<p>Alright, I got accepted into University of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida and Florida State University.
I want to perhaps major in nursing, and yeah, have 2 minors...psychology and more primarily, acting/theater.
Well, I still don't know where I should go.
I'm sort of leaning towards FSU or UF.
But it's sooo hard to decide.
Where do you think I should go?
Tell me what you know about the schools...pretty please! :)</p>
<p>Obviously you should be leaning toward those two. Not only are the other ones inferior academically, but Central Florida and South Florida have little to no prestige.</p>
<p>Go to the University of Florida. Since you're unsure of your future career, it would be better to attend the college that is overall the best.</p>
<p>Why does the school's "prestige" matter?</p>
<p>Ok. Forget prestige. How about the school's academics? Central and Southern Florida can't even begin to compare to Florida state, which is inferior next to the University of Florida.</p>
<p>UCF can compare to FSU, but USF can't. Personally, I would go to FSU.</p>
<p>haha... can't compare?
admittedly Im a bit biased as a ucf student (one who passed on uf and fsu mind u) maybe can't compare to uf but you don't know much about ucf/usf if you think they can't compare to fsu. Especially if your considering nursing seeing as how fsu's medical school is constantly struggling for funds because its not attached to a metropolitan area and has no solid research ties, and usf with a very respectable med school, and ucf with one on the way.
Now to the op...
Visit. best advice anyone can ever give you. The only one of those that is considerably heads or toes above any of the others is uf. Noone on here can tell you more about a school than visiting can. It will allow you to tell if you will really like it there, and can thrive there.
As for ucf. I have no complaints. Great people. Interesting and fascinating (and open) professors, nice campus (modern brick), nice dorms (suite style), new athletic complex is going to be awesome and will have a ton of stuff to do, orlando, good programs in engineering, business, and fine arts, overall Im very pleased.
Not to say the other schools aren't also attractive and have many advantages, because they definetely do. Since all the schools are relatively close together you could visit them all in a couple days and it would greatly help you in your descision.
Ask away if you have any specific questions about ucf or the descision process in general. It was a tough one for me a few years back also.
Good Luck</p>
<p>If you want to study nursing as well as have a shot at the best fine arts department (theatre, music, film, etc) in Florida and probably the southeastern US (probably top 20 or better in US), I suggest you consider Florida State. FSU's new med school has programs in hospitals across Florida in a distributed manner that enables students to see multiple approaches to medical issues, which is much more the state of the art than a single-location teaching hospital. Med school is not nursing, however, as I'm sure you know. USF, UF and FSU are the state's top-flight graduate research institutions in broad areas. UCF is not in this category and may never be funded for this level by the state. UCF does have some nice undergraduate programs, however and a budding photonics program. </p>
<p>If you are an honors qualifier FSU will allow you to compete for a slot in a research lab, as an undergraduate, that is remarkable. My daughter was accepted by both FSU and UF and selected FSU due to this opportunity and the more attractive campus (a kid's consideration) FSU has. She is now well on the way to being published as an undergrad, which is very helpful to her goals (med school).</p>
<p>Nursing school at FSU is quite competitive to get into, so be prepared. It is a rigorous course of instruction, geared to research-level methods. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>FSU and UF are both large state universities that are not set up by the state to be mirror images of each other. The 'best' choice depends on what program you want, as there is not too much duplication between the two schools. If you want physics, for example, go to Florida State. Want to be a vet? Go to UF, then. To say UF is the 'best' is an extreme oversimplification and not the way to determine a university education decision. It becomes meaningless and trite to commit such effort to such a transient concept.</p>
<p>I wasnt even going to reply to this but in the interest of the op here goes
1) Fsu's partnership with many hospitals may be nice but it also may be a byproduct of not having a centralized research hospital, which is the main component of a med school that brings in money (in terms of research dollars) and prestige (this as well as their engineering program are some of the main reasons they have not been admitted to the aau)
2) With Fiu and Ucf's new med school's, Fsu med school has most likely lost the ability to redefine itself as they are currently struggling for the little state funds distributed, coupled with no research hospital and not being in a metroplotan area.
3) Usf has already surpassed fsu in terms of research dollars, and with agreements with scripps and nih funding the new ucf med school could increase ucf's total research dollars to where usf is.
4) Grants to research hospitals make up a signifigant amount of the total research money of a university, and if you took away uf's com research money they would be nearly equal to ucf's.
5) Private money and grants make up the bulk of the money to a university and dwarf state money.
6) having been admitted to honors at fsu I remember nothing of the advantages to research. Also if at fsu you need to be a member of honors to be involved in research on the undergraduate level that must say something about university research opportunities (or lack thereof) for undergraduates. At ucf (and at most other places) if you have decent grades and interest in the subject and actively seek out faculty members obtaining research/coop/ intern/extern positions is not a problem much less "remarkable", and every undergrad has a chance to write a thesis if they have good enough grades.</p>
<p>Again I dont believe there is a signifigant difference in any of the schools all have their strengths and weaknesses. I only have general knowledge of the fine arts and the nursing programs because I have no interest in them. Please try to visit all the schools, and really research what would be the best fit for you.
