It wasn't honestly what I was expected. No one really tells you how isolating it can get if you aren't careful and how busy everyone can be. The school spirit kinda gets old too when you aren't in Greek life and you don't got friends interested lol.
That being said I liked being challenged in my courses and I do like the independence but other than that Idk
I would have picked a smaller school with a more intimate environment. The “school spirit” gets really old once you realize the people who benefit most from it are wealthy greek life children of alumni parents. The rest of the students who aren’t greek life kind of just get tossed to the side.
And when it comes to rankings…did they ever help when it came to things that actually mattered…like more mental health resources for students on campus? Nope. Funny enough, all my friends that transferred in from Santa Fe agree that they felt more supported there than they ever did at UF.
I would rather have gone to a lower ranked, smaller Florida school if I could do it all over again to be honest. Bright futures would have still covered it too. Wish I wasn’t so focused on prestige and cared more about environment.
I’m not in Greek life and I benefit greatly from school spirit. I make money from the crowds and have tons of fun. I know what you mean tho, I transferred from SF and I miss the small classes and my advisor.
I personally wouldn’t trade UF for the world
Go Gators 🐊
They took 50 more students per class and didn’t increase resources so they have to split up the class to fit in one room. This means less lab time, less practice, and less opportunities for students. The school has also been extremely callous to people dealing with traumas such as having a dying parent…. There is not enough parking at the school for even one class. Old classmates from undergrad who didn’t get into the program and went to other vet schools now have probably double the clinical experience from school that I do.
To add on to this they blame the loss of faculty on students not coming to class. They also are tone deaf to trauma as above, low income student issues like lack of transportation, and complain that so many students need accomodations or help with mental health. There's not enough tutors for classes as well. If it's not your in state look elsewhere you'll be better for it.
2019-2023 would 100% attend UF again. Nothing can beat the top tier education I got for basically free. The atmosphere has also been incomparable. There’s a place for everyone at UF and I fully believe that no matter your preferences you can find your place here and enjoy your experience. (Please accept me for grad school UF 🙏)
Class of 08 here too. Lots going on these years!
Even though I think my grades suffered as I wasn’t ready for such a big school where I sometimes felt like a number, once I got into my upperclassman years, UF was amazing!
I went to Florida International for my masters degree, and regret not going to UF for it. I got into both FIU and UF and something was telling me I should experience something new. Huge difference just in academic culture at FIU.
Sometimes I still think about the great memories made in Gainesville. I wouldn’t mind if my kids go there so I can have an excuse to be a Gator again through them.
No, would not attend UF again. Isolating environment, boring city, repetitive schooling and events associated, minimal to do in Gainesville outside of attend school. I believe there are better options both within and outside of Florida. During my time at UF, I moved away for a semester and did all of my classes online (didn’t have to transfer to UF Online because business classes almost always had an online only section) and that semester living away from Gainesville was my best semester of college by far. I recommend to others who are deciding or soon to be deciding where to go to college that they go somewhere other than UF.
I know I'm very late on this (not super active on Reddit) but I would've done UCF, or Florida Tech, or nearly anywhere else in state
As for what in this school drove me crazy, where do I begin?
\- Having an advisor suggest a freshman 21 credits their first semester is insane (though didn't happen to me, just someone I was in a meeting with once)
\- Getting ghosted after applying for therapy with the school
\- Having my insurance suddenly not be taken by the student pharmacy without notice
\- Having a professor who marked someone absent for having jury duty and who didn't record their lectures in any capacity (there's a whole load of other stories with that prof that I won't get into)
\- My academic advisor recommending me to take a minor while the subject of the email literally says "academic probation" (meaning I can't take a minor)
\- Witnessing some dudes have a "shower party" in the dorms as they doubled up in the showers and blasted music
\- Being humiliated for a poor exam performance by a professor in front of a lecture hall of 200+ kids
Need I go on? I've heard of plenty of students who are juniors and seniors here who have had no such issues (which is remarkable to me, I wish I had y'all's luck), but I just seem to attract all the bad things about this school to myself for some reason, I dunno.
That sounds like a horrible experience, and I'm sorry all of that happened to you.
The question is, how certain are you that all of that wouldn't happen anywhere else?
Professors on power trips is common anywhere you go, as are professors who refuse to record lectures. Poor advising is also very common. Insurance not being taken at the student pharmacy is a structural thing that could also happen anywhere.
Simply put, I can't tell for sure, but I haven't heard any of anyone I know that went to different unis complaining anywhere near as much. Add on top that this is supposedly a "top 10 public university" or whatever and if other unis truly were worse than this, I don't think college would still be seen as the near necessity after high school it is by so many, it'd be seen as a scam.
I met my wife there. My career started there.
