Economic Development

[AmIReal]

Giving $200 million to Magic Leap would be insane considering they do not have product yet. Maybe someday they will be a real company, but for now they are an investment for the Saudi family. 

SAS is an expansion of the 5k plus office they already have located there. Why would they locate them elsewhere?

Please be a little more specific about the "give tourism everything they want" concept. I don't see any significant expenditures specifically directed toward them. Re the TDT, that is like every other MSTU- the money raised has to go toward the source. Look at your own tax bill, if you live on a lake or had street lights added to your neighborhood, etc, you have a MSTU... you paid a special tax for those items to be maintained. Every state does these.

[AmIReal]

Ok, I just scanned the incentive list and I don't see any to Disney, Universal or Sea World although we did give $9.8 mil to Chiquita Tortilla Manf. (wtf)...

[I am Reality]

2 hours ago, AmIReal said:

Giving $200 million to Magic Leap would be insane considering they do not have product yet. Maybe someday they will be a real company, but for now they are an investment for the Saudi family. 

SAS is an expansion of the 5k plus office they already have located there. Why would they locate them elsewhere?

Please be a little more specific about the "give tourism everything they want" concept. I don't see any significant expenditures specifically directed toward them. Re the TDT, that is like every other MSTU- the money raised has to go toward the source. Look at your own tax bill, if you live on a lake or had street lights added to your neighborhood, etc, you have a MSTU... you paid a special tax for those items to be maintained. Every state does these.

You are probably right about Magic Leap.  It's not much now.  But when it's product-launch hits, it's going to hit big. 

I thought about Magic Leap because it would work nicely with Orlando's emerging gaming/digital production industry. 

Given Orlando's current situation, it will have to overpay to bring in companies.  If other cities are offering $10 million in incentives, we have to offer $12 or $15 or even $20 million.  It is essential to bulld critical-mass.  Austin is doing so well because it has reacheed critical-mass.  Companies are moving there just to be near other companies.  It feeds on itself. But we have to get things going first.

i used the SAS jobs in Raleigh as an example of the economic effect of new jobs. The newspaper there said 200 new jobs = $500 million to the state economy.  I am skeptical the number is that high.  But even if the new jobs lead to a $50 million boost to the economy, would it have been worth putting together an incentives package for maybe $25 or $30 million to steal the jobs away?  Granted, it would take a lot, but why not try?  If Orlando fails this time, maybe SAS would remember us next time. Or another company make hear about it and give Orlando a call.

Incentives are worth it...for the right company.  Imagine plopping 1,600 Magic Leap employees downtown.  It would change the city forever.  And get us closer to reaching critical-mass. Then other companies would want to be near it.

Would it be worth trying to steal it from Plantation?  Hell yes. 

 

 

[I am Reality]

3 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

Here's the thing. . . Companies don't want to pay high wages. You can have lots of jobs and low wages, or you can have high paying jobs with high demand skills. 

How about we focus on education and incubation of the skills vs. just saying over and over "we need more high paying jobs" ad nauseam.  If we take our local assets such as UCF, the research parks near UCF and Lake Nona, along with coding and video schools downtown, and expand on that. . . Guess what, you have a high-skill workforce that drives wages up and companies want to locate their headquarters here suddenly because there is a high supply of talented people to grow their bottom line.  More companies move in, wages go up, revenue comes in, city gets better, gravity happens, growth happens, and development happens. 

It's not as simple as lets get a bunch of good companies to come in here and pay people a lot of money.  How about we train our locals first to attract those companies instead of trying to incentivize them to come here carpetbagging and bring in talent from the outside that will just drive up the cost of living and rent for the people who already live here. 

I agree with everything you said.

I just don't know how to achieve what you suggest.  

How do you expand on UCF?  

It is state-run.   I know the CV campus got caught up in state politics.  

It seems like coordination between UCF (and Valencia) & city/regional officials is needed.  Priorities must be agreed upon so that UCF can deliver on the city/regional vision. 

What is the city/regional vision? 

Does UCF have budgetary autonomy to do as it pleases once local priorities are set?

