STUDENT COMMENTS
Considering Florida's comparatively low instate tution and the amount of students on Florida's Bright Futures program, Warrington is an amazing value. Also, I am student in the Fisher School of Accounting and have found their program to be especially rigorous. More than the other majors, Fisher relies greatly on group assignments and cases to facilitate learning. I think this difference shows in the quality of its students.
I love the business program at the University of Florida. The program is just the right mix of the practical and the academic. Pursuing my education in the Warrington College of Business has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.
The only problem I have had in the business school regards one class, Financial Accounting. Our professor (who was a graduate student, not a professor) was Japanese and nearly impossible to understand. Simple statements and basic instructions were turned into questions accidently because she didn't speak English well. Also, the professor wrote the exams and the graduate assistant taught the class, so the exams were 100% different than what we were taught in class. I understand the importance of diversity and giving international students the first chance at teaching jobs, but when it harms the students taking the class it is completely unacceptable. Other than that, the University of Florida is an amazing school and I wouldn't change my time here for anything.
Classroom sizes are very large. Therefore, most of the courses are offered with online lectures. This is great because you are free to work at your own pace but there is a need of learning facilitation, which lacks in some classes. This is also a weakness if you are less apt to be self-motivated and are incapable of teaching yourself the material.
I think the business school really needs to focus more on technology than it does currently. When asked to do a case study on Intel for marketing, most of the people in the class didn't know what a CPU was. In today's industries, at least a basic knowledge of computing/how a computer works is necessary.
The professors, staff, and deans care put little emphasis on students education. They care little that students actually learn material, but encourage them to memorize information. The advising is terrible and grad student advisers are discouraging and nonsupportive. They do not want students to learn. They make it clear that they just want people out of their program so they can improve the school standings.
The University of Florida is amazing. There is no where else I can think of that can so effectively balance a commitment to student education and social development, and at the same time offer more traditional college things such as great athletic teams. UF is extremely effective at balancing education with the college experience. I feel as if I go to the best college in the U.S. because I value this kind of balance in my life. I can't think of another school where I could learn as much and develop this much as a person at the same time.
Most classes were offered via Internet. This prohibited me from staying focused weekly and hindered my relationships with classmates and professors.
The Fisher School of Accounting at the University of Florida is not given enough recognition. The caliber of students are unbelievable within the accounting program, and majority of rankings don't account for that. The accounting program is usually lumped with the Warrington School of Business, which brings down the ranking of the accounting students.
The career services office is staffed with undergrads and recent UF graduates who lack the experience to give credible advice. The career services office lacks a compensation specialist. Even though I have mixed feelings about the expertise in the career services office they still manage to put on the best career fair in the entire state. No other school in Florida or the South attracts recruiters from the finance community like UF.
My bachelor's degree is a joke. When I graduate in May, I will have a piece of paper that says I now hold said degree. However, I see this as nothing more than a piece of paper. I feel woefully unprepared for the real world. My only saving grace is that I have over a year of full-time work experience, and that I have some vague idea of how I am supposed to conduct myself in a professional setting. But I have my parents to thank for that, not the University.
The UF business college is a joke. Don't get me wrong, there are indeed a handful of amazing professors and advisers. However, the sum total of the Warrington College of Business doesn't add up to anything substantial. It has countless flaws, one of which is it is too big, which, coupled with mismanagement and a University president on the wrong track, is a recipe for a bachelor's degree that will look good in a frame mounted on a wall. That's the best case scenario.
The Warrington College is very large and easy to get lost in, but for students who are willing to put in the effort, it is extremely rewarding. I believe that the college offers more to its students than any other college on campus, but many students do not use these resources.
Too many online courses. One of the reasons I listed the professor I did as my favorite is that it was finally a small class...it took until my senior year! That being said, the majority of the professors that taught the online classes were very good.
I believe that in many ways the Business school has its hands tied by the overall University Administration, which in trying to put forth its own goals, occasionally forces the college to take actions that it might not otherwise take, such as increasing class sizes or switching to having a lot of the core classes being taught electronically.
It's tough to teach classes with 2,200 kids in them. UF prides itself on hiring the best faculty, and the business school is a prime example of that. However, conveying complicated economics and finance through an online lecture is woefully inadequate. Compunded with the terrible lecturing skills of some professors who have spent their whole life earning advanced degrees and you have a recipe for disaster or at least apathy as demonstrated by yours truly.
In truth, the problem lies with UF's administration, who would rather spend 800,000 dollars on a stupid commercial that makes us look pathetic than hire one more faculty member so we can actually go to a class and ask teachers questions. You can earn a business degree here and not go to class for three years. It's ridiculous. Also, they make you pick your major when you walk in the door, and you set yourself back a year if you dare change it.
I have learned a lot while I was here but the business school is more concerned with research than teaching its students. Three extra finance classes required to graduate with a finance degree is not enough.
The Warrington college of Business has too many online courses. These online courses hinder the learning experience because they cause a lack of face-to-face communication between students and instructors. Overall, the program is decent.
The only thing I'm dissappointed about with my experience at the University of Floirda is the small number of finance class offered for undergraduates. They have the 3 core classes for finance majors, but they lack on finance electives. I feel that there should more finance classes offered so I can further my knowledge with classes that interest me and pertain to my degree.
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