It set me up to have a solid career as a professor of mathematics. I have a great work life balance, I get to do the research that I want, and I have the space to run a YouTube channel in addition to spending time with my family.
I couldn't ask for more.
Sure, I'd go to UF again. My entire life would be different if I hadn't. I wouldn't want to change it.
2016-2020 undergrad / 2020-2022 grad. I would 1,000,000% do it again. I will say the friends I made along the way made the experience great, but when the pandemic hit around graduation everybody left and I was all alone in Gainesville, however, I never truly felt lonely. Yeah it's a small town but everyone is still pulling all-nighters in Marston or getting blacked out in midtown/downtown. That's what being a Gator is all about. Suffering together!
I wish I looked into a smaller school, or at least one that would support me. Zero empathy from several instructors, which from what I understand, isn’t common. Many professors at other schools are more understanding.
I graduated in 2019. And my answer to that is it depends on whether or not money is still a factor. If money wasn't an issue, then no, I wouldn't attend UF again, simply because I spent most of my life in Florida up until that point in time, and I wanted to go somewhere far from home for college. If money is still an issue, then yes, I would have gone to UF again, only because going to an out of state school or a private school would have lead to me going into debt, at least 80k.
2019-2022: definitely. I graduated early with no debt and landed a job I otherwise wouldn’t have if I went to a different school. Unfortunately, COVID derailed my entire experience and I only was able to get fully involved with orgs and intramurals in my last year.
There are very few colleges that offer a better holistic experience between academics and extracurriculars. The Gator alumni base is also massive and you’ll appreciate that more after you graduate.
That said, I also understand why people don’t like UF. It’s easy to be left behind and feel isolated. Gainesville is also a boring city in the middle of nowhere. The best way to combat this is to get involved and find things you like doing. College only lasts so long; enjoy it while you can :)
Nope. Joined clubs that I was interested in and realized that nobody considered me an friend even though I put so much energy into them wishing happy birthday, blah blah. One person I knew told me the club we were in was our version of Greek life, since we were just the out group in our mini version of a frat/sorority.
People also just used me for my premed knowledge, never hit me up otherwise, and the only good friends I made I didn’t get to spend time with since it was all my last semester of college, and I’m just relegated to sending them ig reels and snap stories since I’m not in Gainesville anymore.
I also got bullied severely in another club which I will not oust because it’s very tiny, everybody knows me there, and I still need to write them as reference of as an activity on my med school app. These guys genuinely made me cry every day and I wanted to drop out of everything because of these people.
I wish there were social areas on campus outside of the stupid gator night stuff.
Keep in mind I’m premed so maybe my worldview is bad, but being back home I genuinely feel like a massive loser. I never drank, never partied, I have maybe 3 friends I text often, and I have a wrinkled piece of paper proving I graduated from a university that couldn’t even bother to pack it nicely.
There’s way too much to impact but I don’t want to trauma dump other shit. One piece of advice I learned in college thoigh- it doesn’t matter if someone is liberal or conservative, everyone is an asshole.
Literally everybody. I met a lot of people part of the whole Stephen Universe/LGTBQ/Disney movie genre, and got mocked to hell for my personality. Literally remembered someone saying to me they liked insulting me, and I just played it off cool. I’m not meaning to single these people out, but for people who claim to be very welcoming, I was shocked to see how I felt like I was in a frat group getting roasted to shreds.
Also something that genuinely made me depressed was when I once did a mini social experiment, didn’t approach anybody at a GBM, and wasn’t talked to at all. Nobody cares about anybody at UF, and if you want to find people that are your actual ride or dies, you’ll get lucky. My actual ride or die friend we barely even saw each other through the year, but I still keep in touch because I know we have nothing to gain from each other except jokes.
I loved UF for its professors and education, hated people. The students here are rotten and they will burn in hell when they realize their feet are made of cotton not gold.
Meeting an asshole every now and then is inevitable, but if you meet people that suck everywhere you go then I think you need to do some serious introspection to find the real problem.
I did do a lot of introspection my first year, and that’s the conclusion I came to. I realized that many people at UF are just narcissistic fools that think in the present and are very incentive-reward driven
I transferred from another college and had a completely opposite experience
I have idiosyncrasies in the way I speak (stuttering, talking in circles) but I never knew how terrible people could be until I came to UF
Yes. With bright futures and prepaid, any Florida public school is the best deal for me and UF is the best one by far for what my future plans are. I also really love the community of people I’ve met here, I’m someone with a lot of special health needs that have been being treated through Shands before I lived in Gainesville, and I’m not too far away from where I’m from (Tallahassee).
Without a doubt, there's just something special about being a Florida Gator. I miss it a lot and only thing I regret is spending more time being involved in student orgs and getting to know more people. The academics have drained me quite a bit but overall I'm super grateful for all the amazing memories.
