Warning to Out of State Students from the North East

<p>I also find it pretty sad that some anti-social kid bad mouths FSU on a college forum. If you cannot find a group of friends with common interests and personality in Florida State University, its quite possible you can’t make friends anywhere else. You’ll be hard pressed to find another campus so involved with people that are generally friendly and warm.</p>

<p>Decent Pizza on North Monroe is excellent. Please keep this a secret.</p>

<p>this is the most intense forum post ever, i don’t why i just spent like 30 minutes reading this thing but i did ■■■■■. it was entertaining i guess.</p>

<p>On the topic of pizza, want to know what’s really sad? I was in New York for the first time and I never eaten pizza there. I even ate at a Sbarros in Manhattan, but I had baked ziti. Fail.</p>

<p>xSidx1337x I am far from anti social and still made plenty of friends and have plenty of friends. I never once mentioned that I didn’t make any friends</p>

<p>Just because you don’t say you are something, doesn’t mean other people aren’t allowed to suggest that you are. </p>

<p>You haven’t outright said you were a hypocrite, but most everyone believes you are. You bash FSU and then take offense when people bash you in the slightest.</p>

<p>Idk about the being anti-social part. The fact you took so much time out of your days to write about how horrible you think it is for a northeasterner to be at FSU would state otherwise.</p>

<p>Ummm… yeah. Not feeling too compelled to defend Tally. Knicks5171 was more than accurate. If you aren’t from some crap area, this place will suck the life out of you. If you haven’t experienced better, then naturally, Tally will seem delightful. Overpriced crappy food and crappy service 90% of the time, the people are idiots for the most part (there are some nice idiots here tho), this place caters to white or black people- if you are in the “other” category expect to be homesick. The Asian restaurants and grocery stores are terrible. The Asian restaurants cater to the undeveloped and unaware palate at ridiculous prices. We’ve stopped eating out bc it is a perpetual disappointment here and a waste of money if you can’t enjoy the food. This city also likes to take advantage of students by jacking up the prices on everything bc students’ parents will pay the prices. Yet, due to their school spirit and alcoholism, most people will defend Tally as being this misunderstood yet wonderful place… Somethings just are not worth understanding (a lesson I’ve had to learn here when dealing with the locals).</p>

<p>1)
Of course coming from the North to the South there will be a culture shock, moving to any different region you’ll experience some level of culture shock. You’re being ignorant by assuming everyone at this Uni is the same. That is incredibly false, at any University in the country and abroad you will run into kids who can’t hold a conversation, but you’ll also run into many who can hold intellectual conversations. That’s entirely on you if you don’t know how to communicate with the right people, I make sure to avoid those that seem too into the party scene or constantly just want to get trashed. Party scene kids are at EVERY university, you just need to know how to just steer clear of them. It’s not that difficult, I’ve managed to have met some interesting people here and have had great conversations with good people in the short amount of time I’ve been here as a transfer. </p>

<p>2) I can’t comment on security as I personally have not had any problems and same goes for the people I know there.</p>

<p>3) HAHAHA! The food sucks? How many Uni’s are known for having stellar food? VERY few. It’s common knowledge that most uni’s have really bad on-campus food that is overpriced and tasteless. There are an x-amount of dorms that had kitchens that were shared or in each room. Some did require food plans, which are always rip-offs at whichever Uni you go to.</p>

<p>4) Housing does suck here and I won’t argue with you on that. There are other options though, you could live off campus for much less, or just put up with living on campus. There is no reason why an out-of-state student should get more priority over returning students. Returning students and upper classmen should always get first dibs IMO when it comes to housing. It’s YOUR choice if you decide to be an out-of-state student, no one is forcing you to go to any school outside of your choice. You are not paying taxes within the state so that’s your problem. These are things you should be thinking about BEFORE deciding to apply out-of-state.</p>

<p>5) Parts of campus are falling apart, that’s true and they really need to get it together but there are a lot of budget cuts. Also you should visit a univeristy before deciding on where to go. You cannot just blindly pick a school far away from home and have high hopes and assume it’s all good because the tour guide showed you PARTS of campus. Every single campus tour is during the best times of the year and they always show you the pretty parts. Come on everyone knows that.
6) Don’t tell me you thought Tallahassee was a happening place before you thought of coming here? If you did I am laughing at you. Seriously this city is a college town, it’s dead when Fall/Spring aren’t in session. You’re nowhere near the beaches, and it’s a small city. Many know Tally isn’t a fabulous place, that’s why many like to party on weekends for an escape. I don’t particpate but at the same time I don’t blame them as this city is so bland. </p>

<p>7) The whole UF/FSU rivalry is nothing new. Many Uni’s have their own rivalries, just like how FSU has theirs. They are the two main Uni’s in this state and have a lot of history between them. I’m a transfer and was overwhelmed with how intense the football games are and find it funny how everyone boo’s UF, but it’s all in fun. When UF beat us at that last game, I have to say the majority of FSU students acted really mature about it considering the situation. Yes there were sore losers but not as bad as I thought it would have been. Also UF is WAY worse when it comes to the rivalry. You think FSU is bad, check out how UF kids act. It’s not pretty.</p>

<p>8) I have no problem getting to and from Tally, but I live 4 hours away from Tally and I know how to drive.</p>

