While we were in Florida between Christmas and New Years, we decided to drive through some campuses on our way home just to start getting a feel for what Camille likes and dislikes about where a campus is and how it is laid out. Perhaps that sounds a little superficial, but as one of her strong desires is for an urban campus, it is an important factor for her.
As we had already looked at Florida colleges in our first pass, we could see that there were three campuses that would be convenient on our route home.
First “stop”, New College of Florida. The school is a member of Colleges that Change Lives (CTCL) and is also ON THE WATER. From all of the photos, the campus looks lovely. And it *is* lovely. And it is close to the airport too. But Camille was not impressed. She felt that the campus was nestled into a row of strip malls. Not her thing.
Heading north, our second “stop” was Eckerd College, another CTCL school on the water. Again, the campus felt too “suburban” for Camille. (But ON THE WATER!)
Our final “drive-through” tour was of the University of Tampa, a lovely, private school. Not a CTCL school, but on the river right smack-dab in the middle of Tampa. She loved the location and the campus, too. While it might not be the perfect school for Camille, it will stay on the list and visiting gave us a great idea of what she is looking for in a campus.
Of course, choosing a school is more than just choosing the type of campus that you would like to be on. But it is certainly one variable that we will take into account as we move forward with the search!
[Back to college search: the overview.]
