Florida School Information
 

Hello- I had tons of support when my daughter rushed last year at Iowa State; now, I need different advice. My son is visiting Florida schools this week: St. Thomas, Barry, and Florida International on Monday; Werner on Tuesday; Flagler on Wednesday-- Any information on any of these?? He is looking into sports management and would love to run on a track team-- he is very interested in Florida- Thanks

Flagler is the only one worth looking at. You might also consider Rollins.

Wait a minute, adpiucf - why do you say THAT? What do you know about the other schools?

oldrusheenowmom: St. Thomas & Barry are private schools, in North Miami. Both have very good reputations for small schools, but they are always overshadowed by the larger schools in the area: Univ of Miami and FIU.

FIU, which is a public university, is very well-rounded. Actually, there are a few FIU alumnae here on Greekchat. Anyway, FIU has 2 campuses: one is in southwest Miami (main campus) and the other campus is also in North Miami.

The con about attending school in North Miami is that there isn't much affordable student housing (though I think St. Thomas & Barry have dorms; FIU has dorms on their South campus).

Anyway, if you want more info, please PM me.

Wasn't aware that I had to qualify my statements through you. Is there a form I'm supposed to file?

Wow! You're clever!

I guess this means you DON'T know anything about the schools that oldrusheenowmom was asking about!

We've. Got. This. Thanks!

And what makes you any more qualified to speak on the subject then adpiucf? What do YOU know about the other schools?

Why are you getting so offended? It's really not that big of deal. adpiucf was born and raised in Florida. I'm sure she checked out all Florida schools when she was in HS during the college application process. I know that I did. She's more than qualified to have an opinion on this matter.

Anyhow, Flagler is the top out of all those schools academically speaking. The other schools don't compare.

I'm not offended. I just think it's important to back statements up with facts that can really help someone who is asking a sincere question. And like I always say - if you don't know the answer, then just stay quiet!

Also, if you MUST know, I am a native Miamian. I lived there for 37 years, except for the four years I spent at the Univ. of Florida. Not only do I have a lot of friends, former students & colleagues over the years who attended Barry, St. Thomas and FIU, but as a public high school teacher (10 years), I felt it was part of my duty to know about the local schools.

In addition, when I was applying to grad school, I looked into the master's programs at those exact schools, but I decided to attend the Univ. of Miami instead. Granted, the OP is not asking about graduate school, but I have offered truthful information about the schools, rather than just heresay.

So... yeah, I know what I'm talking about.

But if you'd like the rest of my resume - or learn anything else about the schools from someone who has direct knowledge of them - feel free to PM me. I'm not so ego-centric to make this thread all about me.

My brother went to Barry for a year. I don't know how well your son does in high school. My brother was a solid B student. Not super gifted academically, but not a total idiot either.
He was frustrated very quickly with Barry because he found the classes too easy. This isn't to say it's not a nice school because it is. It's just not very academically testing.
He also got an $11k scholarship for a 3.2 hs gpa and 1070 on his SATs.

Barry may fit your son better than it fit for my brother though. Every person is different.

I just thought adpiucf's response was due to the particular major he was looking at, nothing good or bad academically.

Thanks for input
 

The information has been quite enlightening-- If anyone has any other great schools with sports management and a track program, I'd love to know- I appreciate all the pms--

I got to FIU and for the record the NORTH CAMPUS HAS DORMS! My daddy and many others I know have lived in them! I have also dormed at the South Campus as well. It's a great school and Sports Management must have a good program because there seem to be plenty of people who have it as a major. Parking and language barriers (south campus) can be an issue as well as the TERRIBLE drivers (south location), but it's a great school and there are many great student orgs and greek activities as well!!!!!!!!! We have a track team, but honestly I've only been to one football game and that was only because they were announcing homecoming results (we won first place overall with FIJI & our 5th lipsync win 5 years in a row!) A lot of people just don't care about sports unless it's UM, FSU, or UF.

Well, if it is not Tech, the FIT is our.

Get over it, He wants to run, jog, trot or what ever.

Mention Big State Schools where the cost is cheaper. DA!:o

He has to apply and get excepted doesnt he?

Try the Parents' Forum of http://talk.collegeconfidential.com. Lots of parents are on there who are very much tuned into the college applications process, merit-aid likelihood, etc..

http://admissionsadvice.com is also a good resource. It is not as heavily trafficked as CC but it has fewer posters focusing on the HYPs.

tom,

this young man is in the process of visiting colleges to help him decide where to apply. it sounds like he favors smaller colleges. he has an idea that he would like to major in sports management. he also would like to attend a college where he can participate in track.

unless he is an elite athlete, his chances of making a state university track team are slim-fsu's mens track team won the ncaa champoinship this past spring.

Thank you FSU Zeta- yes, we know public schools are cheaper than Private schools-- DA-- but when dealing with out-of-state tuition and student-fit, sometimes private schools are better options-- as parents, we would rather him attend Iowa State; however, I'm not clipping his wings when he has well-thought out goals, ideas, and dreams-- yes, he has the ability and talent to run for smaller schools and some less established larger school track teams; but no, top-D1 schools are probably not going to recruit him-- He wants a school with an established sports management program and the opportunity to run track- he'd like to experience more than Iowa- Thanks to those of you who mentioned Rollins- while in Florida, others mentioned it, too--

Well here's my two cents since I'm in college right now.

