<p>Hello,
I'm from Orlando, FL and I'm in need of some help in trying to reach a final college decision. I was accepted to the FSU Honors Program with a scholarship (~10k) and also learned this past weekend that I was accepted to the UF Honors Program. At least among the students & faculty at my school, that UF is a significantly better school. Each year, we have about 30 kids go to UF and around 25 to FSU (so it's fairly balanced) but it seems like it's always the smarter ones that go to UF. I don't think either school is especially great, but for my probable major, engineering, it seems to be that UF is the better choice due to their reputation in science. In my opinion, UF would be more challenging academically, but I definitely prefer FSU's environment and small campus over UF's 'commuter' campus. At this point, I'm trying to gather the thoughts and opinions of others so that I can consider them into my final decision later this month. So, for engineering (biomedical engineering - biosystem research & development; possibly go to med-school afterwards), which school do you think would be best?</p>
<p>Go to UF. </p>
<p>Not sure what you mean by commuter campus but most of the action is within walking distance. Parking kinda sucks but the buses are really reliable during main class hours.</p>
<p>This may not be what you are thinking but I think Honors kids get somewhat offended that a state school won’t give them any money, but UF is already really cheap for what you get. People complain that it is still really expensive, but they’re wrong. Cost of living is also really cheap. I suppose they could pay the smartest of kids and charge the borderline ones a little more but when you are getting such a great value to begin with I wouldn’t be as picky.</p>
<p>Would you go to FIU over UF for 20k scholarship? University of Phoenix for 40k? Just think of what you are giving up as you go down each tier. The dropoff from UF to FSU is certainly there for engineering. That alone should be worth forgoing what amounts to a couple hundred a month.</p>
<p>“Would you go to FIU over UF for 20k scholarship? University of Phoenix for 40k? Just think of what you are giving up as you go down each tier.”</p>
<p>Hmm, I’ve never thought about it like that. Thanks for the insight.</p>
<p>If you want to go into engineering then UF is a clear victory (in terms of academics and job prospects).</p>
<p>For engineering, go to UF. FSU’s engineering dept is shared with FAMU and is not ranked nearly as high as UF’s.</p>