Is it worth moving from Mass. to Florida to receieve in-state tuition and to attend the University of Central Florida?

[Suericio]

i moved to orlando area about 3-4yrs ago from boston when i was 22yrs old. honestly i do not like it here. i'm saving up so i can move outta here. the ONLY GOOD THINGS ARE NO STATE TAXES AND THE WEATHER and that is pretty much it. dont get me wrong this is just my opinion cuz im so used to boston. everything is so close and there is public transportation, better VARIETY of foods. i miss the food from boston, seriously makes me want to move back. as far as i know florida is not famous for any particular foods maybe some southern cooking and gator tails but that is pretty much it. be prepared to drive everywhere and watch out for tourist, theyre everywhere. the thing u gotta remember about is the cost of living. if your parents have jobs up there they will take a significant pay cut and the job market isnt all that great here in florida unless you're a doctor or something. so yes the houses are cheaper but so is the pay rate. i would say for your parents to keep the house there and buy a winter getaway house here in florida and do that for a yr or 2 then decide. o and also u might want to pickup on ur spanish cause there are alot here. oo and ANYONE can pretty much get into UCF. hope this helps and like is said this is just MY OPINION, and to each is own. any questions just let me know......

[pianogal]

The previous poster stated "ANYONE can pretty much get into UCF. "

The facts are that UCF's freshman class of 2007-2008 had an average SAT score of 1217 and average GPA of 3.73. The Honors College Class had an average SAT score of 1361 and a 4.1 GPA.

Check it out here: University of Central Florida: About UCF

I love Boston and would concur that it is a great city with good transportation, wonderful food, amazing mix of architecture, very picturesque, with some of the best secondary educational institutions in the world. It can stand on its own as a world class city. However, some people actually prefer to live in a different kind of place.

I love to visit Boston but would choose to live in Orlando any day over Boston. The reasons....more laid back atmosphere, southern hospitality and charm (I know some would debate this one - but compared to Boston, yes it is), tropical climate, great beaches, and I just feel at home here. If it's not for you, it's important to find the place you feel at home. Life is too short to be miserable.

[Crane's Rooster]

Originally Posted by pianogal

The previous poster stated "ANYONE can pretty much get into UCF. "

The facts are that UCF's freshman class of 2007-2008 had an average SAT score of 1217 and average GPA of 3.73. The Honors College Class had an average SAT score of 1361 and a 4.1 GPA.

Check it out here: University of Central Florida: About UCF

I love Boston and would concur that it is a great city with good transportation, wonderful food, amazing mix of architecture, very picturesque, with some of the best secondary educational institutions in the world. It can stand on its own as a world class city. However, some people actually prefer to live in a different kind of place.

I love to visit Boston but would choose to live in Orlando any day over Boston. The reasons....more laid back atmosphere, southern hospitality and charm (I know some would debate this one - but compared to Boston, yes it is), tropical climate, great beaches, and I just feel at home here. If it's not for you, it's important to find the place you feel at home. Life is too short to be miserable.

Agreed. I have lived in and loved both places. I just got back from weekend visit from Boston just a few weeks ago. It still definitely has that charm and is in a class it's own but for some reason, I guess because I'm no longer young and a student, the hustling pace wasn't as attractive to me anymore. The old world charm was great, but no central ac and older cramped homes with no master baths made me miss Florida a little. I remembered how great good public transportation is, but than also remembered that depending what line your on and where you're going you have to be very conscious of your surrounding while using it. Most of my friends moved away after school so I remember thinking to myself I can't really just go out to a random place by myself, it's a major city, people just don't sit down next to you and strike up a conversation. And if I tried to approach a stranger and strike up a conversation they'd think I wanted something from them, I was the same way when I lived there. Overall it was a good time, but I was hobbled by a recent surgery so didn't get the full experience. So in the end, it was a great visit but it would take alot ($$$$$) to get me to move back.

But I will say that I ate my heart out when I was there. Man that's good cooking they got going on up there!

