Objective Comparison: UF, FSU and UCF for Computer Science

College Search & Selection
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<p>DS is a junior.</p>

<p>We have looked at all 3 schools. They all have pros and cons. I'll list a few of our opinions and would love to hear opinions from others:</p>

<p>UF Pros:
Of course, it is the highest ranked state school in Florida, both overall and in computer science.
It has an excellent alumni network.
Well recruited as one of the state flagships.
Plenty of school spirit.</p>

<p>UF Cons:
DS didn't like the campus (the tour was a huge letdown).
Doesn't offer a minor in digital media - major only.
It's in a small town - good, local internships seem unlikely.
Honors housing on the edge of campus.</p>

<p>FSU Pros:
The campus is charming and had a more friendly vibe.
Well regarded, although not as much so as the other flagship.
Larger town, but still didn't seem as though tech internships would be plentiful.
Very much liked the honors and scholars program.
Honors housing centrally located.
Plenty of school spirit.</p>

<p>FSU Cons:
Also lacking digital media minor.
Seems to be stronger in the computer security area - not of interest to DS.
Larger town, but still didn't seem as though tech internships would be plentiful.</p>

<p>UCF Pros:
Excellent scholarship opportunities - not just NMF - Provost Scholars and Golden Knights
Huge school ( A con for many, but DS loves the vibe).
Campus layout is efficient for its size.
Love, love, loves the honors housing.
Has a digital media minor and many more classes of interest than the others..
The area seems to offer so much more in the way of internship opportunities.</p>

<p>UCF cons:
It's newer and looks more like an industrial park than a university.
Not as highly regarded - not nationally recognized.
Doesn't seem to have a strong alumni network.<br>
Some school spirit, but no rich history/traditions.</p>

<p>In summary, DS loves UCF and it is his first choice currently. Aside from school reputation, it really is the best fit and the logical choice. My concern is that a degree from this school may not open doors that would be available to him from a school like UF (or, to a lesser extent, FSU). UF is no southern ivy, but it is a strong, well-recruited state flagship. I guess what I really need is to hear success stories from parents whose high-achieving -- but not Intel Science Fair superstar -- kids went to colleges that were (hold your breath here) "beneath them".</p>

<p>Pleas be kind in your responses!!! :)</p>

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<p>He can apply to all three, see where he gets in and gets scholarships and financial aid, and decide later (unless he does not get into any or cannot afford any).</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus Well yes, that’s part of the plan. He fits the criteria for the honors college for all 3 schools, but with UF admissions being holistic, UF is not a slam dunk. I’m really just looking for more feedback on UF and FSU computer science, for DS, and some more positive feedback on UCF, for me. :)</p>

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<p>I’m not sure what the local area has to do with internship opportunities - if you’re thinking of doing them while school is in session, that isn’t going to happen. Kids have WAAAY too much going on during school to pursue that. If you’re looking for opportunities while school is in session, see if professors offer research opportunities for undergrads, that is far more likely, but again, those usually happen more over the summer.</p>

<p>D goes to a school exactly in the middle of nowhere and there are plenty of internship opportunities available when school is not in session - the school arranges them all over the country, particularly in Boston and New York, which are four hours away. They even have short internships over spring and winter breaks if you’re interested. It’s more of what a school’s network can offer rather than what is available locally.</p>

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<p>@MrMom62 Good point. However, co-ops during the school semester are also of interest.</p>

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<p>My math major chose FSU over UCF and UF due to:</p>

<p>Administration was MUCH friendlier and extremely helpful at FSU. Eveyone just seemed nicer. Down the road figured this could be important. (and has been)</p>

<p>Size, both overall and class size. UF and UCF seemed too sprawling and the “U can’t finish” slogan at UCF made him wary. </p>

<p>FSU’s campus was prettier and more easily traversed.</p>

<p>To him, Tallahassee was a nicer city than Gainesville or Orlando (too touristy).</p>

<p>Was interested in the research being done by specific members of the math faculty.</p>

<p>Mine was very advanced mathematically so all three schools could have been considered “beneath him”, but he was given permission the first semester to take advanced math classes at FSU and has done very well. He has also been selected for some very competitive summer REU’s, so no doors have been closed to him so far. </p>

<p>As far as the internships/REU’s, neither were in Tallahassee (or Florida for that matter) so I’m not sure that is a big factor.</p>

<p>All three are decent state schools though. We have friends and relatives at all of them. They all have their pros and cons, but basically the complaints and praise I hear sound the same from each school. It’s just really a matter of personal preference. If your son really likes UCF then he will probably do well there. His performance will determine which doors open for him down the road, not which of the three school names is on his diploma.</p>

