UF or FSU?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
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<p>For the person who posted before me:</p>

<p>I am pre-med and I go to UF. I understand your sentiments as far as your welcome tour being uninviting. Unfortunately that is the way UF and ANY large university, including FSU, is; although the visiting tour is ironically when the Univ would want to hide it most and give the best impression. This is called bureaucracy and red tape and let this be your first lesson into the “do-it-yourself” mentality you will have to acquire in order to be successful in almost anything at schools like UF, especially as a pre-med student. It’s a LARGE school with LOTS of kids and this will come </p>

<p>I personally never went on a tour of UF before coming. I do not regret it. I don’t care what the dorms look like, I don’t care what the classrooms look like, where Gatorade was invented, how much money they spent on our new sports museum thing, how cool the Gators are, or anything like that. Want a better idea of what your LIFE will actually be like? Go to the UF campus on a Wednesday in the Spring/Fall. Sit in on a Bio1/Chem1/Orgo1/Physics1 class. Act like you are a student and ask the professor a question after class. Try to walk into advising and schedule to see an advisor (Being an actual student doesn’t make it that much easier). Ask professors about how easy it is for students to get involved with research. Go to the registrar and ask to see enrollment/grade/graduation statistics for classes and majors. Go around Gainesville and try to pinpoint clinical experiences/opportunities you will take advantage of outside of class and see how flexible they are with student involvement. </p>

<p>Thinking that a large school like UF or FSU has a “Pre-Med Program” is kind of a joke. The closest thing is the Pre-Med advising which is fine at both schools and is honestly just that, advice. This is probably the single biggest area where small, liberal-arts type schools end up benefitting pre-meds: they sometimes have much more intense levels of advising. But there is no intrinsic value or advantage that UF/FSU has that the other doesn’t just because YOU want to go to medical school. Biology is Biology. Chemistry is Chemistry. Those subjects don’t change according to what school you go to. The professors teaching it to you differ across schools and even within a school depending on who was appointed to teach that class that semester. And you take General Chemistry so the material is generalized to lots of other kids, not just the pre-med ones. It will be your own job to understand these subjects, fill in what you don’t know, know what you need to know, and do well on the standardized MCAT exam.</p>

<p>UF, in its case, is very prototype for a large state school. You’re advisors won’t be hand-holding you and they will not always be giving you the most wonderful advice or the most wonderful feedback. They have a lot of people to see. UF has a lot of pre-med kids to teach. You will feel like you are a part of a system/factory that is outputting credit hours and degrees. Your job is to take all of the credits, advising, professors, and hopefully actual knowledge UF gives you and work with them to produce outstanding grades, outstanding recommendations, and kick-ass MCAT scores. That is BASELINE. Furthermore you need to take the environment, social networks, and city you are put in during your four years of college to produce meaningful experiences, leadership skills, and interests that are relevant to being a doctor and a generally well-matured individual. Then apply, submit, and pray when AMCAS season rolls around.</p>

<p>Remember when it comes down to it, lots of kids are going to pick UF REGARDLESS because of $$ reasons so UF does not NEED to make a good impression on you. They do not NEED to maintain a stunning/beautiful campus and amazing facilities. They do not NEED to offer you tons of scholarship money. UF started taking your money as soon as you or your parents became florida tax paying citizens. UF/Florida/Gators is a self-sustaining franchise and it is not that hard for them to get students. </p>

<p>In the end, assuming you get into medical school, you will realize the academic differences between UF/FSU really wouldn’t have mattered as much as you think it does now. ROUGHLY, they are more or less on the same caliber. Both are large, public schools. Yes, UF is in the top-15 or so publics but it really does not matter for pre-med students. The best students and future doctors are the ones who can be put into almost any environment/college, make the best of it, and come out fine. Go wherever you like best and feel the Reward to Effort ratio is highest and don’t count on the school itself to have much an influence on your end result.</p>

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<p>My D1 went through the process and is now a second year student at FSU Med: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/florida-state-university/686848-sneak-peek-inside-fsu-college-medicine-1st-year-student.html?highlight=year+student+fsu+med[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/florida-state-university/686848-sneak-peek-inside-fsu-college-medicine-1st-year-student.html?highlight=year+student+fsu+med&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hope this helps. It’s not easy.</p>

