UF or NCF?

Colleges and Universities A-Z New College of Florida
1

<p>In the past few days, my daughter got accepted to her two dream schools, UF and NCF. Honestly, she didn't expect the high class problem of choosing between them because she didn't expect to get accepted to either (She is not a top 10% student but does have excellent SATs and ECs). A week ago, she was deciding between USF and two smaller colleges, Eckerd and FIT. </p>

<p>Honestly, I'm not sure either NCF or UF are right for her. I was leaning toward Eckerd, a small but traditional college. UF seems terribly large, while NCF is very untraditional. However, it seems wrong to turn down such great (and low-priced) schools in favor of one which is both expensive and less selective. Therefore, we are considering the pros and cons of both. </p>

<p>My daughter is very smart (I know that's a mom talking, but really, a lot of adults are stunned by her) with a great natural love for learning for its own sake. She complains about classmates who only care about grades. She is interested in everything. She is also a bit offbeat and doesn't fit in with just anyone. She has deep friendships with other outsiders. All this, I think would make her a good candidate for NCF. From all I can see about the school, she would find others like her. </p>

<p>That said, she has ADD and trouble with organizational skills. This is the real reason she has had trouble with traditional education. If her grade was based upon tests and papers, she would be an A student. She loves classes that are interactive. But she's had trouble with busy work, assignments which require that students learn in a certain way, such as by copying, taking notes, writing sentences with vocabulary words she already knew, etc. (She also complains about students who complete the massive amounts of busywork at her school by cheating, something which seems like a real problem at her school. I gather NCF (and college in general) would have less or none of this type of assignments. However, I worry that her lack of organizational skills would hurt her in a school that was so free. She has done well on projects such as term papers and an internship last summer that requires a final project. And, generally, her teachers KNOW that she has learned the material. She just doesn't get an A because she hasn't handed in some piece of busywork (her grades are almost all Bs, though in challenging classes). Perhaps at NCF, the object IS to learn?</p>

<p>What exactly happens in a semester at NCF? You register for classes and then what?</p>

<p>Also, I've heard a lot about how offbeat the students are. This appeals to us to some extent because my daughter is offbeat, and I'd love her to find someplace where she fits in. That said, I don't actually want her to get WEIRDER. She does need to function in the world. Just how weird is it there?</p>

<p>Sorry so long. Thanks for any thoughts.</p>

2

<p>Wow, such different schools and environments, my daughter saw Gainesville and knew right away that she had zero interest in going there, but she loved New College and was admitted a couple of weeks ago. Depending on what she hears from Barnard, Brown and Vassar I think she will likely end up at NCF.</p>

<p>It is almost hard to imagine your daughter not preferring one over the other, they are so different. </p>

<p>My daughter is a little off beat as well, I’m sure that is one of the reasons she finds NCF appealing. I think she finds the odd-balls students, self directed curriculum and intellectually challenging parts of NCF fascinating. She called the environment hipster-nonsense.</p>

<p>Did you do a visit at New College? Admissions explains the contracts, satisfactions and requirements very well. In a nutshell students write a contract with their adviser every semester, how many classes they will take and how many of those classes they will satisfactorily complete. To graduate requires seven completed contracts, a thesis, and three independent study projects that the students do between semesters.</p>

<p>your daughters accomplishments to be admitted to both schools speak well to her ability to perform regardless of her challenges.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

3

<p>We And visit New College in two weeks. I should say that the main reason UF was at the top of her list is because it has an agriculture program, which New College does not. Her intended major was agriculture. If she attends NCF, she would likely switch her major to environmental science. The large environment at UF does not appeal to her, but there are basically no small schools that have agricultural programs.</p>

4

<p>I bet your decision will be easier after you visit NCF, it seemed to me to be a ‘love it or hate it’ kind of place when I toured. </p>

<p>good luck</p>

5

<p>NCF is definitely a love it or hate it place. (disclaimer: I wasn’t a fan but I DO know students who love it very much). Try to visit with some students there when you go. Ask what they’re working on and what they expect to do after graduation. It is not a traditional college setting in any sense of the word. They don’t give grades (they give detailed reports) and most of their curriculum is self-guided. Very cool in some respects but you have to know what you want and where you want to go. If you’re a one-track “I want to study THIS” it’s great. VERY liberal if that matters to you.
They do have ultimate parties though (or so I’ve heard).
If she’s interested in AG then UF should be her choice (after all that’s part of their origins). I can’t think of a better place with all the resources they have at hand. Just going around UF to the available facilities and research opportunities would peg it as a no-brainer in my book. Get a copy of the course schedules for AG–I almost signed up myself. And environmental science at UF is great also if that becomes her first choice.</p>