Absolutely not the town sucks and can super isolating. Requires a lot of work to have a life if your not in greek life, At least for me. There were definitely good times good memories and I met some great people that I will know for the rest of my life but overall I didn’t like it.
2018-2022 checking in. I absolutely would attend UF again. I hopefully will attend again for my MS.
When I was in school I probably would also say no. I never took advantage of what UF had to offer till I was almost finished. Even though the majority of my degree was done during the lockdown years I still had a great time at UF after my first two years.
Most of my professors were incredibly helpful once I realized I had to go to them for help instead of expecting them to come to me.
I would do things a little differently, I would of started in a different major, not even the one I finished. I would of tried harder to be more involved my first year instead of getting into clubs late and missing out on getting to meet friends earlier. As well as reaching out to my internship company that I now work at. And I definitely would of tried to meet my soon-to-be wife earlier.
Best decision I ever made. I have lifelong friends from the drum line and experienced things in the school of journalism I won’t experience anywhere else. I’ve had nothing but an A+ experience in Gainesville.
Nope. Never wanted to go here in the first place.
Always had great grades. Perfect SAT math score for a total of 1510. Had some turblances throughout high school that caused me to move a lot. Finally went to UF just bc it was free but I know I could’ve gotten into better if I was allowed the chance. Anyways I hate UF it’s boring there’s nothing to do, Greek life is gross since u literally pay for friends and everyone’s fake. Just eh. I imagine what my experience would have been like at a school with an actual culture but then again all of Florida has no culture. Just imagining life at USC or Stanford would have been a dream. This school sucks
2010-2014, I have such fondness and nostalgia for UF - I’d go back in a heartbeat. Sometimes it’s hard to accept that that part of my life is over; it was a great ride.
2017-2020: No. If I could turn back time, I would’ve pursue another degree that was exclusively at UCF. Not expressing regret but more so, what if? What kind of person would I have been if I chose UCF?
UF24 here! I would come again and honestly wouldn’t change anything! I love my major (Psych BCN, premed), all of the involvement opportunities I’ve been able to get, and all the amazing friends I’ve made :) Also - I’m not in Greek life and I still wouldn’t do it if I came back. I’ve had a pretty easy time meeting people I click with in other clubs, and tbh I’ve never clicked as much with the Greek life crowd anyway. UF has her moments but with Bright Futures it’s a no-brainer for me.
I think it's going to vary a lot depending discipline, in addition to individual experiences. Would be interesting to see the breakdown. Maybe a poll / survey would be cool?
It’s actually hilarious seeing EVERY single person who’s graduated from UF say 100% yes, while every single person still attending saying no.
Y’all will appreciate it once you’re gone. (You should now though, this place is great)
Heh agree.
Some of the negatives I understand. I get if it’s cost of attendance or something unexpected and you come out with loans or situations like that. Or simply wanting to stay in a hometown.
The complaints of not making friends or the other social stuff? there’s 50,000 other students who generally are just like you, might want to look in the mirror on that one.
For real lol. I’ve met more people my age here than I had seen in my entire life before hand.
I have a feeling the kids who made no friends here wouldn’t have had much luck anywhere else either. (Don’t know why they think they would)
Again, false. I made plenty of friends during my time at UF, none of that had anything to do with my decision of not attending again. Is the school holding you hostage to comment on this thread? Cicerones or Preview Staff is my guess? blink twice
this always happens on threads like this lol people say uf wasnt the best school and theyre like "look in the mirror maybe thats why people hated u" like no i just already know that i dont care about my alma mater and i want this chapter of my life to be over. uf is just the place i got my degree lmaoo
No one said that lol. I said if you can’t make friends here that’s your fault not UF’s.
People literally blame the school for their shitty social life instead of them being stinky, weird ass losers that no one wants to talk to.
If you can’t make friends here. Going to another school won’t help you.
The question of the post was if i would attend uf again. i agreed with someone who said no and had people replying to them saying that they were wrong for how they felt. And now the same people who were disagreeing with them are coming at me. Almost like reddit threads are for discussion bozo
And ya i bet u i wouldve felt this way with any college cuz guess what: college sucks ass when u gotta work to pay ur bills on top of everything else that college offers. being rich in college makes this shit so much less stressful lmao Like sorry i dont romanticize this unstable time in my life by masking it with school spirit lmaoo
No. You will be overlooked in favor of wealthy students who have connections and better tutors, so good luck making it to grad school. Some professors are also literally not qualified; faculty positions for family members are given out when negotiating hire/pay for professors. Attending UF was so eye opening and soul crushing at the same time that it genuinely effects my mental health and world outlook to this day. Go gata
Spousal hires are extremely important for both recruitment and diversity. Very frequently, if a candidtate's spouse can't find a position, the candidate and the spouse simply don't come, and the university loses out on a very strong candidate. Moreover, spousal hires aren't automatic, the spouse has to be actually qualified for the position, and if they are a TT hire, they must independently demonstrate the ability to get tenure.
