<p>Hi, I am a female student who lives in Miami. I am transferring to a university with an A.A. degree in an engineering career that I obtained at a college. I got accepted to both Georgia Tech and University of Florida but I really dont know what would be the best choice. The bad things that retain me from going to Georgia Tech is that a lot of people say the campus is near a ghetto and there is a lot of criminality around. I wont be living in the dorms, because I think I would look for an apartment around. Also, Ive read a lot of bad comments saying that the life at Georgia Tech is miserable because they dont care about the student, etc thing that I dont believe that much because probably those comments are from students who just simply didnt like Georgia Tech or because they come from students that are not applied. The good things about Georgia Tech is that it is one of the top universities in engineering and they will probably prepare really well for my field. I know that it will be hard (I study really hard, and I graduated with honors in college).</p>
<p>In the other hand, Ive seen comments about how refreshing and good the student life at The University of Florida is, and I really like the idea that it is situated at Gainesville which is a city full of students and you can feel the vibe of the student life all around, and Ive seen that the university has a good program in engineering as well.
I would really appreciate your recommendations!
Thank you </p>
<p>Georgia Tech is definitely not in “ghetto”. It is located in midtown business district, one of most expensive area and one of largest job center in Atlanta. Most condo next to Tech Square costs minimum $300,000 for one bedroom. I think that people got mixed up with Ga State University, which located in downtown. That’s a little shady area. However, since Tech is center of atlanta, do expect minor crime. That’s unavoidable.</p>
<p>Ga Tech = hard? It really depends on people. Tech is very hard for freshman and sophomore since most students don’t have study skills for rigid environment. Average lower level engineering GPA is around 2.8. However, for junior and senior, average GPA is around 3.2. So is Ga Tech harder than most liberal art schools, probably, but so are most good engineering schools like Illionis, Berkeley or CalTech. </p>
<p>I believe that the biggest complain (and probably caused biggest unhappiness among student) is the male female ratio. The official ratio is 70 to 30. Even that figure is a little distorting somewhat since most female students are either in Science, Liberal art or Management schools. Ga Tech is trying to admit more female students every year (around 33% of its incoming freshman this year are female) but it is somewhat limited being public school and has to follow ga state law so it can not do what MIT did to get more ideal 45% ratio.</p>
<p>One thing I do like about Tech is that there are a lot of internship/co-op opportunies. Many advanced senior project we did is almost 5 years ahead of real world application. It is pretty easy to find real world experience as well. Florida while is good program but no great program like Tech, is situated in small town and largely tourist state. So there probably less the intership/co-op opportunites over there.</p>
<p>Which to pick is depend on your choice? Do you prefer big city, more job prospects program or do you prefer small town and more traditional college life? IMHO, in this economy, I would pick the program that get me the job.</p>
<p>UF is a fine school. As a Florida resident, tuition will be cheaper. </p>
<p>Georgia Tech is a far superior engineering school. It has a world-respected reputation. It also has a campus in France. </p>
<p>If you want your diploma to help you advance, you should go to GT. It is as simple as that. However, if you already have connections that might help you find a job, then UF will do fine.</p>
<p>With respect to the location of each school. Atlanta is cosmopolitan and offers more museums, concerts, cultural events and world-wide connections than Miami. Miami is very connected to Latin America, but Atlanta has a wider net internationally. I have lived in both cities and I know this first hand. </p>
<p>Visit each school and see for yourself. Don’t rely on opinions (like mine).</p>
<p>I went to UF for undergrad. It’s not a bad school, but what I’ve found is that each class has more information in it at Tech and so your quality of education would be higher here. Just compare the syllabuses for comparable classes between the two:</p>
<p>For example, compare Electromagnetism (called E-mag here or E-fields at UF) in ECE between the two schools:</p>
<p>It’s probably not that noticeable, but Tech’s equivalent course covers about 25% more material. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my time at UF, but one of the gripes of the better students is that they teach to the slower people in the classes.</p>
<p>As for quality of life, UF definitely is in a small town where you feel safe walking around at midnight in downtown. There are lots of bars and restaurants catering to Gator fans so the spirit I think is a lot more ubiquitous. In Atlanta, past 10 or 11 I wouldn’t step a foot off campus if for some reason I’m still there (I live a few miles north of campus in Buckhead, which is a very nice area).</p>
<p>I’d like to second everything jim1980 said, and add a couple comments of my own. </p>
<p>If you have common sense (don’t walk alone at night, etc), you can easily avoid crime - I’ve never felt unsafe on campus. And I’ve definitely never felt like I was in a ghetto…</p>
<p>And I heard all sorts of negative things about Tech before I came too… like nobody is social, you have to be in a sorority to enjoy your life, you have to give up your social life to make decent grades, etc. I have found NONE of those to be true.</p>
<p>If you have any other questions about Tech go ahead and PM me, I’d be happy to tell you what you want to know!</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I know pretty much nothing about UF, so I’m not trying to make comparisons here.</p>