My son chose FSU over UF because when he toured, the people he met at UF seemed to be sizing him up to see if he was sufficiently worthy, whereas the FSU students and staff were genuinely friendly and spent all their time telling him how cool it was that he’d be studying there and how much he’d love it.
It’s nice to feel wanted.
And the study abroad centers and honors program sealed the deal.
He didn’t bother to apply to UF- not because he didn’t think he’d get in (salutatorian, APs, 34 ACT, yada yada) but because he simply liked FSU better.
Hi! I’m a bit late to the party, but I am a current high school senior who has selected FSU over UF. FSU has a better performing arts program (which is my major), and I preferred FSU’s International Affairs program over UF’s (my hopefully second major). This is because UF focuses on a region (Asia, Europe, etc), while FSU allows the concentration in an area of study (history, econ, etc).
I also love FSU’s campus because it has a northern feel. At my school we often joke that it is as far out of Florida you can get without leaving Florida.
I was very set to go to UF for a while because I wasn’t sure how much I really wanted music (I am still not sure, lol) and I do believe that UF has very high caliber students and a competitive environment (which I enjoy). I did not like UF’s campus, though, or their dorms. I also think that, to an extent, UF was much less welcoming, as already mentioned.
Overall, both schools have amazing programs, FSU was just the fit for me 
(although your daughter has probably already committed)
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Overall- and one of the comments above seems to support this impression- the appeal to UF seems to be the desire to claim that you’re the crème de la crème of Florida students, and FSU is predicated on being part of a community.
It just depends on what you need to be happy. Honestly, five years after graduation, the only time it will matter is Thanksgiving weekend.,
@petrichor11 , agree as to students who could study the same thing at either school. But there is also a subset of students who choose one over the other because of their intended major. For example, FSU is much stronger for music or musical theatre, whereas UF is considered much stronger for engineering.
@vistajay Historically, that’s been true. However, those lines have been blurring considerably in recent years. And if you look strictly at employability as a measure, they blur further. Ands far as grad/med/law school admissions, coventional wisdom on those changes weekly, so I’m not even going to hazard a guess.
My son was accepted to both, one as incoming freshman other as a transfer student. We went on tour of UF and he didn’t like the campus and thought FSU was the nicer campus. He received freshman scholarship and honors college at FSU, nothing extra at UF. He is double majoring and for his first major FSU had the #1 masters program, UF had #5,
I was accepted to both and chose FSU for a few reasons.
- Culture - FSU seems more laid back. I guess and it just appealed to me more.This varies depending on the student but for me, schools that brag about the difficulty of their academics I tried to avoid.
- Perks - I got honors at FSU and not at UF. So the perks that come with that definitely steered me towards FSU
- Campus - This is a minor one but I like FSU's campus better. More compact, and dare I say I like Tallahassee more than Gainsville.