FSU Culture?

mouseacookie
Fri, 08 May 2020 13:45:18 +0000

My son chose FSU specifically because it was a friendly, welcoming campus. His experience, on Accepted Student Days, was of current students and faculty saying “oh, you’re coming here? That’s great! You’ll love it!” rather than the vibe a couple of other schools gave off, which was "yeah, so what makes you think you’re good enough to be a (Gator/Bulldog/whatever). That had a lot to do with why he chose to go there, despite the fact that it was his in-state safety and thus somewhere below third choice on his list originally.

Fast forward four years- he’s just graduated, loved being there, misses it already, and made several probably-lifelong friends. Definitely a good call.

As for your other questions: FSU is reasonably diverse, could be more diverse. There are Latinx and Black and Asian students and faculty, though there admittedly could probably be more. Politically, Leon County leans left, though if you get into extended conversations with locals you may find some pretty staunch Christian conservatives. Nobody will care that you’re from the Northeast- this isn’t rural Mississippi circa 1965, for pete’s sake. New Yorkers are hardly a rarity anywhere in Florida. As long as you don’t act like you’ve just landed in a rerun of Hee Haw no one will even notice, and they certainly won’t care. (And if you do…well, stop it. Also, “Southerners”, not “southerns”.)

Beats me what fraternities want from pledges. It really depends on the fraternity. You’ll figure out which houses match you vbest during pledge week, honestly. You’ll be fine. (Pro tip: bring decent shoes and dress clothes for Rush events, so you don’t have to rent them from dormmates. You may never wear them again, but you might- and if not you can be the one renting them to people.)