Huge UF or small Furman?

MY son got accepted into both. I don’t have a lot of experience with this, UF on paper looks better, but im worried about it being to large, would you get lost in the sea of students. Furman is small, less academic options but more personalized attention. Any advice would be very helpful.

Has he visited either?

UF will have huge classes, with TA’s teaching some classes, or sections.

F will have no TA’s and much smaller class sizes.

Completely different, other than F is Division I for football like UF. Greenville SC is a very cute small city, and the F campus is a botanical garden, literally. F is preppy with a lot of Greek life.

Strongly suggest your S visit both before deciding. Really could not be two more different schools.

Good luck!

What is he planning to major in?

I have a Furman senior. Extremely rigorous academics. Excellent education. And impressive undergraduate research opportunities that could make the difference when applying to grad schools. But understand there is no grade inflation. I believe honors status begins at 3.4. Not unusual at all for the highest grade in a class to be a B+. FU is more well known on the east coast, though it is becoming a favorite among the private school crowd. My daughter was well prepared academically, but was a bit shocked to work so hard and not have all A’s. She is doing research now with a professor that most likely will be published.

He’s thinking of political science right now, as a major, he does want to go on to grad school. Florida’s bright futures pays for a big chunk of UF, But he received a nice scholarship and grant from Furman. But it will cost more to go to Furman. Thinking it might be worth the money just to have access to a more personalized teaching as well as friendlier campus. Around here UF is well liked just a Large and maybe overwhelming school. Probably just Dad being obsessive, just now is the time to compare.

I would visit both and see if I could get a better feel for fit.

My kid is more STEM oriented so I know a little more about that side of things. Not as sure about the humanities majors, though I know UF is strong in some of them too.

Best wishes on the search!

What does your son think about his options ?

He was hoping his reach schools would have been called into play, but this did not happen. He loves the idea of going out of state to college, but realizes in state tuition is a better deal. I personally feel a smaller college might be worth it. He’s our first and only, so this college stuff is all new to us. Was just hoping to get a few ideas to think about. We will definitely go visit both soon.

I know several poli sci majors at Furman. Friends of my D. Several are involved heavily with mock trial. Not sure if your son has interest in that or not, or in law school for that matter, but they have an amazing mock trial program. I believe they put a team into the National competition almost every year.

If you haven’t visited Furman yet, be prepared to be impressed. The campus is gorgeous. Country club like. Be sure you visit downtown Greenville, Main street and the areas along the Reedy River. The town of Greenville is what sold my daughter on the school. The town of Travelers Rest is just a few miles from campus as well. Little antique shops and several really good farm to table restaurants. Clemson is not far from Greenville and on football weekends the town is hopping. And Greenville/Spartanburg has an airport. Which was key for my D. She wanted out of state with an airport.

“political science, grad school”

UF offers a ton of options no matter where you’re headed in life. Easier to make sudden turns.
Extra money on your part allows more leeway to do study abroad options. Don’t underestimate that money cushion for extra programs and travel. And opportunities.

Does your son have experience in MUN (Model United Nations) from HS? Or is he interested?
UF has a great MUN club which competes nationwide. And lots of other options for those interests.

Big universities always seem “too large”. But the trick is to figure out how to make them “smaller”.
Classes are large–but you only sit with your group.

A TA might be teaching (usually a section but not the main class)–but might be more open to your questions.

Those are INITIAL classes–once in a major it narrows considerably.

Lots of variations on a theme.
In a city of 100K–does it feel big? No. Because you don’t need to know 100 K people to be happy. You make friends in a small group, join clubs etc. The more opportunities there are to meet people and participate the better the odds are you’ll be happy.

Furman may have an advantage as to entry into graduate schools. Many of the Furman students/parents comment on these threads about how easy it is to develop a relationship with the professors and how that translates into personalized, meaningful and effective letters of recommendation into graduate programs. My daughter is a double major (poli sci/econ) and spends almost as much time outside of class with her professors as she does in class. The advantage for the student at a LAC like Furman is that the professors are there primarily to teach and any research they are doing always has a student component providing excellent internship opportunities. Furman is serious about integrated learning and has put a lot of money in its Furman Advantage program. While there is certainly no grade inflation at Furman, it appears that the students get into grad schools at an excellent rate. I have been told that the graduate schools are aware of the rigor of Furman academics and a lower GPA due to rigor is not a barrier.

OTH, saving money for graduate school tuition by going to UF may be a real consideration and there will always be more majors available from which to choose at a big school. If money is not that much of an issue, then a school visit may make a decision easier.

Now that’s what I hoping for some real experience dealing with these colleges, I am going to tour both this week. Thanks for the help