Good Luck... and my offer of answering any questions still stands</p>
<p>Nice try, but UCF's med school is not yet a reality. Only recently has the BOG approved the concept. It will take years to make this happen to the point where they will be competitive. The Legislature must also agree. </p>
<p>Medical accreditation alone takes 4 years, assuming all is on track. UCF will have an advantage, assuming all goes well, in being located near large population centers. This is the primary reason why UF grew so large and FSU's growth has been slower in comparison. UCF may do well, if permitted by the state, due to the pressure of population but it will probably be more like USF as a commuter school than FSU or UF as traditional residential universities. </p>
<p>Right now UCF is nowhere near the same level as FSU, UF or USF. They may never be accorded the same status. With regard to med, large research hospitals are an advantage, but this is an old concept. Only time will tell how the distributed concept works. Now that the state has committed to increased funding at FSU Med due to the so-called demand for physicians in Florida, it will be interesting. Originally FSU Med was intended for underserved areas, now this designation appears to have changed.</p>
<p>Directed Individual Studies work is available to all undergrads at FSU. Honors kids have an advantage. Hard work and persistence have more to do with ultimate success than whether or not one is an Honors kid.</p>
<p>Don't forget that FSU has the National High Magnetic Lab and the Applied Superconductivity Center plus other national research aspects you seem to have overlooked in your argument.</p>
<p>AAU membership is like joining a club. When they want you, it happens.</p>
<p>USF offers both a strong nursing program and Theater program. If you can visit these schools you will find the best one for your needs. My daughter has chosen USF (FSU was also high on the list) as she is also combining science with their top dance program.</p>
<p>HeavenWood, you said "obviously," with a bias toward UF and FSU. Yet you didn't even address the question of quality of the nursing programs at the other Florida schools which the poster asked about.</p>
<p>By the way, single-source funding such a scripps can disappear as easily as it arrived. It is a constant struggle to maintain such sources. Companies do not develop attachments to anything but results translated to dollars they realize. </p>
<p>I would also suggest that the distributed med concept has the potential for a multiple synergy effect as the resources and philosophy are a product of each hospital wherein it is applied. Inbreeding of thought is much less likely to have any significant influence, thus creating the potential for the results cited above. </p>
<p>It pays not to put all your eggs in one basket, especially in this day and age.</p>
<p>Good luck in your studies at UCF. You seem like you have put some effort into your research as this diligence will pay off for you later.</p>
<p>I have noticed that nursing at the university level often times is geared towards research and management, not just practical nursing (guess they assume it happens later). Many community colleges have superb nursing programs designed to teach practical nursing right off the bat.</p>
<p>I am an undergraduate at the University of Florida now majoring in Nursing. I also got into FSU, UCF, and USF. Like one of the other posters wrote, it is so important that you go and tour the school before making a decision. That’s actually one of the reasons why I fell in love with UF. Every school that you go to has a different appearance and feel about it. When you go to look at them, there will be one that you keep thinking about and that you like a lot and that’s ultimately the one you should go to.
Most people probably think I am going to tell you to go to UF, but all these schools are good schools. And let’s be honest, Nursing is in such high demand right now that I really don’t think it matters where you graduate from (out of those four colleges). They all have something a little bit different to offer you and when you tour them you will find which one you like the most. Make sure you ask every question that you possibly have too because you might find out some other interesting things during this process.
Now back to how the other person told you that UF isn’t any better than USF if they didn’t have all there grants. I think the same thing is true about FSU. Every school is about the same, except for UF and FSU that get grants nationally and from the state to do a lot of research. Otherwise they are all pretty much the same.
Okay, now about UF. One of the reasons why we have such a strong Nursing school is because of Shand’s hospital. They offer so many teaching opportunities. From day one of the Nursing Program, you are hands one and working in the hospital learning things. Because Shand’s is so big and has so many different branch’s and outreach centers this really helps with exposure for students. At UF, you get to do amazing rounds from the VA hospital to the outpatients children’s hospital to the sports medicine center to the regular doctor’s offices. Oh and an interesting fact about the UF nursing program is that we have a clinic that anyone can come to and it is run by only UF nursing students, which I think is pretty cool. You get to do just about everything in about two years. They are now going to be changing the Nursing program and working on making it even better. We are now able to do rounds at the brand new cancer research center as well. There is so many opportunities here at UF. Yes, we are so well known because of all the money we are given for research. This also has it’s benefits though. You get the chance to work with your teachers and professors while they do research. There are many times that you will be asked to be apart of there research. I think this is pretty neat because you get to be apart of something important. This also brings you a lot closer to your teachers/professors. You have a different bond between you two then what most other students would have.<br>
I just know a lot about UF and those are some of our interesting facts, but there are a lot more that I didn’t mention. I’m sure that the other colleges have some of the same things or even completely different things that might make their Nursing program look a little bit better to you.</p>
<p>Go where it’s a balance between lower cost and where you’ll be happier with campus life. Some points to make:</p>
<p>1) USF Med school is excellent.
2) Research means nothing to a nursing student and won’t enhance your chances of either a job or grad school in nursing, as nursing is a professional degree.
3) As long as you go to an accredited school and graduate with an “RN”, your jhob prospects will be EXCELLENT in the current economy.</p>
<p>If USF offered the most non loan based aid, I would be hard pressed not to go there, there are so many fun things to do in Tampa and despite what the elitists on this board may say, USF is a great school. </p>
<p>Disclaimer- I am an alumni of USF and UF.</p>
<p>This thread is from April, 2006. </p>
<p>Better late than never?</p>