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<p>what is much more important than rankings when looking at getting to graduate school is the individual professors’ background and availability. to other people reading this thread, do your research on important department members and get a feeling about how much you’d like to learn from those individuals. the departments rankings is merely a reflection of these individuals’ efforts and abilities.</p>

<p>that isn’t very relevant for pre-med, however.</p>

124

<p>agreed 100%. UF all the way :)</p>

125

<p>I know this thread is kind of old but it might be something someone looks at if trying to make the decision so I just wanted to add my two cents.</p>

<p>Before visiting both schools, just based on what I had read on here and in other places, FSU was the school I was more interested in. I visited both campuses in the same day and did admissions tours. FSU was first, and I wasn’t impressed at all. It was fine, there was nothing wrong with it, there was just absolutely nothing about it that drew me in or made me feel any inclination to attend, or even apply to, the school. I fell in love with UF as soon as I got there. Everyone was very friendly or helpful that I encountered. I sat and ate lunch in a dining hall and was able to really picture myself attending school there. I tried to talk to students (and I’m not the type, AT ALL, who is able to randomly start up a conversation with someone I don’t know) and everyone was friendly and told me they absolutely love the school, said the professors were great, etc. Our tour guides were wonderful – I know that these people are handpicked to make a good impression, but it’s remarkable how many tour guides manage to completely turn me off to a school. I really got a sense of the “Gator pride” and could just <em>feel</em> the school spirit that permeated the campus; I could tell that these students were proud to be Gators and attend this school. Also, there was a really cool dude with a “WHO WANTS TO PLAY QUIDDITCH?” sign and I promised him I would be back in a year and join the team. Combine that with UF’s much higher rankings and it’s a no brainer for me.</p>

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<p>The first response seems to be the best:

</p>

<p>The next is:

Which is the question that should determine the choice, in addition to personal preferences in other areas.</p>

127

<p>My friend was dying to go to UF but he didn’t get accepted. Now he goes to FSU.</p>

128

<p>All I can say is that IF you get into U of F? You need to go there. Unless you are going to study nursing.</p>

<p>When I graduated from high school. 12 of us applied to U of F, only 3 of us got in. Everyone else went to FSU. And they loved it. Sure they wanted to be Gators first. But come on folks Tallahassee is a blast.</p>

<p>Regina, I know what you are referring to. One visit to U of F and forget about it, that is where you want to go. Good Luck to you.</p>

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<p>Yea, sure. 44-17 Sooners. You guys couldn’t even keep it close with Chokelahoma. Does Derrick Brooks have any eligibility left?</p>

<p>I think Landry Jones just threw another TD pass.</p>

130

<p>One visit to UF and that is where you want to go??? Are you kidding?</p>

<p>My D1 and D2 both rejected UF in favor of Florida State University. We took the UF tour, D1 applied and was accepted to UF (Honors, even). I also have a number of family members who are UF grads. I grew up with Gator trinkets in the house and on my bedroom wall as my father received a grad degree at UF. My mom and dad lived in the UF FlaVets trailer park as after WWII there was not enough housing for students. </p>

<p>D1 elected to attend FSU over UF. D2 saw enough on that tour and rejected UF out of hand, despite our urging to give it a try.</p>

<p>Back in ancient times (the 1970s) I rejected UF and elected to attend FSU. I refused to go to the farm school. I took the tour then, too. Even spend a night in a dorm and had a faculty member (in chemistry or chemical engineering, don’t remember which at this point) take us to lunch. It was fun, but not compelling. I do think UF is a good school, but vis a vis FSU it is not better and the various magazine ratings inflate the worth beyond reason, which too many rely upon instead of their own good judgment.</p>

<p>Go 'Noles!! ;)</p>

131

<p>I suggest that you don’t go to either one. Private, out-of-state, is looking good to me right now.</p>

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<p>Don’t you have anything better to do than bad mouth UF on a college website? Some students are actually looking for good advice and don’t want to hear your garbage. No one wants to hear about why you chose “Free Shoes University” back in the 1970s.</p>