<p>Edited to add: you can’t beat the merit money at UCF! I have several nieces/nephews that went there due to the Pegasus(?) scholarship $$.</p>

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<p>@physicsfreak I agree. FSU administration was the friendliest. </p>

<p>Thanks for the taking the time to give such detailed information! </p>

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<p><= UF Alumni (duh) so I’m clearly biased, but…</p>

<p>Last year (spring 2014) my DD had UF and UCF as her top two choices (for engineering) and I would have to agree with your list of pro’s and con’s. </p>

<p>We where disappointed in the UF tour (but loved the engineering and honor’s tours, since we got to spend most of the time talking with students), and loved UCF’s campus layout (but the buildings did remind me of an office park). She also much preferred the housing at UCF.</p>

<p>For us, the biggest plus for UCF was the scholarship $$.We know several kids in her class those chose UCF over UF, simply because of the scholarships. </p>

<p>We chose UF for a couple of reasons. First, UF is better funded and spends more $$$ per student than UCF. This is something that shows up in lots of different ways; a lower student to faculty ratio, a higher % of full time faculty, smaller classes, better facilities, better student support and in general, more options in the curriculum. Once you’re into your major, you’re much more likely to be taught by a tenured professor at UF, and by an adjunct professor/lecturer at UCF.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search1ba.aspx?institutionid=134097,132903,134130”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search1ba.aspx?institutionid=134097,132903,134130&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>We also liked UF’s Career Resource Center (another place where the better funding has an impact), and thought UF would do a better job of supporting her efforts at landing an internship/co-op/job. It’s more highly recruited (though being in Orlando, UCF is also fairly well recruited) than UCF. We (really I, around this time my dd started to experience a bad case of senioritis, if I hear YOLO one more time…) spent a lot of time looking at each schools career resource websites, exit interviews, and such. I would agree with MrMom62, that many of the internships and co-ops will require travel outside of Orlando or Gainesville. However, you shouldn’t have a problem landing a part time job in either city. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.crc.ufl.edu/”>http://www.crc.ufl.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In general, we liked the “mix” of students at UF over UCF. Even though some of my dd’s best friends went to UCF (and, after one semester are VERY happy at UCF), she really wanted to be with the more selective group of students at UF. </p>

<p>Finally, while UCF had a strong engineering department (in our opinion), UF has one of the best in the southeast. You’re choice in major should play a major role in choosing between UF, FSU and UCF. </p>

<p>Earlier this year I had lunch with a recent UCF grad (BA in Digital Media/Game Design, I think) who was working at CSX and finishing up a gaming app in his spare time. He did tell me that if he could do it all over again, he would have gotten the Computer Science degree (at UCF) and perhaps minored in digital media as it would have made it a lot easier to be recruited by gaming companies. Getting the CS degree and taking electives and/or minoring in Digital Media does sound like the best way to break into that field.</p>

<p>If your DS is interested in Human-Centered computing, UF has recently made this an area of focus and has hired several new faculty members to support research into this area (including Prof Juan E. Gilbert). You may want to look into it. </p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

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<p>@Gator88NE Thanks so much! This is the kind of response I was hoping for…anecdotal information that you can’t find on the websites or glean from a campus visit. And considering that you bleed blue and orange, it seemed like a very fair assessment! :)</p>

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<p>UF honors housing is on the edge of campus but the campus bus stops right out front and the best rec facility is close by. And the dorm immediately across the street has a pool. Very nice. If you have a car you can park in the garage right behind. Son spent two years there and loved it (last year moved off campus). Honors has their own advisers.<br>
Sorry about the campus tour not being great but the campus really is great and you can’t beat the school spirit. UCF tends to be more commuter from what I’ve heard.
When I read your list of pros and cons for each school UF is the clear winner.</p>

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<p>For most science and business programs, it would hard to see why one would choose any of the other public universities in Florida over UF. As an employer, UF grads tend to compete nationally with other flagship state universities such as Penn State and Texas. FSU is a step below that, and UCF is a step below FSU. </p>

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<p>Don’t discount the alumni network. It really works.</p>

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<p>The main issue I had with the honor housing at UF was the cost ($3,453 a semester vs. $2,558 at most other “freshman” dorms). Of course, in general the housing cost at UCF are higher (you get what you pay for…).</p>

<p>While it’s true UF is more highly recruited, some majors are more so than others. UF has by far the best recruited business school, FSU’s programs in math, chemistry and physics are equally well thought of as UF’s programs, while UCF engineering is much more competitive than FSU’s (the FSU/FAMU combined program).</p>

