Florida State University Visit Report by nycollegedad

Visit Activities:

Admissions Interview: Yes - We met with an admissions rep. Did not have an appointment. Reviewed our son's application and got feedback on his chances. Highly recommend this, if possible. The admissions staff was very helpf

Information Session: Yes - We were at FSU on Friday and we were the only ones signed up for the 11am Info session. The admissions rep we had at our session was great! She answered all our questions and gave us some great tips.

Campus Tour: Yes - we took the 9am tour. We figured with the temp getting up into the mid to high 90's by mid day, we would take the early morning walking tour. Our tour guide was terrific and a wealth of info for

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Campus:

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From our tour guide, to the many students we spoke with on and off campus, not one of them had a bad thing to say about FSU. All loved it and thought the world of it.

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The staff we encountered were all very helpful. While on campus there always seemed to be someone around to help with directions or to answer any questions we might have had.

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The campus is beautiful. There is some construction going on, many new buildings and several refurbished buildings. The campus was very clean. Very green. Many trees all around.

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The buildings we went into were the visitors center, admissions department, Leach center, Suwannee dining hall, Degraff dorm, student union and more. All were very well maintained and clean.

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The only one we saw was one of the two new dorms on campus called Degraff. As far as college dorms go, this one was really nice. We have visited many campuses, and none really compared to this one.

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Friendly campus police around. Had all the security systems explained to us during our tour. We walked around the campus at night several times and it never felt anything but safe and secure.

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While a large university, somehow FSU manages to feel much smaller than it actually is. Never felt crowded on campus. Very clean looking campus and a friendly, proud student body.

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Off-Campus:

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The main street bordering the campus (Tennessee Street), is typical college environment. Lots of chain restaurants, several bars (AJ's sports bar, Bullwinkle’s).

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The residents of Tallahassee were all so nice and friendly. The downtown area near the capital is very nice. Like many towns and cities, there are always areas that are not as nice as others.

Campus Visit Notes for Florida State University

Visit Description:

We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and stayed through Sunday morning. We are from New York and flew into Tallahassee airport. We have looked at several Florida schools for our son, now a high school senior. We stayed at the Doubletree in downtown Tallahassee. Our first impression of the school was "wow". We were driving down a road from the airport and suddenly there appeared Doak Campbell Stadium. It was very impressive to see. Later during our tour, we went into the stadium. That was cool. We were at the campus during the tail end of Seminole Sensation Week. For those who don't know, this is a week of activities the school sponsors to get new students involved and welcome back old students. The campus was very busy, but never seemed crowded. We took the walking tour and felt like we really got a great feel for the campus. Our tour guide, a sophomore was a stand out. Despite the heat, she had a ton of energy and really got us excited about the university. There is some construction going on (which we thought was good). New buildings, updated buildings all signs that the college is re-investing money back into making FSU better. The dorms seemed nice, but the only one we actually toured was Degraff which was brand new. We attended several of the activities on campus (trip to "The Rez", saw an illusionist perform in the union and attended a concert Saturday night) and really got a good sense of what the student body and staff were like. One night we went to the "Park Avenue Diner" a 24/7 on campus diner style restaurant and got a milkshake. It seemed like a really social location for the students and was convenient right near the center of campus. All the students were so nice and so passionate about how much they love FSU. The parents we spoke with who were dropping off kids also spoke very highly about the university. We took the advice of another CC member (parent2noles) and ate lunch at one of the dining halls (Suwannee). It had different food stations (pasta station, sandwich, breakfast etc). Seemed like your typical college food. The rec center (Leach) was very nice; we saw the marching band practicing which we found interesting. Clearly the state of Florida has some great universities for its residents to choose from. FSU certainly belongs at or near the top of the list.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

Doubletree seemed fine. It is in downtown, need to drive to campus. We tried to get a room at the new hotel closer to campus (residence inn on Gaines street) but it was booked.

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

we ate lunch at Jim and milts bbq. Ate lunch on campus at Suwannee dining hall. Ate dinner in downtown Tallahassee at Andrews and another restaurant. Both were good. Had wings at AJ's sports bar.