• Year Established: 1853
• Location: Gainesville, Florida
• Number of Campuses: 1 2,000-acre campus
• Classification: Flagship state/public university
• Total Number of Enrollees: 49,693*

*Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2005 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System IPEDS, Spring 2006

A Brief Look into the History of the University of Florida

The University of Florida was "officially” founded in 1853, although its institutional history begins a couple years prior. It was educator Gilbert Kingsbury who established the East Florida Seminary located in Ocala. Another educator and Senator James Henry Roper built the Gainesville Academy in roughly the same year.

In July 6, 1905 Gainesville was selected for a new university campus. The first president of the university was Andrew Sledd, classes started in September 26, 1906 – the institution’s name officially became University of Florida in 1909.

Today, the University of Florida is the state's largest university. It is also the nation's fourth largest university.

How the Educational System Works

The University of Florida today has 16 colleges, as well as over 100 research, service and education centers, bureaus and institutes. Take a look at the following colleges facilities the university is made up of:

• College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
• College of Design, Construction and Planning
• College of Dentistry
• College of Education
• College of Engineering
• College of Fine Arts
• College of Health and Human Performance
• College of Journalism and Communications
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• College of Medicine
• College of Nursing
• College of Pharmacy
• College of Public Health and Health Professions
• College of Veterinary Medicine
• Levin College of Law
• Warrington College of Business Administration

This comprehensive public university has an honors program which is recognized all across the country. As far as their research department is concerned – the University of Florida works on diverse studies in health care, it has the world's largest citrus research center and it helped build the world's largest telescope. Interestingly, and to the gratitude of athletes worldwide, it was the researchers at the University of Florida who developed the famous sports drink Gatorade.

Program Listings

There are 100 undergraduate majors offered at the University of Florida. In the honors program, students have almost 100 honor courses per semester. The Graduate School offers almost 200 graduate programs including doctoral, engineer, master's and specialist degree programs.

Meanwhile, here are some of the undergraduate courses offered at the University of Florida:

• Accounting
• Advertising
• Aerospace Engineering
• Agricultural and Biological Engineering
• Animal Sciences
• Anthropology
• Applied Physiology and Kinesiology
• Architecture
• Biology
• Botany
• Building Construction
• Business Administration
• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Criminology
• Dance
• Decision and Information Sciences
• Digital Arts and Sciences
• East Asian Languages and Literatures
• Economics
• Education
• Electrical Engineering
• Environmental Engineering
• Environmental Management in Agriculture and Natural Resources (IDS)
• Environmental Science
• Family, Youth and Community Sciences
• Graphic Design
• Health Education and Behavior
• Horticultural Science
• Industrial and Systems Engineering
• Music Education
• Natural Resource Conservation
• Nuclear Engineering
• Pharmacy (Preprofessional)
• Political Science
• Recreation, Parks and Tourism
• Sociology
• Soil and Water Science
• Theatre Performance
• Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
• Women's Studies
• Zoology

Visit the university’s official website to get a complete list of the courses offered that you can enroll in.

Advantages of Enrolling at the University of Florida

One important advantage in enrolling at the University of Florida is that most classes are limited to no more than 25 students. This means that more focus is given to each individual student than at universities with larger class sizes.

When you check on Student's Review, the overall grade of the University of Florida is B – with 66% of the students saying they would choose to return to this university.

Meanwhile, the University of Florida ranked number 58 in the Best Graduate Schools list of US News & World Report. For the Princeton Review, under the 2009 Best 368 Colleges Ranking, the University of Florida was ranked the number one party school and 4 th for the best athletic facilities.

Is There Any Downside to Enrolling at the University of Florida?

Probably the only disadvantage of going to the University of Florida is the poor housing facilities – although if you do look hard enough, you will find something that is suitable for college life. Just make sure that you have inspected everything carefully before signing a lease, and you're good to go.

A Final Word about the Quality of Education Offered by the University of Florida

The University of Florida is a massive state university – with almost 31,000 undergraduate students and 14,000 graduate students. You can take your pick from over 100 majors in its 20 colleges.

Admission to the university is surprisingly competitive – if you want to have that lost in the crowd feeling amidst a solid academic environment – then the University of Florida is definitely for you.