<p>Hey, just wanted to get some opinions on both schools. Trying to get s general idea of how these two compare and which one is the better option. But, I really want to know how each university is really like in terms of academics, social scene, and life in general. Plan on majoring in Marketing here :) </p>
<p>Thanks, All opinions are much appreciated. :)</p>
<p>UF has an incredible marketing program. usually its worth having a big long discussion about the merits of both schools, but theres no reason in the world you should go to UCF if you want to go into marketing.</p>
<p>i hate being bias on this forum because it severely impacts the legitimacy of anyone who posts here, but seriously, UF is a top 20 (sometimes top 10) marketing program. we have a wonderful career resource center. don’t go to ucf if you really think you want to do marketing.</p>
<p>Thanks, I also posted this on the UCF forum just to get various prospectives. Didn’t know UF’s marketing was that highly ranked! Appreciate it :)</p>
<p>UF any day over UCF. The student-faculty ratio is just soooo much better.</p>
<p>Really? Could you tell me more about classes there? I heard that a lot of students at UF just get stuck in huge lecture halls and classes taught by student teachers, which I hope isn’t true</p>
<p>Like any state university some lower division classes may be large. Usually labs are taught by grad students or instructors. In upper division classes or classes where special close contact is required (e.g. foreign language) the classes are much smaller and taught by faculty with terminal degrees (i.e. a PhD).</p>
<p>A guide to this is the Common Data Set: </p>
<p>UF: [University</a> of Florida - Common Data Set](<a href=“http://www.ir.ufl.edu/OIRApps/commondataset/i_instruct.aspx]University”>University of Florida - Common Data Set)</p>
<p>UCF: [UCF</a> - Common Data Set 2010-11](<a href=“http://www.iroffice.ucf.edu/commondataset/commondataset10/commondataset10.html#faculty]UCF”>http://www.iroffice.ucf.edu/commondataset/commondataset10/commondataset10.html#faculty)</p>
<p>Nice to here some feedback for UF (with supporting stats)</p>
<p>Noticed that people are a little more responsive here, then at the UCF page. Is UCF Honors equal to any of the big state schools (UF, FSU, UM) since I’ve been reading a bit that it is.</p>
<p>I cant speak for UCF honors specifically, but i’ll mention something thats typically true for honors programs at big schools. honors programs are more about giving special opportunities and classes than making you smarter or taking harder classes. so in regards to the things that honors programs attempt to address, UCF honors might be better than UF regular. but that says nothing about whether UCF honors is better than UF regular in a general sense.</p>
<p>you’ll have smaller classes, more scholarship money, possibly more research opportunities in the honors program. you won’t graduate with more notoriety just for being in honors or anything like that. thats not what honors is about–in fact (at least at UF) you probably wont realize any benefits from the honors program after about your second year. honors is about personal attention and being ‘special’ than anything else. i don’t mean that in a bad way, but i do believe honors is just a gimmick in most cases. but this is my opinion, and i’m not in honors.</p>
<p>hopefully thats what you were actually asking about–whether UCF honors is equivalent to UF/FSU/UM regular. disregard my ranting if thats not the case.</p>
<p>Thanks, that’s exactly what I was wondering.</p>
<p>I just want to get an overall agreement that UF’s prestige outweighs UCF honors in terms of getting into a good grad school program?</p>
<p>School “prestige” is not worth as much as solid university grades in a rigorous major. Unless…you are talking about the very top schools, but even then individual performance rules.</p>
<p>True, but I mean like say a kid from UCF who has a 3.8 vs a kid from UF with a 3.5 or so, the difference could mean admission to grad school. </p>
<p>Or like the classic example of kid A from Harvard with a 3.1 and kid B from UCF with a 4.0</p>
<p>like i said, being in honors at UCF won’t say anything at all about you when you apply to grad schools per se. grad schools are more concerned with your grades and the prestige of the professors who write your letters of recommendation. they’re also very interested in whether or not you take hard classes or not.</p>
<p>Okay, I am going to compare apples and bananas: my s and d and honors at UF/UCF. S will be graduating in May from UCF’s Burnett honors college with a B.A. in Economics, minor in Political Science. First of all, notice he’s graduating from an honors college not an honors program. A huge difference between UCF and UF is that fact. UCF is a 4 year honors experience where, depending on your major you will take honors symposium, 4 lower level honors courses, and and additional 3 or 4 honors courses/or seminars. S, ended up taking a total of 9 honors courses. D, on the other hand is here at UF. She was admitted into the honors “program.” This program essentially ends at the end of two years, with regards to requirements to graduate with a certificate from that program. You need, at this time unless it changes, four honors classes taken your freshman and sophomore year. Now besides the fact you are discussing an honors program vs an honors college and a HUGE disparity in what’s encouraged or expected to graduate with university honors (not to be confused w/ honors in the major or other types of honors), there are other differences as well. At UCF the honors college was a perfect fit for him. Getting a Bachelor of Arts afforded him lots of opportunities for electives, which he could fill w/ a liberal science spattering of honors courses. Since law school has always been his goal, he chose classes with a large writing and/or critical thinking component, many of them out of the english dept, as that’s also a passion of his. If he had been a science major, as his sister is, he would have had a plethera of classes to choose from in the various science dept as well. Each class was relatively small, ranging from 15 students to 30 students, and he found them no more difficult than any other class … just a difference in the motivation of the students taking the classes (for the most part). He was able to be a full-time student (albeit many times with 12-14 hours, as he had so much AP credit coming in), work full-time, and maintain the necessary GPA requirement to graduate within the Honors College. (I am not even speaking of the myriad opportunities within honors congress, the social end of the college, as he admits he didn’t really get involved there … too many outside committments and interests). BTW, honors advising, facilities (Burnett building), housing, and perks, i.e. FULL priority registration up to two semesters ahead (except for first semester when you only register for fall), free printing, etc, were great!</p>
