FAU

Introduction
Personally, I chose FAU mostly on the location with the intent of eventually transferring to a more renowned university. In no way are the academics poor at FAU, however, it wasn't not my first choice and I feel as though I'll have more opportunities for grad school if I graduate from a different university. FAU is definitely a good school and it's far better than what I expected. Coming from California, I had no idea what to expect and thought FAU was going to be incredibly dull and full of a bunch of people who merely couldn't get into their first choice, like me. This, however, is not the case.

Campus Life and Social Life
Probably the best piece of advice I could give is - LIVE IN THE DORMS! Seriously, do this at least for your freshman year. Living on campus is definitely the way to meet people, and with the new addition of more student housing, FAU just keeps getting better and better. FAU is an up and coming university that originally began as purely a commuter school that was looked at with very little regard. I would say that within the next 5 years it will be highly ranked and one of the most competitive schools in Florida. There are also plans to build a stadium that should be completed by 2010 (supposedly), which will increase the quality of campus life immensely. FAU's football teem gets better and better each year, this year being our first in division one, which is huge. Academics
From what I've heard, the ocean engineering program at FAU is outstanding. I, however, am a psychology major, and so far I've been impressed by my psych classes and professors. One thing I would stay away from at FAU is the math department; the teacher I had first semester for intermediate algebra spoke broken English and was very difficult to understand. I've heard this is not uncommon for FAU math professors, so i would suggest taking math either at your local community college over the summer or at PBCC - the community college right next to FAU.

Student Body
FAU can be a little rough on the weekends when a good percentage of students return home. You can, however, always find something going on, especially since Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are both only a short distance away. Theres a few good clubs/bars in downtown Boca which always have something going on and if you so choose, you can go out pretty much any night of the week and find something decent. It's also good to have friends with houses off campus - a lot of people live off campus and if you live in the dorms, its nice to get away. FAU doesnt have greek houses, but some of the fraternities rent houses in local neighborhoods and occasionally have parties. The only downfall of this is that they advertise on websites like Facebook and the parties tend to be incredibly over crowded and broken up relatively early.
Also, Greek life here is prevalent but not mandatory. There are only three sororities and I think seven frats, so the Greeks definitely dont dictate the party scene.

In Closing...
Dont be turned off from FAU just because it's not UF of FSU - its still a great place to be and you'll definitely be surprised by how much there really is to do on and off campus. Theres also an overwhelming number of out of state students, primarily from the north east (especially NY and NJ), so don't be intimidated if you're coming from far away. I've even met a few people from California which greatly surprised me, as I thought I would be the only one.

Oh and theres an amazing mall only 2 miles from campus and if you dont have a car, the bus system is easy and will take you to all the necessary places.