Private schools that I know:
Barry University - I know a girl that goes there and she loves it. Its pretty small. This girl is from Jacksonville and she says she feels like she goes to another country to go to school because so many people speak Spanish and has a huge Hispanic population.
Eckerd College: another small college with good academic record; no greek life because they believe it creates exclusion instead of inclusion..from what I have heard they make students live in the dorm and your floor is your group of friends (they do homecoming skits as a floor, shows, different things like that).
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach- good college if you are into space, flying, and that sort of thing
Flagler College- another good college; probably the least expensive private college in Florida
Florida Atlantic University- school in West Palm Beach; growing very much; the old reputation is that they let everyone in, but I don't know how it is now
Florida International University- good international business or anything international degree; good law school; friend of mine who is from Miami went there for a year said it was like an extension of high school that a lot of students that went to this school
Florida Southern College - small, good college; strong academics and students seem to like it; never heard of a student who didn't like it; there is also a $20,000 price tag
Florida State University- well I'm a huge Semionole fan and am pretty partial, although I don't go there, I was accepted but wasn't sure the big campus was for me; strong academic programs, but has the MAJOR reputation of a BIG TIME PARTY SCHOOL which I think most schools are; great atmosphere, students are very friendly, and pretty good campus surrounding
Palm Beach Atlantic University-West Palm Beach - my best friend goes here and absolutely LOVES it; small Christian college with a $13,000 tuition price tag; good dorms and RIGHT on the beach
Rollins College - probably my favorite private school, but didn't think it was worth the $43,000 price tag for everything; SOLID academics and only about 1500 students if you like small schools
Stetson University - another great school; small, kind of old dorms; about 3,000 students and another good academic school; though this one has a $35,000 price tag
University of Central Florida - Ok well I go here so here goes....school with the most undergraduate students in Florida this year (47,000), largest growing school in the Southeast for the last couple of years; becoming more selective; right in Orlando, but in a sucluded part of town; lots of traffic... though in Florida, not a Southern school at all!!!!
University of Florida - in a very strong college town; some bars, but academics are still very high as this is the flagship school of Florida; you better have atleast a 3.8 or above if you enter as a freshman; once you have a A.A. it gets A LOT looser; pretty strong Greek system and I know quite a few, but also A TON of activities to do if you are not Greek
University of North Florida - small public school in Jacksonville which is a nice town bigger than most; very spread out campus with bad architechture (sp?); my cousin just went there and is having a ball


**Here's my two cents and thats all it is..pm me for any other info...I researched very fully into most or all universities in Florida to see where I wanted to go.

Add to that:

University of South Florida- very good if you are a commuter student, as it is SUPER car friendly. Also very good if you work during the day. Some campus activities- I was in the organization for my major as well as in a general interest club for one of my hobbies. Academics were very good in my major, but it was a graduate degree. Tampa has many things to do, and there are 5 malls in the county, but it is nowhere near as touristy as Orlando.

In other news, moonshine causes intoxication.

But, seriously...sometimes private schools in states with big public universities tend to give more money to out-of-state students. I have a few friends who got more money to go to Furman, Rollins, and other places because the merit aid they received ended up making those schools cost less than UF or FSU.

(Let me just say now that I did grow up in Florida, and I researched most of the schools, but I decided to leave the region. Hope this qualifies me to talk about this stuff!)

That makes two of us... :)

Of the three the OP mentioned, I think Flagler is the best bet. I also echo the recommendation for Florida Southern -- small and intimate w/ a good academic reputation.

I'm going to have to disagree. I'm in med school at USF, and the parking is obscenely bad - worse than UF! Undergraduates are forced to come over here and park because there aren't any spots near their classes, and then we're forced to go park out by Fowler Ave because they take our spots. It's basically a disaster.

I read the above quote to my study group, and they about died laughing. Parking on campus is the bane of our collective existence.:rolleyes:

I think every school has a parking problem! :)

And UCF is not in the least bit touristy! LOL. It's not located next to Disney World, nor downtown. It's in a sleepy research park area that was incorporated by the city of Orlando so they wouldn't have the address "Podunk, Fla." ;) The best thing about the school is you get the traditional college campus, but there is so much to do off campus, downtown and by the parks. And it's reasonably close the the highways and toll roads so you can travel easily.

Rollins, Stetson, Flagler and FL Southern and Miami are my favorite pvt. schools in Florida. I wouldn't put my money on any of the others in terms of prestige, academic rigour or location. There are people who have lived in Florida for a substantial chunk of their life and haven't heard of some of these pv't schools (the ones mentioned above are well-known).

I was without a car for my first two years in Orlando and it worked out fine between walking, the bus and hitching rides with friends, although I do recommend having a car. Just be prepared to stalk people who are walking back to their cars as you look for a spot. Then again, joining ADPi was a great choice b/c I could park at the house and walk to any of my classes with 5-15 min, or have a sister drop me off at class and park my car at the house!

If he wants to run track, the 4 larger state schools (UF, UCF, USF, FSU) probably are not a good option-- all D1.

This made me laugh until I cried!