<p>It was down to FSU honors, Northwestern University, and University of Miami. </p>
<p>And honestly, I am fully confident that I'm making the right decision... why?</p>
<p>The first thing is that money talks. Bright futures covers tuition, parents cover everything else, and I get 1.2k a semester. What's not to like about that? Even with a half-tuition scholarship and some financial aid, Miami will cost about 20k to attend per year... and Northwestern is twice that. </p>
<p>The second thing is the opportunities that FSU provides. I don't know any other school in our state with a full time staff dedicated to getting students scholarships, grants, fellowships, etc. Also, there is a department for undergraduate research... with a full time counselor. What's there not to like? We've had the last two Rhodes Scholars in Florida and a bunch of Fullbright, Truman, etc. Also, FSU is located in Tallahassee, the capital of our state. Think about the countless local political internships and such. Awesome.</p>
<p>Next, is academics, probably the most important criteria. Well, FSU is opening a brand new biological sciences building, which probably has new lab facilities as well. Also, FSU is cutting 1k from the freshmen class, something UF did not do. I'm sure we'll see the effects pretty soon. Also, the honors college at FSU is GREAT. Priority registration -- baller status. Obviously, NU or UM have better names and rankings, but really - for pre-med - does it matter? I think not. The academics are as good as any state school and education is really what the individual makes of it. </p>
<p>Sports. Come on.</p>
<p>johnnytremain,</p>
<p>Welcome to the Nole family! I think you are going to have a great undergrad experience at FSU!</p>
<p>Good decision.</p>
<p>Our oldest daughter is graduating this semester and was in Honors, wrote an Honors thesis and conducted significant undergraduate research which will be published. Sure, FSU is a state university, but they are committed to allowing undergrads the opportunity to reach as far as possible. (downside - a HUGE workload, so be prepared ;)) She chose FSU over UF and other fine state and private schools because of these opportunities.</p>
<p>Save your money for grad school and secure your undergraduate degree with the least debt load possible.</p>
<p>jt</p>
<p>congrats on the decision. i think you made a great decision. you had really good options and it sounds like fsu wil be the right fit for you. Good Luck and Go Noles!</p>
<p>I'm sorry you didn't get into your first choice. Good luck in Tallahassee and good luck transferring to UF if you still feel that way in a year.</p>
<p>stop trolling. @ abc</p>
<p>i second that, tomatoking.</p>
<p>omg! i just realized your name was tomato king. i always read it as "tamoking" or something strange like that. ahahahah wow. </p>
<p>mk sorry. :]</p>
<p>um.......how do you explain that as trolling when TC has stated numerous times that he didn't get into UF and has every intention of transferring after one year? It was a sincere wish of luck. Apparently it struck a fragile nerve.</p>
<p>Troll (definition per Wikipedia):</p>
<p>An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion</p>
<p>See: Troll</a> (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>ABC was definitely not trolling. Thank you.</p>
<p>Parent2Noles</p>
<p>Thanks for that bit of info concerning the term "troll". </p>
<p>ABCB7099 </p>
<p>If you desired to send a sincere "wish of luck" to JohnnyTremain (not TC), a message sent privately would have kept your intentions from being brought into question since this is the posting area of CC for FSU and not UF. </p>
<p>As far as admissions is concerned, UF has lost some incredible students. [My d's best friend a Hispanic female was denied by UF with an A+ GPA (heavy AP workload), 1460 SAT, worked part-time all thru HS, awesome EC's, honors and leadership, and the oldest child of a very large family.] UF's loss is the gain of other universities. </p>
<p>FSU nurtures students who have great potential. The recent results of the Rhodes, Truman, etc. show the results of that. FSU admissions recognizes potential and doesn't overlook it!</p>
<p>I don't know about anyone else, but I DO NOT like personal insults in posts. :(</p>
<p>I can understand heated disagreements and participate myself from time to time, but NEVER attack anyone personally. Address the argument, not the person. :)</p>
<p>ABC, trolling? I'm shocked. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Stop being so sensitive. UF and FSU are two huge schools that probably don't care about ANY of us. Stop treating them like family members.</p>
<p>Johnnytremain, I'm sorry your thread took a sour turn. Good luck in whatever you do.</p>
<p>Thank you, Amistad.</p>
<p>Credited.</p>
<p>Unless you go to a very small LAC with minimal student-teacher ratios, you'll be hard-pressed to find a school that TRULY looks out for you. Sure they'll help you out if you ask them, but all the stuff they tell you about being one big happy family is just the kind of material that slap onto PR brochures and pamphlets to recruit the kids to school. Fact is if your student body reaches 40+ thousand, it's pretty much every man (and woman of course) for his/herself. You're responsible for carving your own nice, academic planning, social circle, etc.</p>
<p>My so-called advisers in undergrad were pretty much worthless. My high school guidance counselor helped me out more than FSU's advisers ever did. One of them also happened to be the worst teacher I ever had in 12+ years of formalized schooling.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, choose teh school that offers the best program for what you want to do. If I could invent a time machine and go back four years, I wouldn't have cared so much about where my friends went to school or what the campus "atmosphere" was like a particular college. </p>
<p>Both are good schools (UF being slightly better all-aorund) but it is what you make of it. Just don't expect either to cater to your every need. It's a jungle out there.</p>
<p>^ I could not have written it any better.</p>
<p>UF is better in its areas of emphasis only. Universities are quite nuanced and FSU and UF are no different.</p>