<p>I chose FSU for academics. I’m 25 y/o transfer student and don’t have time to make friends or get involved with the drama at this Uni. I love the classes, the professors and I love my advisors! I live off campus atm so don’t even know what is even happening on campus. I go to my classes, the library and back to my apartment. I have made friends while being here though, both are out-of-state students, are also here solely for academics. They are from bigger cities up north and found it quite…different, but at the end of the day they are here for the academics as FSU is the best for the programs they are in. It is expensive for them and they have met with many issues because of their out-of-state status but they don’t let it defeat them because they aren’t focusing on the negative. They knew what they were getting into before they came here. They knew the cost would be insane, they knew the town wasn’t anywhere near what they are used to, they knew they weren’t going to make a huge group of friends, they knew they would be far from cities that are way more interesting. It seems like you just assumed FSU would be right for you without looking into it much more. That’s your problem, don’t assume every out-of-state student is like you, many actually do research and sort out financial things before deciding on applying.</p>

<p>edit: I just realized this is an old post that has been bumped,but I still stand by everything I said and hope future prospectives read through the replies. Don’t move to a *<strong><em>ty city and be surprised by how *</em></strong> it is. I knew what I was getting into before I moved here, I had some crazy housing issues, but cleaned up that mess and moved on. I am here to get my degree, FSU was the best fit for what I needed academically, and though this city bores the life out of me and the locals here can be soooo rude I don’t let it bother me because what’s important to me are my classes, professors and having great advisors from a University that is well known in Florida and even outside of FL.</p>

<p>Good job, PT. :)</p>

<p>I am a parent with a D who was accepted to FSU. We live in a small town in Michigan. These discussions have been interesting and perhaps even helpful.</p>

<p>I will say one thing in response to your post PaperTiger87. I do not think that upperclassmen should receive priority housing. In my experience it has been customary for freshman to be ensured housing as they are the youngest students on campus and would benefit the most from being on campus in a dorm. They are also the least familiar with the area and would find it more difficult to locate off campus housing. Many parents would not want their 17/18 year old living in an apartment trying to figure out how to get to campus each day.</p>

<p>I say this as a parent as well as a former college student. As far as out of state receiving some sort of preferential treatment, I suppose one could argue either way about that.</p>

<p>I appreciate your insight…Just some thoughts of mine to add to the discussion.</p>

<p>With a school like FSU, where they have 8-9k freshman applicants for Housing, and only around 6500 total spots available (even including those that aren’t actually open to freshmen), it’s physically impossible to guarantee every freshman on-campus housing. </p>

<p>I think the FSU system works. It rewards you for being prompt with getting all your paperwork and stuff submitted.</p>

<p>Maybe Hofstra is more your speed.</p>

<p>Well, I’m from New York, and I’m doing fine. There are plenty of people from the Northeast here. Obviously, Tallahassee is a small town and cannot compare to major cities, with their fine dining, entertainment and cosmopolitan atmosphere. But, that’s a bit of an unrealistic comparison, isn’t it? And Leon county is actually the most educated county in the state of Florida. </p>

<p>Most major universities are NOT located in the immediate vicinity of a major city. They are usually placed in smaller towns, away from the hustle and bustle (and opportunities to get into trouble). Tallahassee is at that awkward, not-quite-a-major-city-yet-not-quite-a-small-college-town size, with some of the positive and negative attributes of both.</p>

<p>The idea of locating major universities away from cities was to ensure young impressionable students were not corrupted by the unpleasant influences of those cities. Basically, we are looking today at a decision made over 150 years ago with respect to Florida State.</p>

<p>Universities were, before the 1960s-70s, generally very conservatively operated under the concept that the university administration took the place of the parents in protecting young students under their supervision.</p>

<p>Tallahassee (Leon County) and Gainesville/Hogtown (Alachau County) were the big cities in Florida 150 years ago. 150 years ago Miami had a population of less than 100 people. Florida has always located its state universities in the most populated areas of Florida.</p>

<p>[Florida</a> Census: 1860](<a href=“http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/docs/c/census/1860.htm]Florida”>Florida Census: 1860)</p>

<p>Tallahassee, as Capital of Florida, was always logical for a university (which is affirmed by FSU being the oldest school in Florida). UF was not located in Gainesville until 1905. The original eastern seminary was in Ocala (Marion County).</p>

<p>I would argue that neither could be considered a “big city”. Florida was barely habitable until mosquitoes were controlled and air conditioning widely used. Tallahassee used to have Yellow Fever plagues in the 1800s (especially 1841) which killed many. Check out the Old City Cemetery some time for headstone memorials to this tragedy.</p>

<p>SE Florida and Tampa didn’t take off until Plant and Flagler built their railroads in Florida. Florida’s population exploded after WW II.</p>

<p>I read through all of these replies, New York is GREAT ! But me being from south FLA and raised with southern values and a southern mentality (I also go to school with my share of “red necks”) I can say that I will be JUST FINE at FSU. </p>

<p>I can also understand how someone from the NE would feel, NY has AMAZING FOOD, In FLA you win some, loose some… The dressing, slang, mentality is different too… </p>

<p>Knicks went about it the wrong way though, come correct next time I guess. </p>

<p>GO 'NOLES ! :)</p>