<p>We came to our visit to University of South Florida in a roundabout way. My daughter wants to attend college in a warm clime, and she is a dancer, although she is not interested in majoring in dance. In researching schools, I have discovered that colleges offering strong training in classical ballet are few and far between, and those providing such training to non-majors are scarcer than hens teeth. Thus, when I heard of the dance program at USF, it sounded like it was worth checking out. Dance classes are open to all, audition is for placement only, and Gretchen Ward Warren, who literally wrote the book on ballet technique (Classical Ballet Technique) is on the faculty.</p>
<p>If it werent for the ballet, USF would have been an unlikely candidate for our consideration. The school, founded in 1956, has a total of 44,251 students (the nations ninth largest public university), with 28,925 undergrads on the Tampa campus. Per the Princeton Review, only 3% of students are from out-of-state. The Princeton Review indicates only 12% of students live on campus, raising the dreaded specter of a commuter school. This is countered somewhat by the 2008 USF visitor guide, which states 50% of freshmen reside on-campus.</p>
<p>The stats for the hordes of incoming freshmen are not shabby, with an average GPA of 3.71 and an average SAT of 1148. The Honors College (1685 students enrolled) requires a weight GPA of 3.8 in addition to an SAT of 1300 or ACT of 29.</p>
<p>The university does make an effort to break down the masses into more manageable Living Learning Communities. These include housing for business majors, engineering majors, first year students, honors students, as well as substance free housing.</p>
<p>We drove into Tampa from our lovely hotel on St. Petes Beach. After crossing Tampa Bay on the causeway, enjoying the sun glistening off the water, we entered Tampa proper. The views of Tampa from the highway are uninspiring, including chain hotels, a mall, billboards, and a large brick high school.</p>
<p>Exiting I-275 (Busch Gardens shares the exit), we passed through a low-rent commercial district on a divided highway. We stopped at the entrance to pay our $4 parking fee and get a campus map. Since the Tampa campus is 1,700 acres, we drove several minutes to get to our destination, the Dance building.</p>
<p>The sprawling campus is filled with utilitarian multi-storied buildings interspersed with plenty of parking lots. Palm trees and other greenery soften the effect to some degree. My daughters initial reaction was this is huge! as she had never before been on a university campus with streets and stoplights. We later walked from the Dance building along the edge of a more traditional university green to the admissions building and bookstore. In the end, she seemed to prefer this campus to the smaller liberal arts campus we visited on the same trip.</p>
<p>Since it was the last day of classes, we were able to attend a special ballet demonstration for three of the four class levels. The dance studios include a small viewing gallery which was largely filled with parents. I spoke with one father from Ohio who said his daughter, a freshman, is double-majoring in ballet and business and has been very happy her first year. Although she would like a car, she has gotten along fine without one.</p>
<p>Although I am by no means capable of assessing ballet talent, the demo clearly indicated that USF provides no nonsense classical ballet training.</p>
<p>We stopped by the admissions office to pick up a brochure, but decided against waiting an hour to take the tour. On our departure, we found housing complexes, a public park and an office park within a few miles radius. There is no pedestrian oriented off campus shopping within walking distance.</p>
<p>Although my daughter was willing to consider this school, I personally had a few concerns about USF academics. I would prefer my daughters college education to be in the traditional liberal arts mold, and I have heard of one student taking her college courses online in order to manage her schedule. In addition, the Princeton Review gives USF an academic rating of only 72 (as a comparison, Tulane, another school under consideration, received an 85), and the US News report gives it a peer rating of only 2.6 (George Mason, another Third Tier university, had a peer rating of 2.9).</p>
<p>On the other hand, the ballet department is a hidden gem and possibly there are other USF departments which are hidden gems as well.</p>
<p>This report based on a trip in April, 2008.</p>