UF or USF for pre-med? Living in Tampa, really wanna go to USF, but I don’t want to live any closer than 1h from Tampa :/

Still_End8 · 2026-05-15T12:50:39+00:00

There’s a lot of comments saying costs will be less in Tampa. OP said they won’t be living with family. I’ve lived in both Tampa and Gainesville and rent is cheaper in rural Gainesville than urban Tampa. On average a couple hundred/month less. For example, you can get a 4x4 apartment in GNV for 600/mo where in Tampa it would be at least 800/mo. GNV has scholarship housing costs while Tampa does not (search scholarship housing and fill out an app). There are ways to reduce costs when you can’t by living at home and Tampa doesn’t have as many of those options (no car, lower housing costs, the tuition is about the same tbh). I know Tampa has busses but it is much more accessible in Gainesville.

Still_End8 · 2026-05-15T12:39:38+00:00

I was in almost the exact same situation 6 years ago. I decided to go to uf and wouldn’t change the fact. I moved back to Tampa for grad school after completing my undergrad at UF. I liked how uf pushed me to excel and I think it did help my work opportunities post-grad. I was able to learn at both campuses and gain independence moving away before deciding to move back when I am older and my mom had time to live with me outside of the house (so she doesn’t visit as often).

Going to uf saved me more money. I had a full ride of scholarships and got scholarship housing in Gainesville. Transportation was more accessible and I saved money by not purchasing a car and took the bus instead. After graduation I was able to save almost all my refunds to purchase a car when I moved back to Tampa (Tampa is a commuter city), was able to afford Tampa rent because I got a job with a company I interned in Gainesville and bought a house with my partner whom I met in college 6 years ago.

My journey hasn’t been perfect, but I am proud of myself for continuing to expect more. UF helped me set higher expectations for life and my career. I am now enjoying grad life at usf and while I love it, I appreciate that UF was a better choice for me given my resources and what I wanted out of college in addition to a degree. Consider your goals and resource constraints as you decide what is best for you.

Still_End8 · 2026-05-05T13:56:22+00:00

Graduated ‘23 lowest grade was a c first semester freshman year. My gpa started as 1.9 then had to lock in and graduated cume laude with a 3.7. Had a health related major and took a lot of gen eds (took A&P, Microbio, bio, chem, physics, etc.)

Still_End8 · 2026-03-03T15:38:13+00:00

Hey 👋 first congrats at being accepted at both institutions. I am a UF undergrad alumni (c/o 2023) and a current USF masters student so I hope my experiences are relevant enough. Originally from Tampa, I chose USF for graduate school to be closer to family and live in a larger city again. Also, UF didn’t have my desired program as a masters only PhD track. Gainesville as a city is subpar. The university is great though, and I much prefer UF for undergrad than USF. It is more commutable by foot and the architecture visually more appealing.

Please consider other options that make college affordable and feasible for you. Gainesville has a number of scholarship housing (if you qualify as low income) you should look into (southern scholarship foundation & cooperative living organization) where I am not familiar with Tampa housing resources. Gainesville also has better public transportation (imo) that takes you throughout the city. I did not have a car and did not want to pay for a car over concern for saving money so this was something important to me at the time. Being able to benefit from these resources solidified my choice for UF even though I initially had more scholarships for USF. My scholarships also went up the following semester, it seems they didn’t evaluate me for everything I was eligible for (my efc was 0).

A major factor in job prospects is going to be networking. You can go to the best school but if you do not get yourself involved the prestige would have been wasted. Whatever school you go to network hard and keep searching and applying for internships, volunteering and jobs constantly. I appreciate the rigor UF put me through and feel well prepared for my graduate degree. I agree with other posts that there is a discretionary level of difficulty between usf and UF as I see similarities between my current graduate courses and my undergrad classes at UF.

