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The engineering graduate school at UF was a mixed bag. As a top tier school in the State of Florida, UF has a lot of good amenities for students as well as a multitude of opportunities to work in labs and gain real experience while enrolled. On paper there is a lot to enjoy about the university. I mostly had good quality professors who were intelligent and helpful. One professor stood out to me as horrible though. His class was 4 grades: a midterm, two homeworks, and a final all relatively equally... Read More graded. One mistake basically dooms your grade with no hope of recovery. I went to their office hours and asked what my paths forward were after doing not so well on the midterm. They told me verbatim "You know, graduate school isn't for everyone." They basically insisted that I give up and drop out. There was also a complete lack of professionalism for any issue outside of the classroom. From being redirected on phone calls in the administration office 10x over, to being told "Sorry we can't help you." in emails, the level of care above the faculty level was abysmal. It felt like they received my money and didn't care about what happened afterwards. I was just a paycheck and a statistic to them, not a student.

The University of Florida is a top-notch institution offering a well-rounded education, excellent faculty, and vibrant campus life. With its strong academic reputation, research opportunities, and diverse student body, UF is an excellent choice for students seeking a world-class education.

Key Benefits:

- Academic Excellence: Top-ranked programs in engineering, business, and sciences
- Research Opportunities: Hands-on learning and working with renowned faculty
- Diverse Student Body: Welcoming and inclusive... Read More environment for students from all backgrounds
- Campus Life: Numerous clubs, organizations, and events to suit various interests
- Athletics: Strong programs in football and basketball fostering community and school spirit

Considerations:

- Large Class Sizes: Potential difficulty getting individualized attention from professors
- Competitive Admissions: High standards for admission
- Limited Social Scene: Gainesville may not offer the same level of social activities as larger cities
- Hot and Humid Climate: Potential challenge for some students

Overall, the University of Florida provides a great educational experience with its strong programs and vibrant campus community.

