<p>I'm an international student looking into schools in Florida to transfer to since I have family there. My parents are all for UF and then USF (for proximity reasons) and Rollins (because of the US News report ranking) as safeties, but I've heard FSU has a better English department. Would you guys agree?</p>
<p>Florida State has a better liberal arts department.... most students there major in that dept. So that would mean they have a better English program as well.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.english.fsu.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.english.fsu.edu/</a></p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks. Judging from the link, it looks pretty impressive. I'm at a public liberal arts univ right now (almost-free ride), but the English program here is pretty mediocre. </p>
<p>And another question, how large do class sizes get?</p>
<p>You can use this link to search for courses available by term and you can see the size of the classes and number of available sections:</p>
<p>Most likely the best in Florida:</p>
<p>The Atlantic has listed the FSU Creative Writing Program as one of the "Best of the Best." In an article aptly titled "Where Great Writers Are Made," FSU is named one of the nation's top-10 graduate-level creative writing programs—on a list that includes premier universities such as Cornell University, Johns Hopkins, New York University and the University of Virginia. FSU not only landed on the overall top-10 list of graduate programs but also among the top-five doctoral programs—the only school listed both places.</p>
<p>More FSU rankings: <a href="http://fsu.edu/highlights/rankings.html%5B/url%5D">http://fsu.edu/highlights/rankings.html</a></p>
<p>My daughter has applied to FSU and is also planning to major in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. After college she plans to go to grad school for journalism. We are Florida residents and have looked at all the schools in Florida. We found FSU to have the best overall program and college environment. True, Rollins does have a sold academic reputation, but after investigating it for our daughter we learned through Campus ******* that a huge drug problem exists on their campus (cocaine) and according to C.P. approximately half the student body is involved in recreational drug use (and I am not referring to alcohol here). UF does have a good journalism program but our daughter prefers FSU hands down over UF because of the overall liberal arts program and college environment.</p>
<p>Rollins is for rich kids who felt they were too cool for FSU and UF.</p>
<p>And to corroborate what's been said here, FSU really has its foundation as a liberal arts school seeing as it was originally a woman's college way back in the day. If you want stuff like Engineering/med/hard sciences then UF is the way to go. But in terms of what your daughter is looking for, FSU is the optimal choice.</p>
<p>i agree, UF is great for business/med/whatever majors and stuff... I want to study Art history and humanities/cultural anthropology, so Florida State is my top choice. I'd say it would be the better choice out of UF, USF and FSU for an English major.</p>
<p>( their study abroad program is great too :} )</p>
<p>FSU was not originally a women's college. It was originally for men only. It became Florida's college for women from 1905 to 1947 only. The vast majority of its 150+ years was coed.</p>
<p>Wikipedia has a good summary of the history: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Florida_State_University%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Florida_State_University</a></p>
<p>FSU has long been Florida's liberal arts university, however. UF is Florida's agricultural school.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who replied. I've talked to some others too and it seems like FSU would be a fit. I hope my parents agree though, since FSU apparently doesn't offer any international undergrad scholarship and we aren't that well off by US standards.</p>
<p>straylight, feel free to PM me with questions abou Rollins. As a Rollins grad, I am used to the "country club" remarks. It is not rated #1 in the South for Masters level Univeristies (and it is only a small LAC) for nothing. And the "drugs" at Rollins are dwarfed by what is available at UF. It's all about what you are there for. I am a grad and know many current students who are there, taking advantage of all that it has to offer. The support of individual students at Rollins is also exemplary. You get into trouble academically or otherwise at UF and you are one in 50,000 and basically on your own. You stumble freshman year at Rollins and you are motivated to turn yourself around, you will have what you need to do so. Placement into grad programs, med school and law school is good, lots of support also. By the time you are into your major, your prof's know you, really know you. You may even have dinner with them at their home once a month. I still exchange Christmas cards with one of my Biology profs. Last visit, I chatted on a first name basis with two profs still there after 30 years. They even remembered certain things about my time there.</p>