it looks like our daughter will be deciding between these 3 schools as her favorites. all are affordable (although UT is more expensive) and she has visited and liked all 3. her major, for now, is political science. I would say after visiting that UGA probably moved ahead of UF, where we just had a weak tour guide.
just fishing here for any knowledge on academics, social scene, student life…
It seems to me that UT wins in prestige, UF wins in rank, and UGA has the nicest campus.
anyone else debating between 2 or 3 of these schools?
(she has some other options. UW Seattle- I think the weather might scare her away. And UCSB- we are just not excited about the travel logistics getting there.)
UCSB - we differe here - it’s easier to get to than UGA and UF. SBA has enough flights into it and it’s relatively close to the campus. Otherwise, it’s like UGA and UF - that you fly to an LA area airport and get a ride/shuttle. UF does have an airport within distance too - not as busy as SBA.
The three schools you mention - again, I’d disagree. UT wins for prestige - to some people. But not to UF grads - who see “top 5” all over campus. UT is in Austin…I mean, boom - right there - to some that’s appealing, to others that’s scary - that’s most important.
UF wins in rank - what’s that mean. US News - yes. Forbes - yes. Others no. But again - what does that mean? Is UTK, for example or ASU, not higher ranked in Supply Chain. Or U of Arizona not higher ranked in MIS. So your student is studying poli-sci - if they want an international focus, I personally don’t think you can do much better than UGA. So rank is really meaningless. These are three great but different schools - with UT being in city, UGA being in a small city on the fringes of the outskirts of Atlanta. And Gainesville is in the middle of nowhere - but within reach of Jax, Orlando, and Tampa (reach being a couple hours; a little less to Jax).
As for the tour guide, that’s no way to pick a school. It absolutely happens though. Charleston grabbed us off the admission session, had set up lunch for us with Hillel and walked us over after the tour. Made a huge impact. But that’s not the reason to choose a school - neither is a tour guide.
I like UGA’s campus better. My daughter liked UF better. When you say nicest, that’s in the eye of the beholder.
Here’s what I want to know - where does your daughter want to be?
There is no analysis of these three that overcomes that. And if you’re eliminating UCSB solely because of logistics, add it back and delete UGA or UF instead - as it’s easier to get to.
Is your D admitted to her major at all the schools? Will any of the schools require parental loans?
Where does she want to work when she graduates?
Beyond that, I would research the poli sci courses, profs and their research, outcomes for poli sci grads and see if she can eliminate some schools that way because there will be differences, possibly significant for your D.
true you can fly to SB, but not direct so it’s always gonna be a pretty long process, most of a day. I guess maybe that’s true for UGA as well since you have to shuttle from Atlanta airport, but most likely you will find other kids to share rides with, and the flight itself is quick, with no time zone change.
maybe we are disregarding UCSB too easily, though.
she’s probably leaning towards UT but is very intrigued by UCSB and the beach life.
we had a great visit to UGA though and she would be happy there as well.
she preferred the UGA campus and Athens to UF’s campus and Gainesville. As did I.
just did. quick Expedia search for flights to Santa Barbara and it’s not easy. It’s like a whole day with the layovers. And expensive. 5 AM flights aren’t gonna be my daughter’s cup of tea.
Flights are a few times a year. Where are you coming from?
She can always go to LAX or Burbank too - and then you have another UF situation…or UGA to a tad lesser extent.
If costs are an issue, that’s a reason to blow it out.
I put in a random August 15th - and find ample flights under $250 and 9 hours - but the commute is very short from the airport. I did from NYC airports - not sure where you are.
Yes, CA is farter than GA.
So it sounds like Austin and Athens are the finalists.
Go there - and now you’re down to two. Austin has Southwest Airlines too which won’t show on a tracker…Atlanta has SW too.
Then it’s - in the city or not - and of course, is one much less $ wise.
One could argue that being in the capital is good for poli-sci but it depends what one wants to do. One could argue that UGA is super strong in Intl Affairs -if that’s an interest.
But to me - it’s uber urban vs. not - very big difference.
Good luck.
PS - if she was looking at too, an MPA, for example - both are strong. UGA rated higher than UT - but that’s likely not really anything.
Austin is a great city, although the traffic is intense. I will tell you that a lot of kids decide to live in the area after they attend college there, so I don’t know if that’s a plus or minus! I had a great six years there (BS and MS).
We use American or Southwest to fly there, most of the time.
Hope she likes football!
Ocala is about 45 min from G’ville but has an international airport.
Like ML, alumni stick around G’ville. Some retirement communities dedicated to alumni are springing up. It’s a great town. Son majored in poly-sci and went on to UF law.
I really don’t think you can go wrong with any of your choices.
I’d go with uGA just because I don’t trust the governors of the other two states not to use their university system for political gamesmanship.
I would highly recommend a trip out to UCSB. It really is right on the beach and Santa Barbara , a 10 minute drive away, is such a great town. It was the only uc my dd seriously considered applying to after visiting them, but she ultimately decided to stay on the east coast.
Anyway, all four are excellent schools and similar enough that your dd would likely be happy at any of the four.
Are all 3 affordable without parental loans (ie., your daughter would only take the 5.5K federal loans or none at all)?
Where are you located (South, Southwest, East Coast…)
Check whether any admission is “pre-major” and if so, whether the program is selective (typically, getting a certain grade in a set of core courses) or competitive (only some are selected among students who have the grade in the core courses).
