<p>I have looked into UF, FSU, and UCF lately as I am going to be applying to schools in a couple of days as an undergraduate transfer with an AA. I’d just like to chime in and say that for my area of interest, Entrepreneurship, UF only has a graduate program - nothing undergraduate, including a minor. UCF has a minor in Entrepreneurship, and FSU has a rather extensive 3 year major in Entrepreneurship. I’m pretty heavily leaning towards FSU and UCF (FIU was an option but I just don’t see myself living in Miami), and will hopefully be touring the FSU campus soon. I toured the UCF campus and it was quite nice. HOWEVER, come time for grad school and chances are I will look into UF’s Entrepreneurship program.</p>
<p>zeekz, don’t forget to check out USF’s graduate Entrepreneurship Program in Tampa.</p>
<p>[University</a> of South Florida, Center for Entrepreneurship](<a href=“http://www.entrepreneurship.usf.edu/]University”>http://www.entrepreneurship.usf.edu/)</p>
<p>[USF</a> building an entrepreneurs’ mecca - St. Petersburg Times](<a href=“http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/college/article896250.ece]USF”>http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/college/article896250.ece)</p>
<p>[USF’s</a> Graduate Entrepreneurship Program Ranked #5 in the Nation - USF News - University Communications & Marketing](<a href=“http://usfweb3.usf.edu/absolutenm/templates/?a=825&z=38]USF’s”>http://usfweb3.usf.edu/absolutenm/templates/?a=825&z=38)</p>
<p>error made. Wrong thread</p>
<p>With the overwhelming amount of financial support and favoritism UF has enjoyed from the State Legislature up until the recent past, it is quite honestly shameful that UF is not more highly ranked. UNC, UVA, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Univ. of Texas, Univ. of Michigan are far better schools than UF in rankings and in academic activity, and in my opinion are far more deserving of their “flagship status” than UF. Why? There is no excuse for UF not being ranked higher than it is. To criticize FSU, is missing the point. The mere fact that the FSU law school is quickly catching up to the UF law program, that a Medical School with state of the art facilities and partnerships with some outstanding organizations in Florida (e.g. the Mayo Clinic), as well as a University with National Lab in its backyard, are no small accomplishments. Believe it or not, I chose FSU over UF, Cornell, UM and UNC back in 1986. Why?.. I liked it better. I was a dual major in Political Science and German, both of which were awesome at FSU. I have an M.A. from Michigan State University and am getting my doctorate from Texas A&M University as we speak. The truth is that either school is great, but as far as who has come the furthest with much less help… it’s FSU hands down. So don’t feed me crap about how everyone views one as better than the other. Out here in the real world (I work for the U.S. Department of Defense in Okinawa, Japan) no one gives a damn. The fact is the student should choose whatever school they feel is the right fit. In my case, with an awesome academic background, FSU was the right choice… GO NOLES!.</p>
<p>Well said. Thanks for posting!</p>
<p>Go 'Noles!</p>
<p>P.S. FSU Law has caught up with UF Law. ;)</p>
<p>Yeah FSU over UF in my major Polly Science!!
I would be delighted to be a class of 2014 member for FSU.</p>
<p>just wanted to share my son’s feelings about the schools. He was totally turned off by the UF arrogance. If you watch the video tours of the schools available on the web, FSU is very inviting while UF’s seem to say “we’re the gators” like that’s enough. I work with a lot of UF graduates and the gator stuff gets very annoying and the dislike of FSU is palpable and unnecessary.The FSU students don’t seem as rabid–I know many who actually felt bad for UF in the game against Alabama. </p>
<p>My son wasn’t the least bit interested in UF though he could probably get in. What he liked about FSU was the look and feel of the campus. Here’s an example. We planned on going up for a visit on our own and I emailed the business dept. to see if someone could talk to him about the program. Within 2 hours I had a reply and we set up an appt. An advisor met with him for over an hour going over everything and taking us on a tour of the business building. I was very impressed and that meeting solidified my son’s decision to go there. When I told that story around UF graduates, you could see their surprise. I just feel FSU is more student oriented than UF.</p>
<p>As for rankings, it all depends on the criteria. In Newsweek’s survey my son’s high school was #22, in other publications it’s not even mentioned.</p>
<p>One of the lists here showed UFs accounting program better than FSUs. but in the report put out by the Public Accounting group, FSUs Masters of Accounting program ranks at #19. For me, I’d be more interested in the report by the people actually in the workforce.</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t know why both sides can’t agree that both are fine schools and the decision to attend one over the other takes into consideration a lot of different factors.<br>
There are many students who could get into both schools but choose FSU.</p>
<p>^Thanks for posting. It is invaluable to hear the different perspectives.</p>
<p>Just this morning I had a discussion with my SIL (an instructor and PhD candidate) regarding the worth of university rankings in general. We both know they are in general designed to sell magazines.</p>
<p>FSU actually posts a number of rankings here: <a href=“Rankings | Florida State University”>Rankings | Florida State University; in apparent recognition of the fact that some rely on them to make decisions.</p>
<p>I think it’s ridiculous that people fought about this in the first place. To me, FSU and UF are on the same level, the only thing being that each school has more expertise on the certain programs. Seriously, when I see FSU and UF ranking, they’re barely that statistically significant.</p>
<p>It also bothers me that people place so much more emphasis on ranking. It all depends on the major. If I wanted to major in Chemistry, I would choose UF because it has a stronger Chemistry program than FSU. If I wanted to study Physics or Meteorology, I would choose FSU. Again, UF for Pre-Med and FSU for Film and Theatre. It all depends on what you want to do.</p>
<p>My dream is to be a Music Producer. Therefore, I’m going to FSU to do their Commercial Music program. FSU’s fine arts programs are out of this world. I have the GPA and the test scores to get into UF, but they simply don’t have what I’m looking for.</p>
<p>Another thing people should consider is campus life. Some people might like FSU’s campus life over UF and vise versa. The topic of choosing which school is better can never be factual because it is so opinion-based. It all depends on what you like.</p>
<p>To me, UF is not better than FSU and FSU is no better than UF. Both are amazing institutions. If I were to ever look for a bachelor’s degree that could secure me a good career, I could trust UF and FSU. Seriously, let’s stop all the hatin’. Both are very good schools :)</p>
<p>I graduated from FSU with a graduate degree and now go to UF for continuing research. FSU has been very good for my career. I worked for the state for many years up in Tallahassee. Then I now have an excellent consulting job out-of-state that pays very high. I attribute that to my FSU graduate degree. </p>
<p>I could just stop and focus on work, but I wanted to do more academic research and am now at UF. The school is ranked higher for my area of interest. I also see it as a public ivy, but I don’t get that caught up about the rivalry. In my experience, the hyper-intense FSU versus UF mindset is mostly engaged by people who were born and raised in Florida. I am from the southwestern USA and only first learned of FSU while watching Bowden play at the Fiesta Bowl long ago. Then I heard of Florida when they played my undergraduate alma mater, Notre Dame, back in the 90s.</p>
<p>So I don’t really get caught up with the passion of the rivalry. They are both good schools. In terms of raw ranking, UF generally has the edge. But I know from experience that FSU has very good programs that can help where it matters the most - the job market. </p>
<p>So I am happy at UF and have gone to Gator games. I’m having a good time at UF, but I don’t do it at the overzealous expense of trying to make FSU alumni unhappy. After all, I am an FSU alumnus too.</p>