<p>I'm posting this in both the UCF and UF forum to get more opinions. </p>
<p>As of today I have officially been accepted into both colleges. I've really been leaning towards UCF but I am not sure. I like UCF because it's in a big city that can provide many opportunities, it's closer to home, and compared to UF it is not consumed in sports fanaticism. I like sports games now and then, but I don't want my college life to be about football. I know that UCF is up-and-coming; compared to UF's age, UCF has only just started out. Also, UCF has offered me their Pegasus Gold Scholarship while UF offers nothing. I've heard that Gainesville is a small town that is basically all about UF and I don't exactly like that. </p>
<p>I'm not opposed to going to UF, but I often feel I lean more towards UCF. I know that UF has a longer tradition and richer history, and it has very high prestige. My parents want me to go to UF because they feel it is academically better. I acknowledge this factor too, and that's why I'm in this dilemma. </p>
<p>I know that the academics and not the trivial matters should come first, but I tend to think about the factors such as the campus appeal, location, and where my good friends are going as important factors too.</p>
<p>Give me some insight please?</p>
<p>In applying to graduate school, will which school I go to affect my chances? </p>
<p>Also I am planning on applying to UCF's Honor's College. If I do get in, is UCF Honors better than UF regular? </p>
<p>I forgot to mention, I am a bit undecided on majors. I have a list, but I haven’t chosen one in particular. </p>
<p>Some include: Nursing, Pre-Veterinarian, Health Care Administration, Public Relations, Marine Biology, Hospitality Adm. and Management, Psychology. </p>
<p>Yes UCF honors is wonderful! Small classes will really make u get to know people and boost your GPA up. Dont listen to UF people dissing UCF, its a great school.</p>
<p>consider this…as my son went thru a similar issue (he just got accepted into UF and was accepted into USF already)</p>
<p>college is a tool, that will be critical in deciding what doors it opens for you.</p>
<p>Your key factors seem to revolve around high school friends; well, to be honest, you will make all new friends in the next 4 years, maybe even meet that significant other, and in 4 (or more years) you will all scatter to the four winds.</p>
<p>the reputation of your college of choice will follow you for a lifetime.</p>
<p>there ARE better universities than the ivy leagues out there, there are better classes, better teachers…and yet…almost every company or group still grants an advantage to an ivy league graduate.
Its a reputation that opens doors (and your personal determination) that decides how far you go.</p>
<p>The two schools have many of the same issues. Very large classes, lots of distractions. from students, UCF is considered apathetic considering school spirit, not so at UF, Academics…it depends on what you want to study. Overall UCF is third tier, and UF is nationally ranked. Very different prestige levels, but overall college is what YOU make it. I am declining UCF due to too many classmates have went, and it is being described as just like high school and not much harder.</p>
<p>Of course, I might not go to UF either…it was not on my radar until accepted last night. Have to go visit and see. Hopefully when I make my appointment with the someone in Classics and Math it will be more interesting than the general tour I had last summer which was awful.</p>
<p>Is the ranking of a school such a big deciding factor in jobs and grad school? I’ve heard mixed things. Some people say it matters a lot but then I also hear it’s what you make of it. You can be totally slacker at UF or work your butt off at UCF.</p>
<p>That would an issue school regardless of the school. However if posing the same question if you worked hard at both UF and UCF, obviously a Grad school would look more highly upon UF, because of its prestige and rank. I’m by no means knocking UCF, because its hospitality school is way better than anything that UF could offer comparably. However, UF overall has more opportunities because of its large alumni base. While you or others on the post may not care about prestige, it could be a deciding factor within a job interview. Attending a school at the caliber of UF demonstrates the hard work you put in during high school, which while you may be far removed from by the time you get a job, it shows a long history of willingness to work. Congrats on acceptances to both schools.</p>
<p>Ranking is a big factor for grad school. If you are considering grad school, employers are more likely to care about your grad school prestige than your undergrad prestige, and the college you went to will only matter when you have no experience and are an entry-level employee. </p>
<p>If you want to be pre-vet though, consider that UF has a veterinary school and UCF does not. Almost half of the people accepted to UF vet were UF grads, and admission is rediculously competitive. You are many times more likely to get into UF vet by going to UF rather than UCF, and if you don’t get in to UF vet school then you will have to go OOS, and you will rack up over 100k of debt in a hurry. If you are set on veterinary (which it doesn’t sound like you are), there is no question: you must go to UF over UCF.</p>
