<p>Anyone know anything about the University of South Florida? </p>
<p>Going on what I've seen/read online, it looks gorgeous and the academics seem pretty good. The more I think about it/look into it, the more I want to go. :)</p>
<p>Only thing, I'm from MA. Part of me really wants to go to school far away - I mean, this is probably one of the only opportunities I'll ever have to be able to sit down and say, "Well, I want to try living somewhere else." My mother didn't want me to even bother applying, because she thinks I'll get homesick, but I think I'll be fine. </p>
<p>I guess USF is in my second-choice slot right now. BU's my first choice, but I'm not really stressed out about it anymore. If I don't get in to BU, but I get in to USF, I'll still be wicked excited and I'd LOVE to attend USF. But if I got into both.. then I'd have a hard decision. Yes, I've dreamed of going to BU for the past 4 years.. but I hate New England winters. Hate the cold. Hate snow. I would love to go to school in Tampa. And USF would be a LOT cheaper.</p>
<p>I am from upstate, NY and I went there for grad school and it is deff. a major player in academia. Although it is not ranked YET, it is a university on the rise. They are a tier 1 research university and the state has made a committment to pour a lot of resources into the campus. They just joined the Big East athaletic conference and withing a few years will be a household name. For what it is worth, they are already larger than Florida State and the 15th largest university in the country. Tampa is a great city to live in, too.</p>
<p>You are not looking at the whole piture here. USF has traditionally been a commuter school with a high number of students working full time and commuting. Also, the federal government had set the 6 year number as the benchmark and USF doesn't fall that much below the average at 6 years. Besides, why would you even look at a low 4 year graduation rate as a bad thing? Isn't making the transition to an adult about personal responsibility. The students who graduate in 4 years have taken the bull by the horns, determined what they had to do and did it. They dinn't expect to have it spoon fed to them. Many of the students that do not want to take personal responsibility for their education/life in general wind up leaving, failing out or transferring to a college where they are coddled. Take a look at this:</p>
<p>luckybug- I told myself I was weening myself off of cc as d just graduated- but I do actually know about schools in Tampa. We're from Long Island and my d applied to University of Tampa. It's a small private U with enrollment of around 5000. Tuition is reasonable for a private U ($18,000)- and they are generous with merit aid if your GPA is 3.2 or higher. D was awarded $8,000/year so it brought tuition to about 10,000/year. D did not apply to USF because it was too big and she too heard it was a "commuter" campus. Friend of family's son was there and transferred out after one semester. He too felt that many kids went home on the week-end and decided to transfer back to a school in the NE. What I thought was promising about U of Tampa is that many kids come from the NE. I think it is filled with kids like you (and my d) who hate the NE winters and want to be in a warmer climate. I am not pushing U of Tampa, cause I really do not know enough about it- but I did have a positive initial reaction. So you may want to check it out. Uof Central Florida in Orlando seems to be getting a bit more popular in NY so they may have more OOS kids than USF- but again I did not check that school out at all. If you are looking for OOS schools that might have better weather than ME and do not seem to be "suitcase campuses" you might want to check out U of Delaware, U of Md. and College of Charleston and maybe Clemson . I believe they all have a decent amount of OOS kids so there will be things to do on campus on the weekends.<br>
PS though my d swore she would not be going to school upstate NY, she did finally decide to go to SUNY Cortland .
Just want to say Hi! to Tom- a former Oswegonian too!!</p>
<pre><code> NEVERMIND!! Ladybug- I just saw that your post was from February- so I assume you made your decision already unless you were a junior and are just going to begin the process. I think I better start checking the dates first before I add to these posts. If you are reading this Ladybug- where did you decide to go??- Good luck to you.
</code></pre>
<p>Just noticed it was Feb- 2005. You're a sophomore. Maybe it would be a good idea not to bring up such old posts.
I think it really is time for me to say goodbye to cc. Have a Happy 4th of July and Good Luck to all!!
