<p>It’s isolated, not “in” the ghetto. It is an up and coming school and was just tacitly designated one of 3 “flagship” schools in Florida along with the big dogs, UF and FSU. They are one of only 64 Research 1 universities in the Country and they are getting stronger every year. It is a GREAT student for anyone who wants a big state university flagship experience and doesn’t have the grades or SAT’s for florida or Florida State. I really think it is the 4th best university in the State…in order are Florida, Miami, Florida State and then USF. The school has tons of research opportunity for undergrads. It is only going to get stronger, and it has a physical therapy school. It also has Moffitt Cancer Center and a Med school that rivals UF in admissions standards to bolster it’s credentials.</p>
<p>Some negatives…although it is a good school, it probably will not have the ranking status of UF or FSU foe a long time. The SAT Scores are ~200 points below UF, so the quality of student isn’t quite there but there are still TONS of really smart people there as it has 40,000+ students. USF just hasn’t been around long enough to claw its way to the status UF/FSU. </p>
<p>Bottom line: up and coming solid school, especially if you don’t have the credentials for UF or FSU. They send plenty of students to top grad programs. As a side note, if you prefer a small college atmosphere over the flagship experience, take a look at the St. Pete Campus…it’s small, quaint and located right on the Tampa Bay…gorgeous campus! </p>
<p>Disclaimer- i went there for my MS in chemistry and am not a UF MBA student.</p>