My DD’s Gatorlink profile was updated today and she could see the Bright Futures $, the Benacquisto $, $500 from UF for NMFs, and other $ to match COA. Looks like they waited for the Bright Futures decisions (yesterday) and updated the Gatorlink portal.
@1917souci You are right about the quality of some of the departments at UF and the ranking does not add up. I do know that UF has a phenomenal medical program, outstanding business program and some very good engineering departments. and of course a great sports culture. However, the students who are getting these free rides from UF are also recruited hard by other out of state colleges with better departments in the area of interest to the student. In my son’s situation it was a a very agonizing choice because of the free ride plus $11,000/year but finally the opportunities in his area of interest at UF was the deciding factor after speaking to faculty, students in the department he felt it was not a right fit for him. However, he would have gladly attended UF as a Pre-Med or Business major if that was his area of interest. I suspect it was the same thought process for 18 of the 20 top ranking students in my son’s school decision to attend out of state schools and pay the full tuition.
@moscott It was an agonizing decision to choose between a free ride at UF and paying out of state tuition. You are indeed correct that for a programming job any CS degree from a top 150 college is sufficient. However we were advised by multiple faculty from top CS programs including UF and industry folks to bite the bullet and go to the college which is most aligned to your area of interest as it will open up opportunities not available in UF.and education was a 40 year investment. My son did not decide purely with rankings or Ivy league brands but choose the college which was the best fit for him. Your are right about Yale’s CS ranking, my son did not apply. He only applied to Six of the Top 10 CS programs and UF. The only dream college fo my son was Stanford and he did not get in. UF was his #2 choice until he realized that the department was not a good fit for him.
@charlixcx Congrats to you. Platinum scholarships at UF are normally only given to students with near perfect academics and EC’s. I am sure you will have some amazing competing admission offers from other colleges. My son would have chosen UF but his area of interest was not a good fit UF has outstanding academic programs and i hope that you will find a matching program in your area of interest and stay in-state with this amazing merit offer.
@1917souci It is interesting to me how many people believe that online classes equal poor quality. To me, the proof is in the outcomes and how the users (employers, grad schools) of the graduates view the quality of the education. You just have to look at where UF Business graduates are placed upon graduation to see how the business community views the graduates and the education.
Just looking at the Finance graduates, I see placements with the top Wall Street banks and leading tech companies. JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, PayPal, Deloitte consulting, etc. Those banks recruit at the top business schools in the country and students at Wharton and Stern fight to get internships with them.
So, you can say that the education doesn’t match the rankings, but the people that ultimately matter are satisfied with the graduates. They keep coming back to get more every year.
@fl1234 For the past few years, I have heard that many Business Students have been taking the majority of their core classes online. The point that I was trying to make is whether they are getting a great education without having a lot of engagement with other students and professors. I do not know the answer to that. UF has a great reputation and an excellent track record. I was just wondering if this the best approach especially when communication skills are one the key areas needed to succeed in business and many other majors for that matter. There are a lot of people who question ranking and prestige vs quality of education when the online format is used. In the next few months, many students throughout the country will be forced to finish the semester online. It will be interesting to see what the feedback will be.
In general, when comparing UF or any other school to many similar ranked schools, one must compare majors to see if the curriculum matches what the student is looking for. I just can’t imagine everyone will succeed or feel engaged by taking online classes. Many students or parents do not always analyze or dig deep into curriculums, (which is on them). They are just happy to have been accepted to a highly ranked and affordable school only to find out that maybe this was not a good fit or their expectations are not being matched.
@1917souci You have hit the nail on the head on your points about the quality of the curriculum. My son chose to go out of state primarily because of the quality of the curriculum in the computer science department. Unlike some of his classmates he never aspired for an out of state or an Ivy League brand as UF is historically an awesome institution and provides the best value in the nation for an in-state student. The CS curriculum problems at UF the last few years have been discussed by frustrated past and current students all over the internet discussion boards. The past UF president even tried to scrap the CS department a few years ago. Both faculty and students are at a stalemate to change the curriculum. The faculty blames the quality of the students to offer more challenging coursework and the students point a finger on the lack of dedication and quality of the faculty. It is a classic catch 22 blame game and i would fault the administration for not resolving these issues.