Marny</p>
<p>tomslawsky, I disagree. I understand that you are a proud graduate, but a 4 year grad rate matters to me, and my wallet. I want my S to have a fighting chance to get out in 4 years. I don't want him still working on his undergraduate degree 6-7 years later. I don't think that 79% of those that did not graduate in 4 years were irresponsible. I do think that some % had $ issues and perhaps had to leave school and work, or work and go to school part time. It also may mean that there are other issues at the school, and I would run in the other direction if I did not get answers to explain that graduation rate. Grad rates matter, and this is why people consider that statistic.</p>
<p>FSU-uf:
I remember that you too were looking at OOS publics that might be easier to get in than UVA- UNC etc. The above OOS colleges like Maryland and Delaware and maybe Clemson might be schools you want to look at too. Gotta admit I am not as familiar with Clemson as I am with the others. Md and Delaware are very nice campuses- lots of NE kids go there and is definitely active on the week-ends. As long as I posted, I might as well help some kid who is actually in the process of looking at colleges to apply to.</p>
<p>Sorry, I thought you were instate for Florida. I see now that you are from MA. You might also look into UConn, James Madison, Virginia Tech, University of South Carolina, Towson, UVM, UNH for some other state school options. UMD and UD, which Marny suggested are good too.</p>
<p>You might want to look at graduation rates, chances of instate tuition as an oos student, other scholarships. I understand that USC seems to offer generous scholarships if your stats are good (they do not need to be extremely high to qualify). Coming from a NE state, I think that you don't need to pay the full tuition of an oos student that comes from outside New England would be paying at UConn.</p>
<p>"It also may mean that there are other issues at the school, and I would run in the other direction if I did not get answers to explain that graduation rate. Grad rates matter, and this is why people consider that statistic."</p>
<p>I guess that in order to be consistent, you would run from Tennessee, Texas Tech, LSU, Iowa, etc? You are closing the door on some very good schools by assuming this position (all of these schools have a lower graduation rate than USF)</p>
<p>Again, put these numbers in perspective. USF shares some good company. I wouldn't say that the schools on this list are all "sad". Temple, oklahoma, Utah, Texas Tech, LSU all have WORSE 4 year graduation rates than USF. Again, if you teach your child to take personal responsibility for their education, they will do just fine. I would maintain that point of view no matter where I went to school. I would never advise someone not to go to Texas Tech (a great school) because their 4 year graduation rate is 23.7%, even lower than that of USF. If I had a dime for every time I heard "my advisor screwed me", I'd be well on my way to being wealthy. LOL</p>
<p>In order to see what I am talking about, go to the drop down menu on the top of the link and select 4 year and top 50.</p>
<p>I really think that USF gets the shaft because it is a young institution and college rankings traditionally place high valu on the age of a school. There aren't too many academic ventures that USF doesn't offer, from BA up to PhD level (including a medical school)</p>
<p>Northeastmom- the original OP (ladybug) was from Ma. Looking at her old posts- I think she now may be a soph at Northeastern- (But I really do not know for sure). The original post was from 2/05 and it was brought back today. I did not notice that either until after I came out of "retirement".
As I did have recent communication on another thread with FSU-uf and HE was looking at OOS schools, I thought it would be a good idea to pass info to him as he really is going through the selection process. But the schools you added are also very good for him to consider. And I would add U of Indiana too.<br>
OK. Time to celebrate July 4th with friends- I am outta here!!</p>
<p>"I guess that in order to be consistent, you would run from Tennessee, Texas Tech, LSU, Iowa, etc? You are closing the door on some very good schools by assuming this position (all of these schools have a lower graduation rate than USF)"</p>
<p>Actually, that is correct. I would try to investigate as to why the low grad rate. If it could not be explained to me, then I would encourage my children to look elsewhere. In fact, I was not wild about the low grad rate at Towson. It is a little higher than USF, however, in that the 4 year grad rate there is 30%. I did get partial answers as to why it is this low, when speaking with people at the school. I was somewhat, though not entirely satisfied with the answers that I received from the school.</p>
<p>I am closing some doors, but with all the schools available, and the cost of an education, I am going to be an educated consumer, and I am absolutely going to look at graduation rates. I will not lose sight of the forest for the trees. Most important to me is that my children graduate and are employable. That is not everyone's first goal on cc, but it is mine.</p>
<p>Marny, Indiana, is a good school to look into too. Happy 4th!</p>
<p>Many state universities around the country are now making strong efforts to improve their four year graduation rates. As one example, here is what Texas Tech is doing through its "Graduate-On-Time" contract:</p>
<p>"Embark on your college career in a timely manner and catapult into a career or graduate/professional school as soon as possible. More than 70 percent of degrees at Texas Tech are designated to take four years to complete, and they require only a minimum semester course load of 15 to 16 hours. </p>
<p>The Graduate-On-Time (GOT) contract is a two-party agreement signed by you and the Provost of Texas Tech University. The contract is offered to you as a first-year freshman student to help ensure that your college investment will be used as efficiently as possible. Although the contract is not required and no penalties exist for not participating, planning ahead for a timely graduation in the face of rising education costs can save you at least $8,000 for every semester you remain in college beyond what is required for your major.</p>
<p>When you sign a GOT contract, you agree to work in concert with your academic program advisor to chart a course for timely graduation. Students who sign the contract agree to conditions that guide their studies and progress toward a degree while academic departments agree to certain remedies to prevent a delay in graduation whenever you have met the contract conditions but may be facing a delay due to an unavailable course(s). </p>
<p>You and your advisor will develop an educational plan to assist you in graduating within the specified time period. The plan will include, but is not limited to:</p>
<p>A semester-by-semester plan of course sequencing.
