I wouldn't say USF is a good school. Especially it's undergraduate, but it's medical school isn't stellar by any means either.
It definitely has some difficulties getting in for two reasons: 1) They have a 7 year honors program with the undergraduate school, so a few seats are reserved for them. 2) They have a medical master's program which they use as a route to acceptance.
Also, I would be cautious about going to any public school in Florida. The budget was cut last year by the Florida Government and the schools are suffering, and due to the last vote in the primaries, the budget for schools are going to get cut further. All of USF is on a hiring freeze, so no new faculty can be negotiated, and certainly giving out raises is going to be tough, so expect the good faculty to go where they're paid what they deserve.
Finally, in the spirit of full disclosure, this is who I am:
37 MCAT,
3.9 GPA
B.S. in Microbiology from USF
M.S. in Chemistry from USF
They lost my application the first time through in 2006 and told me about it missing a week before the due date for the secondary. This time I applied early and a month later, after trying a dozen times to call/email them finally went there to talk in person and my application hadn't been processed because I "didn't have a recommendation from a science faculty" when in reality I had four. They didn't want to accept them because they didn't teach me in a formal class. So they don't take the word from their own professors whom I worked every day since 2004. They would rather have a professor who didn't realize I was one student out of the three hundred they have. On the other hand they felt bad when I told them they made a mistake because one of my letters of recommendation was from a professor who taught me Genetic Engineering.
Anyway, best of luck, Tampa is a very cool city in my opinion. I just don't like USF anymore.
Peace, and if you disagree with me, don't attack me because I attacked your school...just spout off on the great things about USF...
