Question for other members here who attended big, public universities: Did any of y’all actually hang out on campus after freshman year? When I was at UCF, the only thing I went to campus for was class. My roommates and I even moved further west to get away from “campus life”. We would much rather hang out in the city than any of the college bars in or around campus. One of the reasons I chose UCF was because it wasn’t a “college town”.
I’m catching up to this thread, so I know I’m late on this, but figured I’d answer because I think I have a unique perspective.
I went to UM for undergrad (private), law school in NYC (private), and grad school at UF (public). So I’ve had college experiences in sort of (?) every type of campus environment. I loved all three, and all three had pros and cons, but that’s kind of what make them great. I’m also the kind of person that is a little bit of a chameleon, meaning that I can easily adapt to different situations and circumstances easily. I realize many others are not like this. I also somewhat attribute having these three different types of experiences as helping me figure out what I needed in my life, as far as where I wanted to live (and not live) permanently, raise my family, etc.
My husband and I really like Gainesville. We also really like Athens. We haven’t yet met an SEC town that we don’t like. We also like cities. (FTR, we live about 30 miles north of Atlanta.) Gainesville is a really fun place to go to school, and because it’s so isolated, you feel very connected to the Gator community. Everything there revolves around the university, and it feels good and uplifting as a student. It’s designed to help you succeed. So even if you step off campus, sometimes it’s almost like you’re still on an extended part of campus. And they do a very good job there with creating that connection and then keeping that connection after you leave. (And not just with donors, but maybe that’s a function of the privates v. public school thing. Just something I have noted over the years…)
Although I was a grad student, we did hang out on campus sometimes, because UF has a lot of pretty great stuff on campus. There are tons of recreational activities, in addition to the gym, and so we always had things like basketball, volleyball, kickball, etc. games scheduled against other departments. There were always good events, such as speakers, concerts, etc., several museums. Cool spots just to chill over by the lake to see the animals (all the classrooms are on the NE side, and then the lake and bathouse are on SW side near the Rec Center and museums, so it’s all pretty separated.) Tons of sports to watch, of course. There was pretty much always something going on. Usually couldn’t do everything you wanted to do and get your own work done. Plus of course, bars and normal stuff.
Some people like the college town aspect, because some people are smaller town people, and that’s okay. Some people are smaller city people, some people are NYC/LA/Chicago people. Some people think UF is way too big (it can be), and want an even smaller experience. Sone people want a northeastern liberal arts school. Some people want to stay home and commute to school. Some people don’t even want to go to school. It’s all okay. Being young is for exploring and figuring out who you are.
