Florida State University

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Geography and Geosciences (This Major's Salary over time)
I liked graduate school because it teaches you to learn and think differently. The approach to learning is more round table than lecture. I felt equal to my professors for the first time, but my department was over ambitious and I could not agree with my thesis adviser on anything. I wanted to get things done quick and the department worked much slower than that. In my opinion, they had too many grad students in the dept. TA and RA spots were competitive and given to favorites. There was lots of gossip and lots of worthless work being done. There were no funding opportunities. I did not like Tallahassee either. Its good for partying, but for anything else its just a north Florida hick town. My house got broken into 3 times. Other students say that happens regularly. I was miserable in the town, so I did well in my work. The administration is strange, its like the system is set up to not work well at all, but the people within the system can be helpful. Also, too much emphasis on football and trying to be the best by constantly expanding (like the new medical school). The school is trying to compete at some high level and it is just not sustainable. A lot of smaller programs and students are falling through the cracks.