When comparing the two schools by their inputs, outcomes, rankings, etc. - one school wins across the board.
Except on the football field.
Very helpful @SpaceCoastMom - thank you!
My son will have done 3 UF courses online before he leaves high school. It seems like UF is trying to get out in front of the mainstream virtual higher education world. My son is quite comfortable in that format but it would not be the preferred one imho. I can imagine that it’s tough for some students.
To be clear, at UF, you can declare any engineering major as an incoming Freshman (with the exception of Biomedical engineering, see below). If you later want to switch into another engineering majors you’ll have to meet their minimum requirements. Aerospace/Mechanical likely has the highest requirements for transferring, but several others only require a 2.5 GPA in your core classes.
Of course, you can be kicked out of your major if you don’t maintain your GPA in the core classes (or fail the same core class more than once). I’m sure UA also has minimum requirements for continuing in your major. If you can’t keep your GPA over a 2.5 as a freshman/sophomore, then you may want to think about switching out of engineering.
The only exception to the above is the limited access Biomedical engineering program, which can only be selected as a rising junior, and you have to meet very competitive metrics. UF feels Biomedical engineering students need to earn more than a BS, so they only want exceptional candidates that will continue on to grad school/med school/law school, etc. The first class only had 20 students (not sure how many they are letting in this year).
So my son got an invitation to “Gator Engineering Event Day” - went to register and it’s already filled; i.e., “maximum capacity registration has been reached.”
This is the kind of thing that makes me nervous about UF. 
So, we’re on the ride home from UF.
Unfortunately this visit did not “seal the deal” for us either direction.
UF pros - met some really nice students in engineering peer advising. They were down to earth, and gave us the nitty gritty “scoop” on a couple of issues. These guys were my son’s “tribe” for sure. H and son met the head of the UF CS department, which we didn’t think we’d be able to do (heard it was tough to meet with him). That was a huge plus. Another positive - the College of Engineering received a big donation from the Wertheim family foundation, and I like the sound of what UF wants to do with it.
UF cons: Initial issues - very difficult to park, and we received the wrong directions from an information officer. We got to campus an hour before an appointment yesterday, and ended up at Weil Hall 15-20 minutes late. We got fussed at by the bookstore parking garage attendants. It wasn’t the best first impression (unfortunately in stark contrast to UA where most things were smooth and ran like clockwork). Long term concerns- dorms. East Hall, where DS would want to live, is your standard government-issue dorm. And there aren’t a whole bunch of choices anyway, other than living off campus. The campus feels much older, and more spread out. The traffic around Gainesville seemed unwieldy and congested.
On the official tour today, we did get to see The Swamp - something that was not allowed at UA. In fact students were running up and down the steps of the stadium in what looked like a PE group (or perhaps an athletic team?). It was casual walking around inside the stadium too, too - didn’t feel like you were trying to bust into the Pentagon. 
Every UF student we encountered seemed nice and helpful. But there was more of a “stressed” vibe there than we felt at UA. On the other hand it’s hard to know if that was just the mood of us, or the campus, or what. When we went to UA it was the Monday after a big win by the football team and everybody was in good spirits. So maybe we just hit it on a good day.
None of us are driving home with a “This is It” feeling. Yet we liked UF, and DS is honored to be accepted there. The dilemma continues . . .
UF’s parking is always bad (and has been since I was a student in the 80’s). As a freshman, you typically only use your car on the weekends, he may not even want to bring his car. They plan on building a new parking garage, guess what? Parking will still be bad. It’s not just the 50,000+ students that cause the issue, it’s the vast number of folks UF employs, since it’s a major research university. On the plus side, the buses are free with a student ID (Free as in your student fees cover the cost type “free”…) and most students commute via bus to campus. My daughter parks her car at the museum of natural sciences and then takes a short bus ride to campus.
The Swamp is always open (unless it’s game day), students like to jog through it and “run the steps”. Back when it had an artificial turf, they even allowed us to get on the field and throw a football around.
Last week was UF’s Spring break, so it was back to the grind this week.