I've been thinking a lot about SpaceX lately.  It recently selected Los Angeles for a design/manufacturing facility for the Falcon Heavy rockets.  Elon Musk didn't even consider Central FL.  He considered places in Texas and Louisiana, but not here.

He eventually decided on CA (with much greater land and labor costs).  On top of that, he now has to ship the rockets through the freaking Panama Canal by barge to the Cape.  Musk couldn't find the technical expertise here to build his rockets.  So he chose a MUCH more costly option.  

Why?  Shouldn't that be one of our greatest strengths?  Given its advantages...UCF should have the BEST aerospace engineering program in the world.  Period.  Now we have new competition in Virginia, Alaska and Colorado for launch sites.  Another missed opportunity. 

Everything is thrown together piecemeal with no underlying vision. 

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by I am Reality

[popsiclebrandon]

No thanks to giant corporate welfare packages. They never work out for the taxpayers.

[aent]

14 hours ago, popsiclebrandon said:

No thanks to giant corporate welfare packages. They never work out for the taxpayers.

This. Orlando has a better tax situation then much of the country, cost of living here is cheaper. We'll be hurting a ton of people if we have to hike taxes to hand out huge corporate welfare packages. And those won't help our current "low paying jobs" get converted into higher ones (well, that is probably just an impossible task).

[bqknight]

On 4/27/2018 at 12:07 AM, I am Reality said:

I agree with everything you said.

I just don't know how to achieve what you suggest.  

How do you expand on UCF?  

It is state-run.   I know the CV campus got caught up in state politics.  

It seems like coordination between UCF (and Valencia) & city/regional officials is needed.  Priorities must be agreed upon so that UCF can deliver on the city/regional vision. 

What is the city/regional vision? 

Does UCF have budgetary autonomy to do as it pleases once local priorities are set?

I've been thinking a lot about SpaceX lately.  It recently selected Los Angeles for a design/manufacturing facility for the Falcon Heavy rockets.  Elon Musk didn't even consider Central FL.  He considered places in Texas and Louisiana, but not here.

He eventually decided on CA (with much greater land and labor costs).  On top of that, he now has to ship the rockets through the freaking Panama Canal by barge to the Cape.  Musk couldn't find the technical expertise here to build his rockets.  So he chose a MUCH more costly option.  

Why?  Shouldn't that be one of our greatest strengths?  Given its advantages...UCF should have the BEST aerospace engineering program in the world.  Period.  Now we have new competition in Virginia, Alaska and Colorado for launch sites.  Another missed opportunity. 

Everything is thrown together piecemeal with no underlying vision. 

 

How do you expand on UCF? 

How about, that’s exactly what they’ve been doing. Hitt was an incredible asset to UCF and hopefully it continues with Whitaker. UCF was nothing. It was a directional, commuter school. 

The amount it’s grown and also improved is amazing. UCF, for what it is, is top notch. It just can’t compete with legacy schools that have endowments UCF could only dream of. Maybe one day but that’s a long, long time away. 

[I am Reality]

I don't know what "for what it is, it is top notch."

Colleges aren't judged on a curve.  

Employers don't care how NEW a college is (and they certainly don't care how BIG it is).  Employers are not going to take a UCF student over a UNC or Emory or Boston College or William & Mary student, just because UCF is newer.  That is ridiculous.  They will take the best students from the best schools.  Employers don't handicap UCF based on its newness and they don't artificially raise the stature of UCF students.

It just doesn't work that way.

U.S. News & World Report ranked UCF #171 out of 311 schools.  That is the bottom half.  #171 is not very compelling to employers or companies looking for top talent to relocate. 

Maybe the U.S. News ranking off-base, but EVERY school thinks it's ranked too low.  I heard it every year at my schools. 

And of course, some programs at UCF are better than others.  But again, EVERY school has its own strengths.  (And I know people are going to respond that "the so-and-so program is ranked # whatever nationally".  It happens at every school.)

As for being a public school....there are literally dozens and dozens of public schools ranked higher than UCF.  

