<p>anyone have info on this school? My son is thinking of applying in the fall 07 as a safety school. we went to visit and the business school seemed very nice. he wants to major in business-finance.</p>
<p>he also wants to apply to the university of florida (totally different environment then tampa)</p>
<p>please give me your honest input on tampa and UF if you go there.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>My cousin and his then-gf/now-wife went to the University of Tampa in the mid90s. I think she was a communications major, he was econ. He was able to get a job on Wall St. right out of college, did a Wharton MBA after a couple of years, went back to Wall Street. His wife ended up working at Ladies Home Journal and then moved into the management sector of whoever publishes LHJ.</p>
<p>MY daughter has U of Tampa on her list. We live in Florida and it seems like they recruit heavily up north. None of my friends knew anything about the school.</p>
<p>the campus was really nice and the new business school seemed to be really special. nice dorms, nice facilities etc</p>
<p>nycollegedad,
My niece (from L.I.) went for a year and then transferred. (This was a couple of years ago.) She was very disappointed with the school. I think that it clears out on the weekends (commuters) and she didn't find lots else to do there. I can ask my brother for more specifics if you'd like, but I'd be very cautious about the school. She now goes to UF and absolutely loves it.</p>
<p>momof</p>
<p>thanks. good information to have. i appreciate it.</p>
<p>Hey, I sat next to a women on a plane last week and had a nice detailed conversation about college experiences. Her son is a freshman at U of Tampa. He's from NJ. She reported that he really likes it and that many of the students are from up north. She mentioned that her son's requirement for college included "warm weather and pretty girls". U of Tampa apparently fit the bill. He is in the graphic design dept which is apparently well thought of. Not the most shining recommendation but I guess it depends on what you're looking for. They were able to get some scholarship $ so price was good. I must say that I had never heard of the school before that day (and I'm pretty up on schools after going through exhaustive research with my own son last year). I'd say it's worth looking into but - I agree with Momof - be cautious.</p>
<p>My daughter and I are planning a visit in the near future, only 2 hours away, so I will post about our visit. I am concerned because no one from our area had heard of the school. But most kids want U of F or Florida State and are not looking beyond the big state schools. The possibility of free tuition is major motivation.</p>
<p>NY mom here. My d was accepted last year and was awarded an $8,000/year scholarship. Tampa seems to be one of the few schools which is generous with merit money to B+ students. We did give serious consideration to the school. We visited the campus last February (during President's week break).<br>
I am definitely under the impression that most kids are not from Florida- but from the NE. Every kid working in the admissions office was from the New England. Tampa also sent us a Seasons Greeting card last year with Santa and a surf board. So they are trying to get those NE kids who hate cold winters down to U of Tampa. Don't I understand- I went to SUNY Oswego. I am sure they are going to have a heck of a time recruiting next year. My d who is not that adventurous decided to stay closer to home and is attending Cortland. she may have second thoughts about her decision based on today's storm.<br>
I thought Tampa had alot going for it. I was particularly impressed with the performing arts ( owns theatre across the street from school) and walking distance to Tampa Performing Arts Center (ok- it's about an 8 block walk) and business dept. I remember they had a replica of a real trading floor and used it for classroom instruction. I also felt they had a tight relationship with the Tampa community- so internship opportunities seemed plentiful.
Tampa has an accepted student program throughout the NE corrider in the spring. We received the itinerary- and they had sessions from DC through Boston. At the session on Long Island last year, I would say there were over 100 people in attendance. So there are many kids from outside the Florida area and I really do not think it is a commuter school anymore.
