The University of Florida

This is a horrible school that did not contribute to my success in any way. In fact, it impeded it. I went to this school thinking it would be a happy medium between leaving Florida altogether or going to some local university like FAU or UM, neither of which were appropriate choices for me. The financial aid department was unprofessional and skeevy. They made every effort to not be helpful and to not follow up on requests made. The college advisors discouraged students of a certain color from pursuing areas of study that they deemed inappropriate for them or beyond their ability. I know this because I would discuss my situation with other white students, and they did not experience the same treatment. UF has a racist history and a corrupt infrastructure that is focused on catering to the freshman populace and the naive parents who treat college like a summer camp. Deep learning is not encouraged. I majored in philosophy. The department as it stands is crawling with prejudice, elitism and disregard for contrasting points of view. The professors would, again, discourage students of a certain color, usually black, from pursuing philosophy as a career choice, or would give such students poor grades for the same effort as white students. The department was predominantly white and male, with the exception of one Asian male and one white female. The students at that school were ignorant and racist. I would hear racist slurs and comments thrown around on a daily basis, with no consequences given to the students. I developed depression at that time, because of the toxic environment. So, I naturally sought help from the counseling system there. Again, I encountered the same mistreatment. The first thing they wanted to do was numb me with medication instead of helping me with my situation or acknowledging my experiences as valid.

Other grievances:
-Dirty library with loud students who left trash strewn about in study areas. It was also hard to find a seat or space or chair to actually sit down and do work at. It was always packed to capacity because of the inordinate amount of students enrolled and the lack of resources there to accommodate them.

-Poor limited food choices.
-Expensive dormitory areas.
-The almighty football team and the evil Greek system taking precedence over everything else. The Greek system continually pumped out homogenized drones who would ?stick to their own kind?.

-The surrounding area was a dumb and did not have anywhere near "the progessiveness" that the school touted.

I hope that they will be able to shut-down the school and reboot it, with an eye toward improving on the mistakes of their racist history and focusing more on education and the well-being of students instead of "football" and other trivial social rituals that doubt amount to squat in the real world.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

I wish that I had picked a different school. UF has too many students, classes are too large, too many TA's teaching and not nearly enough professors, not enough support from advising staff and majority of the professors DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE STUDENTS OR EVEN TEACHING for that matter! Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else....unless you are pre-med since Shands Hospital is linked to the school or if you get a sports scholarship. School is also in a high crime area!

2nd Year Male -- Class 2016

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Education Quality: F