Gainesville or (Jax, Orlando, St-Pete)

[DOPharmMD]

Ok! Once you're a Gator, it doesn't matter where you attend. You still proudly wear the long white coat with your name and UF logo sewn on it during your rotations. This thread aims to find some specific reasons why other campuses are favorable to the main campus. I read about the lectures at one's own pace and small class size and opportunity to know classmates better and less stress.These seem to be legitimate reasons. I've also read that in Gainesville, students at some point during the P1 or P2, forgo attending class in favor of online lectures. So if Gainesville students have this prerogative as do the other sudents, why not choose Gainesville? I'll start.

Gainesville
Pros: opportunity to just interact with other healthcare students; chance to show gator pride during games (for me it's basketball); to just go on a tour of this big campus; chance to do rotations at Shands hospital (I like the idea of doing rotations at a big hospital); the sense of being part of a big school.

Cons: mostly homogeneous student population (seems like rare diversity); mostly college town; almost no attractions ( like Orlando: Disney); I read the published stress level of Gainesville pharmacy students (proving what is being written on SDN is true); with such stress level, who would have time to visit the campus?

Jax seems to have a Shands hospital where students rotate (it's huge). Oddly enough, despite being a fan of Gators basketball (perhaps during the champs reign), my first choice is Orlando; 2nd is Jax; 3rd Gainesville; 4th St-Pete.

Congrats to all UF COP 2011 matriculants (including my friend)!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[sublime86]

And for the St Pete campus:

Pros: I haven't visited the other campuses except for Gainesville, but I'm pretty confident that we have the best facility - new building all to ourselves, right next to the library, and parking is NEVER a problem. The actual campus isn't in the most happenin' part of town, but the area still has more variety than Gainesville. There's Busch Gardens & Ybor City in Tampa & the beautiful Gulf beaches nearby (so much prettier than Atlantic beaches). We don't have Shands, but there are several other hospitals such as the Moffitt Cancer Center that are great places to do rotations, not to mention, a Gainesville student is not guaranteed a Shands rotation. I personally really like the layout of this area compared to other places I've been. It's hard to explain, but its not so compact like some cities, but everything you need is still really close by.

Cons: hmmm...lots of old people that probably shouldn't be driving still. It doesn't have the atmosphere that Gainesville has even though it has many more options when it comes to recreation & nightlife. It's only a 2-2.5 hour drive to Gainesville for football and basketball games -- there are several students that make the drive for each home game. Cost of living is higher in this area than Gainesville, but I don't know much about Orlando or Jacksonville. Our beaches are beautiful, but there's no waves in St Pete for surfing.


As far as choosing between distance campuses, it's usually a convenience thing. The campus closest to where you live has a good chance of being a first choice, or if you're partial to a certain area of the state (for me, it was the Gulf of Mexico). As far as deciding between Gainesville or a distance campus, Gainesville has things not all the distance campuses can offer -- like the college atmosphere and the opportunity to watch the lectures live. Although from what I've heard, most Gainesville students don't go to class unless its required.

Good luck to all the incoming students, congrats to the graduating class, & lets all have a moment of silence for the classes in between who are suffering through final exams...