The University of South Florida is a massive academic institution located in Tampa Bay. USF is most commonly known for being one of the largest (over 40,000 students at the main campus alone) and youngest public research institutions in the state. USF tends to label themselves as a really diverse university, but there are some things that all students have in common. Let's take a moment to appreciate why we all love the University of South Florida.
1. Judy Genshaft is an idol.
What other university obsesses over their president as much as USF does? If Judy is seen wandering around, you stop and take a picture with her. We love you, Judy!
2. You have probably climbed the bulls by MSC.
Looking for something spontaneous to do? Look no further than right in front of the MSC. Three huge bronze bulls are just waiting to be climbed on. Climbing during the summer makes you a borderline thrill-seeker.
3. You've been late to class to watch the loud preachers outside of Cooper.
You're walking to class when you see a group of students standing in a crowd. As you get closer you begin to hear the offensive and extremely radical views coming from, none other than, a very open preacher. You want to keep walking by but you notice a young student attempting to rebuttal so you stay and watch. Next thing you know, you're late to class.
4. Tailgates are more fun than the football games.
There is nothing that sums up college football more than a great tailgate. At USF, these great tailgates take place on private lots neighboring Raymond James. Be sure to dress up in green and gold and make your way over to RayJ for the home games. Your Saturdays just got a lot more interesting.
5. The power WILL go out during finals week. And it WILL be from a squirrel.
Only at USF will this happen.
6. You loathe the traffic on 42nd Street.
Your five minute commute to class just got a lot longer.
7. You know who Greg Bowers is.
You might not be too sure of what he does, but you've seen his posts on the class groups on FB.
8. You know what it's like to change your Canvas password every 90 days.
Is this really necessary?
9. You can never seem to find a parking spot.
Every university has a parking problem, but at USF it just seems to be worse than most. You can easily circle a parking lot for 20 minutes and still not find a spot.
10. A sense of school pride when USF ranks higher than Ivy Leagues.
Recently, USF ranked higher than the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, and Harvard for number of patents received by a university. USF ranked 10th in the nation where the others ranked 14th, 19th, and 24th respectively. As the great Elle Woods would say, "What, like it's hard?"
And that's it, 10 great reasons to love USF. As always, Go Bulls.
