A great opportunity, if you fit in
Written: May 12 '05 (Updated May 12 '05)
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Pros: Prestige for less dough, writing-intensive, small classes, makes you think about your future
Cons: cliquey, rumors everywhere, lazy professors, druggies/drunkards everywhere, hard to get some opportunities
The Bottom Line: Make sure that you visit this school for awhile before you get your heart set on going here. Just because you fit in here academically doesn't mean you will socially.
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| lilacattak's Full Review: New College of the University of South Florida |
I went to New College of Florida for three years before transferring to another school for non-academic reasons. Rather than sticking to an essay format, how about I just list Pros and Cons? OK? Good.
Pros:
Thesis Requirement:
Even though I never had to write my thesis (I'm finishing it at my new college, though), just thinking about what my thesis would eventually be on made me think really long and hard about what I want to do in graduate school and, ultimately, what to do with my life.
Writing-Intensive:
If you're like me and hate SCANTRON and the like, and enjoy writing, this is a great place in that respect. Writing papers is a day-to-day thing, even in some Natural Sciences classes. Twenty-page papers aren't too uncommon. Your writing, over time, will truly improve, as will your efficiency and speed in writing these papers.
Fewer Dumb Intro Courses:
Don't want to take dumb introductory math or English courses? You don't have to. Those sort of General Education requirements aren't as heavily required as at most schools, although there have been some new requirements added in recent years.
Cheap!:
If you're reading this review, I probably don't have to tell you that the price for this school, especially if you're in-state and get Bright Futures, is absolutely unbeatable. Even out-of-staters should find the tuition to be relatively cheap.
No Grades:
New College, with its lack of grades, finally got me out of the 'must-have-an-A-or-I'll-die' mindset that just about killed me emotionally in high school. I've learned that I'm only competing with myself, not others, and that really, GPA isn't the most important thing in the end. I'm in school to figure out what to do with my life, not to impress everyone with my sparkly 4.0 GPA.
Cons:
Lazy, Lazy Profs:
Yes, I agree that professors here, especially a certain someone in Humanities who didn't write my evaluation for an Independent Study Project over a year after me emailing him incessantly to do so, are very lazy. He's the epitome of it, but there are others.
Aryanville:
Are you a minority? I hope you don't feel uneasy when you're alone, because you will be.
Cliquey? Yep!:
As the girl I shadowed with on my first trip to New College told me, half the students who matriculate into New College drop out, and it's usually for social, not for academic reasons (oh man, that sounds like me). If you want to fit in, with exception, you better fit into at least two or three of the following six categories:
1-be really into some sort of social or (liberally-slanted) political cause, and make it known
2-do lots of drugs, or drink a lot
3-be blatantly homosexual
4-be absolutely sexy and gorgeous, and flaunt it by streaking now and then
5-be a master of the pseudo-intellectual/philosophical jargon that's so prevalent (and, in my opinion, nauseating) at this college
6-be vegan or vegetarian
Are you a fan of George W? Happen to be Catholic? Do gay people make you feel uncomfortable? Do you spend your weekends reading or studying? If so, you might want to hang out around New College for a bit before being so sure that you'll fit in here, because people are *very* cliquey, and if they don't like you, they'll very politely isolate you.
Rumormill Central:
Rumors spread like crazy at a campus of only 650 students. It felt like every week, someone else was getting talked about behind others' backs, and, often times, even administration knew about the rumors. Believe me, I've been the butt of one of these, and it's horrible. When you're at a school this small, everyone knows who's whom.
AP/IB Policy:
Have AP and IB Credit? Too bad, so sad. New College does not reward credit for either of these.
Opportunities:
Want a TA position eventually, or do research with a professor? You better speak up a lot in class. Professors seem to get their initial feelings about a student and run with them. If they don't like you, too bad, no chance to excel and get a TAship, or get your independent study accepted. They just don't care enough. I never had a chance to do any of these things at New, because somehow the faculty just didn't seem to care about me, and, besides, they seemed to already have their pet students (the students who, coincidentally, seemed to be the chattiest in class) already picked out. At my new school, where I'm pretty much at the top of the class, I have whatever position I want on a silver platter- TA, research assistant, prestigious on-campus job, all mine, no problem. I actually think I'll have a better chance of getting into graduate school from here than from New College.
Hope this helps someone. Feel free to email me if you want more info- I'm an Internetaholic and feel that I truly can be objective here for you.
Recommended:
No
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lilacattak
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