<p>D was accepted to UF honors and to UVA. She's undecided about career field but leaning towards medicine so probably would major in a science. Not ruling out a business major though. She really wants to go to UVA but that will wipe out all money saved for undergrad and possibly require a small loan to finish (UVA will cost 184K). Going to UF will be essentially free and leave the money for grad or professional school. </p>
<p>We know UF is a very good school (father's an alum and other family members) if you work hard and take advantage of the opportunities. However, you can't ignore UF's enormity and somewhat impersonal experience with the profs and all the online classes. UVA is smaller but is still pretty big. </p>
<p>Tell me gators, what would you do if you had the chance to go to UVa over UF. Is it worth the money?</p>
<p>Our son had a similar situation a few years ago and chose to go to UF on a free ride. He graduated in 3 years with no debt and is now in law school at UF on a partial scholarship. He is extremely happy with his decision and counsels everyone who asks to choose the least expensive undergrad route and save the money for grad school!</p>
<p>You are basically comparing a top ~5 public school with a top ~15 public school, and some majors are UF are actually superior to those at UVa regardless. It will come down to the individual, but a cost differential of 100K would be hard for anyone to justify on any kind of rational basis. I have strong family ties to both schools and have high respect for UVa, but I just don’t see it being worth that differential especially when grad school is in your D’s future.</p>
<p>I think OP overestimates the impact of UF being a big school. UF has a 21/1 student faculty ratio. Thats almost better than high school. and there isn’t really any reason to suspect that relationships with professors are any more ‘impersonal’ than elsewhere; i personally have a very good relationship with a professor who teaches a very large and important online class. its unrealistic to expect to form a strong relationship with every teacher you have, but when you find a faculty member you really like, its typically not difficult to form a relationship with them.</p>
<p>i think the size of the university is actually quite ignorable–especially once you attend one, you don’t really have another perspective to compare it with.</p>
<p>i think this issue should really come down to the quality of the department. as mentioned, the rankings are fairly close, and the marginal benefit of attending UVA over UF just because of brand name is just that: marginal. some departments at UF are fairly weak, while their UVA equivalent might be very strong. in all other cases, its hard to argue that UVA is a better choice. particularly in the sciences, where i’m under the impression UF’s programs tend to be pretty good. though i don’t really know.</p>