<p>Currently Computer Sciences majors are in great demand. A CS grad at UCF wouldn’t be at that much of a disadvantage vs. one at UF or FSU. On the other hand, an electrical engineering grad at UF would have an advantage over one at FSU/FAMU (all other factors being the same). Also, what skills you can demonstrate (in CS) plays a significant role in CS recruiting. That’s why internships/co-ops play such a significant role for CS and Engineering majors (as well as design projects).</p>

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<p>I appreciate all of the input!</p>

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<p>For CS, it doesn’t matter that much where you get your undergrad degree. It won’t hurt your son if he chooses Central Florida over Florida State or Florida.</p>

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<p>UCF and FSU have ABET approved computer science programs. All three have ABET approved engineering programs. Good luck to you and your son.</p>

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<p>Fun facts:</p>

<p>Both FSU and UF offer BA and BS degrees in Computer Science. FSU’s BS is ABET accredited, while UF’s program is not (both BA programs are not accredited). UCF has a BS (no BA) in Computer Sciences and it is also ABET accredited. </p>

<p>ABET accreditation isn’t as important for CS as it is for engineering. In fact, a lot of folks work in CS that don’t even have degree’s. It does signify a certain level of rigor. Stanford University’s CS program, for example, is also not ABET accredited. </p>

<p>From FSU’s website on the differences between the BA and BS degree:</p>

<p>

</p>

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http://www.abet.org/DisplayTemplates/DocsHandbook.aspx?id=3142 indicates that ABET accreditation in CS requires the following curricular content:

Note: in the above context, “one year” means one fourth of the total number of credits for a four year bachelor’s degree.

Some of the good non-ABET-accredited CS majors do not have the science requirement (the science requirement may be why the patent exam accepts ABET-accredited CS degrees, but wants others to have additional science course work). However, since poor or limited non-ABET-accredited CS majors do exist, a student considering a school with such may want to check whether the school offers sufficient CS courses that would provide the CS content specified above.

For the more advanced CS course work, the following offerings are desirable to see on offer:

algorithms and complexity
theory of computation, languages, and automata
operating systems
compilers
databases
networks
security and cryptography
computer architecture/design and other hardware topics
electives (e.g. artificial intelligence, graphics)

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I’m curious as to what you’ve decided.

My son is one of those Intel Science Fair-level whiz kids with the academic chops to go anywhere, but he plans to study computer science in Florida (he has been accepted by UF Honors/Innovation Academy, UCF Burnett Honors and Excel, and the new Florida Polytechnic University). Though I don’t know about FSU, we couldn’t agree more on your list of pro’s and con’s of University of Central Florida versus the University of Florida.

We evaluated UCF vs. UF primarily based on my son’s intended major. Money was not a major factor since he got full ride scholarships at UCF and Florida Polytech (and has Bright Futures/FAS, and Florida Prepaid).

In our case, UCF Honors College is his first choice for a few key reasons:

  1. PROGRAM QUALITY. Both UF and UCF have strong reputations in computer science, but UCF offers a 5-year combined BS/MSCS degree. Subjectively, the simple fact that the University of Florida's president actually tried to eliminate its computer science program in 2012 speaks volumes that UF doesn't adequately prioritize the importance of the BSCS program and that HAS to have had a deleterious effect on morale, professorial recruitment, and program quality.
  2. ENVIRONMENT. UF has a beautiful campus, but the surrounding Gainesville area is a dump. By contrast, UCF reminds me of a Disney theme park with it's orderly, perfectly maintained campus. The Towers 3 Honors housing is fantastic and the Burnett Honors College creates the feeling of a small liberal arts college within the confines and with the powerful resources of a major public research university. The Honors College at UCF is a 4-year deal vs. 2-years at UF.
  3. SUBJECTIVE FACTORS. UF's Admissions process is arrogant and incompetent. First they tried telling us that my son's 45-year old private school was not regionally accredited (it is) and that he would need to take SAT Subject Matter tests. Second, the UF website promised an admissions decision by mid-February, but on the appointed announcement date, they figured out that since we applied after November 1 that they would withhold announcement of their admissions decision until March 27th. With a 35 ACT and 4.4 GPA, my son never really had any doubt about the outcome, but the arrogance of "you just wait, mister" came shining through. We went for a campus tour, parked where we were told, and came back to a $25 parking fine (that was ultimately reversed after a lot of hassle). Finally, the UF Innovation Academy oddly doesn't allow on-campus residence in the Fall term.

All of the above said, for majors outside of the computer science or if money were a driving factor, UCF might not be as strong as UF and our decision might have been different.

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@OrlandoDad UCF is still his number one choice. :slight_smile: