Amy
The University of Florida has over 50,000 students attending and I feel that as long as there are enough classes to maintain a cohesive learning environment, then the more the merrier. I love the University of Florida and have wanted to be a student here since I was 7. My parents are both alumni and brought my brothers and I to the football games yearly. I have wanted to become a Pharmacist since high school and have overly pursued that goal. I am already a graduate student in the Doctorate of Pharmacy program after just 2 years of undergraduate study. I believe that being goal driven has made my college career more positive.
Jenn
It's a pretty big school, and it's easy to be just a number, completely unknown to your professors.
Both of my majors were pretty big (Psychology and English). Even upper division classes were pretty big, with about 40 students per section. If you're not the type of person to seek out one-on-one interaction, conceivably none of your professors could know you.
alexis
It's great to be a florida gator! i adore living in a college town even if traffic is undearable sometimes. while on capus, i can usually be found at the aphio info booth in turlington or in class. i find UF's architecture to be aesthetically pleasing but hated the size of campus when i was a freshman. the dorms are tiny but i loved broward. public transportation is amazing here! (there is no public transportation where i'm from) most people resond favorably and even impressed when i tell them i go to UF. game day is my favorite. I look forward to saturdays in the fall all year. school pride on gamedays is inescapable! cries of 'go gators!' can be heard echoing throughout campus during football season. my best friend, who hated all sports when we started here, is now the biggest gator fan! he goes to athletic events all year ranging from football to gymnastics. its awesome. in general, i love everything about Uf from its student body to its sprawling campus, UF is the place to be.
stephen
One thing that I would change about UF would be the president of the university, Bernie Machen. Another would be the over-representation of students in greek societies. While I myself am in an organization that uses greek letters, we do not fall into the fold of the "greek culture" (meaning fraternities and sororities). Our student government is run by a shadow organization called Florida Blue Key and has been proved in court to be the puppet master. These people run this campus and run it in a self serving manner that legislatively ignores the will of the population (as proven through referendums passed and then not supported by the SG). Sadly, most students do not vote. Moving on, people react positively when I tell them that I attend UF. On campus, I spend most of my time near Turlington Plaza. Gainesville is not a college town in that there is a small non-college population here, but it definitely focuses on UF in the fall with football.
Charlie
When I tell people I go to UF most think
Monica
UFL is amazing. The best thing is the environment on campus. I would change the transportation situation by adding more parking on campus. People are usually impressed when I tell them I go to UF. UF is definitely a college town that offers everything one could need in a small area. The biggest recent controversy on campus are the large budget cuts effecting the students and faculty.
Kim
UF is Gainesville - I feel that if uf werent here no one would know about gainesville. there is tons of gator pride and we take our sports very seriously but we are also strict in the academics. when i tell people i go to uf they most of the times say - wow thats a hard school to get into congrats! i spend most of my time either in the booth - which is an information booth that my fraternity (alpha phi Omega) has, or at the library.
Dylan
UF is a big place, but I wouldn't change that for the world. There are so many great people with such varying backgrounds and interests that it makes life interesting. If you have a smaller major, you'll get to know the same faces anyway, so having a large campus behind it is definitely good for branching out.
The best thing about UF is definitely the atmosphere. We have such pride as students. It's definitely unmatched to other campuses in Florida. The Gator Nation is truly everywhere and it's something that I know I will pride myself on when I leave school. Whenever I tell people that I go to UF, they automatically ask me if I love it. UF is definitely associated with a great college experience and I would tell anyone that it is absolutely true.
Gainesville itself is built around UF. That's another reason why I think the atmosphere here is so great. There are things open late, there are tons of coffee shops, there are lots of Gator apparel stores, and there are two of everything. The campus itself is so large that you feel like you are within your own community when you are on it. The atmosphere that Gainesville provides is definitely far from what my homelife was, but for a college city, it's not too bad.
UF's administration has it's ups and downs, like all colleges. I think there are some great strides being made on our campus. I'm a liberal arts and sciences major and currently that is one of the hot topics on our campus - CLAS budgets. I think that our administration is pushing the envelope with this issue because it is a large college and cutting our funding is, in my opinion, a bad call. It's frustrating to me because we have such an advanced and well know science department (Shands Hospital helps with that) - you should be pushing the other side of college academia as well. Overall, I have not have a particular bad encounter with any of the administration. Everyone I have had contact with is more than happy to help if you ask the right questions to the right people.
I'm going to walk away from UF with a ton of great memories. There is so much going on in Gainesville and on campus that it is hard to not have the time of your life. If you get involved in the right things on campus, you will have a great time here. Some say that UF is too large for you to have a memorable experience, but I think that makes it better here. Perhaps it takes an outgoing person to have a good time here, but I would not trade schools for the world.
Skylar
UF is a very large school and has alot of resources available to the students. The school tries to help students in having resources to succeed, although the school doesn't really try to help in an administrative aspect. The school gets alot of visitors to see our excellent sports programs and it has a beautiful campus. There is always action going on at the campus and the school is very accommodating to everyone. Students at UF also stand up for what they believe in and will protest and advocate for those beliefs. The admin. as stated before, is a joke and we are currently having budget problems and will have to eliminate an entire college.
