The University of Florida

Date: May 29 2015
Major: Journalism (This Major's Salary over time)
I went to UF because of its great journalism program. What I realized later is that there are other facets of college life that I had never considered and those can definitely make or break your college experience. UF itself is not a bad school. There are both positives and negatives depending on what an individual is looking for. First, UF has a huge student body. I took many lecture courses with 200 or more students, but the professors were rock stars in their fields and as an upperclassman I was able to take small seminars with a few great profs. Second, UF is in the middle of a not very metropolitan area. Really for me it was my first experience of the Deep South and all the connotations attached to that. However, Gainesville did have a cool music scene, offbeat places to eat and good museums. The weather is nice, although my dorm (Rawlings Hall) didn't have AC. Third, the sports teams are a huge draw for many students, but I don't follow sports so that whole part of campus life was lost on me. Although The College of Journalism has a great reputation and I did have a few great professors, overall UF was not a great fit for me specifically because it's such a large school and the surrounding area was too rural for my taste. I transferred from Miami and found that living in Gainesville was truly a culture shock. I was very happy to graduate and have not missed UF since. I'm happy with the education I got and I am happy with my degree. If I had to do it over again, I would choose a college in a real city or a smaller college near a real city.