southern’s guaranteed internship and study abroad are very appealing and I love the location as well as the campus but it is just is so far away from home. Distance is kind of scary but I think I could handle it. A family member of mine said that florida Is an opportunity of a lifetime and that if after a year I wasn’t feeling it that I would most likely be able to transfer to Hope.
Again, thank you for your responses
If you like the guaranteed internship and study abroad, check out Centre and Hendrix, both offer these too and have pretty good merit scholarships.