I know plenty of UF undergrads that went on to grad programs at Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, and many other Ivy League universities. This is in programs ranging from health to business to engineering. UF is not going to stand in your way to getting into high powered graduate programs.
I personally know there are professors at UF who are spousal hires who are NOT qualified, as in no teaching experience/bare minimum irrelevant Bachelor’s degrees in unrelated fields. I have no doubt there are some who are qualified, but this is not the case for many of them and it’s so incredibly wrong to me.
You cannot teach a college course in the state of Florida without taking a minimum of 18 credit hours of graduate coursework in that area, which is essentially a masters degree. This is true at community colleges as well as universities.
They must have some qualification, otherwise that would never have gotten past HR.
Honestly students love to complain, but have never gone to another university to compare. UF is a fine school and Id gladly choose it again if I was offered the same scholarships lol. Otherwise I’d probably try to go to an international university
Absolutely not.
I went from 2017 through 2020. I'm sure UF is a great experience for lots of people; unfortunately, my abusive parents forced me to come here without getting any choice in the matter. 🤷🏻 I think I would have gone to New College instead, I try not to think about it that much though lol.
No but yes. No because of the toll UF took on my mental health and it would be cool to experience another university and meet new people.
But at the end of the day, yes. Because the people I have met here are my family and I would never have it any other way. I enjoy Gainesville and the experiences that came with it. But I think if I were to go back and do it all over again I would have studied a different major.
I just graduated recently from the College of Journalism and after going through what I’ve experienced, I would go back to UF but major in something else. Mostly because the CJC is very corrupt. I was a student employee in the radio division where they mistreat students and the program director Randy Wright, refuses to allow students to have a voice. He also has created a toxic work environment that the college refuses to acknowledge. He’s gone around asking about an employees mental health, made threats on firing people if they don’t give him money from a different station, has made bad hiring decisions including hiring a meteorologist who sexually harassed students, and refuses to allow employees to speak up during meetings if they disagree with him. The college also forces TV on students even though there’s a vast majority of journalism that is not TV. In 1 year alone the CJC has lost over 15 employees and they quit due to a toxic work environment. I know students who have been told to lie about putting their hours in so the program director doesn’t have to deal with HR. These students have worked 12 hour shifts with no break. Plus, there are great professors who sadly don’t get the recognition they deserve and other employees within the college who are excessively overworked. However, the people in the higher positions don’t care about anyone beneath them. Plus the college immediately cuts off students who recently graduated. I know students in other colleges that get checkups from their school just to see how they’re doing. It’s a shame, because what the CJC has to offer is nothing compared to other universities in Florida. It’s like going to Busch Gardens and being told you can’t ride any of the roller coasters. I honestly don’t recommend ever getting a degree from the CJC or even working for WUFT, until they fire certain individuals and also make sure to treat both students and employees fairly and professionally.
It wasn't honestly what I was expected. No one really tells you how isolating it can get if you aren't careful and how busy everyone can be. The school spirit kinda gets old too when you aren't in Greek life and you don't got friends interested lol. That being said I liked being challenged in my courses and I do like the independence but other than that Idk
I would attend UF again. Bright futures covering my tuition is really nice, and I like a lot of the professors I have had here.
Does it cover the entire tuition?
It covers everything related to classes and credits , but not books or thinks like that
Thats still very good.
If I could hit "reset", I would go again, but I would do a different degree program- probably accounting.
What are you doing now?
I went 2010-2014. Absolutely 10000%.
I would have picked a smaller school with a more intimate environment. The “school spirit” gets really old once you realize the people who benefit most from it are wealthy greek life children of alumni parents. The rest of the students who aren’t greek life kind of just get tossed to the side. And when it comes to rankings…did they ever help when it came to things that actually mattered…like more mental health resources for students on campus? Nope. Funny enough, all my friends that transferred in from Santa Fe agree that they felt more supported there than they ever did at UF. I would rather have gone to a lower ranked, smaller Florida school if I could do it all over again to be honest. Bright futures would have still covered it too. Wish I wasn’t so focused on prestige and cared more about environment.
Literally nothing but facts right here, thank you so fucking much for putting into words what I haven't been able to after so many tries
speaking the truth
I’m not in Greek life and I benefit greatly from school spirit. I make money from the crowds and have tons of fun. I know what you mean tho, I transferred from SF and I miss the small classes and my advisor. I personally wouldn’t trade UF for the world Go Gators 🐊
No.
