Login Register

New College of Florida
- Inside Scoop

RT
Currently attending or alumni?
Review this school!
Are you interested
in this school?
Yes, let this school know
Maybe, bookmark for later
No, get better matches
Saving your decision
Yes
Maybe
No

We will attempt to notify this
school of your interest.

This school has been saved to your schools list.

This school has been removed from your recommended schools list.

For your next recommendation, check out .

Jump to a section:

Report Card
Quick Stats
Student Reviews
Facts
Take A SurveyWrite A ReviewUpload A PhotoLink Up A VideoWrite The Guide
New College of Florida - Inside Scoop - Inside Scoop - College ProwlerCollege Prowler0.00

Inside Scoop

Quick Stats

School Slang
  • ________-Year : Used to denote your grade instead of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. Incoming students are first-years, sophomores are second-years. You get the idea.
  • Area of Concentration (AOC): Your major
  • The Asolo: FSU theater building adjacent to campus
  • Bayshore: The road that runs directly in front of the library
  • Black Box (BBT): The Black Box Theatre is often the venue for theatrical productions and electronic music appreciation events.
  • Cap: A limitation on the number of people in a class
  • The Catalyst : The student newspaper
  • Contract : A form that lists classes and goals for the semester that is reviewed by a contract sponsor, who is a faculty member
  • Cop Shop: The campus police station
  • Crease: Any area between two buildings, but generally used to name the area between Dort and Goldstein
  • The C-store: The convenience store inside Ham Center
  • Disorientation: A huge party held the Saturday before classes begin
  • Dortstein: A nickname for Dort and Goldstein residence halls on West Campus
  • Fishbowl: A room in Ham Center with plate glass windows or a Pei room with a picture window
  • Freegans: Students, sometimes vegans, that will eat leftover food to minimize waste.
  • Ham: Short for "Hamilton Center." This is where the dining hall, television, and student mailboxes are located.
  • Ham Money/Bucks: The currency of the student meal plan. First-years that reside in Pei often have the largest meal plans and end up selling their "Ham Bucks" off to older students at a 2-to-1 ratio.
  • The Hub: A room in the Ham Center devoted to making sure that you make the most out of your New College career
  • Independent Study Project (ISP): A month-long project equivalent to a semester’s worth of work in one class that is usually completed in January
  • New College Time: Slang for “it will start at least 10 minutes late”
  • Palm Court Party (PCP): A huge themed "wall" occurring three times a year: Halloween, Valentine’s, and graduation
  • Student Allocations Committee (SAC): A group of elected students who deal with money allocations for non-academic events
  • Sudakoff : The conference center on East Campus
  • Thesising: Slang for “writing a thesis”
  • Thourt Lounge: Slang for "Third Court Lounge," a popular hangout for first-years
  • Towne Meetings: An open forum to update students on what is going on on campus
  • V, W, X, Y, Z: The "letter" dorms are often referred to by the letter assigned to them prior to having been financially sponsored by a donor.
  • Wall: A weekend party occurring Friday and Saturday nights in Palm Court or Ham Center if the weather’s nasty
  • Z-Green: The lawn of grass between Ham Center and Z-Dorm. When the weather is nice, many students study, read, and socialize on the green.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School
  • Independent Study Projects (ISPs) truly stress independence. To some extent, they are graded liberally and often not taken seriously by faculty or by students. They serve as a way for students to relieve stress between semesters and explore topics interesting to them. While they can be used as opportunities for serious scholarship, some use them to explore topics of study that they wouldn’t usually have the time to explore.
  • Life without a car in the suburban sprawl of Sarasota can prove to be irritating.
  • Some classes are offered only every other year, and it can be difficult to complete requirements if one changes his or her major late in the game.
  • The 10-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio does not mean that you are immune to getting "capped" out of classes. Some courses are just popular, and there is no solution to the problem.
  • When the admissions literature emphasized the fact that New College is for the self-motivated, they weren’t kidding. This applies to most aspects of student life. Nobody will hold your hand, and your study habits must be up to par.
Tips to Succeed
  • Acquire a reading habit. Reading loads are immense at New College. If you’re not used to it, you can fall behind.
  • Attend different events, open yourself up to trying new activities, and don't be afraid to make new friends.
  • Completing your undergraduate degree in four years is a challenge that requires careful planning and tireless work. It is not unheard of (nor uncommon) for students to spend five to six years at New College.
  • Go to professors’ office hours. Office hours are underutilized and can be a great way to establish rapport with the faculty.
  • Know what you are getting into. Many applicants apply because they hear that New College is a good, inexpensive school, but they don’t grasp the concept of a liberal arts college and what that entails. Understand that New College has an intentionally unique academic program, and that the senior thesis is a reality that must be prepared for.
  • Seek out help when you need it; it is always there. Also, be sure to seek out the help of the Counseling & Wellness Center if you ever feel too overwhelmed.
  • Sometimes taking a break from the "bubble" is exactly what students need, whether you choose to take a job off campus or just take a drive to a local beach or farmers' market. It is important to expose yourself to people and places unrelated to the comfortable (yet somewhat cloistered) social system.
  • Visit the campus. It will make salient some of the differences between NCF and more traditional colleges.
  • Your first year is all about finding out what you are interested in—take the courses that spark your interest. The next three years will be your time to specialize and focus on what you really want to pursue.
See how you stack up against students who were accepted to this school . . .And calculate your chances!Register to get started

