<p>Hi All,</p>
<p>I have a few questions about the math classes at USF.</p>
<ol>
<li>Are they in person or over the computer like at UCF?</li>
<li>How many days/hours per week per class?</li>
<li>Is there a placement test?</li>
</ol>
<p>I never took calculus or any other math courses at USF because I had already completed my college math requirements while in high school with dual enrollment math courses. I only had to take a statistics course at USF. What I’m getting at is, I’m not entirely sure how USF handles math because I didn’t have to do math at USF, but I don’t think you’ll be required to take a math placement test and I’m sure all your math classes will be traditional style in class with a live instructor–not online. Hopefully someone else can answer your questions who has gone thru math at USF recently. So…</p>
<ol>
<li>Mostly in person</li>
<li>Most math courses are 3 or 4 hours in class each week, which means about another 6- 15 hrs/week studying outside class doing homework.</li>
<li>Your academic advisor will assist you picking right math course. Your SAT/ACT math scores will be used for placement–you won’t likely have to take a placement test.</li>
</ol>
<p>[USF</a> :: College of Arts & Sciences Academics & Students](<a href=“Students | CAS Advising Arts & Sciences | University of South Florida”>Students | CAS Advising Arts & Sciences | University of South Florida)</p>
<p>Thanks lizard. You’re a fount of information. </p>
<p>My daughter is trying to decide between USF and UCF engineering and the deadline is fast approaching.</p>
<p>@newisland, perhaps I’m a little biased, but I would definitely recommend USF. I don’t think there’s much UCF can offer over USF’s 5 Year Masters program for engineering. The quality of the programs are probably on par, though UCF’s aerospace engineering is not offered at USF.</p>
<p>newisland, if your daughter didn’t already apply, she might consider joining the ELLC group for engineering students at USF. Good luck with your decision making, both schools have terrific engineering schools. </p>
<p>[Engineering</a> Living & Learning Community](<a href=“http://www2.eng.usf.edu/studentServices/ELLC/application.htm]Engineering”>http://www2.eng.usf.edu/studentServices/ELLC/application.htm)</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies.
She was accepted to ELLC at USF and LEARN at UCF with comparable scholarships at both.
She is an international student and we visited both campuses and although she loved UCF a bit more than USF, there was nothing that she did not like at USF. I guess it just came down to a particular feel.</p>
<p>As her mom, I’m concerned about the size of UCF and their style of math instruction.
I’m totally stressed at this time but it will all be over by the end of this week (her deadline to make a decision).</p>
<p>Once again, thanks for the insight.</p>
<p>If she does choose UCF over USF, I would highly recommend either taking CLEP exams to receive the credit for the math classes ahead of time (if she’s good at math), or to become a transient student at a community college and take her math courses there, perhaps over a summer so she can give it more focus. Community college classes are not only smaller and available online or on campus depending on preference, but they are also cheaper.</p>
<p>One advantage USF maybe has: not as many students on campus as the other school. USF enrolled about 3400 freshmen fall 2011 with 30,000 total undergraduates in Tampa: UCF enrolled about 6300 freshmen fall 2011 with 50,000 total undergraduates in Orlando. More might not be merrier if too many students contributes to classroom and lab overcrowding, and having to take courses online.</p>
<p><a href=“http://usfweb3.usf.edu/infocenter/Surveys/cds/CDS2011_2012_Tampa.pdf[/url]”>http://usfweb3.usf.edu/infocenter/Surveys/cds/CDS2011_2012_Tampa.pdf</a></p>
<p>[UCF</a> - Common Data Set 2011-12](<a href=“http://www.iroffice.ucf.edu/commondataset/commondataset11/commondataset11.html]UCF”>http://www.iroffice.ucf.edu/commondataset/commondataset11/commondataset11.html)</p>
<p>[New</a> building, USF’s tallest, brings sciences together | TBO.com](<a href=“http://www2.tbo.com/news/education-news/2011/aug/26/4/new-building-usfs-tallest-brings-sciences-together-ar-252960/]New”>http://www2.tbo.com/news/education-news/2011/aug/26/4/new-building-usfs-tallest-brings-sciences-together-ar-252960/)</p>
<p>I am currently a student at Valencia College which was the community sister college to UCF. we get a lot of students who take their math and chemistry classes here instead of at UCF. The class sizes are very managable, i haven’t been in a class with more than 30 students and i’ve taken Algebra thru Differential equations. Also we have a math center here where you have tutors avaliable all day. ironically i am typing this message from the Valencia math center right now and there are about 15 students studying and 6 tutors on staff. they also have a chemistry, biology, and phyics tutor room. Phyics tutors are here every day, generally there is a schedule for Chemistry and Biology tutors but with Chemistry i think it’s close to all day. </p>
<p>Just a little info on a community college that is right next to and works with UCF. As an engineering Major i’ve had to take a lot of math courses and since i wouldn’t consider myself to be any form of genius i’ve needed a lot of help. this math center helped me tremendously.</p>