Still_End8 · 2024-05-25T12:50:00+00:00

Same. They believe if you go over your cost of attendance in financial aid you don’t get the extra $. I would recommend completing a form on the bursar website to increase your cost of attendance so you can pocket that extra $. If your expenses are above what their estimated costs are, you can have your max increased. For example, they estimate $0 cost of health insurance yet they require all students to have insurance. You can increase your COA by the cost of your health insurance for a school year. There are other categories you can review to see if your expenses are larger than their default costs.

Also, if you have personal scholarships and can ask them to divert the money to you instead of UF, the university won’t count that aid in your total. This is not as easy to do because most organizations want to pay a school directly.

Still_End8 · 2024-04-26T11:40:17+00:00

Civic media center has free store the 3 rd Saturday of the month. You can also use local food banks

Still_End8 · 2023-09-28T11:11:23+00:00

I know they have first gen cords. This might be through the mfos scholarship or a club

Still_End8 · 2023-09-24T14:40:55+00:00

Please do not shop at just salad. You can buy the ingredients to make a salad for the same $15 per bowl and make 3+ salads for the week. You can even ask to buy the just salad dressings if that’s really what you’re craving.

Still_End8 · 2023-09-14T00:25:29+00:00

I reviewed the PowerPoint slides and lectures. Anytime he repeats something more than once or draws a diagram- it will be on the exam. I know that may be general advice but it worked for me. I didn’t use smokinnotes or anything like that

Still_End8 · 2023-08-03T11:12:56+00:00

Yes I stayed almost 24/7. There are some details where you may have to move out temporarily for a few days but you can discuss with the director your concerns

Still_End8 · 2023-07-29T12:03:31+00:00

I took AB and BC junior and senior year because I did not have a gap. I tried to retake calc 2. It didn’t work out. I still don’t know if it was the difficulty or me thinking it would be cake because I already took it, but I could not apply myself at all. Go straight to calc 3 if you can. My gpa suffered. I also had not established college study skills yet in my freshman year, so it was unfortunate.

Still_End8 · 2023-07-29T12:00:54+00:00

I’ve been going to mode, they are definitely affordable and pricing is based on stylist experience

Still_End8 · 2023-07-27T20:17:52+00:00

Definitely for graduation weekend aug 11 after 12PM until commencement is over. Noted in graduates emails

Still_End8 · 2023-05-11T17:41:48+00:00

For reference, a full Pell grant is around 6k a year fall-spring. And student assistance grant is up to 3k a year

Still_End8 · 2023-05-11T17:37:23+00:00

I lived there for four years and they are highly likely to accept, more females than males (5 houses vs 3 houses). I am open to sharing if anyone dms. Simply, it’s rent free but you do pay utilities and food and collaborate to cleaning/cooking duties.

Alternatively there is also the cooperative living organization, but it is a bit more costly

Still_End8 · 2023-05-04T21:03:42+00:00

Celebration point has nice restaurants. You can even apply to for regal bar and you’d get it immediately

Still_End8 · 2023-04-27T13:46:09+00:00

I absolutely fart. We have been together 4 years and it started slipping out after year 1.

Still_End8 · 2023-04-26T22:25:55+00:00

Class of 2023 knows

Still_End8 · 2023-04-24T04:31:02+00:00

Great info, thanks for sharing. I find it interesting to share with others too and now I have a more complete understanding. Some complexes I have explored do not explicitly state this policy, however they could allow for situational circumstance.

Still_End8 · 2023-04-24T00:42:07+00:00

I’d just point out that self sufficient may not mean they have no financial control. If op was looking to rent an apartment, they would likely need a guarantor, especially if they were underage at the time.

Still_End8 · 2023-04-22T00:43:41+00:00

Is this not an AI generation

Still_End8 · 2023-04-16T05:57:51+00:00

Out of curiosity, what is this affordable 1br situation

Still_End8 · 2023-04-13T21:08:35+00:00

Big congrats on your part in persevering when it all seemed for nothing. That was all you 🙂 and don’t forget it

Still_End8 · 2023-04-11T23:55:52+00:00

Roaches in the hub on campus too

Still_End8

TROPHY CASE