Did she get into any Honors College or Program?
there won’t be loans with any, but there will be more $ left over for potential grad school, or for nicer housing, at UGA or UF than at UT (or UCSB).
we are in the Northeast (NY/NJ region).
still waiting on UGA honors decisions (April 1st is the day). I don’t know how much that should move the needle. Not in honors at the others.
You probably already realize this, but UCSB operates on a quarter system rather than semesters - shorter terms which many students love but it is a different pace, but also the academic year starts and ends about 5-6 weeks later than semester schools.
(It sounds like UCSB is likely not at the top right now, but just wanted to point that out.)
I live in the Northeast and am surprised by how many kids apply to UT Austin from this region. I went there and and had an amazing experience but never thought it’d be as popular throughout the country. This article is interesting:
Top 10 “dream” colleges and universities
As named by students applying to college
The list shows the top 10 dream schools as named by students applying to college in 2023.
|1.|Massachusetts Institute of Technology
|2.|Stanford University
|3.|Harvard College
|4.|New York University
|5.|University of California – Los Angeles
|6.|Princeton University
|7.|University of Pennsylvania
|8.|Columbia University
|9.|University of Michigan |10.|University of Texas – Austin
For PoliSci & its variants there isn’t a meaningful difference in the ‘prestige’ of these schools.
If ‘PoliSci’ links to law school or to public policy, again none of the three has an edge…but extra $$ to pay for law/grad school could!
Finally, wrt travel logistics: I am fairly hard hearted on this. None of the collegekids went to schools with easy travel logistics (!), but they all feel/felt that their schools were worth it. We only ever drove 2 of them to college (and that was just for their first move-in- we didn’t even do the move-out at graduation!); the others flew from the beginning. They all learned how to store their stuff over holidays. They learned to book the shuttles ahead of time. I can’t say that there were never hassles, but imo it’s not a a 1st or 2nd tier decision metric!
UGA Honors is among the top programs in the country so it’d definitely make a difference. It’s also highly selective so odds are always low.
I’d pick between UGA and UT –
UF is a powerhouse in Florida but it has a lot of online classes (some may be required depending on major / some students may enjoy that but not all) and Florida heat is hard (along with the daily 4:30pm rainstorm); there is also some political instability impacting the university (majors may be cut, support from DEI may be cut, some star professors may be leaving - nothing definite for now but all will be settled in the Fall when it’s too late).
Gainesville is about 2 hours from a beach v. Athens 3 hours so I think there’s no real advantage to one over the other (both can be reached for a weekend away but can’t be “spur of the moment afterclass hour trip”).
However, in comparison to Santa Barbara/Goleta, you can swim in the ocean without a wet suit!
Anyway, even without Honors, UGA is a solid university in a college town that’s within an easy drive of a major city. UT is in a major city. Both are in interesting states for poli-sci majors, UGA because it’s located in a purple state where the original 60s “white flight” is being erased due to an influx of young people and new sub/urbanites. Austin is a “blue” (proudly “weird”) city in a generally “red” state. Both will have plenty of contrast ideologically and plenty of opportunities for practical engagement. UT is better-known nationally but UGA is highly regarded for International Affairs.
In terms of culture, both will be football-mad, with a lot of Greek life.
If UGA Honors then that trumps anything else, but otherwise look into the LLCs and housing issues (not just for the 1st year but also availability and costs off campus).
One quick mention to add about UF is the 9 credit summer requirement - although I know there are ways around it.
The State of Florida requires that undergraduate students complete 9 hours of summer credit at a Florida state university. Summer hours at a state or community college do not count toward this requirement.
This is correct. It doesn’t matter if UT is or isn’t better than the other 2. If you ask executive & leaders around the country to ‘rank’ those 3 universities, a solid majority would put Texas at the top.
Now, should you override your daughter’s desires and insist she goes there if she prefers UGA or UF? Or course not. All are fine & peer institutions.
My general impressions are that UT Austin has the longer established national reputation and is behind only a very small number of state flagships in the country, and some would argue it’s not behind any. If I were chasing prestige, among those Texas would likely be my choice. Florida’s ranking in US News is a very recent thing as is the lower admission rates to UF and FSU. It remains to be seen if that is the new level set. Texas has been solid forever. I agree with you about UGa’s campus. Athens is a really cool place and somewhat underrated IMO.
Speaking of underrated, UW Seattle. I would take a harder look at that school. It has T10 - 20 departments in all kinds of things, super strong in the hard sciences, tippy top CS and biomed engineering programs, T25 business school and T10 medical school that feeds a robust life sciences community on campus. It is historically one of the very strongest research output universities (public or private) in the country and its national rep is catching up with its reality too, though it is still under-ranked (IMO) in US News. As far as campuses go, I think it’s REALLY hard to beat out UW, though tastes vary. I use this image a lot because I like it, but trust me it’s not the only nice view on campus:
I’m a little biased, but to me it blows away almost every other campus on which I’ve set foot, and I’ve been to a lot of them. As for the weather, it’s mild, so it’s rarely very hot or cold. Yeah, it rains and the grey can stretch a little too long. But this is four years and youth. I doubt it would actually matter. Plus, she would be near to outstanding outdoor opportunities that would also be hard to rival.
I get that way too.