<p>College is a different experience than HS. Busy work disappears and major projects with deadlines become the norm. Time management is important but in a different way than HS</p>

<p>UF seems big on the outside (and yeah! lots of gators at the games!). But honestly, do you feel lost in the town you live? No, you have a circle of friends and social outlets. UF is just a very small town with everyone the same age and many the same goals–hard to get better than that! When you start class you sit next to the same people, change classes at the same time (you see the same people), join clubs, join study groups. You just need to be open to the experience. I personally think that’s easier to do at a larger university with a more diverse student body than something smaller if that’s a concern.</p>

6

<p>New College graduate here. Your daughter will need good organizational schools at either college. The benefit to New College is she would get more personalized attention from her professors. Arrangements would be easier to work out. In a larger school, nobody really cares if someone is slipping through the cracks. Certainly she won’t have to worry about the kind of busy work she got in high school.
I disagree with gout78’s idea that New College is for the student who knows what he/she wants to be studying. I wonder where that idea came from. There are plenty of avenues for intellectual exploration at NC. No one I knew was so singularly focused.
It sounds like your daughter might really enjoy New College. I think she’ll be able to tell where she belongs after she visits both schools.</p>

7

<p>I’m not backing down on my “you need to know what you want” stance. Many students DO have a real focus of study. If things haven’t changed in the past few years at NC, you are required to produce a thesis by college graduation. And for that you need a focus. Anybody from NC is welcome to chime in! I’d love to know! It’s a fabulous choice for students who know what they want and want to build their own path. Lots of perks!
But not for everybody by a long shot. And for an AG student, UF is still the best choice no matter what.</p>

8

<p>In all probability, she will choose UF because of the agriculture issue. It has been her top choice the whole time she’s been applying (though I did remind her that, when she met her counselor at the end of 8th grade, she told the woman she wanted to go to New College). We’re going to visit both schools, and if she is completely stunned by the size of UF, she will consider NCF. She did have this reaction to UCF when we visited. She hated it (She has only been to UF when it was not in session, so that doesn’t give a good picture of the campus). However, UF has a much lower faculty-student ratio and is generally much smaller than UCF, though still big. Thanks for the input.</p>

9

<p>Alex23, how’d your visits go? My daughter is going to admitted day at NCF next weekend, Barnard and Vassar are still her preferred choices, but NCF has grown on her. Especially as her scholarships have come in from UVM, Drew, SUNY, Skidmore and Ithaca and they are still so much more than New College.</p>

10

<p>Long story, she did visit UF but she didn’t end up visiting New College. She can’t go to the Admitted Day because it is the major fundraiser for a club she’s in, which we were bummed out about. We’re going later in the month. She liked UF, but she still wants to visit New College. Weirdly, two people I know from book club turn out to have kids at NCF (I say weirdly because what are the odds with only 800 students). One is a freshman, the other a senior, and they both love it. The kid who is a senior comes from a really offbeat family, but the other boy, the freshman, is pretty mainstream. I went out for coffee with his mom, and she explained how their whole grading system and courses worked. Her son did a contract at the beginning of the semester, saying he would take 4 classes (Classes are 4 credits each) and pass at least 3. He had trouble in one of the classes and ended up dropping it, so they amended his contract to say he would take 3 classes and pass all of them. He got very nice evaluations in all the classes, which his mom showed me. I don’t know if you are in Florida, but she also shared that, for Bright Futures, you are considered to have reached the required GPA if you fulfill your contract, which actually kind of sounds easier than a 3.0. The other mom says she’s worried her son won’t complete that thesis, but he’s done well.</p>

<p>The mom of the freshman was telling me that there are some professors involved in agricultural pursuits there, so when we go, I hope to talk to them about whether it is possible to craft a major in that area, perhaps in botany. That would solve the problem of NCF not having her major. She really liked UF, but I feel like she might belong someplace smaller.</p>

<p>My daughter also considered Skidmore, Ithaca, and some of the SUNYs. We spend summer vacations in the Adirondacks, and she likes the area. The only one she ended up applying to was SUNY Stony Brook. She’s waiting to hear about scholarship, which they say should come mid-March, but yeah, it would be way more than NCF even if she got a half scholarship. Of course, money isn’t everything, but she has some pretty good choices that aren’t as expensive. We’re still debating Clemson, because it’s smaller than UF but has more going on than NCF, but it’s SO much more expensive.</p>

<p>Good luck to your daughter!</p>

11

<p>Alex–does your d have a 504 or accommodations for her ADD? If so the office of disabilities/counseling center at NCF can be very helpful at providing accommodations in classes there. They can offer support in developing organizational skills as well. One of the advantages of such a small school. The writing center is also a great resource. Parent of a senior who is finishing her thesis as we speak. She’s had a wonderful experience at NCF.</p>

