<p>Does anyone know anything at all about the University of South Florida?</p>
<p>I graduated from USF and have one daughter going there now. It's a typical large state school. It's known to be generous with NMF. Engineering and education have good reputations.</p>
<p>what about the location? safety?</p>
<p>I was a grad student at USF about 135 years ago (seems like that), but just revisited to give a talk last April. It's grown a lot since I was there. The campus itself is a world (huge world!) unto itself, surrounded by major roads on all sides, so it appears that safety would not be an issue. Looks can be deceiving, though, so perhaps some research could be done on this. The location is up in the Temple Terrace part of Tampa, so it's away from the downtown. If you like Florida, then USF seems like not a bad place to be. But.... it is a VERY LARGE school - 44,000 students!</p>
<p>thanks so much. anyone else? (not really concerned about undergrad, just in general).</p>
<p>It's a party school.</p>
<p>Have you looked at UCF, near Orlando? Dorms are the suite types--single rooms and baths with common living areas. Becoming popular with S FL kids</p>
<p>They give good merit aid. They have a beautiful honors college. Or they had a good honor's college. I don't know if they moved it. But D didn't much care for the main campus when she visited, said it was kind of dirty with trash about and showing it's age. This is one of those schools with a sweet deal but you must really take a good look at it before you leap. </p>
<p>Daughter went to UCF and it is getting better all the time. My D graduated in 2003 from UCF. All students really have to go summer session at least once to graduate in 4 years. There are shops and stores everywhere nearby and she would go into Orlando to concerts, visit the theme parks with girlfriends, etc. Dau also worked part time at a theme park one year and auditioned at Disney park , too. She made all the dance cuts but was too tall for the costumes for the 2 jobs open, everything is very cut and dry concerning costumes and jobs. Back to UCF they have an excellent tech. department. Problem with the school was that dorm space was limited so it was into an apratment after the first year. So she needed a car. It was never a consderation to take the bus, few students do. The student body in my opinion was upper middle class. I never saw so many nice cars in the parking lot with young drivers! UCF is a hot Florida college. My daughter did well there, graduated in 4 years and found a job in her teaching field easily. Married her college sweetheart and is now retired raising her family.</p>
<p>Check out this thread on the Florida schools:</p>
<p>USF's academic are mostly 60's boxes, not what you would call charming. The new dorms look nice though. There is more construction going on but I don't know what. Dirty? I wouldn't say so. USF is just north of Tampa city limits. 45 minutes from the Gulf beaches. There is a mall very close by & lots of student type apartments to the east of campus.</p>
<p>USF is known as the third primary public research university after UF and FSU. USNews rates it about a Tier 3, which is above all the other publics in Florida excepting FSU and UF, which are rated Tier 1. It has a nice med school, which is the genesis of most of it's research funding and is considered #2 after UF's med school. FSU's med school is too new to rate too highly yet, as the school graduated it's first class in 2005.</p>
<p>It's more commuter school than a residential university (as are FSU and UF) and has several campuses around the Tampa Bay area. It's student body tends to be more part-time than the other two universities mentioned, due to USF's location in a major metropolitan area, as opposed to the more rural UF or smaller-city, but capital city, Florida State.</p>
<p>Graduate school rankings-wise USF is 4th, after UF, FSU, UMiami(private) then USF.</p>
<p>About 50 of my D classmates from HS go there now. Their biggest problem is class availability. She had a friend that could not graduate on time because he needed one class and the dept. wouldn't help him out. But I know this is a problem at most BIG state schools. Their second biggest gripe is parking, then some of the classes are off campus (like the mall movie theater). All of these are growth issues. Tampa is a great place to live, the area around the campus is older and less afluent, but it is not a gang war zone either.</p>
<p>In Florida publics, take a look at New College. It's small (quite!), an honors liberal arts college with generous merit aid. It has a national reputation for its quality. Only some students will want to go there, both because you can't study engineering and such and also because it requires self-motivated students.</p>
<p>thank you everyone. i'm considering it for grad school (they have an excellent program in my area), and i was just curious about general impressions.</p>
<p>no offense to USF, but it is so large, the campus is ugly, and the atmosphere does not foster any of the traditional college experiences. I would be very, very careful</p>
<p>I've heard good things about their med programs. The cancer research they were doing there saved my dad's life.</p>
<p>I live about 10 minutes north of USF and know a lot of students and professors there. It definitely is a commuter school. There is a dicey neighborhood immediately west of the school (close to the mall), but the rest of the area is typical suburbia. Feel free to PM with specific questions.</p>