Says someone who has never really experienced Florida in August (the semesters start in early August)
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Um, they are also to keep out bigger varmints, including alligators!
Many Florida communities spray for mosquitos and we never had problems with them, but beetles, frogs, snapping turtles? Didn’t want those in the pool.
Yup. We also have wild pigs.
gainesville itself is great but nothing much around it city or beach wise
Hi, Just wondering what OP has decided. We are in a similar position. My older son is at Wisconsin and its a great town and his professors have been excellent- but my younger son has decided he wants warm weather. My biggest concern about UF is the number of online classes in the business school. I feel like he would get a better education at Wisconsin or , Binghamton business school then online classes at UF, even though its ranked better.
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Lots of other excellent Southern (i.e. warmer) business schools to choose from - from FSU to Bama Manderson - lots of geogrphic diversity to UGA Terry and U of SC, tops in international business.
Then you’ve got your privates too…
to be honest, those schools may have improved alot, but FSU’s reputation has not improved as much up north. (UGA is known to be a strong school as well). FSU is simply not thought of as highly as UF, Texas, or Wisconsin.
The reality is - an undergrad business degree from Texas to Wisconsin to Iowa to Nebraska to Arizona - no one cares.
Guess who places best in the SEC Internship wise? Alabama. Guess who has the most NMFs in the country? Alabama. (yes, over Vandy, UF, and UGA)
U of SC is known for business.
You are basing your opinion on a US News ranking.
I work for a Fortune 100. A U of North Florida business grad is just as likely to get hired and be a manager one day as a UF, etc.
Is the admission standard for UF higher? Yes…as is UGA and FSU than say Wisconsin.
But you are talking about undergraduate - and none of them are the creme de la creme.
You simply got hooked into the ranking game.
Just my opinion.
PS - you’d also save a ton of $$ if you have great #s - why is why Bama is what it is in regards to who they attract.
UGA gives money away too and FSU is already cheap but gives an OOS waiver.
USF also well thought of.
One should look at the major too - example, if you are looking at Supply Chain, look to UTK or ASU. If you are looking at MIS, look to Indiana or Arizona, etc.
I get what you’re saying - but i think it’s not reflective of the true world. I think it is what those magazines - and there are many - like to put into people’s heads so they can sell more.
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I said nothing about ranking, I was talking about reputation. And the few students I know from the Northeast who attend FSU are a caliber well below students at schools like Wisconsin, UNC, UF and Texas. That may not be true for Florida but it is true up here. And I believe that translates into better job opportunities up here as well. Obviously, someone can do well from any school but a strong student from New York will consider UF but usually only FSU for financial reasons.
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This is an incorrect statement. You are confusing National Merit Scholar awardees and National Merit Finalists. At UA every NMF is a Scholarship winner. Many other schools have many more NMF than UA.
That’s fair - you have to spend your $$ at places you feel are appropriate - I can appreciate that.
Perhaps my nomenclature is off - and I know it’s not size scaled - meaning they have many times the overall students as a Chicago/Harvard, etc. but this:
The Capstone enrolled a record 281 new National Merit Scholars in its 2021 fall freshman - and I believe in the four year it’s over 900.
They communicate it and I’ve verified on the web - but perhaps my “nomenclature” is wrong.
Thanks
Edit - anyway, my point was to say there’s lots of fine schools in the South. But yes, I should better understand how NMF works.
You picked three top public schools. FSU isn’t there yet but how many are?
Where are most jobs be created or moving to? Something to consider.
Look at the student profiles. Look at the NMSF state cutoffs.
FSU 75th percentile Is 1400/32 SAT/ACT and now in the T20 public schools. Not bad considering they’re not known for CS or engineering. They’re getting good students.
S21 loves FSU. He took the money and Honors program and ran. S20 at Georgia Tech is amazed when he visits. Everyone seems happy. BTW we’re from Pennsylvania.
South Carolina is another option. Top international business program. I graduated there many years ago. Top notch students.
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btw, Wisconsins admissions are way more competitive than FSU… UWMadison 75 percentile is 1490. No comparison between FSU (which may have improved some) but cannot compare in terms of reputation nationally or internationally to UW Madison. It has more in common with some of the lessers UW schools like UW - Green Bay.
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We are from NY and my son is a Junior at UF. He was a National Merit Commended Scholar, many APs and extras. He was admitted to Michigan, Villanova, Maryland, UNC and chose Florida.
He is a golfer so the weather definitely played a factor. UF has steadily climbed in the rankings over the past few years. He is a Business major with minors in sports management and real estate.
He loves the town, the Greek life, the clubs and opportunities and of course, the weather.
For him, UF was the right choice.
For us, he has the best tuition!!!
Good luck!
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Of course the tail end is higher. UW is known for engineering and CS. FSU not so much. OP also mentioned business. Usually lower stats.
