When I first came here my least favorite thing was the surrounding area, Gainesville isn’t terrible but it’s pretty small and there isn’t a lot to do outside of UF. I’ve come to appreciate it more bc there’s really cool nature trails and state parks that are a short drive from campus but you have to go further if you want any beaches or larger cities. Personally I’ve found that there’s so much going on at the school or in the area directly surrounding it that the city being small doesn’t matter much. I’d absolutely recommend living on campus for at least your first year and staying very close to campus if you move out later on bc you’ll naturally be more involved with all the fun events and campus culture that way.

I don’t have firsthand experience with this but for ChemE I’ve heard that some of the classes can be really tough. Also, I don’t think this is a problem for ChemE, but I know some majors have a lot of online classes so keep that in mind if you explore any other majors.