12

<p>Thanks. Yes, she has accommodations, and I talked to a friend whose son goes there with not only accommodations but is receiving Vocational Rehab to go there. That said, I’m not worried about her accommodations not being followed at either state school (We also recently attended a conference on transitioning to college at Lynn University, where a girl with autism spoke of her experiences at UF). They are state schools and, therefore, are required to comply with ADA, the main reason we kept her in public school in K-12 though, in some ways, a private school might have been better. At this point, it’s more about fit. Good to hear that New College is helpful, though. What disability does your daughter have?</p>

13

<p>Last year, my kid got into both schools as well.</p>

<p>While normally, I would advise a kid to go to UF rather than New College, for the simple reason that it is more well known, it would seem that New College is the better fit for your kid.</p>

<p>Your kid might get lost in the shuffle at a big university like UF. At New College, I would presume she would get more individualized attention, and would not be in classes with 400 kids in the class.</p>

14

<p>Alex23 - we do live in Florida, St. Augustine. New College is the only Florida school my D is looking at, so to be honest I hadn’t really thought about the requirements to continue bright futures, 3.0 is a little daunting for a freshman (at least I know I didn’t get a 3.0 my frosh year at Syracuse !) so I agree the New College measurement is a good thing.</p>

<p>We relocated to Florida for my work 7 years ago from up north, first Miami and now St. Augustine and still spend summers in NY and Mass. My daughter has always been dubious about Florida and felt more connected up north with family and friends. She has always planned to go college in the northeast but NCF was recommended by some friends and family. It would be very ironic if she ended up staying in Florida, although I have to say that the more I have gotten to know NCF the more I think it might be the place for her.</p>

<p>good luck to you as well. if anything interesting comes of the admitted visit I will post it here.</p>

15

<p>If she wants agriculture and a small school, maybe ya’ll could check out Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga. When I went there years ago it was only a 2 year school, but I believe they offer bachelors degrees now. It is a very close knit campus, very easy to get around. You could walk from the dorms (apartments now) to any class on campus within about 5 minutes…maybe 10 if you had to go all the way to the gym.</p>

16

<p>Oh and I was diagnosed with ADHD at ABAC. The counsler there suggested that I may have it and the school tested me for it, so I know they’re ADHD friendly.</p>

17

<p>I’m not familiar with UF’s handling of accommodations. Given how large a school it is I think it may be more challenging to receive the kind of personalized support and assistance there. I would ask how they manage first year students needing supports, so that you know what to realistically expect. I am familiar with Lynn Univ, as I am an adjunct there,and have also attended that conference.</p>

18

<p>Orangecontrol, yeah, that was my thought too, that I was sure she’d get a 3.0 OVERALL, but I wasn’t sure she’d get it her first semester. It sounds like you lose it immediately with one bad semester. It seemed like one would be better off getting the lower BF because that only requires a 2.75, but there is no mechanism to move from one to the other.</p>

<p>For another wrinkle, she was accepted to the Innovation Academy program at UF. This is a new program they have with only 500 students who dorm together, and it starts in the spring. They don’t attend fall semesters at UF at all. I thought the smaller group would be good for her, and she had also planned on taking some of her more challenging classes (mostly math and chemistry) at community college her first two falls.</p>

<p>Anyway, we plan on going to NCF to look around later in the month, though I need to contact their office because I haven’t heard back about arranging the visit. Thanks all.</p>

19

<p>We went to New College this past Friday. It is such a beautiful campus, and daughter sat in on a Coral Reef Ecology class which she said was fascinating. The tour guide was friendly and offbeat, but not too weird. She had gone to my daughter’s high school. We loved everything about the campus, especially the dorms, and the social life seemed like it was right on my daughter’s level. The only thing we didn’t like was that the campus was sort of isolated, as far as not being walking distance to anything. My daughter doesn’t have her license yet, so even if she got it before she went, I wouldn’t feel comfortable, sending her to school with a car, to drive on the Tamiami Trail. She’d definitely need a car sophomore year. There is nothing on campus, just the saddest little bookstore. But, other than that, she really liked it.</p>

<p>She is still leaning toward UF, however, because they have the major she wants, and New College really doesn’t. However, we will probably wait until the bitter end because they are both such great schools, and it is hard to decide.</p>

20

<p>I went to NC and didn’t have a car. It was no big deal, I wouldn’t let that factor in. I know if my daughter goes there (HS junior) she wouldn’t have a car either. Plenty of others had cars and it was easy to get a ride. I used my bicycle to get around locally. Sarasota has an easy bus system to get to downtown and the beaches. I used it all the time. Sarasota is a pleasant city with a wide variety of decent restaurants and nice cultural opportunities.</p>