<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I looked into UF over the internet, and everywhere it says that it is like a public IVY league school. The curriculum is as hard as Harvard... and the average admission GPA is 4.0.</p>
<p>I transfered into that school with a 3.4.... Is the curriculum a lot harder then USF or UCF ?</p>
<p>thanks ! I really appreciate all the replies.</p>
<p>UF is the best school in the state of Florida but is not in the same conversation as Harvard.</p>
<p>Um, I don't consider it a "public ivy." As to whether its curriculum is tougher...well that's subjective and no doubt varies by teacher.</p>
<p>And you can't declare it "best school in Florida." That's a matter of opinion, too. Go to the school that is the best fit for you.</p>
<p>^ It actually is a "public ivy." It doesn't mean that it's as good as the real ivies, but this listing is basically the best and most respected public colleges. For instance, there are three in the south: UF, U of Georgia, and the U of Texas. Then of course you have UC Berkeley/LA/Davis, U of Michigan, U of Colorado, U of Minnesota, U of Virginia, U of Wisconsin, etc... </p>
<p>And I think it's pretty clear that it's the best college in Florida, overall. U of Miami could probably compete, but UF is still the best school. Obviously, it depends on what program you want to go into. UF, FSU, UM, UCF, and USF are all pretty good schools. But as Jman2306 said, you should go to the school that is best for you, not the one that has the best rankings.</p>
<p>Ok, I see there is a category called, "public ivy". I thought he was asking if Florida was on the same level as Florida, so my bad. Also, New College of Florida deserves to be in the conversation of best college in florida.</p>
<p>UF has a Public Ivy alumni base. Easily one of the strongest in the USA.</p>
<p>List</a> of University of Florida people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>UF & New College are apples to oranges. UF has around 50k students and is one of the strongest Research Universities out there, whereas New College is a tiny LAC.</p>
<p>Accoring to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) - UF ranks 51st best overall in the WORLD. The ARWU also ranks us 38th overall in the Nation.</p>
<p>U.S. News ranks UF - 49th best National University in the USA. Engineering is ranked 24th overall, the Law School was ranked 46th overall, the medical school is 48th overall, the Business School 34th overall, and we have almost 100 graduate/professional programs ranked.</p>
<p>The Research Center for Chinese Science Evaluation ranks UF - 37th best overall in the WORLD.</p>
<p>Washington Monthly ranks UF - 26th best overall in the USA.</p>
<p>The Center for Measuring University Performance ranks UF - the 26th overall best research university in the USA.</p>
<p>I saw on another thread that you asked about UF vs. USF but I'll go ahead and answer it here:</p>
<p>I went to USF for my bachelor's and go to UF for my master's. USF sucks. Sorry to be so frank but the general quality of education is bad, the campus is ugly, and you have to drive to go anywhere in Tampa. Their career center is terrible and almost everyone who graduates ends up staying in the area. The school does not have a national reputation needed to help you start a career anywhere other than the Tampa Bay area, so keep that in mind if you don't want to stay there. You definitely won't get a college like experience at USF, scholastically or socially. Overall, the school is just not an interesting place to be. In my experience, students who say they like USF do so for two reasons: either they got rejected form FSU and UF so it becomes a pride thing or they just never experienced any other college environment so they don't know any better. Of course there are exceptions and I'm not trying to sound like a snob (after all I am an alumni), that's just the way I see it. I found a lot of the people there to be bland and uninteresting, not really concerned with what they are studying or what's going on in the world. There are more international students at USF, which I liked alot.</p>
<p>UF is like a completely different world. The education is of pretty good quality, but like USF, it's still a large school so it can tough to find your niche. My professors, though, are great outside of the classroom and actually use their industry contacts to help me network. The campus is beautiful and Gainesville is awesome. It definitely has a college feel to it. Also, there are a lot of interesting people due to the cultural scene in Gainesville and the generally higher quality student body. Even though it is much smaller than Tampa, I feel there is much more to do there, and a lot of it is within walking distance. The career center has been very good to me, and helped me find an internship last summer which will probably turn into a job offer when I graduate. I'm from NJ and when I tell people there that I graduated from USF they're like "What's that?", when I tell people I go to UF they say "Oh that's a pretty good school". To me, that says alot. There is also an online system to network with alumni as well as alumni clubs in various cities across the US. USF has nothing of the sort. </p>
<p>In reality, you can learn alot or a little anywhere you go. I probably learned just as much at USF as I am at UF, but that's just because I study alot. But, as far as my career is concerned, UF is already returning on my investment.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, if you like to go out, the Later Gator bus sytem provides rides to students until 3 on weekends. The Bull Runner at USF doesn't do that nor does the town's HART system. They have something called Sober ride but it's very limited and you'll end up standing in Ybor next to a crack house for a half-hour...</p>
<p>Oh I forgot, one downside to UF is that students can be snobby at times, but it sort of comes with the territory.</p>
<p>New College and Florida are apples and oranges. However, an argument can be made that one could get a better education from New College. New College also has plenty of great national rankings. UF is in no way hands down the better school. Bigger is not always better.</p>
<p>According to wikipedia UF is considered a "public ivy"</p>
<p>Public Ivy is a term coined by Richard Moll in his 1985 book Public Ivys: A Guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities to refer to universities which "provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price."[1] Public Ivies are considered, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, to be capable of "successfully competing with the Ivy League schools in academic rigor... attracting superstar faculty and in competing for the best and brightest students of all races."[2]</p>
<p>This thread ALWAYS degenerates when UF bashers swarm everytime anyone mentions UF and IVY in the same breath.</p>
<p>"an argument can be made that one could get a better education from New College"</p>
<p>I am not sold on their curriculum, but they probably have us beat in the humanities, music, and art. </p>
<p>I believe UF smokes this institution in business, pre-med, engineering, etc..</p>
<p>Wall Street Journal says New College smokes UF for sending students to top law, medical and business schools. I guess it's the tiny LAC that could.</p>
<p>Navarre, you can't even start to compare the two.</p>
<p>While NC provides you with an excellent liberal arts education, once you graduate you are pretty much stuck going onto graduate school. Can't do much with a bachelors in Art, History, Literature etc from NC.</p>
<p>UF as well as most other FL state schools concentrate on professional programs.
Engineers, teachers, nurses , business grads etc.</p>
<p>Your comparison of what % of the graduating class goes onto graduate school is therefore meaningless.</p>
<p>Hey I'm just a father gathering info to feed my daughter. I would be pleased if she entered either school. If my daughter were to choose New College because she felt it would provide a better education, she might be right. It will be her choice. Forbes says New College is the #3 public college, not me.</p>
<p>I wouldn't trust the Forbes rankings at all. Centre College in Danville, KY (I visited the campus once when in Danville which has a population of about 10000 and the campus has about 10 buildings) was ranked above MIT. Perhaps your daughter would like the attention from a college like New College though. UF has a pretty horrible student/faculty ratio, but some people are fine with being a number and having to work hard to distinguish themselves.</p>
<p>Navarre, if you have not visited yet, you need to.</p>
<p>In Kiplinger's top values:</p>
<p>UF was ranked 2nd overall, New College was ranked 5th overall, and FSU was ranked 15th overall. Then the Regional Universities: UCF is 51st, USF is 79th, and FIU is 81st overall.</p>