<p>I find hilarious how some people actually think UCF is more prestigious than USF.</p>
<p>USF has a very reputable medical school (the toughest for admission in the state of Florida ahead of UF) and its Big East peers are prestigious public flagship institutions like Pitt, Rutgers, UConn, and Cincinnati.</p>
<p>Nobody even knows UCF outside of Florida. UCF only recently made to Tier 3 status (USF has been Tier 3 for a long time and it's soon to be taking FSU spot as Tier 2). UCF peers are CUSA commuter schools like U of H, UTEP, UAB, ECU, Memphis, USM. </p>
<p>At USF you can get the complete college experience with the Big East (a BCS conference), at UCF you'll be watching CUSA (which USF left to open up the spot for UCF).</p>
<p>In terms of location, USF in in Tampa Bay, a tourist destination near Clearwater, St. Pete, etc... UCF is in Orlando, landlocked, with nothing to do besides Disney.</p>
<p>First of, FSU is ranked as top tier school. Second, USF is nowhere close to “taking” FSU’s spot. The gap between both schools is pretty considerable. USF needs to worry about UCF, before they can compare themselves to the state’s flagships.</p>
<p>UCF’s campus is much nicer than USF’s… UCF and USF are both pretty well known where I live in NC. </p>
<p>"USF is kids who like to drive trucks, drink beer, and go to football games.
UCF are more surfer type kids, most of which really really like to party. "</p>
<p>You cant make general stereotypes about universities with 40,000 students each!</p>
<p>USF isn’t in South Florida, it’s in Tampa. South Florida is considered Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, etc. I use to live in South Florida myself and it was FAR better than Orlando. Orlando has way too many tourists and isn’t great at all. I have been there many times in my life and even the theme parks aren’t that great. Miami isn’t that great, but it depends on where you live. Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale are very nice. Oh, I miss my Cuban food. :(</p>
<p>Also, USF and UCF are very similar. They are basically the same school in different locations. I rather go to USF myself and never liked Orlando. I also don’t know much people who know of either school outside of Florida. It’s like Georgia State, Georgia Southern or West Georgia to me. It’s just a state school which is lower ranked than UF and FSU.</p>
<p>Actually at USF where I earned my MSEE (now I am at Rice for my MBA) , I met many undergrad students from the north east and the midwest. More so than at my undergrad school, the more “prestigious” UT-Austin.</p>
<p>At USF you can get the complete college experience with BCS football. At UCF they play in a minor conference (and get their ass kicked every year by USF by the way. No more this year since USF is up for better games like FSU and Miami). Tampa has better nightlife than UCF and better surroundings. How does that make UCF social scene better?!?!</p>
<p>Also, I would have never opted to live in Gainesville or Tallahassee. The only interesting areas in Florida are Miami/Ft. Lauderdale (awsome) and Tampa Bay, so for me it came down to USF vs UM. USF is a better enginering school with more research going. For my MBA I opted for Rice since Houston is the fastest growing city in the country with numerous fortune 500, but I declined an almost full-ride at UM.</p>
<p>I don’t see how athletic conference has to do with anything…I’d happily go to Rice or Tulsa even though it’s in Conference USA</p>
<p>UCF is still a huge football school despite the fact that it’s not in a BCS conference. The campus is also much more beautiful than USF and the area has more of a college town feel to it. Personally, I’d choose UCF</p>
<p>remember we’re talking about ATHLETIC CONFERENCES not academic conferences…</p>
<p>and talk about USF being a commuter school, 13% of USF students live on campus, 21% of UCF students live on campus. And UCF is a football school, go to a football game on game days and you’ll find out that all the students are very enthusiastic about their team</p>
<p>Commuter status has little to do with percentage of students living on campus or UT-Austin and UCLA would be considered commuter schools. Most USF students live right across the street from campus, off of Fletcher in those privately owned student apartment complexes.</p>
<p>Commuter status has a lot more to do with students coming from other areas, and students attendance at athletic events and campus life. USF was clearly chosen to be part of the BCS over UCF for that reason.</p>
<p>For instance, just take a look at the average men’s soccer game attendance for fall 2008:</p>
<p>are you seriously going to use soccer game attendance to prove your point?</p>
<p>and UCF wasn’t chosen to be in the BCS…I really don’t know why you are so insistent on knocking down one school, I’m trying to prove that UCF is just as good as USF. Personally, I don’t live in Florida so I can’t tell you whether UCF is or is not a commuter school based on where students live, maybe UCF students live right next to campus too? UCF has a whole bunch of social events, many different clubs and organizations so I think both USF and UCF have a high % of students participating in campus activities…</p>
<p>Honestly, UCF and USF are on the same page in terms of academics. There basically ranked the same. It would just come to where you prefer living.</p>