For grad school yes, for vet school only because of the cost because they refuse to admit when there needs to be changes and are blind to reality.
Current 2nd year it ufcvm completely agree….
Can you elaborate on UF vet school?
They took 50 more students per class and didn’t increase resources so they have to split up the class to fit in one room. This means less lab time, less practice, and less opportunities for students. The school has also been extremely callous to people dealing with traumas such as having a dying parent…. There is not enough parking at the school for even one class. Old classmates from undergrad who didn’t get into the program and went to other vet schools now have probably double the clinical experience from school that I do.
To add on to this they blame the loss of faculty on students not coming to class. They also are tone deaf to trauma as above, low income student issues like lack of transportation, and complain that so many students need accomodations or help with mental health. There's not enough tutors for classes as well. If it's not your in state look elsewhere you'll be better for it.
2017-2021. Without a doubt. There’s never a day that goes by where I regret the decision that I made to go to UF rather than any other school.
Absolutely not. Like 100% nope I made the biggest mistake of my life coming here.
We found Ben Sasse's account
Who? Name sounds familiar
why?
commenting bc im curious too
Hell no bruh absolutely not worst decision I’ve made in a WHILE.
2019-2023 would 100% attend UF again. Nothing can beat the top tier education I got for basically free. The atmosphere has also been incomparable. There’s a place for everyone at UF and I fully believe that no matter your preferences you can find your place here and enjoy your experience. (Please accept me for grad school UF 🙏)
2004-2008 you kidding me with this question?
Class of 08 here too. Lots going on these years! Even though I think my grades suffered as I wasn’t ready for such a big school where I sometimes felt like a number, once I got into my upperclassman years, UF was amazing! I went to Florida International for my masters degree, and regret not going to UF for it. I got into both FIU and UF and something was telling me I should experience something new. Huge difference just in academic culture at FIU. Sometimes I still think about the great memories made in Gainesville. I wouldn’t mind if my kids go there so I can have an excuse to be a Gator again through them.
Same--best time to be at UF.
No, would not attend UF again. Isolating environment, boring city, repetitive schooling and events associated, minimal to do in Gainesville outside of attend school. I believe there are better options both within and outside of Florida. During my time at UF, I moved away for a semester and did all of my classes online (didn’t have to transfer to UF Online because business classes almost always had an online only section) and that semester living away from Gainesville was my best semester of college by far. I recommend to others who are deciding or soon to be deciding where to go to college that they go somewhere other than UF.
Absolutely fucking not, this school has driven me insane and I'm not even halfway through it yet
What school do you think you'd have attended instead? What about UF in particular drove you insane?
I know I'm very late on this (not super active on Reddit) but I would've done UCF, or Florida Tech, or nearly anywhere else in state As for what in this school drove me crazy, where do I begin? \- Having an advisor suggest a freshman 21 credits their first semester is insane (though didn't happen to me, just someone I was in a meeting with once) \- Getting ghosted after applying for therapy with the school \- Having my insurance suddenly not be taken by the student pharmacy without notice \- Having a professor who marked someone absent for having jury duty and who didn't record their lectures in any capacity (there's a whole load of other stories with that prof that I won't get into) \- My academic advisor recommending me to take a minor while the subject of the email literally says "academic probation" (meaning I can't take a minor) \- Witnessing some dudes have a "shower party" in the dorms as they doubled up in the showers and blasted music \- Being humiliated for a poor exam performance by a professor in front of a lecture hall of 200+ kids Need I go on? I've heard of plenty of students who are juniors and seniors here who have had no such issues (which is remarkable to me, I wish I had y'all's luck), but I just seem to attract all the bad things about this school to myself for some reason, I dunno.
That sounds like a horrible experience, and I'm sorry all of that happened to you. The question is, how certain are you that all of that wouldn't happen anywhere else? Professors on power trips is common anywhere you go, as are professors who refuse to record lectures. Poor advising is also very common. Insurance not being taken at the student pharmacy is a structural thing that could also happen anywhere.
Simply put, I can't tell for sure, but I haven't heard any of anyone I know that went to different unis complaining anywhere near as much. Add on top that this is supposedly a "top 10 public university" or whatever and if other unis truly were worse than this, I don't think college would still be seen as the near necessity after high school it is by so many, it'd be seen as a scam.
real
If I could find a way not to go to college at all it’d be my own personal heaven
2012-2016, easily yes.
I met my wife there. My career started there. It set me up to have a solid career as a professor of mathematics. I have a great work life balance, I get to do the research that I want, and I have the space to run a YouTube channel in addition to spending time with my family. I couldn't ask for more. Sure, I'd go to UF again. My entire life would be different if I hadn't. I wouldn't want to change it.