As you are talking about applying next year, why don't you check with admissions and find out when they are having the admitted student program in your area?? You can see the "type" of student who is considering going to Tampa and you will see that lots of kids from the Northeast do go to Tampa. You will also get info about the school.<br>
U of Tampa has gotten mixed reviews on this board- but honestly most people commenting don't seem that familiar with the school.<br>
If you want additional info, I'll try to help</p>
<p>We need to find out more about the education department. Lots of out of state students would be a plus for my daughter.</p>
<p>this is great info. we visited this past january. the campus was very nice, lots of new buildings. the dorms seemed very nice and all the kids we interacted with seemed happy.</p>
<p>our son wants to major in business and they seemed to have an up and coming business program. the "johm sykes business school" has a new building and the classrooms seemed very up to date.</p>
<p>re the education department. tampa recently added a masters program in education and they seemed very commited to that major.</p>
<p>thanks collegebound for that info.</p>
<p>"Tampa also sent us a Seasons Greeting card last year with Santa and a surf board. "</p>
<p>That's pretty funny considering the Gulf of Mexico is like a lake. I guess you could use the board as a float, or fish off it.</p>
<p>i also think UT also has an honors college. seems like some nice benefits to it.</p>
<p>Well I think I can help here a little bit as I live and was born right here in TAMPA! First off, Tampa is a great city. Our downtown is growing very fast and UT is located right there in the river in downtown Tampa. Actually, they are building the new tallest building in Tampa right across the river from UT, THE TRUMP TOWER!!!! Tampa has awesome weather and the beach is like 20 min. from UT. As for the prestige and academics of the school, I am not too sure. I do know that the school is not very tough to get into and many students here in Tampa do go to the big state schools. I think part of it is the $ factor as us Florida students have Bright Futures Scholarships to the State Schools. I have heard good things about the school. I think UT is trying very hard to make it less of a commuter school and I think it has worked very well. I do know many people from the North who come down and in fact my best friends mom works at best buy and she was shocked at how many people come down from the North and are buying laptops and such to go to the University of Tampa. The funny thing is, is that I, coming from Tampa, am looking at schools in the North, where it is cold!!! The exact opposite of what you all are trying to do. My reasoning for wanting to leave florida is because in my eyes UF is the best school in the state, but it is simply TOO BIG!!!!!! I do not want to go to a school with almost 40,000+ undergrads and have huge lecture hall classes all the time. UT is not too large and it is a beautiful campus. I think it is a great school for all of you to consider!! Do your research and make sure it is the right fit for you!!</p>
<p>thanks for the input. you should rethink coming up north.the weather was terrible today.</p>
<p>lol... I know I heard about the big snow storm!!! I was in DC last week and got a taste of the cold 1st hand!! but, unfortunatly almost every school i applied to is in the Northeast!! It will be fun!!</p>
<p>To NYCollegedad and others-I decided to ask my niece (from LI) why she transferred from Tampa to UF. This was only two years ago. This was her reply to me:</p>
<p>"About Tampa there were a bunch of things that I didn't like. The main
reason I didn't enjoy the school was because it was too small. Even though
the campus was beautiful, there weren't enough students walking around like
there are at UF. It's always nice to walk on campus and see a ton of kids
walking around and doing things. At Tampa, there are only about 4-5000
students so when you're outside, there aren't people everywhere. Also, the
dorms are in the middle of the campus, unlike at Florida, where they are
separate from all the class buildings which is really nice. Also, Tampa's
sports programs are not big and not a lot of students attend the games and
you don't hear much about any of the teams. I obviously love attending
football and basketball games, so it was disappointing when there were
really no games to attend and the campus life wasn't built around their
sports program. I also did not enjoy the city of Tampa itself. Even though
the campus was completely secluded from the city, once you left the
extremely small campus, you were in a bad part of town. Nightlife isn't the
same as it is here and there is not as much to do in the city as you would
think."</p>
<p>You can see that a big time sports program is important to her (she's a sports management major) but there were clearly other issues for her. I hope this has been somewhat helpful.</p>
<p>My d too is a sport management major. Though the program seemed ok, it didn't knock d's socks off. There is no football team at Tampa but baseball is pretty big there. It is close to Yankees Training camp and it is said that one of the Yankees is a grad of UT and a # of the players sometimes take classes and are on the campus. My husband would know the details- but he was impressed with this bit of info. There is even a plaque from George Steinbrenner near the admission office.<br>
If a kid is into rah-rah sports-- Big football games etc. this ain't the place to be. Some kids really do prefer the atmosphere of a big State U with a bustling campus environment.<br>
I liked the city of Tampa. Maybe it's my city upbringing, but if you walk 6 blocks you are in the heart of downtown Tampa. Too many suburban kids, (my kids included) can't fathom the idea of walking a few blocks to get anywhere. My kids will use the car to go to the store which is 2 blocks from the house.<br>
U of Tampa is a small/compact campus with an enrollment of around 5,000. There were some great shopping centers and an area (forgot the name) with lots of restaurants, clubs and more shopping. May need a cab/bus/ car to get there. But definitely close to U of Tampa.</p>
<p>Hello fellow dad,</p>
<p>My daughter a very solid student was just denied from UF in their Feb admissions block. It is the most competive of all Florida Schools and I'd go as far as saying it almost as tough to get into there as an IVY school. The problem in Florida is that everyone is applying to 4 schools UF,FSU,UCF,USF it's very easy as you can use one application same essays and only $30 per school, so they are getting 25K applications for 7K seats. Acceptance rates are in the 50% range. Florida averages are 3.95 GPA and 1280 SAT. It is a great school we have been to the campus (we are also from NYS but are now Florida residents, my daughter is finishing up HS in NYS). They say they don't care about Regents even though my daughter is graduating with distinction something to think about. Upper division transfer is a way that alot of kids get to UF. Tampa I have driven by it looks like it's a nice school. The next up public school in Florida is Central Florida, biggest and most beautiful campus in Orlando, but also very selective, tough to get in there also GPA 3.5 1200 SAT's. We are hoping she gets in there.</p>