[Breucklyn]

Here is my short and sweet response to this post - NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay in MA. The land of beaches and sunshine is not a cheap place to live and not the area that it use to be. UCF's study body is almost 50,000 with parking spaces for around 15,000, large classes and moving in the direction of a lot of web classes with little faculty interaction. There are some basic courses with an auditorium setting and 350 students/course. Sorry but that is not conducive to learning.

[ksarenburg]

I have to put my 2 cents in...lol....As we are from Mass. and moving to Fla. soon, while I cant say anything about Fla. schools, what I can say for Mass. schools are this: Unless you are on a scholarship or have rich parents, the only schools worth it here are obviously Brown (in R.I), Harvard, and Yale (CT)....other than that,for everyone else, it depends on where you live, the "richer" the town, the better the school- usually! Live in a city or poorer town, and you see not good schools. Case in point - We lived in New Bedford, a small fishing city, very poor city, mainly Portuguese ppl (so nice tho!), we had a gorgeus 2 floor, 4br fenced in yard for 850.00 a month (sweet), very low re taxes, garbage men took anything and everything...loved being 3 min. from the beach. I even loved the neighborhood schools although, culture shock for me there were no playgrounds w/ grass and no library in school. Then, we move back to my hometown....kids were 1 year behind in reading but we had lots of grass and libraries in each school =/...free brfst 4 all kids in NB....none in EB, we all MUST have septic tanks due to no town sewage. NB RE taxes were 1700.00 year, EB is now 3700.00, live 2 miles from school.... I guess I could go on....hahaha...but it all depends on where you live here too. Most ppl in EB have mini-mansions now, pretty snotty...my trash bags cost me 25.00 for TEN! and if i need to get rid of a couch or microwave,etc....i have to get a 25.00 sticker. Not to mention state tax went up to 6.5%....sorry to ramble all!....well, at least i will no longer freeze my bum off

[brinkofsunshine]

I think if you really want to go to UCF or another Florida school and your parents have the means to live down there, you should go for it I don't know much about Boston (have only been there twice) or the cost of living, but I don't find the cost of living in Orlando to be that high (or maybe it's just because I live in Manhattan now haha). Plus, Orlando does have things going for it- entertainment, shopping, etc. And for the people who have been saying Orlando food isn't good- I miss the food and restaurants down there and I'm in NYC. I guess to each his own

Anyway, best of luck to you in your college decisions!

[Parrotrosie]

Originally Posted by Breucklyn

Here is my short and sweet response to this post - NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay in MA. The land of beaches and sunshine is not a cheap place to live and not the area that it use to be. UCF's study body is almost 50,000 with parking spaces for around 15,000, large classes and moving in the direction of a lot of web classes with little faculty interaction. There are some basic courses with an auditorium setting and 350 students/course. Sorry but that is not conducive to learning.

I believe (and someone can correct me if they know otherwise but this is what we were told by the Econ. Dev. Commission), that UCF calculates it's Student Body by the TOTAL number of students per semester/quarter ADDED together for the year - so if I were attending, and I attended 3 quarters in one calender year, I would be counted as 3 students in any given year. So if a student only attended one quarter, they could still count that student as part of the Student Body for that year. So, you likely do not have 50,000 students there per day, it is likely closer to 1/3 of that on any given day, so closer to 16,000 which is closer to the number of parking spaces you have given. Consider some students ride in together, some bike, some walk, etc....it sounds about right.

I will give you that a class of 350 is not the best scenario

My husband has seen some excellent young graduates in Engineering come out of UCF.

By the time you enter college you should be mature enough to take your education seriously and not have to be spoon fed. There are some excellent graduates from UCF

[07McCarthy]

I will be moving to Florida during the summer and was wondering if that bright future award thing applies to transfer students coming out of a community college in Florida too? Thanx.

[faheemah]

No that is not a good ideal. If you have a degree or in the medical field,you may survive in florida. Rent is no way near cheap and the way the jobs pay in florida you will not survive.

[Metallisteve]

Originally Posted by 07McCarthy

I will be moving to Florida during the summer and was wondering if that bright future award thing applies to transfer students coming out of a community college in Florida too? Thanx.

I believe Bright Futures is for high school kids only. It's best to look it up on the state's website though. Google it.