Florida State University

For every competent, sympathetic university admin person you can find, you have to deal with at least 10 hostile idiots. Just pray that you never have a problem with registration or finances.

The professors are usually pretty good, and I actually didn't have many classes taught by TAs or any 300+ student lecture classes. My only complaint is that within each department, there seems to be a gaping expertise hole. The university won't have anyone who specializes in a certain important aspect of that field.

Tallahassee is all right. It's a pretty town and there is a decent variety of nightlife and entertainment.

My biggest gripe about FSU is the other students (sorry, guys). 85% of the student body is just there to get a degree and try not to get alcohol poisoning along the way. They are anti-intellectual and look at you like you're a freak if you show any academic ambition beyond the assigned classwork. They just want to graduate, find a job, have a kid, and die. That's fine, I guess, but they're rather uninspired. The other 15% is there to learn and get into all of the "life of the mind" stuff that universities promise. That's cool, but since would-be scholars tend to have a MAJOR complex about going to a school like FSU, they're usually boors and tools. If I had $1.00 for every FSU nerd who thought he/she was the smartest person at FSU, my financial situation would be well under control.