Why You Should (or shouldn't) Choose UCF...

Introduction
I chose UCF because it was close to home and I wouldn't have to get a dorm or affiliated housing.

The main campus is in Orlando, Florida, with branch campuses downtown and in several surrounding counties. Many times I've taken classes that were closer to my house, so it's a bonus for me.

Also, it's close to both Daytona and Cocoa Beach, and the winters are mild enough that you could go surfing year round.

Campus Life and Social Life
I don't live on campus, so I don't know about life at the dorms, but I do know that a lot of people in the university apartments and affiliated housing have parties all the time. Look on Facebook and you can find one in a few minutes.

Well, UCF's not in NYC or anything, but there's a lot of stuff to do for us students. There are lots of restaurants around campus that give us discounts or freebies, and saving money is always good, right? There are lots of nightclubs downtown with college drink nights and there are lots of theme parks and attractions around: Universal CityWalk, Disney and Islands of Adventure are nearby and Busch Gardens is about an hour and a half or two hours away.

The music scene is good too. House of Blues has concerts showing often and the small bars and hangouts like The Social have loads of bands coming through (for a tiny cover, too!)

Again, UCF's near the beaches, so during the summer, you'll practically see caravans of college students heading down 528...

Oh, parking's a pain too. They finally started building a new garage, but it would have been nice if they'd done it three years ago. They're always renovating something-- UCF: Under Construction Forever. Advertisement
Academics
UCF doesn't have a great selection of majors, but they usually make it up with minors. Foreign language programs are good here, but they only offer literature for Spanish, French, and I think Italian. UCF's forensics department is really good, with students coming in from all over the country, and the College of Education is very well developed if you're wanting to become a teacher.

Professors generally know their stuff, and some of them are pretty hot too. Lots of students complain that their professors can't speak Englsih, but from what I've seen, that's only the classes in the Engineering field. Engineering's a good program, though; since so many guys graduate from it every year, the professors' speaking can't be THAT bad.

Classes are generally easy, depending on your major. I'm in Education, so my classes are easy, but really busy. UCF doesn't offer every class every term, so a lot of people don't graduate in four years. There's a joke here that UCF means "U Can't Finish," but it's more fun to hang around and take it easy, right? Granted, if you work hard and don't drop/fail any classes, you CAN finish in four years, but if it takes more than four and a half, you'll probably start getting discouraged.

Student Body
Most of the kids here are Floridian, who either wanted to stay in Orlando with friends or didn't want to go anywhere cold. There are a lot of international students here too, since Orlando has so many people from around the world. The students that aren't into Greek life are either into studying or into the beach or club scene. There's something here for everyone, so I can't really talk about a "typical" student.

In Closing...
That's about it. Despite the traffic and parking woes, the frustration in finding a class that fits your track and the ever-increasing tuition, there's really no other place I'd rather be, as much as I bellyache. All the benefits of being in Florida with my friends and family and beautiful beaches (and those Brazilian girls in bikinis!) balance everything else out. I've got another year and a half (or three) left, and happy as I'll be to graduate, I'm going to miss it.