<p>I think both ends of the spectrum make the decisions easy for jobs and grad school - if you excel, not matter where you go, you will do well when it comes to jobs and grad school. (My cousin’s former roommate at UCF is currently attending law school at Harvard.)</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you slack at any school, don’t expect people to come beating down your door.</p>
<p>In the middle is where it might make a difference if all factors are equal. I believe that UF would win out.</p>
<p>(But, as an example, my father’s company considers engineering graduates from UF and UCF to be equivalent. This may not be true for other disciplines, but for engineering, at least, it is.)</p>
<p>SeanCris makes a good point regarding vet school and probably some other things like pharmacy and such. They need to be considered.</p>
<p>Have you visited the campuses? Depending on what program you end up in, there’s several things that UF would be much better at supporting you with. UF’s reputation as a high end research institution opens a lot of doors. Just because UF is an extraordinary sports school doesn’t mean your life will revolve around sports, some of my friends have never been to a football game. I’m a huge football fanatic, but that basically just means every couple weeks I head over to a game (and that’s only fall semester). Football isn’t the center of the universe for students, we just acknowledge our own greatness. It provides something fun to do, it doesn’t consume us.</p>
<p>There’s no denying the enormous alumni network that comes with going to UF, a lot of doors open up through alumni contact. If you go to grad school, UF’s prestige will certainly help you out.</p>
<p>Ultimately it seems like you’re leaning toward UCF based on rather superficial reasons. In the end, UF is a national brand while UCF’s influence doesn’t extend much past Orlando. If you go to UF, you will have lots of options. In my opinion going to UCF won’t neccesarily close some of those doors for you, but will at least make those doors much much narrower.</p>
<p>It’s an order of magnitude difference. And it’s compelling.</p>
<p>I believe that I can excel at either school and, in either case, get into the graduate school of my choice. Regardless of which school I attend for my Bachelors degree.</p>
<p>I’ll have $36,000 additional money to pay for grad school if I choose one vs. the other.</p>
<p>I feel very lucky that the choice is entirely mine. I can choose either one.</p>
<p>And I could be happy at either one. I like both schools. That’s what makes it even harder for my choice.</p>
<p>The reason that UCF has to shell out that kind of money to attract quality students is because they don’t have another means to attract many of them. Their brand recognition is weak, their degree strength is weak, and their program is not highly respected in the State of Florida, let alone on a national level. They aren’t even in the top 3 research universities in our state. UF is number one, with strong brand recognition and it is recognized as being a Tier 1 University by the US World and News Report. I don’t know what UCF is, but I’m guessing somewhere around Tier 3 if that.</p>
<p>Joe, I assume you’re national merit. I remember making that decision a few years ago. It’s always kinda sad when I get my 500$ from UF, knowing that I coulda gotten a check for 10000 from Oklahoma.</p>
<p>If I’m correct in assuming National Merit, why arn’t you considering going out of state if money is that important to you? I’m sure you’ve gotten offers.</p>
<p>I’ve visited Alabama and Auburn. I liked them both. I’ve received additional departmental scholarships from each of them as well.</p>
<p>UCF’s scholarship is different because, as an example, it doesn’t tie money to on-campus housing. That money “walks away” when you move off campus at Alabama and Auburn.</p>
<p>The other thing is that if it takes me longer than 4 years (or if I choose to go to summer sessions) at Auburn or Alabama, I have to pay out of state tuition. That’s significant and it would, in short order, counter the cost of going to UCF.</p>
<p>Interesting, I’m just curious because it seems like you want to go to grad school, and while yes it’s perfectly possible to go to the top end grad schools at a place like UCF, I still feel the path is much clearer at UF (or, perhaps one of our rival institutions). I’m an engineer, and engineering is what UCF does best (though, again, it depends on department, my Nuclear Degree couldn’t come from them). For a lot of the other departments more established college’s power as research institution really opens doors, not just for prestige (there’s no denying that outside of Florida, people don’t really know what UCF is) but the fact that because of all the work being done, there’s opportunities to work in labs for nearly every discpline.</p>
<p>Just food for thought. Like I said before, it seems like some doors become harder to get through if your school doesn’t have the prestige and alumni base to help grease the wheels. It’s easy to assume you’re going to be the absolute top of the class, which means you can do anything (even from UCF), but if you end up being simply well-above-average, it’s possible you’d regret your choice.</p>