(For this review, I attended the university's College of Journalism and Communications. I specifically attended for a Bachelor's in Telecommunications on the news route, as opposed to the production route) If you go for a telecommunications or journalistic degree with the intent to enter the industry (something the university excels at), you'll probably get your money's worth with the actual program they offer. They have an entire news station set up for students to learn about and practice radio,... Read More television, social media and web publication skills in a practical setting. Faculty will act as managers for a variety of different mediums (radio, T.V., etc.), and program requirements mirror actual industry demands (you're expected to be able to put together professional-level packages, stand-ups, VOSOTs and live shots by the time you hit your senior year), helping students to know what to expect once they graduate and head out on their own. Students in the course are also provided with industry-grade equipment: cameras, tripods, computers, editing software, basically anything that a reporter will need to use when on the job. Each student is also provided with a 32-gigabyte SD Card -- courtesy of that college -- in order to manage their video during reporting sessions. There is also the expectation that students are able to memorize the Associated Press stylebook, and the college is 'very' thorough in that regard (two years later and I 'still' remember every single rule in that book!). Overall, the college gives the students all of the resources they need to perform well in an actual newsroom, as I've managed to put all of these skills to use in my own career as a journalist post-graduation. If students are looking for more opportunities to practice these skills, the college also offers a variety of extracurricular activities. Instead of just performing journalistic work, there are also opportunities for students to "try out" for anchor positions on the station's newscasts. As the college's in-house news station has a fairly decent news studio, it's definitely a great experience for students to try their hands at. There's also the "News in 90" online newscasts, which, as the name might imply, is a segment that outlines major stories for the day in 90-second intervals. It's a great option for students who are pursuing producer roles in the industry, as it requires using college-affiliated aggregation sites to collect information and video. While the program is rigorous, the real issue comes with the fact that the school also requires students attend classes that in no way contribute to their education in communications. For example, I had to spend a semester in a course titled "What is the Good Life?", which, as its name might suggest, focuses on 'studying' how to have a good life. On the surface, it seemed like a decent enough class for students in philosophy or literature majors, but the teacher herself was a very ardent Marxist and imposed a lot of her political beliefs into the course. This resulted in many lessons where we didn't really discuss how to have a "good life" and instead talked about how patriarchy was bad, white people are bad, science is bad, individualism is bad, and so on and so forth. That's a fairly common theme with many of the non-program classes the university requires students to take (and even a few of the actual program courses). Nearly every professor at the university will expect you to fall in line with their personal politics, and they make sure to include it in their actual lesson plans. I've been told that I'm a racist and a potential rapist (again, not for anything that I said or did; it was merely on account of my race and sex), and -- if they happen to say something that's false -- to "shut up and just listen." I went to administration faculty about professor harassment in several of my classes, but they simply transferred me to an online alternative or refused to help at all. To give an example of some of the issues I face, I was taking a course on "Ethics in Media," which largely focused on how to ethically engage in quality journalism. On the first day of the course, the professor was giving a speech on how women were underpaid in the industry as compared to their male counterparts (something that wasn't relevant to the course material we were learning about). I made sure to speak up about the fact that the claim he was making was explained by extraneous factors, and I then cited specific sources from evolutionary psychologists to support it. In response, he began shouting for approximately 30 minutes about how I wasn't credible because "I'm a man" while sporadically waving his hands in my face (I should also note that this was during course hours in front of the rest of the attending students). I went to one of the administrators of the college afterward about the incident, and their reactions was to transfer me into an online variant of the course. From what I was told, the professor received no disciplinary consequences and is still responsible for teaching the in-person course. Even disregarding my personal experience with harassment, the amount of irrelevant coursework the university demands all students take on seems more than a bit ridiculous. While reviewing my degree audit, I found that, were I not required to take all the courses that weren't relevant to my degree program, I could have graduated an entire year earlier. From what I could uncover, the university is able to charge students (or third-party institutions, if financial assistance is being used) more money for each course a student takes, which is fairly standard for many public universities. As such, the university will require that students take a hefty amount of non-degree-relevant courses in order to boost the amount that the school receives under the guise of making students "well-rounded." It's an annoying feature that isn't necessarily exclusive to the University of Florida, but it's certainly something to keep in mind if students wish to attend. Financial services was very helpful, though! As I was attending the university while using my parents' G.I. Bill benefits, I had a 'lot' of questions and concerns as to which course would be eligible for coverage, how often I would need to attend in-person classes and more. The department was very helpful in that regard, and they almost always responded in a timely manner (holidays notwithstanding). If you have issues with financial assistance or simply have questions about your own financial obligations, the department will be a great resource for you. In all, I would say that the school prepared me for a position in the industry, as I've been able to excel in my current career as a result of the skills I picked up there. The coursework was rigorous, and the college I attended offered enough extracurriculars that I was fairly well-off in terms of experience by the time I graduated in 2019. If you're going purely for a practical education, however, you'll be sorely disappointed by the amount of irrelevant coursework the school piles on you. If I hadn't had to take the classes that didn't contribute to my actual major, I likely could have graduated an entire year earlier. Furthermore, I can't express enough how hostile an environment these classes can be if you don't follow the professor's politics to the letter (the example I gave prior was just one of many similar incidents). Harassment was a common theme of my experience there, and leadership of the university will be more than happy to let it slide. Your experience here will be largely dependent by how much passion you have for journalism and where your personal politics lie (or, at the very least, how effective you are at hiding them).

I loved the University of Florida, it is a very proud, uplifting, and large community. My courses were large in size but some of the professors were really passionate about their studies. I appreciated the internship requirement and felt I learned the most from this. I would encourage new student to explore the elective options, their are a lot to choose from! The University of Florida also puts on a lot of student led career fairs and informational lectures. I would highly recommend attending these,... Read More great opportunity to network and learn about on campus clubs.

Gator Nation gave me so much! It was amazing to enter as a scared freshman and feel connected to the campus almost instantly. I was able to find my home at UF, but that was not without trying. UF is a large campus and I was surprised when several hundred students would be in one lecture--I never thought I would belong or make friends. Although I love my alma mater, not everything was great. It was difficult to connect with professors, and you can easily get lost in the crowd. I would never change... Read More my experiences, but have found greater happiness after graduating from what people call the "best four years of your life."

Attending the University of Florida was easily the best decision I have made throughout my 21 years of life. This school has provided me with a firm background in general education and fully excelled in my actual major of teaching me about Health. Not only is it a great school, but it has a great name to help with future employment. UF has lots of resources for students from tutors, to resume readers, to job finders, etc. This school provided with the full college experience with its D1 sports teams,... Read More abundance of clubs and activities, and most importantly it's rigorous course work to prepare for my future.