University of South Florida

It felt like the USF campus was huge! It was certainly much bigger than the schools I had recently toured. They have 50,000 students across their three campuses, are ranked #46 among public universities according to the recent U.S. New and World Report, and are ranked in the top 50 Best Value Colleges by the Princeton Review. USF is home to many international students, and they value study abroad opportunities. They are also a tier one research institution, so there are many opportunities to do research starting even from freshman year. The big classes can have up to 300 students per class, and the student to teacher ratio is 33:1. Teaching assistants meet with smaller groups of about 33 students to offer extra assistance.

It’s interesting how the admissions representative phrased the following, “Per the Florida Board of Governors, students need to submit SAT or ACT scores as part of their application.” Through my tours, I have learned that “test optional” is a decision made by the state government. The fall 2022 middle 50% of students had a GPA of 4.0-4.5 recalculated and only using core subjects, SAT of 1240-1390, and ACT of 27-31. Note the difference in scores if you want to start in the summer: GPA of 3.6-4.1, SAT of 1100-1190, and ACT of 22-25. (Even if you’re not interested in USF, definitely compare those numbers for other institutions; there is typically a large discrepancy.) It was also interesting to learn that when a student is admitted, she wants to submit her housing paperwork quickly if she wants to attend the Tampa campus. Once the Tampa campus fills, students will be sent to either the St. Pete or Sarasota campus.

The University of South Florida offers intramural, club, and division 1 sports. Their football stadium is where the Buccaneers play, Raymond James Stadium. There is a free bus that takes students to and from games. They also have “bull runner” buses that have six routes taking students around campus and around town. Students can track the bus on a website to know when it will be coming. Go, Bulls!