A Graduating Senior's Review of Florida State University

By Alexis Frankel on December 10, 2016

physics.fsu.edu

In a week, I end my three and a half year journey as an undergraduate at Florida State University (FSU). These are my most prominent closing thoughts upon ending my time at the university. They are both good and bad, but have contributed to my overwhelmingly positive experience as a Seminole. I am so proud to graduate as a Seminole and would not have it any other way. If I could go back and change time, I would stay in my freshman year to relive my time in Tallahassee.

1. Get ready for HORRIBLE parking!

If you are an FSU student, you definitely know the struggle of parking. Although dorms continue to be built, to my knowledge, no parking lots have been created to accommodate the students’ cars who will live in these dorms/already live on campus/live off campus. It takes me about ten minutes with traffic to get to campus, but an additional half an hour to figure out parking. It seems as though it is not just students who have this problem.

I missed class one day because I literally could not find parking. Upon telling one of my teachers this issue, she replied that she had a similar issue when trying to park at the college she works under. FSU, can you please use our tuition to suit our needs? Or come up with policies to alleviate the issue? Stop making it so we have to stalk/heckle students around the parking lots.

2. But also get ready for the best international programs!

FSU excels at international programs like no other. I was able to attend Erasmus University in the Netherlands for an entire semester at the same cost as regular tuition. FSU exchange programs like these that are cost-efficient, but also study abroad programs where students do not have to worry about the precursors to moving to a different country (like finding a place to live). Our university has a multitude of agreements with universities around the globe that facilitates greater cultural understanding, but also a new approach to education. Keep up the good work, FSU!

3.  There is a general lack of help from administration when you really need it.

Another #FSUstruggle, is trying to get help from the administration, and I am not talking about the teachers. A common theme to figuring out almost any issue the university throws at me is a series of hour long attempts to get a hold of an administrator that can help me followed by hours of running around to different spots on campus. A reference to a department that can help me solve my problem is often rerouted to the same department I began with. For example, trying to get my credits I received on exchange resulted in being told multiple times to call another department. Eventually, one savvy lady from the registrar was able to pinpoint the issue with an advisor who had originally told me to contact the registrar.

pixabay.com

4. It is definitely one of the most gorgeous campuses of all time.

Firstly, I would like to apologize to the gardeners of FSU before I continue. Secondly, at FSU I always have flowers in my hair. I also have pressed flowers on my dresser from a variety of flowers I have collected on campus throughout my years here. I have never visited a campus that consistently has different flowers every season, nor one that looks like it is straight up out of Harry Potter. FSU is by far the most beautiful university I have seen in my time on this Earth.

5. The best library exists at FSU: Goldstein Library.

While all the libraries on campus are pretty fabulous, I cannot say enough good things about the College of Communication and Information’s (CCI) library: the Goldstein library. I feel like it is overshadowed by Strozier, which is right down the road, but is ultimately way better for studying. While it does not have as many resources, it has photo and video editing software on their computers, big comfy couches to study on (or to stress nap on from studying), pleasant staff, private rooms you can book and most importantly, free coffee on Fridays. Often there will be free food there as well as fun activities. One time I planned to go to the library to study and stumbled into International Game Day where I took a break to play my favorite childhood video game, Dance Dance Revolution. Have I convinced you to make the switch?

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