University of San Francisco? (neighborhood, to buy, schools)

[okiallday098]

Okay, so I'm currently in a dilemma. I'm being pressured to choose between two schools, one of which is University of San Francisco, for my Army ROTC scholarship. Thing is, I'm not exactly leaning towards USF or the other (which is in Minnesota). Can anyone tell me anything about USF, especially their ROTC program? Also, I'm going to be a Pre-Med student, so any info about the quality of their Pre-Med program would be appreciated! How good are their Bio courses, what's the rate of student acceptance into med school, stuff like that. Thanks.

[tangodoodles]

Originally Posted by okiallday098

Okay, so I'm currently in a dilemma. I'm being pressured to choose between two schools, one of which is University of San Francisco, for my Army ROTC scholarship. Thing is, I'm not exactly leaning towards USF or the other (which is in Minnesota). Can anyone tell me anything about USF, especially their ROTC program? Also, I'm going to be a Pre-Med student, so any info about the quality of their Pre-Med program would be appreciated! How good are their Bio courses, what's the rate of student acceptance into med school, stuff like that. Thanks.

I don't know much about the ROTC program, except when I went on a campus tour it had its own building. I believe they have a quality pre-med program. Their nursing program is the second best in California so I'm assuming that the science classes they offer are very strong. Not a lot of schools keep track of acceptance into medical school but I believe they have a pre-med advisory program at the school. My tour guide actually started as pre-med and she said it was a great program but she figured out that she was actually very interested in psychology so switched over as a senior. One thing about the school is, you never have to struggle to get classes. A majority of students are able to finish school in four years as well as go to a foreign country for a semester. They have a great career service center and I'm sure that you would be able to get an internship at a hospital in the area. Is there anything else you'd like to know, specifically?

[okiallday098]

Originally Posted by tangodoodles

Is there anything else you'd like to know, specifically?

Oh man, I don't even know where to start! You see, this will be the first time on my own,which would be manageable enough by itself, but I'm flying in from Japan so I'm not sure what to expect.

So the first question, probably the most important to me, is...

How's the food?
I was raised on Japanese/Okinawan food, so I'm hoping the food offered at USF is culturally diverse.

[sonarrat]

No idea about what the college itself would serve, but it's the Panhandle.. you definitely won't starve!

[okiallday098]

Haha I'm sure I won't. My best friend is from San Francisco, and he tells me there's so many different kinds of food there, it's like heaven on earth. Some insight on the food specifically at USF would be cool, though.

How about campus security? What kind of neighborhood is the university located in?

[sonarrat]

It's in a very nice area. People trip all over each other and sell their grandmothers to live in the North Panhandle near USF.

[tangodoodles]

Originally Posted by okiallday098

Haha I'm sure I won't. My best friend is from San Francisco, and he tells me there's so many different kinds of food there, it's like heaven on earth. Some insight on the food specifically at USF would be cool, though.

How about campus security? What kind of neighborhood is the university located in?

The food services are really great. The Market (the main dining hall) has a lot of different cuisines. There are some things that are offered all the time like sandwiches, salads, pizza, drinks, candy, chips, etc. Then at certain times they have things like a burrito making bar and every night for dinner they have a "global selection." Basically, the global selection is they choose a certain international cuisine like Indian and serve dinners based on that cuisine. Then there is a Jamba Juice on campus as well as a couple of cafes that serve coffee and sandwiches. If you live on campus (you have to live on campus if you're a freshman and sophomore or younger than 21), you have to have a meal plan which costs $1,750 for a semester. It works like a debit card, you have a declining balance and if you have any money left over you can roll it over to the next semester. Basically, you don't have to use actual money to buy anything from the Market, Jamba Juice, or the cafes on campus.

Also, I thought I should mention something that everyone really enjoys. It's called dead hour. And basically they do not schedule any classes from like 12:00 to 1:00 and everyone can just take that time to chill out on the grass. Sometimes there's a band and everyone including the faculty just chills.

There are a lot of restaurants surrounding the campus. A favorite sushi place is called Sushi Boom and a lot of USF students go there. But included with your Student ID is a Muni pass, which means you can ride the bus for free if you show your Student ID when you get on the bus. The transportation is amazing and you can go anywhere you want in SF and try all of the great restaurants.

USF itself is not located in a bad neighborhood. You do need to drive through the ghetto to get to campus but the campus itself is sort of in a nice little quiet area. It's very green and from the upper part of campus you can see the Golden Gate Bridge and you're only a couple of blocks from Golden Gate Park. Now, you wouldn't want to walk around by yourself at 2:00 in the morning but the campus is relatively safe. If you need an escort from like the library late at night when it's dark someone from security will come and walk you to your dorm. I'd say most people feel very safe on the campus. The Haight-Ashbury area is just south of the school, that's where all the hippies lived during the 60's. Housing is also very safe. You need your Student ID card to get in the building so people who aren't students, faculty, or staff can't get in. I can go more in depth about the housing facilities themselves as well as on-campus dining and good restaurants in the surrounding area if you want, just let me know.

[agapelin]

my daughter is interested in pre-med program as well but she got admission into business major, is it easy to switch major at USF?

[Jonotastic]

They have a great pre-med program, it's challenging though!

There are a lot of threads about USF (University of San Francisco)...I've commented on many of them, search them to see my posts.

Bottom line...I'd recommend USF jsut be prepared for the student body to be mostly very wealthy spoiled kids. If you don't mind that, it's a good school and you can learn a lot because the class sizes are so small.

It's a great city and the location, while being a 20+ min bus ride to downtown, is still in a good area. I found some great restaurants and bars not far from campus, many walking distance.

[ALX8725]

I just graduated from there 8 months ago, feel free to PM me with any specific questions you may have

otherwise, there was a USF thread not too long ago that has plenty of info in it.. it'll probably be the most recent thread if you 'search' it