New College of Florida

<p>I recently visited NCF and I was impressed with the academics. However, the campus wasn't very green and maybe a little too small for me. Also, I really disliked my tour guide. I consider myself a "quirky" person but she wasn't funny weird, she was just plan strange. Is New College a fun place to go to school (even if you don't party)? Are the people "down-to-earth"? Are the people trying to hard to be hipsters or something? That was the feeling I was getting from my visit. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I know this post is old, but rsffl95 had some great questions that never got answered! </p>

<p>I’m not sure what usage of “green” was being used. It’s true that the grass is brownish in many areas. Welcome to Florida! It’s pricy and not worth it environmentally to water the grass a lot. Because of ants, no one wants to sit in it anyway. NCF is not as green in the environmental sense as many students would wish. We do recycle and the new academic building (ACE) recycles rain water and uses a great deal of natural lighting. As of this year, plastic water bottles are no longer sold on campus and there are water bottle refill stations all over. There is an initiative to start composting next semester. </p>

<p>New College’s campus is very small. New College is very small. Last semester, all of my classes were a five-minute walk from my dorm. While campus is small, there is still a lot to do there! The bus service for the area, SCAT (<a href=“https://www.scgov.net/scat/Pages/default.aspx[/url]”>https://www.scgov.net/scat/Pages/default.aspx&lt;/a&gt;), goes right through campus, so it’s easy to get places as well–Sarasota is a really fun city. Biking is a great alternative too. </p>

<p>There are some strange people at New College. </p>

<p>YES, New College is totally a fun place to go to school! I absolutely love it. While a minority, a lot of students do choose not to party. There is little pressure to smoke or drink there and people are generally really accepting of a person’s choice not to partake. Some people party sober too. </p>

<p>I would say that most NCFers are pretty down-to-earth, yeah. People are generally really warm, open, and laid back there. </p>

<p>There are some hipsters at New College.</p>

<p>I’m a New College alum, and went there when it was truly small, half the size, 450 people. While 850 is smaller than almost all schools, when you are in a community of 850 students, plus profs, that’s actually not that small. How many people of a school of 10,000 would you ever meet anyway. I also do not feel like the NC campus is physically small. I’ve been on campuses of many many more students that fit on just a few city blocks. The walk from the Pei dorms to the sunset is a nice walk, I don’t remember how long, but not just a few seconds. I don’t think the constant description of NC as being small is entirely (although somewhat) accurate.
What was small, when I was there, was the class size. My bigger classes might have had 15 students. Once past the intro classes, my classes had 1-6 students. The school has doubled, so you might not find that now . . . but I bet there is a wider course selection also, so that’s all to the good.</p>

<p>I loved New College, too! I’m now looking at it for my daughter.</p>

<p>What was your tour guide’s name? If it was Jessica or Taylor, then yah, those girls are ‘weird.’ They don’t represent the average NCF student…</p>

<p>…not that it matters much, but my daughter and I toured with Taylor when we visited NCF and I thought she was pretty normal. I can’t say whether she represents the average NCF student, but she was clever, funny and obviously likes new college a lot. I’ll take your word that she isn’t ‘representative’ as I don’t know enough New Collegians to make an informed comparison, but I have to say she wasn’t ‘weird’… unless pinkish hair and lip rings are weird for college students these days.</p>

<p>Thank you all for the responses! I enjoy reading about NCF since there is a high probability of DD enrolling there in the fall. It sounds wonderful, but I am a little troubled by the limited course offerings and by the relatively low 4-year graduation rate. I think I understand the grad rate but if anyone would like to offer more insight, in particular about going on to grad school from NCF, I would read it gratefully.</p>

<p>I graduated from there a long time ago, DanniMichigan, but I’ll answer the question according to how it was then. . . a lot of people didn’t graduate because it takes a lot of maturity to complete the senior thesis. I don’t know if the standards have changed, but it was a big project, perhaps verging on grad school work. You had to have the organizational skills to complete it. I ended up on the five year plan myself. Plus, you have to do three independant study projects. You have to have the right personality to do this. Some people go there, get sucked into the idea of lack of grades and the great weather, and don’t realize that there is actually going to be a ton of work involved.</p>

<p>I am flying to Sarasota tomorrow to visit the school with my 17-year-old daughter, though. I loved my experience there, and we are seriously considering the school for her. I wouldn’t recommend it for my younger daughter, though, who would I don’t think would have the discipline required.</p>

<p>As far as grad school, I went after NC, and so did my husband. He got into one of the top schools in the country, with a large stipend. If the thesis is good, it will impress the grad schools, despite the lack of grades.</p>

<p>Hello Redpoint. What you describe does help me to understand what NCF demands of students in terms of being organized and disciplined, as well as motivated! And you make a great point about the thesis serving to demonstrate one’s work and capabilities in lieu of a grade transcript.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your reply.</p>