Does anybody know or have an opinion of which school provides better education? I am majoring in Biology.
Where are you from? Is money an issue?
Why biology (considering it’s currently the major with the lowest ROI)?
Have you been admitted to both? HOnors college at any of them?
If you calculate (tuition, fees, room, board) - (grants, scholarships), what’s your result for each?
Note: DO NOT deduct loans.
What are your stats?
I am very familiar with Mizzou (went there for doctoral study on fellowship), and I currently live in Orlando, so I’m passingly familiar with UCF. Obviously, as others have noted, knowing your state of residence, and whether or not finances are an issue (is one of these two schools an in-state choice?) are important. Otherwise, it’s sort of like throwing two darts at a map and asking which two schools that the darts hit are better.
I will say that UCF is ginormous: 55,000 undergrads. Mizzou, though large, will feel much smaller in comparison. Columbia is more of a classic college town, but UCF gives you a metropolitan area of 2 million. Both are FBS (formerly known as Div. 1-A) football schools. I don’t know if you care about sports. Mizzou is in a Power 5 conference, the SEC, though the team is a bit down right now in comparison to recent history. UCF is not in a power conference, but they do have good seasons from time to time. They just finished a perfect season, upsetting Auburn on New Year’s day, which I did not expect.
Sorry to get off track! I’m a college football fan. Mizzou is the state flagship, so it does attract many of the state’s top students (not every student wishes to go out of state or attend a private school). UCF’s reputation in FL is solid, and thanks to football, it is also known nationally, but U of FL (in Gainesville) is a tougher school to get into than a lot of people believe, so it will overshadow UCF a bit. I doubt that means very much, though. College is what you make of it. If you go to UCF and kick butt, you’ll have an edge over a U of FL grad who slept/partied through her/his four years. Many of my work colleagues went to UCF.
I’m from missouri and no money is not an issue
@Hapwroth Mizzou is my in state school! I grew up in orlando and love florida which is why i am considering UCF. Im aware of UF being the top school there but i don’t believe my act score is good enough for me to get in so I am not even going to bother considering that school lol. And money is not an issue with me I just wanted to know is one school was more prestigious than the other or offer better education to see if im better of staying in state or go out of state.
While you can’t go wrong choosing either school, they are very different.
MU is one of the nation’s top research institutions and one of the 34 public universities to be members of the Association of American Universities. It’s the state flagship, and will have more resources available than UCF. This translates into how much $ is spent per student, average class size, and the student to faculty ratio.
On the other hand, UCF is very stem focused, is more selective (lower acceptance rate, freshman have higher average GPA’s/Test scores), and even has a slightly higher graduation rate (within the margin of error).
If you haven’t already, try to visit both campuses.
Good Luck!
Mizzou is overall better than ucf and your odds of honors college are greater which is a big differentiator. If you don’t have the scores for uf, what about FSU?
@MYOS1634 I have looked into FSU and it was my second choice until I’ve heard mixed reviews about it. I have family friends that are UF alumni and they didn’t have anything positive to say about the school compared to other colleges in florida (obviously it was biased information since the graduated from UF) but when my parents heard about it the did not want me applying there. I’ve been trying to get them to change their mind, since i already have my application filled out i just need to pay the fee, and i have till February 2 to do that. I really just want to move out of state to florida but if Mizzou is a better option than ill just have to stay here. Do you have any opinions on the comparisons between FSU and Mizzou relating to biology?
UF and FSU are rivals so take the alumni comments in stride. Not that US News is everything but: FSU ranks 81, MU 120, and UCF 171. If your app is ready it may be worth the effort to apply and to have another option.
Due to the rivalry between UF and FSU I would take the UF Alumni comments with a huge grain of salt. Sure, they’re not the same caliber, so if you want to appease them apply to UF, but FSU does not have the same funding issues as UCF and especially not the ‘growing pains’ (ie., at UCF everything is packed and do you really want to pay OOS tuition for a bunch of online classes?)
I would definitely apply to FSU. (And honors if possible). Bonus, outside Florida most people don’t know the difference between FSU and UF ( drives Floridians crazy if they’re aware of it.)
So, while I wouldn’t go OOS for UCF when you’ve been admitted to Mizzou, I’d definitely consider FSU.
Mizzou all the way. I visited and I liked everything about it. Beautiful campus, Good academics, and all the people that have come across have been extremely nice. Actually the only reason I will not be attending is because I have been able to secure some very nice opportunities at other schools where my particular program is ranked a little higher and geographically speaking a little easier to get to… However, Mizzou was very high on my list and I would strongly consider it over UCF
The top four Universities in Florida (UF, FSU, USF, and UCF) are much more competitive to get in. Part of the reason is because a lot of the students in the state of Florida tend to stay instate due to cost. On top of that, many have the benefits are the scholarships as well as Florida Pre Paid. Florida schools are also one of the least expensive when it comes to tuition. Because of this, they get a lot of applicants and they can be very selective. But as many have mentioned, Mizzou will come closer in feel to FSU than UCF.