Social atmosphere at Florida Tech

Colleges and Universities A-Z Florida Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hey everyone! </p>

<p>I have been accepted into Florida Tech (Software Engineering) with a generous annual scholarship, and that's really cool. Now, I am really interested in finding out more about what the social atmosphere is like around campus among students -- meaning, how vibrant is the social scene at Florida Tech? Is the male-to-female ratio still so heavily dominated by males? How about Greek Life? I've tried to dig up some new information on this topic, but all I've found are the same facts that allude to an overall boring social scene, and girls being some sort of noticeable minority at the school. I'd appreciate it if actual students at Florida Tech could weigh in on this topic and offer me their opinions on it.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>I had the similar fears as you before I came to FIT. I visited some other schools before FIT and thought it would be a ghost town here because it’s small. Given the size though, it’s surprisingly active. If you choose to go here, you have to live on campus to get the most out of it.</p>

<p>However, If you’re looking for an extremely active social scene, this may not be the best place for you. There are only 4,000 students here and about 1/3 of them live on campus. If you were to go to UCF or whatever, there will be 10x as many people, making it seem much more lively.</p>

<p>I don’t participate in Greek life, so I can’t really comment. I do see them loitering around campus a lot, they seem active.</p>

<p>It is mostly guys here due to it being an engineering school, but if you’re interested in SE, the only other ABET accredited SE program in Florida is at ERAU. I wouldn’t recommend going there unless you’re interested in aviation.</p>

<p>You should try to visit the campus during fall or spring (people usually take summer off). It’ll give you better idea about the social life. You also get an additional $1,000 per year scholarship if you visit and then choose to enroll.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for posting! Yeah, I’m not interested in aviation, so Embry Riddle is out of the equation. I am as interested in Software Engineering as I am in Computer Science, though, so I may end up changing majors along the road. </p>

<p>If I choose to attend Florida Tech, I would live on campus, and I will actually be visiting the school on the 20th this month, which surely will give me a better idea of what the social scene is like over there. </p>

<p>On a slightly different note, what would you say you like/dislike the most about Florida Tech, in your experience?</p>

4

<p>Likes:

  • I really like the small classes. It motivates me knowing my teachers are looking at my work closely.
  • I haven’t started an internship yet, but there are a lot of good companies around here like Harris, Rockwell, Boeing, Lockheed, Northrup, GE, etc.
  • Campus is nice, clean, safe, easy to walk, not too crowded.
  • Beach is a short drive away. They may start a bus route to the beach soon too.
  • I like Melbroune, it’s similar to where I’m from (Deerfield). It’s a typical south/central Florida city. I’ve heard some people complain though, saying it’s boring. I think they’d say this about most places though except for maybe Miami.</p>

<p>Dislikes:

  • As a male, I don’t like male-female ratio. Too many guys, but this is a problem at all engineering schools.
  • As I said in another thread, I’m a sports fan. But since we play in division 2, sports aren’t well attended. I’m very excited for football to start this year. It’s our first year. I’ll be attending every game for sure.</p>
5

<p>ForEach,</p>

<p>Thanks for responding to these queries, I appreciate the information you are able to give from the current student perspective. Can you please comment on dorms for freshman? I requested Columbia Village because I liked the ability to have my own room but wondered if you had any pros/cons versus Roberts or other freshman dorms.</p>

6

<p>I lived in Roberts, I didn’t like sharing a room at the time. I wished I had gotten Columbia. I’m glad I lived there now though. I got some funny stories out of it since my roommate was crazy. It was a good experience to have now that I look back.</p>

<p>Now I live across the street at Landmark (not recommended). The only other dorms I’ve been in are Harris and Columbia. Harris is only for upperclassmen. Hopefully you get Columbia. It doesn’t seem as interesting as Roberts, but it’s much nicer.</p>

7

<p>ForEach,</p>

<p>Do you know how housing assignments are determined? I put a deposit for Columbia in late January and am hoping it is first-come/first-served. On an unrelated topic, does it make much difference what kind of computer (Mac versus PC) you have on campus in terms of preferences of the Engineering Department or IT support. Thanks again.</p>

8

<p>@sevgrad: you can run Windows on a Mac by using [url="&lt;a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/“]Parallels[/url”&gt;http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/"]Parallels[/url</a>]; it’s the very best virtualization software for OS X, and Windows will run flawlessly. Other than that, one of the things the Mac notebooks (MacBook Air and MacBook Pro) are famous for is their excellent and long-lasting battery life, which is just right for a college student. Besides, they’re both extremely lightweight as well, and portability is always important, in my opinion.</p>

<p>@ForEach: in your major and overall experience at Florida Tech, would you say your teachers are mostly knowledgeable, approachable, helpful or maybe not so much? This is another very general question, but how do you feel (in your experience) and hear (from other students) about the course load manageability?</p>

9

<p>The teachers have been mixed. I had a a few great ones and a couple awful ones too. The bad ones were just boring, not that they didn’t know what they were talking about.</p>

<p>The classes started off easy. It was a lot of stuff from high school (history, English, algebra, chem). It got tougher when I started my major classes. I stayed last summer and took 3 classes. Now I can take 1 less class each semester and still graduate on time. The summer sucked, but it’s nice having 1 less class now.</p>