A timeline for making informed decisions leading to a choice of major and career.
A means of making efficient use of academic support services available to you.
Only students who enter the university directly from high school are eligible to sign the agreement and participate in the GOT contract. The contract can be signed at the office of your academic advisor after you have selected a major and planned a course of study. The signing deadline is the end of preregistration during spring 2007. </p>
<p>Although most degrees can be completed in four years, some require more time. The majors that qualify for the GOT contract and the projected years to complete the degrees are listed on the next page. </p>
<p>I cannot believe that you still refuse to believe that the students bare no responsibility for not graduating on time. The fact is that ALL colleges in the US are designed to be completed in 4 years. A college cannot help it if students chose to take 12 credits instead of 15, or do not actually read about what their requirements are. I really cannot think of a whole lot of other reasons that a system would methodically keep students from graduating.</p>
<p>USF seems like a very up and coming school. It interests me because it has very good stats, and is in a pretty nice area. Given a good 5 years or so, I think itll be up there with UF and FSU.</p>
<p>Here's how I see it:<br>
If I am paying for my daughter's tuition and she takes 6 years to graduate, I say that the school is not screwing my daughter, rather that my daughter is screwing me.</p>
<p>"I cannot believe that you still refuse to believe that the students bare no responsibility for not graduating on time. The fact is that ALL colleges in the US are designed to be completed in 4 years. A college cannot help it if students chose to take 12 credits instead of 15, or do not actually read about what their requirements are. I really cannot think of a whole lot of other reasons that a system would methodically keep students from graduating."</p>
<p>"Here's how I see it:
If I am paying for my daughter's tuition and she takes 6 years to graduate, I say that the school is not screwing my daughter, rather that my daughter is screwing me."</p>
<p>tomslawsky,
1. I never said that students bare no responsibility.
2. All colleges are designed to be completed in 4 years.- Not necessarily. Sometimes there are reasons that the student is not graduating in 4 years, and it is not the fault of the student. One example, is not getting into required classes b/c the section required is overcrowded and closed out. Another example might be that a class is not offered every semester.
3. A college cannot help it if a student takes 12 rather than 15 credits, or do not read what the requirements are.- I agree that students need to read what is required to graduate. I also believe that there should be knowledgable advisors available to the student. I agree that a college cannot help it if the student takes 12 rather than 15 credits, but then there should be a large jump in the 5 and 6 year graduate rates, and if there is not, then there is still a problem IMO. I have a hard time believing that the majority of students elect to take this slow road to graduation. Still, if this is the reason, I should be able to find the reason that less than 25% of the student body is graduating in 4 years. If I cannot tap into that info, I would just move on. I expect the school to tell me why their graduation rate is low. If it is low b/c many students at that must work full time to pay the college bill, and help their families financially, then explain that so the student searching does not need to be left guessing.
4. I don't think that schools methodically keep students from graduating. I do think that some schools provide better student supports, and that there are schools that are student centered rather than research centered and these factors, among others, help to make the difference in grad rates.
5.
"If I am paying for my daughter's tuition and she takes 6 years to graduate, I say that the school is not screwing my daughter, rather that my daughter is screwing me."-That may very well be the case. Yes, this is quite possible. I just this don't think that explains a graduation rate that is less than 25%. I don't think that 75% of students are willfully ripping off their parents.</p>