After my son’s experience in his current college, one solution for UF for a quick fix would be to create a dedicated honors program in each of these borderline departments and pick the top 10% of the incoming class into each of these programs along with the best teaching (not research) faculty to teach the core classes. I would bet that in a couple of years that UF would be able to retain at least 60-75% of the very best students currently leaving for out of state public schools . This would also have the ripple effect of attracting and keeping world class faculty, top companies rushing in to recruit UF students and a quick rise to the top in college rankings. All my son’s freshman classmates in his honors program have multiple internships and research offers this summer with leading Tech, Finance, Energy, Defense companies who can’t seem to get enough of these qualified students.
The current honors program at UF does not do anything to address curriculum issues and needs to be revamped. The State of Florida high school system produces brilliant students and it would be shame for UF to lose these home grown students to an out of state public school. I am hopeful that UF will move quickly to address these shortcomings to retaining the cream of its students in the state.
My son was admitted to UF and due to tour cancelations, he was not able to take an official tour. We got in the car and we visited on our own. He liked what he saw. But he also liked what he saw at a few other schools he is considering. The biggest question he has is whether all the online classes in the first two years of school matches his expectations for such a highly ranked school. I do not disagree with his perspective. He is very aware of its reputation, value, and social experience and he knows that a UF degree will take him places. He is just still on the fence.
@uf2019 I agree with your assessment of the UF CS department. I believe that in-state, UCF arguably as a better program especially if the student is a member of the Programming Team or the Hacking Team. Both are consistently ranked higher than UF’s teams in national competitions. My daughters are both interested in studying CS. Both have been accepted at UF, UCF and GA Tech. Only one applied to MIT and found out today that she was accepted. We are still waiting to hear from a few more schools for each but it’s going to be a tough decision. My daughter who was accepted at MIT also received one of the merit scholarships at UF which stacks with Benacquisto so I’ll have to see if UCF might be able to come up with something comparable for her. Both are leaning toward UCF if they stay in-state and would consider the other out-of-state programs.
@PPuggle Congratulations to your daughters for getting accepted to all these wonderful colleges. For CS, MIT is probably the way to go if money is not an issue ($75,000/Year) followed by Georgia Tech ($55,000/Year). If finances are a concern then it is a toss up between UF & UCF. UCF will match or exceed any UF scholarship offers especially for girls interested in CS. If your daughters love competitive programming, then as a member of the UCF programming team you are part of an elite club and the internship opportunities are exceptional (Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Lockheed) recruiters are always on campus making offers to the team members. The CS culture at UCF as part of the programming team is exceptional and they also pay a monthly stipend in addition to the Scholarship. If you take the programming team out of the equation it is a toss up between UF (#7 ranked public school, Research) UCF (Great Location (Orlando vs Gainesville) and Internships).
My son loves the culture of the UCF programming team and has been friends with team members and instructors for many years. He faced the same tough choices last year as he loves competitive programming but unfortunately competitive coding is only a small part of the overall CS education. My advise would be to visit all these colleges and choose the one which is the best fit for your daughters. Good luck on making your decision. I am sure they will be successful in any of these great colleges.
@1917souci Over the course of the 4 years, I would not say that the majority of business classes are online. I have a Gator in Finance and can say that through the first 2 years his business courses were mostly online. The introductory classes for each business discipline that all business majors are required to take are mostly online (Management, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, etc.). Once you get beyond those introductory classes and take the higher level courses, those are primarily traditional classroom courses. However, even in the online classes there are often group projects, peer reviewing of papers and other assignments that force students to interact with each other and develop some of those skills that you mention. Then, during the last two years the classes are mostly traditional format. Also, at least in Finance, an internship is required prior to graduation.
As you said, it is incumbent upon the student and the student’s parents to fully research the curriculum and overall program reputation before deciding which is the best fit. If someone just gets anecdotal feedback from a student in his/her first or second year, it will seem that all Business courses are online. If you don’t dig deeper, you will not realize that most of the last 2 years are traditional classroom format classes.
@fl2019 Thanks! My daughters also know the UCF team members/coaches so I suspect they know your son as well. Sent you PM.
What college did your DS end up choosing? We will also be deciding UF vs other computer science programs in the near future.