Need feedback on UF PaCE for Sports Management major who would live on campus and get the optional package. Help!!!
What do you mean by optional package? Pace kids don’t get on campus housing either.
Correct. Can’t live on campus but can do everything else if you pay the fee.
Sorry meant live off campus in Gainesville.
I personally don’t see why anyone would want to do this program. It’s a complete money grab. An online student living near campus just to be part of the university seems absurd. . Why not just go to another university as a traditional student and transfer to UF after 2 years if you really want to go there. If you plan on staying in Florida after you graduate it may be worth it to you but if plan on working and residing elsewhere, UF its not going to open many doors.
My son doesn’t want to transfer. He wants to commit and stay in one school. Join a fraternity. Have the full college experience. I grew up in NY but we are in FL now. I hope my son stays here as well and from what I’ve heard UF does open doors here. I’m skeptical of the program but the UF name (and rank) is tempting in comparison to FSU - whose campus we love but is further away and lower rank. I know its not all about the ranking but I’ve heard people here in FL say “if you get into UF you go to UF”. Very tough decision so I would love any feedback.
I think the main reason to do this program is if you really want to go to UF and if you can get through it quickly, like get your UF admit after the required two 15-credit online semesters. That being said, most kids who have a lot of AP/DE credits are usually high flyers with a lot of offers, including scholarships.
I think it is hard to “sell” this program. If it fits for your kid, then it fits.
Several of my son’s friends were offered Pace. One is a hard no. Another is looking at as a possible way to travel while going to college - kind of modified gap year. Another is trying to figure out if he can get through it in the shortest possible time. UF has become a powerful brand, and this option works for some kids.
It’s a similar conversation to the other UF bridge programs. Some kids look at them as a slap in the face while others see them as an opportunity. Depends on the kid.
My son was accepted and is still deciding, so I dont think the mantra “If you were accepted to UF you go to UF” applies to everyone. He has friends who were accepted but went elsewhere(UCF, FSU and UM) . One kid he knows was accepted to PaCE, but is declining that to go to UCF instead. Honestly it is exactly as described above by Cosmov- a money grab. Using kids emotions who want to be at UF to get their money without actually being at UF. I know if I were at that age, it would be a no go for me. Regarding rankings… If your kid isnt going to be a dr, or go to an Ivy league school, employers dont care about prestige.
@DeanHeupel I pretty much disagree with everything you said, except the first sentence.
First, I don’t believe that it is just a money grab. Students in PACE can do everything that traditional students can do, except live on campus. UF can do this program because it has a large number of classes that are online and many traditional students take these same online classes. Some traditional students even have all of their classes online.
Second, rankings matter in many fields and with many graduate schools. Employers recruit at certain schools, not every school. They select schools for many reasons, including quality and reputation of the school and the specific program/major.
Maybe where we could agree is that rankings and prestige at the program/major level are more important than the University level. There are programs at your UCF that have higher rankings and prestige than UFs and those attract employers more to UCF than UF. Same goes the other way.
@gateway66 What does your son want to study? Make sure the PACE majors align with his goals. Unless something has changed, PACE doesn’t give you access to any of the non PACE majors listed in the program. Even if it’s close, is it the real thing relative to the traditional major.
However, if think if you went the CC route or transferred from another 4 yr school directly to UF, you’d have access to all the UF UG majors. Someone who knows more might want to chime in and correct me if I’m mistaken.
I am in the same boat as when I called for a different major and they were like “first off, do you want to go to UF?” And I was of course like “…well yeah…” and it gave me a funny taste in my mouth in all honesty although I know that UF can “open doors” and is a “top 7 school” but I am still unsure about this in all honesty.
@goldengirl26 You have some genuine concerns about the PACE program and need to get your questions answered prior to making a decision. Being asked “…do you want to go to UF?” is a strange and off putting question. If your were a “regular admit” with full access to everything UF and the major of your choosing you might have a different answer than the realities of PACE. But that is not your situation. You’re being offered something other than being a traditional UF student.
If I were you, I would do some real research on the PACE major(s) that are in the areas of your interest. Are they really what you want to do? If not, why would you spend the time pursuing something other than what you really want , assuming that is available elsewhere, just to be a Gator? Not sure why anyone would do that.
PACE might be the perfect program for next year. Who knows how many schools are going to go to online only next fall? PACE students will be one step ahead and will already know they will be online and that they can do it from Gainesville or Miami or NYC.
I don’t view it as a matter of online vs. in person classes. It’s more an issue of selecting a major that you’re most interested in and if that track (via PACE or traditional) is the best one for you / your goals.
The “I need to be a Gator” mentality just muddies the waters. An example I think about, anecdotal I know, is a close family friend. Parents are both Gators, house is always wrapped in Gator motif, parties are always filled with plenty of Gators, etc. The assumption was ALWAYS that the kids would be Gators. Well, oldest D wants to be a nurse. Got accepted to UCF and UF PACE. You can’t be a nurse via PACE. She was really struggling with that and was trying to shoehorn a way to go to UF via PACE and still get her nursing degree. I told her dad, “I’ve got an idea…why don’t you just go to UCF and get your nursing degree…?” Ultimately that’s what she did.
My point is, why would you compromise your professional dreams and goals just to be a Gator? If they have just what you want via the Pace program, great. If not, just move on. Treat it like you weren’t accepted to any other school. Happens all the time.
Thank you for saying that! It is exactly what I needed to hear. My younger daughter is a senior in HS and has had her dreams set on UF and while not 100% sure yet of what she wants to study, nursing, exercise science and public health are all on the list, none of which are pace majors (also nutrition, but that is a pace major), and just like your friend’s daughter, she got into UCF (and was offered a pretty nice scholarship) and was offered UF Pace. Anyways, she’s been struggling so much with the decision, mostly because of peer pressure. She’s an IB student and among her IB classmates, the only acceptable state school to attend would be UF. She says she’s embarrassed to say she would be going anywhere else unless it was an out of state school or a private college. So it’s made us question if giving up UF pace would be the right thing to do (after all, some of her friends didn’t even make it into pace). But deep down, I think we all know that UCF would be the right choice in this situation. They are giving her extra money and she can study anything she wants. And live on campus. And be a full fledged student. My husband and I are both UCF alumni and my older daughter goes to FSU, so it’s not like she has ties to Gator Nation (I think that’s part of it, though. She wants to pave her own way). But, their whole offer of pace is just another reason for us to hate the gators, lol!