University of Florida

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida is a curious case of having an overall US News ranking that is higher than the rankings of almost all of its majors. Sure, the two are determined using completely different formulas, but one would think that a school's overall ranking is more or less sandwiched between its highest and lowest major rankings. Not the case with UF, as very few of its majors is top 30 and almost none is top 20. And yet its overall ranking is 30.

Florida is a beneficiary of the US News current bias towards large public schools. It does a good job of providing a cheap education to lots of kids, but not a great education.

How are you arriving at that conclusion? What are the metrics you use? Graduates have jobs? They go to grad school? How exactly can you tell whether or not they got a "great education"?

For a lot of people, it means "I think this school is prestigious". But you can definitely get a great education at a school that isn't prestigious.

Reliance on online education, very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits, and high student faculty ratio (16:1). Florida doesn’t even guarantee housing for freshman so there’s no real sense of community.

"very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits" does not indicate the school does not provide a good education. Those are about what happens before you get there, not what they do for you after you get there.

As for the student to faculty ratio, it's comparable to or better than the ratio at public universities that are widely regarded as better than Florida.
UCLA 19
Berkeley 18
UVA 14
Michigan 15
San Diego 19

That really just leaves the online classes. I'm not a big fan of them myself but for "big lecture hall" type classes it may not make a lot of difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida is a curious case of having an overall US News ranking that is higher than the rankings of almost all of its majors. Sure, the two are determined using completely different formulas, but one would think that a school's overall ranking is more or less sandwiched between its highest and lowest major rankings. Not the case with UF, as very few of its majors is top 30 and almost none is top 20. And yet its overall ranking is 30.

Florida is a beneficiary of the US News current bias towards large public schools. It does a good job of providing a cheap education to lots of kids, but not a great education.

How are you arriving at that conclusion? What are the metrics you use? Graduates have jobs? They go to grad school? How exactly can you tell whether or not they got a "great education"?

For a lot of people, it means "I think this school is prestigious". But you can definitely get a great education at a school that isn't prestigious.

Reliance on online education, very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits, and high student faculty ratio (16:1). Florida doesn’t even guarantee housing for freshman so there’s no real sense of community.

"very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits" does not indicate the school does not provide a good education. Those are about what happens before you get there, not what they do for you after you get there.

As for the student to faculty ratio, it's comparable to or better than the ratio at public universities that are widely regarded as better than Florida.
UCLA 19
Berkeley 18
UVA 14
Michigan 15
San Diego 19

That really just leaves the online classes. I'm not a big fan of them myself but for "big lecture hall" type classes it may not make a lot of difference.

Very liberal acceptance of classes from lower institutions means the university doesn’t care about the quality of the education, just checking off boxes. Same is reflected by reliance on online classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida is a curious case of having an overall US News ranking that is higher than the rankings of almost all of its majors. Sure, the two are determined using completely different formulas, but one would think that a school's overall ranking is more or less sandwiched between its highest and lowest major rankings. Not the case with UF, as very few of its majors is top 30 and almost none is top 20. And yet its overall ranking is 30.

Florida is a beneficiary of the US News current bias towards large public schools. It does a good job of providing a cheap education to lots of kids, but not a great education.

How are you arriving at that conclusion? What are the metrics you use? Graduates have jobs? They go to grad school? How exactly can you tell whether or not they got a "great education"?

For a lot of people, it means "I think this school is prestigious". But you can definitely get a great education at a school that isn't prestigious.

Reliance on online education, very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits, and high student faculty ratio (16:1). Florida doesn’t even guarantee housing for freshman so there’s no real sense of community.

"very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits" does not indicate the school does not provide a good education. Those are about what happens before you get there, not what they do for you after you get there.

As for the student to faculty ratio, it's comparable to or better than the ratio at public universities that are widely regarded as better than Florida.
UCLA 19
Berkeley 18
UVA 14
Michigan 15
San Diego 19

That really just leaves the online classes. I'm not a big fan of them myself but for "big lecture hall" type classes it may not make a lot of difference.

Very liberal acceptance of classes from lower institutions means the university doesn’t care about the quality of the education, just checking off boxes. Same is reflected by reliance on online classes.

UVA and the UC system are well known for taking transfers from community colleges. I guess they don’t care either.

Is there reason to think Florida gives more generous credits for AP than do UVA or the UCs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida is a curious case of having an overall US News ranking that is higher than the rankings of almost all of its majors. Sure, the two are determined using completely different formulas, but one would think that a school's overall ranking is more or less sandwiched between its highest and lowest major rankings. Not the case with UF, as very few of its majors is top 30 and almost none is top 20. And yet its overall ranking is 30.

Florida is a beneficiary of the US News current bias towards large public schools. It does a good job of providing a cheap education to lots of kids, but not a great education.

How are you arriving at that conclusion? What are the metrics you use? Graduates have jobs? They go to grad school? How exactly can you tell whether or not they got a "great education"?

For a lot of people, it means "I think this school is prestigious". But you can definitely get a great education at a school that isn't prestigious.