Good Luck making that final decision!
https://colleges.niche.com/university-of-florida/
See parking rankings are important to some people
The kids who get into CBH from the wait list are, well, getting in off the wait list. They’re not the first choice. They have to wait for others who were chosen ahead of them to decline. Often those students don’t do that until May 1, when they have to choose a school. So to me that timing seems normal, not at all “hinky.” I think a student in the reserve pool has to make his or her decision assuming no CBH. That’s unfortunate, but I don’t see how else you do it. For my daughter, CBH wasn’t going to make or break her college experience. She was going to choose UA with it or without it. She didn’t expect it to be the highlight of her UA experience, and it wasn’t. Which isn’t to say she didn’t really like and benefit from CBH - she did. And once you’re a member of CBH, no one cares if you were an original finalist or you were accepted from the reserve pool. There are some very successful and accomplished kids in my daughter’s CBH class who were accepted from the reserve pool.
CBH wouldn’t make it or break it for DS either . . . totally agree with you on that @beth’s mom.
DS got an email yesterday about UA’s STEM to MBA pathway that looked interesting.
That is cool @Gator88NE. I personally think the stadium should be open to all the students (within reason of course). I liked seeing that yesterday.
thanks, @beth’s mom for the clarification- I misunderstood about finalists and reserve pool. I agree; it doesn’t matter which avenue you took to get there.
@SouthFloridaMom9 , what is your next step? Visiting VT?
@MotherOfDragons - we were hoping to hear something about VT honors college and OOS merit money soon . . . if nothing comes up on that front then we probably will not visit VT. That’s not going to go over well though.
I just can’t see paying OOS for VT with UF and Bright Futures (and that’s not taking into account UA).
The tribe has 10x the representation at UF vs UA (20% vs 2%) according to Hillel.
UF has one of the highest number of Jewish students of any university…
^^ Is @SouthFloridaMom9 Jewish?
^^^Not that I know of, but who wouldn’t want more members of my tribe?!?! B-)
The large UF Hillel sits right across from the stadium.
I’m betting with UA’s recent increase in OOS students, it’s % of Jewish students is also increasing. UA also has a brand new Hillel building, on campus.
Seems Bama now has an extra 100 Jewish kids, up from 600.
UF estimates are 6000-6500 Jewish students.
UF has a vibrant active Jewish life with kosher meals, temples of various denominations and strong participation in the birthright program. And predominantly Jewish fraternity and sorority options.
My tribe too, but how is that relevant to the OP?
I think SFM meant her kid met others whom he identified with in a big way.
Gator parking is a problem but kids take the free bus or bike or mostly walk.
Most kids move off campus after their first year. Most of the older dorms have the best location.
@LucieTheLakie I think ClarinetDad16 read “These guys were my son’s “tribe” for sure.” as tribe=Jews, but I am sure she meant they had the same hobbies and likes.
The item that most impressed my daughter when she toured was the other (engineering) students. They were smart, fun, and successful (i.e…the older students had all started to get internships, co-ops, were very positive about their experience at UF and the future). After a year and half at UF, that’s still the “feature” she likes best, the other students. (I’m sure it’s the same way at UA).
Back to housing. UF has many order style dorms (from the 60’s to mid 70’s), like East Hall. Low on thrills, but they are also fairly inexpensive and very, very social (especially Jennings, Broward and the Tolbert, Graham and Yulee areas). These are filled with Freshman (as a rule). They also have other, much nicer dorms (like Keys, LakeSide, Affinity) that are modern, suite style dorms, but are not as social. You’ll notice a huge number of scooters on campus, many are used by students that live in the Greek housing, or in places like Keys and Lakeside, that are not located near the center of campus. If you live on campus, you can get a parking pass.
However, like gouf78 pointed out, after your freshman year, many students move off campus. Off campus housing is plentiful, and priced from cheap to silly expensive. If you live off campus, parking is much more limited, and it’s far easier to commute by bus (or park in one of the commuter parking lots and rid the bus to campus).
Can your son still apply to honors at uf ? It may mitigate some of the downsides (juge, impersonal classes, difficulty registering for classes …)
No, we are Christian. Apologies for the confusion; yes, by “tribe” I meant the Nerd Herd. Fellow techies, guys who love gaming, computers, etc. ‘Nerd’ in the cool sense. 
@MYOS1634 - unfortunately the deadline for UF honors has passed, and when we looked at it we weren’t sure it was the right fit for DS. Plus he is burned out on essays, of which there were several and they are one of the key components of the application.