Four Days in Tampa - wwyd?

[mefordis]

We are planning on doing a college visit which brings us to Tampa in April. We'll be there for 4 days. What would you do for 4 days in Tampa? What hotel would you book? I am looking at Marriott Water Street since it has nice views of the bay and I believe has a central location.

We would like to take day trips to Clearwater or St. Pete and Busch Gardens, but what else should we do?

 

[Schneewittchen37]

My family vacations in the St. Pete Beach/Clearwater/Largo area every April, then we head to WDW for a few days. Mostly we just go to the beach, ride our bikes and eat a lot of seafood and Cuban.

Pinellas County Trails
https://www.pinellascounty.org/trailgd/

My favorite fried grouper sandwich.
J&K Seafood Shack
11055 Seminole Blvd, Largo, FL 33778

Yummy Cuban with wild chickens in the trees.
Pipo’s cafe
9531 Bay Pines Blvd, St. Petersburg, FL 33708

 

[mefordis]

My family vacations in the St. Pete Beach/Clearwater/Largo area every April, then we head to WDW for a few days. Mostly we just go to the beach, ride our bikes and eat a lot of seafood and Cuban.

Pinellas County Trails
https://www.pinellascounty.org/trailgd/

My favorite fried grouper sandwich.
J&K Seafood Shack
11055 Seminole Blvd, Largo, FL 33778

Yummy Cuban with wild chickens in the trees.
Pipo’s cafe
9531 Bay Pines Blvd, St. Petersburg, FL 33708

Thanks so much for the suggestions!!!

 

[JimMIA]

Which colleges are you visiting?

 

[NotUrsula]

If you are visiting USF, be sure to go and see the campus in downtown St. Pete as well. USF has a habit of offering waitlisted students immediate admission at the St. Pete campus instead. (Although there is a danger that many students will prefer it. USFSP is much smaller and does not have the breadth of class offerings for upperclassmen, but is exponentially nicer in terms of atmosphere, and doesn't have Friday classes. No Greek organizations or sports other than sailing at the waterfront campus, though.)

 

[Dan Murphy]

Florida Aquarium Amazing!!!

 

[mefordis]

Which colleges are you visiting?

USF. We are still waiting for a response, but I had to lock in the airfare so if she doesn't get in we'll still visit Tampa.

 

[mefordis]

If you are visiting USF, be sure to go and see the campus in downtown St. Pete as well. USF has a habit of offering waitlisted students immediate admission at the St. Pete campus instead. (Although there is a danger that many students will prefer it. USFSP is much smaller and does not have the breadth of class offerings for upperclassmen, but is exponentially nicer in terms of atmosphere, and doesn't have Friday classes. No Greek organizations or sports other than sailing at the waterfront campus, though.)

Wow that is GREAT information! So, you think if they if she is on the borderline they may offer her admission to St. Pete? That would be great!

 

[JimMIA]

USF. We are still waiting for a response, but I had to lock in the airfare so if she doesn't get in we'll still visit Tampa.

OK. Just in case you don't know, USF is well north of downtown and not very far at all from Busch Gardens.

So a downtown hotel might not be very convenient for USF's main campus or Busch Gardens.

Also, FWIW, DD's BFF (since they were 3) is a sophomore at USF and loves it.

 

[mefordis]

OK. Just in case you don't know, USF is well north of downtown and not very far at all from Busch Gardens.

So a downtown hotel might not be very convenient for USF's main campus or Busch Gardens.

Also, FWIW, DD's BFF (since they were 3) is a sophomore at USF and loves it.

Thank you - good to know! We will most likely just drive and park and walk around. It might be mute since she might not get in. I keep reading it's a very hard school to get into, and with all the northerners flocking to FL that probably decreases her odds even more. Fingers crossed, though!

 

[NotUrsula]

Wow that is GREAT information! So, you think if they if she is on the borderline they may offer her admission to St. Pete? That would be great!

That was how my DS got in, he graduated 2 years ago. He was waitlisted for main campus but they offered immediate admission at St. Pete, with the promise of an automatic transfer slot if he was in good standing by the end of freshman year. He loved St. Pete so much he stayed there for the entire 4 years, and still lives less than a mile from campus. I felt he got a very good education at USF, and even out of state it was a good value for us; only about $1K/yr more than our state flagship.

