I know its past the decision date but I’m posting this in case others may benefit. Our son is a current student at UT. We moved 2 years ago from NJ to Fla so I have very good data points for the schools in NE. Here are our thoughts (in no particular order ) that folks should keep in mind when deciding:
The fancy suite style/apt dorms are pretty much limited to Juniors/Seniors. The are allocated by # of credits. The underclassman dorms are doubles with some triples.
Living off-campus is pretty much not possible. The area around the campus is either really expensive or the ghetto, no what you would call traditional off-campus housing, unless you want to live up near USF.
There is a fair mix of students from Florida and elsewhere so its not a commuter school
The Art classes looks great on paper but unless you are a major they won’t be a good option. They also tend to have a long list of very expensive supplies you need. My son was planning on taking Intro to Photography but it would have cost him $500 in supplies on top of the camera (which he had). They aren’t really exploration type classes.
It isn’t a liberal arts school. Although its small, there aren’t any what I would call seminar type interesting, thought provoking classes you’d find in some of the little LACs up North or say New College. It’s more like a Lehigh than a Lafayette.
They do an excellent job of preparing the students to get a job. I think this is hands down one of UTs strong points. They start the kids off from the first semester getting their resume together, thinking about career options, there are tons of employers that come on campus to recruit for internships and UT has very strong ties with the local sports teams and businesses in Tampa.
The class sizes are small and from our experience the teachers seem pretty approachable. I wouldn’t say they are game changers but seem like they care and are interested in teaching rather than purely research.
My son had a car on campus his freshman year with no issue. Parking is plentiful and cheap in the multistory carpark.
The area around campus is not that safe. They routinely send out emails to the students about suspicious people on campus, theft, etc. I think the University does a good job within the confines of the campus but a block over is not really somewhere you’d walk around in.
Travelling in and out of the are is pretty easy with Tampa airport.
There are no on-line classes. That can be ok but not great if you want to try to take a summer class from home.
Administration is remarkably responsive and very helpful. They respond to emails, are easy to talk to in person and pretty helpful overall.
Financial aid is pretty generous
Classes are not always easy to get into- especially as a freshman/sophomore.
The campus is pretty, its compact an easy to walk around everywhere, and the facilities are good.
The kids generally seems like a nice enough bunch. Because it is a private school in a state where state tuition is very cheap, local kids tend to either be on scholarships or children of alumni. The rest of the population is made up of well off kids from the northeast, well off kids from Mexico/South America, well off kids from Saudi, with the rest being smart but of modest means on scholarships.
Food seems to be pretty decent given the size of the school.
The weather is great as long as you don’t mind the heat. I guess there’s always the pool for that.
Hope that helps