New College Student ReviewsWhat's This?

Sort by:

Loading...

Inside Scoop at New College of Florida

ebennett

Anthropology and Archaeology '12

5.0
A+

Bam Bam Bam

Some unique things: we have the Bike Shoppe, which is a student-run volunteer-based workshop where you can learn how to fix your bike. We also have the Four Winds, a student-run vegetarian/vegan cafe. I talked about the contract system in the previous question, but basically it's a system where we have no GPA or letter grades, but instead a "narrative evaluation," in which our professor writes about our performance in class. These are particularly essential to graduate school admissions and they are the reason for why nearly everyone who goes to New College also goes on to grad school. The social life here is also pretty unique. I would say that most people don't leave campus; we have outdoor parties called "walls" every Friday and Saturday, and the campus police here are awesome and super chill - their main concern is to keep us safe from "townies," but they don't interfere with our fun basically ever unless there's a noise complaint. Another unique academic aspect is ISP, or Independent Study Project, which is for the month of January. We either design our own ISP or we can choose from a list of group ISPs, and basically for a month we take only one class. It's a really chill period and a nice way to return to school after the winter break - it eases you into school instead of pushing you right in.

Dec 04, 2010

Comment actions: Rate
Report as inappropriate/inaccurate

Inside Scoop at New College of Florida

shiryatsya

Chemistry '10

5.0
A+

Amazing

Undergraduate research. We do it and a lot of it. There are some profs who will talk to you for however long you are willing to talk.

Walls are awesome (and great at community building).

Apr 01, 2010

Comment actions: Rate
Report as inappropriate/inaccurate
Page 1 of 1
User rating for New College of Florida - Inside Scoop is 4.6 out of 5 based on 2 user reviews.

Facts

Traditions
  • Gatsby Party: This event takes place outside the old Caples Mansion by the bay sometime in the spring. Students throw a classy soiree, during which many dress up in flapper fashions. This is the closest thing to a formal event.
  • Naked Potluck: Basically just what it sounds like. Students strip down and host potlucks in the dorms.
  • Not-New Year's Eve Party: Students who live on campus are not allowed to stay in their dorms over winter break and, therefore, end up spending New Year's Eve at their respective homes without their New College peers. This tradition was established to assuage the sadness of that missed celebration. It usually takes place the first week of January ISP, and many look forward to it more fervently than they do the real New Year's Eve.
  • Thesis Burning: After students complete their theses, they burn them.
Urban Legends
  • Every year, students complain that the incoming first-years are “more conservative and are changing New College.” However, it has been generally accepted that this is always an exaggeration, as people have been saying this since NCF’s inception. It is known as the “back-in-the-day myth,” and someone wrote a senior thesis about it, which includes an amazing film. You can watch it in the thesis library.
  • There are rumors of a ghost in old Caples, which is a building that is on the bay but disconnected from campus. Some faculty have their offices there. As legend has it, there once was a mentally ill girl who had been kept in an upstairs room and eventually starved to death. People say that they can hear a piano playing there at night—even some police officers make this claim.

Become a Contributing Author Learn more »

Most Recent Student Author View all

Name
Taylor Welsh
Hometown
West Palm Beach, Fl
Major
English Literature/Socioloy
Grad Year
2014

College Prowler is seeking talented student authors to assist with writing and updating the College Prowler guides to their schools. This is a great opportunity for a student to gain experience and tremendous exposure, utilize new media techniques, and share advice with high school students about what life is really like at your college.

Download a FREE Printable Summary (PDF)

Find a college

Find a major

Scholarships

Reviews

Search College Prowler

Company

How do we get our information? Find out here or report an error here. The statistics on our site are from the National Center for Education Statistics IPEDS database.
We update this information twice annually, most recently in May 2012, but it may not be the most recent information available for a particular school.
For additional information we encourage you to visit school websites or contact the schools directly.