<p>D, on the other had, is not “really” participating in UF’s honors program since her first year. She didn’t live in Hume, as she had two roommates and one wasn’t in honors so they lived off-campus. Honors advising was excellent and helpful during initial registration for classes, but she wished she had the priority registration her brother had for ALL classes, not just honors. She truly enjoyed the honors enriched physic classes she took, although she preferred the first prof to the second, I think. But she found pickings much slimmer in terms of choice as she could only take one honors class/semester and by the end of her second semester there really was nothing left she could take (she had no gen eds left, and she was finished w/ all the science/math pre-reqs for her major). So … she’s not participated with honors past this point. If she were doing a B.A. as her brother was, she might have had more classes available that fit into her program. Also, being very accelerated causes problems because remember this is an honors program, geared towards two years not the full four years of college. D will be pursuing honors in her major, and she hooked up with a ChemE professor for research opportunities because she took the initiative to contact the prof and ask to have a meeting w/ him/her and discuss a variety of things, including advice for how D might proceed in college. For her the honors program has not been a good “fit.”</p>
<p>Don’t know if this helps or not.</p>
<p>BTW, S applied to two law schools (only wanted in-state to keep his debt level low). He was admitted to both: FSU law and UF law. He will be attending UF in the fall with his sister, as their program fit more with what he’s pursuing for a career.</p>
<p>Great post, zebes. More of this type of quality feedback is really needed in these forums. Thank you.</p>
<p>Zebes, congratulations to your son on his acceptance to law school.</p>
<p>With regard to an honors “program” compared to and honors “college” I think it speaks of the relative strength of the housing university. A strong school does not need much more than an introductory program for freshmen to faculty and the more advanced resources of the university. A school with weaker academic resources has to focus resources to attract better students.</p>
<p>Just went this past weekend to Honors College presentation at UF.
Perks include staying in Hume Hall (honors dorm) but it’s not required, smaller classes for honors courses (capped at 25), priority registration for honors courses (for first 2 years), close ties to honors advising (which most students I spoke to took full advantage of their full 4 years depending on their major–the students we spoke with seemed to think this was one of the biggest advantages). The advisors are very proactive in aiding students prepare resumes, applications for scholarships and grad school.
Florida is one of the top 5 public universities in the nation in research and because of that is great for getting internships and undergraduate research positions tbat translate into graduate school admissions. Honor students receive weekly updated e-mails about available positions in research.
Although you are only required to take 4 honors courses during the first two years, there is no limit on the number you may take. The subject range is very wide and changes every semester.
You must maintain a B avg. to remain in honors. You receive a certificate that you were in honors with your AA. It is not the same as cum laude etc. as from the school you will eventually graduate from.
The full honors program since it is new is still a project in progress. Yes, there has been tweaking.
It goes two years on paper (although you still get advising etc) because after the first two years of college you move more into the individual schools of your major which have their own specific requirements.
No, you do not need honors college to have a great college experience. Yes, research opportunities are available to all students, honors or not. but being in honors seems to facilitate that experience. Maybe from the advising.
Smaller classes offered in the Honors College does provide more one-on-one with professors that can translate into future recommendations.
Another thing the honors college does is instantly connect motivated students, some of whom were looking for a smaller college feel with each other. Instant club. Many have a full year of credit coming into college (you’re still considered a freshman however for honors college purposes)
UF offers most majors and avenues to most majors.
that’s it! I don’t know anything about UCF except it’s in Orlando…</p>
<p>Lol good input @gouf78, should have applied to honors UF…oh well</p>
<p>Anyone have any idea how UF is in terms of other aspects? I read that it is the 3rd Top Party school in the nation. Is a non-partier like myself have a chance of survival? lol</p>
<p>its only highly ranked for partying because of how many people there are. its easy to find a party if you want to. easy to stay at home and study if you want to. no one cares what you do either way, so not being a partier shouldn’t affect you.</p>
<p>you meet people at parties though, which is usually nice.</p>
<p>That’s good, that used ti be a big issue with me when deciding UF in that it is apparently a HUGE party school. But, I’m slowly learning to get over it, but I think your right though depends on who you hang out with, thanks for the advice. </p>
<p>Anything else I should know about the “real” UF?</p>
<p>I’m sure this applies to any big school. There are so many people (it is a small town in reality–all the same age however) that you can find your niche. That may be “party”, studious, motivated, “floating through life”. It’s a wonderful time to meet ALL those facets of society. If you don’t like whom your meeting, seek out another segment.
The “real” UF is a student body finding themselves with plenty of opportunities to enrich their future.</p>