<p>I will graduate with my A.A. and my diploma at the same time because of dual enrollment. I want to study Biology in college, but I am not sure which school would be better for me. FSU has a clear suggested schedule but I am not sure about what classes I am supposed to take at New College . I have 2-2 1/2 years left because of all of my credits. I am just nervous about New College because I will probably have to take classes in the summer in order to graduate on time and I have never taken an AP class so I don't know how academically challenging the classes at New College are or how hard it is to do the thesis?</p>
<p>I’m an old New College graduate, so I can’t speak of FSU. The two schools, however, are most likely worlds apart. New College is intellectual and alternative. My GUESS is FSU is not (tho there are elements I’m sure of these at all schools). Have you visited? Do you feel comfortable in this kind of setting? When I was at NC we were constantly having philosophical discussions. It was definitely a Ravensclaw place. There are no sports at NC.The classes are definitely academically challenging. Someone told me the kids at NC don’t have to write as much as we used to in the 80s, and that the theseses didn’t have to be so long. I don’t know if this is true or not.</p>
<p>If you have your AA then you must have taken college level classes that are equivalent to APs, so I wouldn’t worry about that.</p>
<p>Do they have a summer term at New College now? They didn’t when I was there.</p>
<p>Ok, great! Thanks for your help. I did visit New College and it is my #1 choice. They don’t have summer classes, but I looked at the website and I believe that it says I can take classes at another institution or go abroad and take classes. Thank you again :)</p>
<p>I would have a discussion with NC about how your credits will transfer over. Some very well might not. I don’t think of NC as a school you can rush through, also. The thesis takes a lot of preparation. When I was there many of us were on the five year plan. (smiley, if I knew how to make one). You would have to be very committed and organized to get out after two years. Again, I don’t know if that has changed since I was there.</p>
<p>It came down to those two schools for my son also. He really liked New College. He is definitley not a big football school spirit kind of guy. The small size of the classes, being taught by professors instead of TA’s - it just really felt comfortable to him. In the end though he decided on FSU. He was concerned about the lack of faculty in the department (physics). There are only three (they seem fantastic, but still, only three of them) He was concerned about lack on research opportunities or being able to get involved in research in subjects he is interested in. He is also very advanced in math and was concerned about running out of courses to take in the subject since there are no graduate classes. Also, a lot of courses seem to be offered on an ‘every other’ semester schedule, he would have had problems planning his coursework (due to having completed a lot of first and second year courses already through dual enrollment). After much thought, he decided a larger school could offer more of what he needed. </p>
<p>It just comes down to what fits your needs. New College is a great school, and I still wish that it would have worked for him as it was so right on so many levels. Hopefully you will find a way to make it work for you.</p>
<p>Virtually impossible for a small LAC to compete with a large public university in areas like the sciences. For example, one FSU student in physics entered as a freshman and wound up staying through to graduation with his PhD. [His</a> dissertation in nuclear physics was the judged the best in the U.S. that year.](<a href=“Prize Recipient”>Prize Recipient) In another example, my D1 earned her BS in biochemistry at FSU and performed parts of her research in the [National</a> High Magnetic Field Laboratory](<a href=“http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/]National”>http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/), which is located at FSU.</p>
<p>However, New College is an excellent college. I know two graduates and they were prepared well by the school.</p>
<p>Thanks for your post physicsfreak! It makes me feel much more relieved! Does your son enjoy FSU? With FSU, I am just conerned that I will have a hard time standing out in admissions to graduate school, has your son found that to be a problem?</p>
<p>Also, thank you everyone for your posts. They all have been extremely helpful :)</p>
<p>Dolphins - We don’t know yet how my son’s choice will play out, he was just accepted for next fall! He did have the same concern about being able to have enough experience with a professor to get a LOR come graduate school time. In physics, the ratio of faculty to students at FSU is actually about the same as New College ( there are about 15 physics majors at New College, about 150 at FSU, at least according to info gleaned from tours) so he figured he would probably have as good a chance. Plus he really wanted to do stuff at the Mag Lab! I don’t know what the situation is for biology majors though. </p>
<p>We felt like New College would be excellent for someone studying on the humanities side. But for science, my son wanted more “stuff” like lab equipment and tech-y things. Again, I don’t know how that would play out for a biology major.</p>
<p>You’ve done the tours at both schools right? Which one is “calling” you? If its New College, I’m sure it will work for you. It’s such a different kind of school that if it appeals to you than it probably is a good fit.</p>
<p>If you haven’t toured both than you really should. We started the tours thinking New College would be his number one. FSU and UF were tied for number two. The campus tours and info sessions really helped him figure out what he wanted for the next four years.</p>
<p>“Which one is “calling” you? If its New College, I’m sure it will work for you.”</p>
<p>I agree – it’s a love-it-or-hate-it place, and you will probably know right away which camp you wall into.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, We are from the Sarasota area and both daughters were brought up in the public school system.</p>
<p>New College was known among my kids as the “blue hair” school, as so many students elected to color their hair. </p>
<p>If the shoe fits… ;)</p>
<p>^ How’s that possible when New College does not accept many transfers unlike FSU?</p>
<p>I live in NYC where mainstream kids dye their hair blue. (smiley face if i jnew how to do it)</p>
<p>New College definitely had some oddball kids when I was there. There were also conventional kids. There were even a few vocal Republicans, believe it or not, to shake things up. </p>
<p>The main thing New College was was a place where you could have great discussions and not be considered a weirdo for caring about something intellectual. That was the overall climate. I hope it still is.</p>
<p>RML, is that true? Probably a quarter of the kids in my entering class were transfers.</p>
<p>It’s now down to about 15%. And transfer students don’t usually go back to square one, right? They just basically continue what they’ve started elsewhere. Thus the age bracket of NC students isn’t any different from FSU’s or UF’s. I could be wrong though.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean, RML (assuming your question is for me). I’ve long assumed most students at NCF were admitted as freshmen. D1 was a Pine View student and D2 was in another hs enhanced program and this was their conventional wisdom before entering the university.</p>
<p>RML, when parent2oles said “blue hair” he/she meant actual blue hair, not blue as in reference to senior citizens or age.</p>
<p>Gotcha…THAT ‘blue hair’. Plenty of those is Sarasota as well. No, that is the wrong shade. :)</p>