<p>FSU football sucks and has sucked since the early 2000s. In my book, Bobby Bowden only has 1 NC. Everyone knows that Notre Dame, not FSU deserves the 1993 NC. And Christian Ponder is over rated. </p>

<p>37-10 Gators</p>

133

<p>p2n said UF is a good school in his post above. p2n is simply trying to balance the accuracy of what is said about FSU and UF, not bad mouth UF.</p>

<p>Flavets wasn’t a trailer park, it was more a cluster on campus of surplus military housing units that were set up at UF after WW II for married students. They weren’t much more than fancy frame shacks that stayed on campus much longer than originally planned. They were fire traps and not worth repairing and maintaining anymore when the last units were finally removed in the 1970s.</p>

<p>[Housing</a> History – UF | Housing & Residence Education](<a href=“http://www.housing.ufl.edu/about/history.php#flavets]Housing”>http://www.housing.ufl.edu/about/history.php#flavets)</p>

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<p>Lizard, I appreciate your research, but Flavets had trailers. My mom, dad and oldest brother lived in one in the UF Flavets section. Unless my mom and dad are mistaken, which I doubt, the website you list is somewhat incomplete.

<em>Sigh</em> Football trash talk. Someday you’ll hopefully learn most (old-time, admittedly) “gators” are closely related to “Seminoles” and vice versa. Rub a 'Nole and you’ll likely find orange and blue, rub a Gator and garnet and gold frequently emerges…of course, this would be from likely your grandparents generation.</p>

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<p>p2n, your mention of Flavets piqued my interest because I had relatives who lived there too. I still would be surprised if any trailers were in the Flavets or anywhere else on the UF campus. I’m not entirely doubting that there may have been trailers though as you say; but I think all the housing in the Flavets was surplus army prefabricated barracks type units that were transported to the campus for the Flavets–no trailers. </p>

<p>There was also a place off campus operated by UF after WW II for UF vets called Trailervet Villages, described in the UF housing link in my earlier post on this thread, that had trailers. According to the 1947 UF yearbook, Trailervet Villages 1 and 2 were located at the Alachua Air Base (now the Gainesville Airport). They are depicted and described on pages 234, 235, and 356, if you can get your hands on the yearbook. According to the yearbook, the trailers were actually owned by the students. The university rented the lots and supplied water and electricity for $8 a month. </p>

<p>Regardless if trailers or moved barracks, no doubt with what many of the returning vets had gone through during the war, the modest homes surely must have seemed like castles. </p>

<p>[UFDC</a> Search Results - University Archives Photograph Collection](<a href=“http://ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/uapc/results/?t=flavet]UFDC”>http://ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/uapc/results/?t=flavet)</p>

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<p>I talked to my mom yesterday about this and she clarified the issue. They lived in the temporary “Flavets” housing, on campus, near the football field, and also in a trailer park nearby, where my dad commuted to class by bicycle.</p>

<p>She really disliked the Flavets housing, she recalled (she is now about 89 yoa, btw) due to several aspects. She said Gainesville was the “hottest and coldest place” she’d lived and that it was VERY noisy in the Flavets housing, with too many unsupervised children (one of whom bit my older brother when he was an infant). She said they were glad to get out of it and into their own home. Due to the housing shortage created by the resource restrictions of WWII, homes were in short supply. </p>

<p>As an aside, both my parents were WWII vets - my dad spent two years in the Infantry in the China-Burma-India theatre while my mom was a (Navy) WAVE at the Pensacola NAS. Both interrupted their college education to serve in the military and completed it when they were released from military service. By contrast to the students of today they were both very mature adults during their time on campus.</p>

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<p>p2n, you’re an old man! :slight_smile: Actually, maybe not that old since your parents probably had you when they were older since they were serving during WWII.</p>

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<p>Well I guess the Flavet trailer case is solved thanks to Mom. Age is relative, to me anyone over 25 seems old. To p2n’s mom, p2n is still a young guy. I think older folks actually prefer being called wise, not old.</p>

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<p>Never trust anyone over 30. ;)</p>

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<p>That was me. =)</p>

<p>Are you going to join the team next year after all? =P</p>

<p>( P.S. here is my sign! <a href=“ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs”>ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs; )</p>