<p>My sons and I just got back from a visit to UF. We had never been there and really did not know what to expect but I can tell you that we absolutely loved it!! The campus is beautiful and any pictures I took did not do it justice. The gothic brick architecture, the live oaks everywhere, the bell tower - what a stunning campus!</p>
<p>It's large but easily walkable and feels a lot smaller than it actually is. A bike seems like a "must have" though. The freshmen dorms - Broward, Jennings, Rawlings are very conveniently located. Buckman, Sledd area is beautiful and even though no air conditioning - might be worth it as an upper classman. We ate at the Broward dining hall - the food is not that great - but there is plenty of fruit and salad. I think my son is going to choose the declining balance card so that he can eat where he wants for dinner and probably feed himself in the dorm for the rest of his meals. He has selected Beaty towers as his first choice even though they are slightly further from things than the Broward area.</p>
<p>We went in the Swamp and since I am a huge SEC fan, that was probably the highlight of the trip for me. My son, not so much. Hopefully he will catch the fever!</p>
<p>The two student tour guides were awesome and answered each and every question asked of them. I did find out that there is a bus that runs from the campus to Miami but I need to find out if it stops along the way between Gainesville and Miami more convenient for me to retrieve my son.</p>
<p>Anyway - I wish I could go there. I think my son is very, very lucky!</p>
<p>Im visiting UF in about 2 weeks all the way from NY. Cant wait to get a dose of the warm weather. I hope I enjoy the campus cuz I’d love to go there.</p>
<p>Jena I graduated from UF 30 years ago. And can tell you that the campus is just as beautiful today as it was back then. My son will be attending UF this fall. Last week we did our campus tour and I was very proud to call UF my school.</p>
<p>BTW your Son will catch the fever. He will be 100% Gator in no time.</p>
<p>If you click on the link and go to the schedules tab, you’ll see the times and stops. Between Gainesville and Miami, the bus stops along the turnpike at several different service areas.</p>
<p>just a suggestion: rather than do the declining balance, just use a debit card. its much more flexible, plus there are no benefits to having a declining balance account.</p>
<p>My whole life I expected to go to UF as a Floridian. In my junior year of high school I became the typical CCer though, obsessed with the top colleges. I was an excellent applicant, just not excellent enough, to gain admittance to those top schools. My father went to Princeton; however, both of my parents really did not raise me to attend a top school, as they wanted me to be free. I am finally appreciating my childhood now. I am relaxed, mildly stressful, and optimistic of the future.</p>
<p>So when I took a general UF tour and later an engineering tour I was not very impressed being as I was “jaded” high schooler. However, over time the impression of UF grew on me, especially after I realized how pretentious CCers are. Now I will be attending the school, and as my freshman year at UF rolls closer and closer I cannot help but smile at the beautiful campus, relaxing weather, and unparalleled career resources that the schools has…not to mention that I will possibly graduate debt-free. Perhaps I can go to a top school for another degree anyway.</p>
<p>I congratulate any other members of the class of '15!</p>
<p>JW, my son is also going to study engineering and he is still on the bubble. While he really loves UF and has been a Gator fan all of this life. He also knows that there are better engineering schools. Ga Tech is still up in the air. Because there is a pending scholarship that he is waiting on. MIT was also in the picture, but a visit last Jan during a blizzard iced that idea.</p>
<p>I agree with you graduating from UF debt free then consider going to a top 5 for grad school. Allthough he is leaning towards Environmental Engineering and I know my UF and her extensive research funding. When he is faced to move on to grad school. I would put money on the fact that he stays at UF.</p>
<p>Good Luck to you and all the new Gators. The next 4 years of your lifes will be the best.</p>
<p>I recieved a tour of my own yesterday. I will be part of the class of 2015 next year at UF and really wanted to come and visit for the weekend. I stayed at my friends dorm which I absolutely loved. I saw a couple tour groups walk by and had fond memories of when I was on it last year. My really good friends showed me around campus yesterday including most of the dorms because they know somebody in almost every hall. I stayed in Broward for two nights and, although it is older, I fell in love with it. There was a good feeling as soon as I walked into the building. I hear a lot of people complain about the noise but I stayed there friday and saturday night and it was just as quiet as North hall was. I ran around campus and did some workouts in Ben Hill Griffin during the day and loved the feeling. My major next year will be mechanical engineering and I met many kids who love it in the program. My weekend at UF reminded me why I will be attending for the next 4 years and can’t wait to truely call myself a Florida Gator.</p>
<p>Just remember that cc is a very small percentage of all the students. However, this discussion board can be helpful and helped me and son navigate when he started at UF in 2008. I want to add he is in the Industrial Engineering program at UF and having a phenomenal experience. Very active in career fairs and the ISE club. He was also part of a team that just participated in a company sponsored event and received some very valuable experience (and prizes). He is now and always will be a lifelong Gator and has not for a second wished he attended a different school or engineering program.
Now his sister will join him and very much looking forward to her experience. He never had trouble finding parking or leaving his car in campus parking lots. Wasn’t really thrilled with Broward but loved Murphree and probably loves best of all living in an apt. of campus. Has a great part-time gig but would prefer to work for a railroad now but school must be finished first.
Have fun, be active and you will get the most out of your experience. Now if only my daughter could figure out what she wants to major in…</p>