PS: I should point out that when I said immediate, I meant that literally; he had to enroll in summer semester first, which he did. He had about 3 weeks from HS graduation until he moved into the dorm. I happened to do the same thing when I started college, and he & I both really liked getting our feet wet with only 2 classes and getting used to the routine before the main crowd of freshmen showed up in the fall. If she ends up going to school there, give me a buzz, I can recommend a good storage facility where you can affordably park her stuff during intercessions when the dorms are closed.

 

[mefordis]

That was how my DS got in, he graduated 2 years ago. He was waitlisted for main campus but they offered immediate admission at St. Pete, with the promise of an automatic transfer slot if he was in good standing by the end of freshman year. He loved St. Pete so much he stayed there for the entire 4 years, and still lives less than a mile from campus.

Good for your son! I think that would be a great option and I had no idea so thanks so much for letting me know!

 

[CynBeth]

We are big animal people so when we visited went to the zoo, aquarium, Busch Gardens and also a sunken garden and saw a Rays game. I think we did a few other things but can’t remember it was so long ago.

 

[JimMIA]

If she gets offered summer admission, jump at it! I'm not sure what USF's practice is, but at UCF all summer admission means is that you have to take ONE online course during Summer B. DD took two classes she needed anyway, got A's in both and started off her college career with a little boost.

I often tell UCF-oriented parents that summer admission is UCF's best-kept secret!

 

[Music City Mama]

When we were there a couple of years ago, we stayed at that hotel and liked it a lot. Great pool and here is a view from our room/balcony:




We did a boat tour that we reserved at the marina while we were there. We also toured USF during that trip (along with UCF on the second half of that trip). Since you're there for 4 days, maybe try to catch either a Rays games or I'm sure you can catch a minor league game somewhere within 30 minutes or so.

 

[JimMIA]

Here's some info on USF's statistics for the Fall 2021 class. Keep in mind that the stats shown are "average," so there are a lot of students both above and below those numbers.

https://www.usf.edu/news/2021/usf-w...age high school GPA,average SAT score of 1297.

 

[JimMIA]

Has your DD already applied to USF? If not, you'd better get on it in a hurry.

A LOT of Florida students apply for UF and FSU, and then apply at UCF, FIU, and USF as a backup. If they get accepted, they delay accepting until UF/FSU invitations are issued (around March 1, I think). Then if they don't get UF/FSU they rush to accept one of the others and apply for dorms.

So timing of your application is very important. The spots fill up quickly once UF/FSU announce.

 

[NotUrsula]

FWIW, USF is a little more generous with out-of-state students in terms of admission standards than they are with Florida resident admissions, because they are looking for geographic diversity and (let's face it) because out of state students usually end up paying more in cash.

And because it's insanely cold here tonight, a view from the USFSP campus (the free boat rental program is a favorite perk; in addition to the kayaks and paddleboards, they have sailboats, too.) To be clear: that's not a lake, that's Tampa Bay.

 

[White Cat]

We are planning on doing a college visit which brings us to Tampa in April. We'll be there for 4 days. What would you do for 4 days in Tampa? What hotel would you book? I am looking at Marriott Water Street since it has nice views of the bay and I believe has a central location.

We would like to take day trips to Clearwater or St. Pete and Busch Gardens, but what else should we do?

Tampa is a great city. Nice zoo. I would avoid Clearwater. Overrated. Go to Longboat Key or Lido Key. USF is a good school. Daughter has a degree from there. Choice was down to Florida or USF. She went with USF. I was happy with that choice.

 

[Pyotr]

USF. We are still waiting for a response, but I had to lock in the airfare so if she doesn't get in we'll still visit Tampa.

Awesome. I graduated from USF for both my bachelors and masters degrees. Busch Gardens is about a 5 minute drive from campus. The Florida Aquarium isn’t too far either. If you want a nice dinner I would recommend Bern’s Steakhouse and the Columbia in Ybor City.

South and West of campus is a little rough. Personally, I would rather stay downtown than near campus.