[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by sweat209

The state of Texas is cheaper to live than Florida housing prices and such.The south part of Florida is not all cheap now and getting costly with so many people moving there.The central and north part of Florida is cheaper than south part of Florida.

The schools are better in the north part of Florida.

That's inaccurate as the schools are fairly well-balanced across the state in terms of access to high-performing schools, and actually twelve of the Top 20 high schools in the state are in South Florida....

Search Florida High Schools | US News

[Restrain]

Honestly, housing prices in the big cities in Texas are much higher than FL.

[dm1002]

Originally Posted by RMD3819

I went to grad school at USF and liked it.

Hey guys (and specifically you sir). Was wondering if you could help me out and give a little advice. I have been admitted into the MBA program at USF Tampa. Many other users on this thread have cautioned against the job market in Tampa. I have also read that it is a place mostly for retired folks. I am a bit worried about accepting this offer now. If I was to graduate with a high GPA in the MBA program @ USF, would it be very difficult to find a decent job in the Financial Sector after graduation in Tampa? Florida in general? How is the school recognized in terms of local firms with recruitment and job offers? and in terms of moving on to find a job elsewhere (in case florida is a bad option for job offers after grad school)? I hope to find a decent paying job locally after I graduate the MBA program ideally. I am 24 years old and highly ambitious. If it is truly as bad as I seem to read, the return on investment to Grad School would be terrible for me and I will consider other schools - although I truly seem to love Tampa and its people. Thank you ahead of time for your consideration and time. I hope to one day be a part of your great city.

[herryjohn]

Start out somewhere else, then retire in Florida. Or better yet, stay in a state with better pay and less expenses, save up and come to Florida for vacation.If you must live in Florida go inland. Stay away from refugee infested areas or you'll never have a decent career.

***MOD CUT***

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by dm1002

Hey guys (and specifically you sir). Was wondering if you could help me out and give a little advice. I have been admitted into the MBA program at USF Tampa. Many other users on this thread have cautioned against the job market in Tampa. I have also read that it is a place mostly for retired folks. I am a bit worried about accepting this offer now. If I was to graduate with a high GPA in the MBA program @ USF, would it be very difficult to find a decent job in the Financial Sector after graduation in Tampa? Florida in general? How is the school recognized in terms of local firms with recruitment and job offers? and in terms of moving on to find a job elsewhere (in case florida is a bad option for job offers after grad school)? I hope to find a decent paying job locally after I graduate the MBA program ideally. I am 24 years old and highly ambitious. If it is truly as bad as I seem to read, the return on investment to Grad School would be terrible for me and I will consider other schools - although I truly seem to love Tampa and its people. Thank you ahead of time for your consideration and time. I hope to one day be a part of your great city.

I left Tampa in 1986, two years after grad school because I could not find a job.

That was long ago and I don't know what the job market is like there now.

Keep in mind Florida is about retirees and tourism and the economy and political machine revolve around that.

I would ask in the Tampa forum.

[76Patriots]

Living anywhere is more about what you make of it more than anything. There is opportunity everywhere if you are sufficiently malleable. I marvel at this and other forums about 'is Florida (or place X) a nice place to live'. I grew up in New England, lived for some years in the Silicon Valley area, and have traveled for business (and occasionally for pleasure) to every state in the Union save one (sorry North Dakota -- just hasn't happened yet). I have nearly a million domestic miles flown and have better than a 1000 hotel nights over the last 10 years (largely Marriott and Hilton). Hear what I say, I speak from a well traveled point of view and one that isn't trying to sell one area over the other. Every place has its good and bad, you! make it a place to live for yourself more than anything. What's your goals and what do you want? You start out by looking at widely and easily available data (i.e. find out which way the wind blows). Simply put, as examples, if you are an expert in selling snow plows, you don't go setup business in Florida. More generally, if you want to raise a family, you don't pick out an area with poor performing schools. If you love being near the ocean, you don't move to Omaha Nebraska. Go out and see the unbiased data: Weather, jobs, cost ratio, politics, schools. Also read the online newspapers for the local area to see what themes are repeated, search for what type of restaurants are found most often, look to see what the areas break down of business is (unless you are a state the size of a dot on the map, don't bother looking at the statewide numbers, they'll tell you little about a county/area), HS/college educated levels, crime rate, hell go to google maps and use street view to do a virtual drive around. There is SO much information available, much of the guess work need not go unanswered. Lastly, do not give too much credence to blogs/forums. They are great places to read and get kernels of specific information, however, you get far too many who are writing with an axe to grind, illogically/emotional based or even 'turfers shilling an area. Too many of these folks make stated opinions worthless. Then after doing the research of the above categories (and more) -- which will take comparatively little time to do considering the gravity of the decision to be made -- take a vacation to your chosen area for a week, more if possible. If needed stay at a hotel out past the 'burbs to help lower costs. Then drive around, all over, speak to people in line at the grocery store or wherever, hit commonly frequented areas, observe/listen. While nothing is guaranteed in life, this should help take a lot of the uncertainty out of the question 'should I move to X, is it a nice place, is it for me?' One item to expand on with opinion: weather. A lot of silly posting in some other threads (ones asking the same question as this thread -- is Florida a good place to live?). What 'weather' boils down to in Florida and the southeast in general is: how many days do you get that may be comfortable during the hot time of the year? The answer is not very many with the further south you go resulting in lesser and lesser chance at those few days. The argument is largely akin to fighting over a few morsels of table scraps. Weather during the hot time of the year is not going to be comfortable a majority of the time in that large general geographic area (save for a few mountain micro climates that may provide additional 'comfort' opportunities). Yet if you are strikingly concerned about the need for comfortable weather during these hottest months, if it is something you really need, you should forget about a huge swath of area of the country. You'll want to move to Silicon Valley or certain northern parts of the SF bay area, large chunks of the general shoreline area of L.A. up to the Santa Barbara area, much of the ocean nearing areas of San Diego, Honolulu. As someone who, as mentioned, is well traveled, "comfortable" is not the norm for much of the country most strikingly especially the southeast (southern Florida especially). So it falls back to making of it what you want. Tampa area of Florida has been hot and quite humid every time I have been there in the summer months. But if you own a pool or have access to a pool, and have a beach you like staked out, and you own an air conditioner, you keep your favorite cold drink in abundance, you frequent the best time of the day and wear the right clothing etc, carve out what is good indoor and outdoor activities at the optimal time of the day and time of year dojg what works nest for you -- in other words make it what you want it to be. If you want it to be irritating to miserable it can be irritating to miserable. If you want to make it tolerable to pleasant, it can be tolderable-pleasant. You will ultimately make it what it is -- and that's no bull.

[Kimmyz]

To the College student not the person trying to start over. I couldn't imagine what they are saying no about. My son lived in off campus student housing right near UCF and loved it. The weather is hot and humid but if you rather the cold that's up to you. The Colleges are great. Yes Florida has good and bad in the school system.