Reliance on online education, very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits, and high student faculty ratio (16:1). Florida doesn’t even guarantee housing for freshman so there’s no real sense of community.

"very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits" does not indicate the school does not provide a good education. Those are about what happens before you get there, not what they do for you after you get there.

As for the student to faculty ratio, it's comparable to or better than the ratio at public universities that are widely regarded as better than Florida.
UCLA 19
Berkeley 18
UVA 14
Michigan 15
San Diego 19

That really just leaves the online classes. I'm not a big fan of them myself but for "big lecture hall" type classes it may not make a lot of difference.

Very liberal acceptance of classes from lower institutions means the university doesn’t care about the quality of the education, just checking off boxes. Same is reflected by reliance on online classes.

UVA and the UC system are well known for taking transfers from community colleges. I guess they don’t care either.

Is there reason to think Florida gives more generous credits for AP than do UVA or the UCs?

I was talking about dual enrollment classes taken by high school kids. You have pro Florida posters in this thread raving about how generous they are about credits for high school classes.

[Anonymous]

Florida gives credits for AP scores of 3. That’s extremely uncommon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Florida gives credits for AP scores of 3. That’s extremely uncommon.

So does UC. There are distinguishing features between UC and Florida but this isn’t one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leaving politics aside, I was turned off by the high ratio of students living off campus and amount of classes taught online.

I went to UF. Most students live off campus because it’s fun. It’s a huge college town. Many live in their sorority or fraternity house or there’s ample apartments very close by. I never lived on campus at all and had a very full college experience. My parents lived 5 hours away and I needed a car to go home, which is a massive challenge on campus. Hard to park or store a car anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida gives credits for AP scores of 3. That’s extremely uncommon.

So does UC. There are distinguishing features between UC and Florida but this isn’t one of them.

Well, neither cares about the quality of the education their students get then. That’s the problem with huge schools. Again, the mission is to educate as many kids as possible as cheaply as possible. Quality isn’t the most important metric.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leaving politics aside, I was turned off by the high ratio of students living off campus and amount of classes taught online.

I went to UF. Most students live off campus because it’s fun. It’s a huge college town. Many live in their sorority or fraternity house or there’s ample apartments very close by. I never lived on campus at all and had a very full college experience. My parents lived 5 hours away and I needed a car to go home, which is a massive challenge on campus. Hard to park or store a car anywhere.

They have no choice, there isn’t even enough housing for freshman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida is a curious case of having an overall US News ranking that is higher than the rankings of almost all of its majors. Sure, the two are determined using completely different formulas, but one would think that a school's overall ranking is more or less sandwiched between its highest and lowest major rankings. Not the case with UF, as very few of its majors is top 30 and almost none is top 20. And yet its overall ranking is 30.

Florida is a beneficiary of the US News current bias towards large public schools. It does a good job of providing a cheap education to lots of kids, but not a great education.

How are you arriving at that conclusion? What are the metrics you use? Graduates have jobs? They go to grad school? How exactly can you tell whether or not they got a "great education"?

For a lot of people, it means "I think this school is prestigious". But you can definitely get a great education at a school that isn't prestigious.

Reliance on online education, very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits, and high student faculty ratio (16:1). Florida doesn’t even guarantee housing for freshman so there’s no real sense of community.

"very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits" does not indicate the school does not provide a good education. Those are about what happens before you get there, not what they do for you after you get there.

As for the student to faculty ratio, it's comparable to or better than the ratio at public universities that are widely regarded as better than Florida.
UCLA 19
Berkeley 18
UVA 14
Michigan 15
San Diego 19

That really just leaves the online classes. I'm not a big fan of them myself but for "big lecture hall" type classes it may not make a lot of difference.

Very liberal acceptance of classes from lower institutions means the university doesn’t care about the quality of the education, just checking off boxes. Same is reflected by reliance on online classes.

UVA and the UC system are well known for taking transfers from community colleges. I guess they don’t care either.

Is there reason to think Florida gives more generous credits for AP than do UVA or the UCs?

I was talking about dual enrollment classes taken by high school kids. You have pro Florida posters in this thread raving about how generous they are about credits for high school classes.

Quit gatekeeping for the wealthy. Public universities accept dual enrollment credits because they're trying to educate the masses as economically feasible as possible. This allows middle class and poor kids to earn their associates degrees in HS and only pay for two years of public university.

Drop your outrage that some less fortunate kids also get college degrees and move up to your kid's social class and compete with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida is a curious case of having an overall US News ranking that is higher than the rankings of almost all of its majors. Sure, the two are determined using completely different formulas, but one would think that a school's overall ranking is more or less sandwiched between its highest and lowest major rankings. Not the case with UF, as very few of its majors is top 30 and almost none is top 20. And yet its overall ranking is 30.

Florida is a beneficiary of the US News current bias towards large public schools. It does a good job of providing a cheap education to lots of kids, but not a great education.

How are you arriving at that conclusion? What are the metrics you use? Graduates have jobs? They go to grad school? How exactly can you tell whether or not they got a "great education"?