Again, you cherry picked three top publics. Any top, high stat kid from any state would go for business. You mentioned kids from the northeast. How do UConn, Rutgers or Bing compare to UNC or UT? They don’t but kids still go there and succeed.
I’m sorry, but I’m still confused about whether your daughter is a junior or a senior. If she is a junior, it is not too late for the National Merit alternate pathway. It is for those students who missed the PSAT their junior year. They can substitute SAT scores instead, but have to apply before April of their junior year (and then take the SAT before June of junior year iirc.) So if your daughter is a junior, look into this. If she is a senior already, it is too late.
No one is saying UW-Madison is not a fine school. I’m saying going there is not going to, in most cases, give a student a job advantage over Bama, South Carolina, Florida State, UCF, etc. - you can add on Penn State, UMASS, Iowa, PItt, etc.
@musc7999 no one has said Florida is not a great school - rank wise it’s now equal to UNC. I think @davidkay mentioned the # of online classes business students take - even before covid.
Back to Wisconsin - no one said it’s not a fine school - and btw - all these schools cost money and some are cheaper than others and that’s another thing to look at - right? Is the perceived reputation of one worth x $ over another.
You’re also missing major - for example, I’m sure you’ll tell me Wisconsin is finer than Tennessee - but if you were majoring in Supply Chain, that wouldn’t be the consensus.
Anyway, since you brought up selectivity, let’s look at Wisconsin and Florida State.
Looking at the Common Data Set since I couldn’t find stats on the website - Wisconsin admitted 60% last year - 32,466 out of 53,829 applicants. If you want to get more granular, 64% of females and 56% of males were accepted.
15% submitted SATs at a 1350/1480 split. 46% submitted ACTs at a 28/32 split. 39% chose to go test optional - either couldn’t take the test or more likely weren’t in range of those #s. 49% were in the top 10% of their class and 86% in the top quarter. I’m not sure all calculate GPAs the same way but 45% were 4.0 or higher.
FSU doesn’t have a 21-22 Common Data set posted. But this is on their website. GPA is 4.2 - 4.6 so at least 75% were 4.2 or higher - but again, I can’t be sure this is apples to apples. ACT is the same 28/32 - however in reality it’s higher because in Florida 100% of the kids have to submit a test whereas at Wisconsin, only 61% did.
Now FSU doesn’t post acceptance rate - so I’m taking last year’s - they admitted 20,668/63,691 or 32%.
I was not denigrating Wisconsin - I was making the point that pretty much outside of UNC, your UCs, Michigan, UVA and W&M, a flagship is a flagship. When you go to get a job in Denver or Chicago or NYC, no one cares if you went to Colorado, Arizona, Florida or Florida State.
Statistically speaking, FSU is superior in admission selectivity to Wisconsin. It doesn’t make FSU better or Wisconsin worse. FSU will also save OOS students money over Wisconsin.
Your original response was you have UF but you thought Wisconsin or Binghamton may provide a better education even though ranked lower - and it’s a fair assessment.
I simply provided other Southern schools since weather was mentioned. And let’s be honest - outside of NY and maybe surrounding states, few have heard of Binghamton. It’s a fine school - but it’s got very little name recognition.
The other thing one has to realize today - and it matters little where you go to school - but the country is migrating - away from the Northeast, and the West to a certain extent. MY undergrad was from NY. I worked for 6 years. My MBA is from Arizona - I lived in LA and now I live in TN. I almost had to move to SC but took another job to stay in TN.
My point is -no one knows the future and where your child will end up.
I think you can find many a fine school for your son in many parts of the country - and for the most part, none will provide advantage or disadvantage over another. To me, the most important thing is fit - and fit includes cost. FSU, for my daughter, was about $20K a year OOS. We did not apply to Wisconsin but had we, assuming no scholarship and I know merit is not easy there, it’d be about $56K a year. So that’s another $140K - and we are all different but for me, that plays a part as well - $140K is a lot of $$.
I wish your son good luck and I can appreciate your perceptions - they belong to you and that’s fine.
But I think the collegiate landscape has changed a lot - and it may be worth a look into other places as well if UF isn’t the answer for you.
Good luck to your son.
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Forgetting that FSUs acceptance rate is a tad over half that of Wisconsin - I laugh at your comparison UW Greenbay.
C’mon. I think you’re seeing this as a Wisconsin attack and it’s not. It’s a fine school. I was simply pushing back on your assertion of other Southern schools.
But since you mentioned Green Bay - they admit 88%.
Wisconsin admits 60% - so 28% less.
FSU admits 32% - so 28% less than Wisconsin.
So I guess one could argue that FSU is superior than UW-GB - and that Wisconsin sits squarely in the middle 
OK - time to move on - we’ve all made our points.
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Go Gators!
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