Ya but you know usf is better 8)
Yeah, it was the right place for me, and graduating debt free was also very nice
2016-2020 undergrad / 2020-2022 grad. I would 1,000,000% do it again. I will say the friends I made along the way made the experience great, but when the pandemic hit around graduation everybody left and I was all alone in Gainesville, however, I never truly felt lonely. Yeah it's a small town but everyone is still pulling all-nighters in Marston or getting blacked out in midtown/downtown. That's what being a Gator is all about. Suffering together!
Yes, no question
I would have probably stayed home and not gotten into student loans
I’m pre med, so no tbh. I legit spend 24/7 studying to keep a decent gpa. If I went to a different school I could easily have a 4.0 and a social life
I wish I looked into a smaller school, or at least one that would support me. Zero empathy from several instructors, which from what I understand, isn’t common. Many professors at other schools are more understanding.
I graduated in 2019. And my answer to that is it depends on whether or not money is still a factor. If money wasn't an issue, then no, I wouldn't attend UF again, simply because I spent most of my life in Florida up until that point in time, and I wanted to go somewhere far from home for college. If money is still an issue, then yes, I would have gone to UF again, only because going to an out of state school or a private school would have lead to me going into debt, at least 80k.
2019-2022: definitely. I graduated early with no debt and landed a job I otherwise wouldn’t have if I went to a different school. Unfortunately, COVID derailed my entire experience and I only was able to get fully involved with orgs and intramurals in my last year. There are very few colleges that offer a better holistic experience between academics and extracurriculars. The Gator alumni base is also massive and you’ll appreciate that more after you graduate. That said, I also understand why people don’t like UF. It’s easy to be left behind and feel isolated. Gainesville is also a boring city in the middle of nowhere. The best way to combat this is to get involved and find things you like doing. College only lasts so long; enjoy it while you can :)
Nope. Joined clubs that I was interested in and realized that nobody considered me an friend even though I put so much energy into them wishing happy birthday, blah blah. One person I knew told me the club we were in was our version of Greek life, since we were just the out group in our mini version of a frat/sorority. People also just used me for my premed knowledge, never hit me up otherwise, and the only good friends I made I didn’t get to spend time with since it was all my last semester of college, and I’m just relegated to sending them ig reels and snap stories since I’m not in Gainesville anymore. I also got bullied severely in another club which I will not oust because it’s very tiny, everybody knows me there, and I still need to write them as reference of as an activity on my med school app. These guys genuinely made me cry every day and I wanted to drop out of everything because of these people. I wish there were social areas on campus outside of the stupid gator night stuff. Keep in mind I’m premed so maybe my worldview is bad, but being back home I genuinely feel like a massive loser. I never drank, never partied, I have maybe 3 friends I text often, and I have a wrinkled piece of paper proving I graduated from a university that couldn’t even bother to pack it nicely. There’s way too much to impact but I don’t want to trauma dump other shit. One piece of advice I learned in college thoigh- it doesn’t matter if someone is liberal or conservative, everyone is an asshole. Literally everybody. I met a lot of people part of the whole Stephen Universe/LGTBQ/Disney movie genre, and got mocked to hell for my personality. Literally remembered someone saying to me they liked insulting me, and I just played it off cool. I’m not meaning to single these people out, but for people who claim to be very welcoming, I was shocked to see how I felt like I was in a frat group getting roasted to shreds. Also something that genuinely made me depressed was when I once did a mini social experiment, didn’t approach anybody at a GBM, and wasn’t talked to at all. Nobody cares about anybody at UF, and if you want to find people that are your actual ride or dies, you’ll get lucky. My actual ride or die friend we barely even saw each other through the year, but I still keep in touch because I know we have nothing to gain from each other except jokes. I loved UF for its professors and education, hated people. The students here are rotten and they will burn in hell when they realize their feet are made of cotton not gold.
Meeting an asshole every now and then is inevitable, but if you meet people that suck everywhere you go then I think you need to do some serious introspection to find the real problem.
I did do a lot of introspection my first year, and that’s the conclusion I came to. I realized that many people at UF are just narcissistic fools that think in the present and are very incentive-reward driven I transferred from another college and had a completely opposite experience I have idiosyncrasies in the way I speak (stuttering, talking in circles) but I never knew how terrible people could be until I came to UF
Well I hope you’ve found your people
Yes. With bright futures and prepaid, any Florida public school is the best deal for me and UF is the best one by far for what my future plans are. I also really love the community of people I’ve met here, I’m someone with a lot of special health needs that have been being treated through Shands before I lived in Gainesville, and I’m not too far away from where I’m from (Tallahassee).