For a lot of people, it means "I think this school is prestigious". But you can definitely get a great education at a school that isn't prestigious.

Reliance on online education, very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits, and high student faculty ratio (16:1). Florida doesn’t even guarantee housing for freshman so there’s no real sense of community.

"very liberal acceptance of AP and community college credits" does not indicate the school does not provide a good education. Those are about what happens before you get there, not what they do for you after you get there.

As for the student to faculty ratio, it's comparable to or better than the ratio at public universities that are widely regarded as better than Florida.
UCLA 19
Berkeley 18
UVA 14
Michigan 15
San Diego 19

That really just leaves the online classes. I'm not a big fan of them myself but for "big lecture hall" type classes it may not make a lot of difference.

Very liberal acceptance of classes from lower institutions means the university doesn’t care about the quality of the education, just checking off boxes. Same is reflected by reliance on online classes.

UVA and the UC system are well known for taking transfers from community colleges. I guess they don’t care either.

Is there reason to think Florida gives more generous credits for AP than do UVA or the UCs?

I was talking about dual enrollment classes taken by high school kids. You have pro Florida posters in this thread raving about how generous they are about credits for high school classes.

Quit gatekeeping for the wealthy. Public universities accept dual enrollment credits because they're trying to educate the masses as economically feasible as possible. This allows middle class and poor kids to earn their associates degrees in HS and only pay for two years of public university.

Drop your outrage that some less fortunate kids also get college degrees and move up to your kid's social class and compete with them.

I have no problem with that at all, it’s the mission of these schools and they are meeting it. Clearly, it makes a ton of sense for instate students who are getting free or a very low price education and can’t afford anything else. But silly to pretend that two years at a school with online classes living in an apartment somewhere off campus the whole time is the same, never mind better experience, than four years at a medium size college where kids have small classes and the opportunity to live in dorms with advisors and oversight for a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leaving politics aside, I was turned off by the high ratio of students living off campus and amount of classes taught online.

I went to UF. Most students live off campus because it’s fun. It’s a huge college town. Many live in their sorority or fraternity house or there’s ample apartments very close by. I never lived on campus at all and had a very full college experience. My parents lived 5 hours away and I needed a car to go home, which is a massive challenge on campus. Hard to park or store a car anywhere.

They have no choice, there isn’t even enough housing for freshman.

NP - there typically is a choice. You put down a deposit at the time you apply. But there is plenty of great, convenient off campus housing very close (as in a block or two away) to campus so it’s not an issue either way and doesn’t limit access to any on campus facilities and campus life. And you end up living with other students as well. So many pick that simply to have more modern housing, a kitchen, a private bedroom…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leaving politics aside, I was turned off by the high ratio of students living off campus and amount of classes taught online.

I went to UF. Most students live off campus because it’s fun. It’s a huge college town. Many live in their sorority or fraternity house or there’s ample apartments very close by. I never lived on campus at all and had a very full college experience. My parents lived 5 hours away and I needed a car to go home, which is a massive challenge on campus. Hard to park or store a car anywhere.

They have no choice, there isn’t even enough housing for freshman.

DP who also attended UF. The freshman didn't want to live in the dorms. There are many apartment complexes within walking distance to campus, with nice facilities -pools, tennis courts etc - full of students. And the same price as a dorm. They're almost an extension of the campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leaving politics aside, I was turned off by the high ratio of students living off campus and amount of classes taught online.

I went to UF. Most students live off campus because it’s fun. It’s a huge college town. Many live in their sorority or fraternity house or there’s ample apartments very close by. I never lived on campus at all and had a very full college experience. My parents lived 5 hours away and I needed a car to go home, which is a massive challenge on campus. Hard to park or store a car anywhere.

They have no choice, there isn’t even enough housing for freshman.

NP - there typically is a choice. You put down a deposit at the time you apply. But there is plenty of great, convenient off campus housing very close (as in a block or two away) to campus so it’s not an issue either way and doesn’t limit access to any on campus facilities and campus life. And you end up living with other students as well. So many pick that simply to have more modern housing, a kitchen, a private bedroom…

And no adult supervision or planned social events that don’t revolve around alcohol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leaving politics aside, I was turned off by the high ratio of students living off campus and amount of classes taught online.

I went to UF. Most students live off campus because it’s fun. It’s a huge college town. Many live in their sorority or fraternity house or there’s ample apartments very close by. I never lived on campus at all and had a very full college experience. My parents lived 5 hours away and I needed a car to go home, which is a massive challenge on campus. Hard to park or store a car anywhere.

They have no choice, there isn’t even enough housing for freshman.

DP who also attended UF. The freshman didn't want to live in the dorms. There are many apartment complexes within walking distance to campus, with nice facilities -pools, tennis courts etc - full of students. And the same price as a dorm. They're almost an extension of the campus.

I’m sure that many freshman would prefer a complete unsupervised life. Dorms are designed to integrate kids into campus life, while still providing a degrees of supervision and structure. As a parent, I don’t want my kid living off campus in an apartment as an 18 year old. You may want something different for your child.