Allison
The Univeristy of Florida is a large school, but once involved in organizations there doesn't seem to be that many people. While it's crowded, it's not overly crowded. Football and sports of all kind are really important here and it's fun to go to events. Gator Football makes fall semester the best semester there is. There's so much pride here for being a part of the Gator Nation.
Though being a part of the Gator Nation has some negative things too, mainly parking. Parking is the worst part about this campus. There are never enough spots. I live in Beaty Towers and the closest parking spot to my dorm where I can keep my car is 3/4 miles away.
All in all the big picture of UF is pretty darn amazing.
Ashley
The best thing about UF is the school's pride. It is easy to see during football games the pride that our school has. Student gather together in waves of orange and blue and even alumni come from all over just to watch the games. People bring out their children and form them into Gator fans when they are young, putting them in Gator gear or cheerleading outfits. My first experience made me proud to be a part of this school. I feel like UF is a perfect sized campus. I love the brick buildings and old trees everywhere and feel safe and at home on this campus.
Jessica
The school is far too large. Students are treated like numbers and grading encourages cheating in order to stay ahead. Those of us who are first-generation college students should not attend such a large school; UF is simply incapable and unwilling to provide the type of advising necessary for our success. While I graduated with my bachelor's degree, the process was far harder than necessary, especially compared to my friends who are not first-generation college attendees.
Ryan
I love UF, I think it's an amazing university with a lot of wonderful things going on inside of it. When I first started seeing the "Go write the next American novel, Go Gators" commercial, I would get teary eyed. When I say I go here, I almost feel like I am being arrogant to say so. There are especially exceptional masters and PhD students here. While there are so many smart and wonderful students studying here, I also feel like there are people who never should have gotten in. During my senior year of high school, some of the people who I thought were MOST qualified were waitlisted, and others (hispanic students) who were very UNqualified, were accepted. I barely got in myself, and it really upset me that the accepting process wasn't better at selecting the brightest and most talented and hardest-working students.
Jonathan
The Univeristy of Florida is a great school to attend. The town itself is a college town and so everything is geared towards UF. Without Uf it would be extremely boring here. There is a lot to do from intramurals ro leisure activites to organizations such as fraternities and volunteer services. Classses are relatively large depending on the major you choose and whether or not it is an introductory course. OVerall UF is people friendly and there is so much to do here.
John
UFL is a challenging college. From my experience at UCF, the students here are much more motivated to strive in academics and have a higher overall intelligence. Due to the strict standards on getting in, the quality of a student is higher thus making the college better and in reverse creates the high standards.
Andy
i think that the best thing about UF is that somehow you will run into someone you know. The campus is large but for some reason, there are always people you know around. The only time that there wouldn't be anyone you know is if you are from out-of-state i guess. The niggest recent controversy was the "Tazing" incident that went international.
We have a lot of school pride, but its centered around our football and basketball teams. They are good, but we have a lot of other sports that we do excellent in every year, like undefeated excellent, but no one watches them. Though recently people have been getting interested in gymnastics and girl's soccer.
Liz
I spend most of my time on campus at the Information Booth run by Alpha Phi Omega, a co ed fraternity that I am a part of. Not only do we give out info to students, but the booth is a really fun place to hang out and kill time in between classes. The booth is almost always full, and it's very easy to lose track of time in there.
Liz
The best thing about UF is the Gator nation. Although it is a huge school (a little too large, in my opinion) we are all united through something as minor as a football game day--everyone sporting their Orange and Blue and having a great time. On regular days, though, the thing that sucks most about UF is how huge it is. There are strangers everywhere, and people in Gainesville are not friendly--at home, you make eye-contact with the person passing you on the sidewalk, here you scowl and pretend you don't see them. Gainesville is definitely a college town, and going to school here you can exist for months within a 5 mile radius; students forget how large Gainesville is and that there are parts of the town that aren't impacted by what's going on on campus. The campus itself is one of the largest in the nation, and the most beautiful!
Alex
The University is nestled in a central Florida town known as Gainesville, but better known as Title Town. When I tell people I go to UF, the response is always a positive one. The best thing about UF is the campus. Our campus is beautiful, historic, and sunny. Sun bathers love the lawn. There are also a lot of activities held on the lawns as well. The one thing I would change is the parking situation. There just isn't enough of it! Most of my time is spent in the Turlington Plaza information booth with my comrades, Alpha Phi Omega. It's a good feeling to know that I have a place to go when I have time to waste.
Gainesville is an amazing college town with an awesome night life. Midtown, also called the Gaines-Vegas strip, is home to classic bars like "XS", "Ballz" and further down, you can find the Swamp Restaurant. Downtown is also a blast! Gainesville provides the best setting for a college town.
Elizabeth
The best thing about UF is the school pride. We are the gator nation, and everywhere you look there is orange and blue. we are all very proud to be gators. One thing I would change though is the amount of students that go here just because the sidewalks can get very crowded between classes.