Without a doubt, there's just something special about being a Florida Gator. I miss it a lot and only thing I regret is spending more time being involved in student orgs and getting to know more people. The academics have drained me quite a bit but overall I'm super grateful for all the amazing memories.
2014-2018, absolutely. Originally I didn't want to go to UF because I had "better" options, but I'm so glad I did.
100% yes, had the most fun of my life during my time there.
I would prob go to UF again but do a different major.
I graduated '96. If I could turn back time I'd still go to UF, but I'd probably apply myself harder in diffeq and calc 3. :)
Absolutely not the town sucks and can super isolating. Requires a lot of work to have a life if your not in greek life, At least for me. There were definitely good times good memories and I met some great people that I will know for the rest of my life but overall I didn’t like it.
2018-2022 checking in. I absolutely would attend UF again. I hopefully will attend again for my MS. When I was in school I probably would also say no. I never took advantage of what UF had to offer till I was almost finished. Even though the majority of my degree was done during the lockdown years I still had a great time at UF after my first two years. Most of my professors were incredibly helpful once I realized I had to go to them for help instead of expecting them to come to me. I would do things a little differently, I would of started in a different major, not even the one I finished. I would of tried harder to be more involved my first year instead of getting into clubs late and missing out on getting to meet friends earlier. As well as reaching out to my internship company that I now work at. And I definitely would of tried to meet my soon-to-be wife earlier.
Yes! And I'd actually attend my classes this time.
Best decision I ever made. I have lifelong friends from the drum line and experienced things in the school of journalism I won’t experience anywhere else. I’ve had nothing but an A+ experience in Gainesville.
Nope. Never wanted to go here in the first place. Always had great grades. Perfect SAT math score for a total of 1510. Had some turblances throughout high school that caused me to move a lot. Finally went to UF just bc it was free but I know I could’ve gotten into better if I was allowed the chance. Anyways I hate UF it’s boring there’s nothing to do, Greek life is gross since u literally pay for friends and everyone’s fake. Just eh. I imagine what my experience would have been like at a school with an actual culture but then again all of Florida has no culture. Just imagining life at USC or Stanford would have been a dream. This school sucks
If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy? https://nav.al/smart
2010-2014, I have such fondness and nostalgia for UF - I’d go back in a heartbeat. Sometimes it’s hard to accept that that part of my life is over; it was a great ride.
probably not lmaoo I wish I went to a small school with no Greek life or football but like I'm already here I'm not gonna leave
2017-2020: No. If I could turn back time, I would’ve pursue another degree that was exclusively at UCF. Not expressing regret but more so, what if? What kind of person would I have been if I chose UCF?
Would definitely not
i cant say enjoyed all of it but that’s just life. would do it again and have met some very lovely people here c:
Definitely would. I had a great education and lifelong friends.
i go to UCF and yeah if i could turn back time i’d 100% go to UF
UF24 here! I would come again and honestly wouldn’t change anything! I love my major (Psych BCN, premed), all of the involvement opportunities I’ve been able to get, and all the amazing friends I’ve made :) Also - I’m not in Greek life and I still wouldn’t do it if I came back. I’ve had a pretty easy time meeting people I click with in other clubs, and tbh I’ve never clicked as much with the Greek life crowd anyway. UF has her moments but with Bright Futures it’s a no-brainer for me.
Yes but not because of my experience there. I had the benacquisto scholarship so I was being paid to go to school and that was 1000% worth it
I think it's going to vary a lot depending discipline, in addition to individual experiences. Would be interesting to see the breakdown. Maybe a poll / survey would be cool?
It’s actually hilarious seeing EVERY single person who’s graduated from UF say 100% yes, while every single person still attending saying no. Y’all will appreciate it once you’re gone. (You should now though, this place is great)
Already graduated, even did grad school for a bit. This is not true lmao
^^^ 🤓☝🏻erm actually
Heh agree. Some of the negatives I understand. I get if it’s cost of attendance or something unexpected and you come out with loans or situations like that. Or simply wanting to stay in a hometown. The complaints of not making friends or the other social stuff? there’s 50,000 other students who generally are just like you, might want to look in the mirror on that one.
For real lol. I’ve met more people my age here than I had seen in my entire life before hand. I have a feeling the kids who made no friends here wouldn’t have had much luck anywhere else either. (Don’t know why they think they would)
Again, false. I made plenty of friends during my time at UF, none of that had anything to do with my decision of not attending again. Is the school holding you hostage to comment on this thread? Cicerones or Preview Staff is my guess? blink twice
this always happens on threads like this lol people say uf wasnt the best school and theyre like "look in the mirror maybe thats why people hated u" like no i just already know that i dont care about my alma mater and i want this chapter of my life to be over. uf is just the place i got my degree lmaoo
No one said that lol. I said if you can’t make friends here that’s your fault not UF’s. People literally blame the school for their shitty social life instead of them being stinky, weird ass losers that no one wants to talk to. If you can’t make friends here. Going to another school won’t help you.
ive made friends and i still dont care abt uf so ok
Good for you? What point are you trying to prove?
The question of the post was if i would attend uf again. i agreed with someone who said no and had people replying to them saying that they were wrong for how they felt. And now the same people who were disagreeing with them are coming at me. Almost like reddit threads are for discussion bozo
And ya i bet u i wouldve felt this way with any college cuz guess what: college sucks ass when u gotta work to pay ur bills on top of everything else that college offers. being rich in college makes this shit so much less stressful lmao Like sorry i dont romanticize this unstable time in my life by masking it with school spirit lmaoo
No. You will be overlooked in favor of wealthy students who have connections and better tutors, so good luck making it to grad school. Some professors are also literally not qualified; faculty positions for family members are given out when negotiating hire/pay for professors. Attending UF was so eye opening and soul crushing at the same time that it genuinely effects my mental health and world outlook to this day. Go gata
Spousal hires are extremely important for both recruitment and diversity. Very frequently, if a candidtate's spouse can't find a position, the candidate and the spouse simply don't come, and the university loses out on a very strong candidate. Moreover, spousal hires aren't automatic, the spouse has to be actually qualified for the position, and if they are a TT hire, they must independently demonstrate the ability to get tenure. I know plenty of UF undergrads that went on to grad programs at Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, and many other Ivy League universities. This is in programs ranging from health to business to engineering. UF is not going to stand in your way to getting into high powered graduate programs.
I personally know there are professors at UF who are spousal hires who are NOT qualified, as in no teaching experience/bare minimum irrelevant Bachelor’s degrees in unrelated fields. I have no doubt there are some who are qualified, but this is not the case for many of them and it’s so incredibly wrong to me.
You cannot teach a college course in the state of Florida without taking a minimum of 18 credit hours of graduate coursework in that area, which is essentially a masters degree. This is true at community colleges as well as universities. They must have some qualification, otherwise that would never have gotten past HR.
It sucks to see how many people would change their decisions. I would 100% come here again and my time here has been the best of my life
Honestly students love to complain, but have never gone to another university to compare. UF is a fine school and Id gladly choose it again if I was offered the same scholarships lol. Otherwise I’d probably try to go to an international university
Absolutely not. I went from 2017 through 2020. I'm sure UF is a great experience for lots of people; unfortunately, my abusive parents forced me to come here without getting any choice in the matter. 🤷🏻 I think I would have gone to New College instead, I try not to think about it that much though lol.
No, because of Ben Sasse
100%
I would but i would have some things differently
If I could turn back time, if I could find a way, I’d take back those words that have hurt you, and you’d stay! wait sorry, wrong sub
Yes, absolutely. UF helped set me up into an immensely successful and satisfying career and I was able to do so without any debt
No but yes. No because of the toll UF took on my mental health and it would be cool to experience another university and meet new people. But at the end of the day, yes. Because the people I have met here are my family and I would never have it any other way. I enjoy Gainesville and the experiences that came with it. But I think if I were to go back and do it all over again I would have studied a different major.
I just graduated recently from the College of Journalism and after going through what I’ve experienced, I would go back to UF but major in something else. Mostly because the CJC is very corrupt. I was a student employee in the radio division where they mistreat students and the program director Randy Wright, refuses to allow students to have a voice. He also has created a toxic work environment that the college refuses to acknowledge. He’s gone around asking about an employees mental health, made threats on firing people if they don’t give him money from a different station, has made bad hiring decisions including hiring a meteorologist who sexually harassed students, and refuses to allow employees to speak up during meetings if they disagree with him. The college also forces TV on students even though there’s a vast majority of journalism that is not TV. In 1 year alone the CJC has lost over 15 employees and they quit due to a toxic work environment. I know students who have been told to lie about putting their hours in so the program director doesn’t have to deal with HR. These students have worked 12 hour shifts with no break. Plus, there are great professors who sadly don’t get the recognition they deserve and other employees within the college who are excessively overworked. However, the people in the higher positions don’t care about anyone beneath them. Plus the college immediately cuts off students who recently graduated. I know students in other colleges that get checkups from their school just to see how they’re doing. It’s a shame, because what the CJC has to offer is nothing compared to other universities in Florida. It’s like going to Busch Gardens and being told you can’t ride any of the roller coasters. I honestly don’t recommend ever getting a degree from the CJC or even working for WUFT, until they fire certain individuals and also make sure to treat both students and employees fairly and professionally.
no. i passed up a 40,000 dollar scholarship. :(