And you can't say that UCF does really well, even without a large endowment.  The problem - it is competing with schools that DO have large endowments.  That is the reality of it.  That is not going to change any time soon.  

In my opinion, UCF made a mistake growing so big.  It should have put those resources towards academic quality.  I could care less how big the school is.  It may be interesting to 15 year-olds, but it counts for nothing.  

When I lived elsewhere, most other people never even heard of UCF.  I heard a little about Blake Bortles, but that is it. 

I honestly don't mean to disparage anyone who went to UCF.  I am just being realistic.  Orlando will not grow the right way without top-notch schools.

[aent]

44 minutes ago, I am Reality said:

I don't know what "for what it is, it is top notch."

Colleges aren't judged on a curve.  

Employers don't care how NEW a college is (and they certainly don't care how BIG it is).  Employers are not going to take a UCF student over a UNC or Emory or Boston College or William & Mary student, just because UCF is newer.  That is ridiculous.  They will take the best students from the best schools.  Employers don't handicap UCF based on its newness and they don't artificially raise the stature of UCF students.

It just doesn't work that way.

U.S. News & World Report ranked UCF #171 out of 311 schools.  That is the bottom half.  #171 is not very compelling to employers or companies looking for top talent to relocate. 

Maybe the U.S. News ranking off-base, but EVERY school thinks it's ranked too low.  I heard it every year at my schools. 

And of course, some programs at UCF are better than others.  But again, EVERY school has its own strengths.  (And I know people are going to respond that "the so-and-so program is ranked # whatever nationally".  It happens at every school.)

As for being a public school....there are literally dozens and dozens of public schools ranked higher than UCF.  

And you can't say that UCF does really well, even without a large endowment.  The problem - it is competing with schools that DO have large endowments.  That is the reality of it.  That is not going to change any time soon.  

In my opinion, UCF made a mistake growing so big.  It should have put those resources towards academic quality.  I could care less how big the school is.  It may be interesting to 15 year-olds, but it counts for nothing.  

When I lived elsewhere, most other people never even heard of UCF.  I heard a little about Blake Bortles, but that is it. 

I honestly don't mean to disparage anyone who went to UCF.  I am just being realistic.  Orlando will not grow the right way without top-notch schools.

To be fair, I think US News only ranks the top 50% of schools under the "national" ranking, and does the rest under "regional". UCF is strongly hurt in the ranking systems by 2 huge factors, that I'm hoping the new president will work hard to correct: really, really bad student-teacher ratio, and really, really low endowment, and that number is low even accounting for the young age of the school (FAU's endowment is nearly double ours, that is embarassing), Hitt just wasn't a good fundraiser. The medical school was supposed to help massively with that, but we haven't seen that quite yet. Hitt did hire a bunch of new faculty the past few years without really increasing the size of the school, so its possible that ratio might improve but the numbers just haven't hit the ranking formulas fast.

[AmIReal]

US News and World Report Best College Rankings is marketed to high school students and their parents as a starting point in school selection. No professional, at least in the technology arena, uses it to measure a school or graduating student value.

US News rankings include 1388 schools (UCF ranked 171) and are based on things like; graduation and retention rate, reputation, class size, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, etc. This is valuable info but doesn’t say much about the quality of the education or outcome.

UCF seems to do pretty well attracting talent. They are 2^nd in the state in enrolled National Merit Scholars (the best of the best) and 25^th in the nation for incoming National Merit Scholars (13^th in public schools).

Corporate recruiters for technology employers almost exclusively recruit from R1 research universities that are defined on the Carnegie classification as having the “highest research activity”. There are 115 schools on the list and UCF is one of them.  They do not rank them.

On the other hand the Milken Institute ranks schools on their technology transfer- turning research into money- and they rank UCF at 22 in the nation https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-milken-institute-ranks-the-best-us-universities-for-technology-transfer-300442457.html . UF came in 3 and USF 19. That is a lot of technology commercialization in a 100-mile triangle. The ability to commercialize IP is very highly regarded in the tech, research and defense world and tends to attract the very brightest people. Some of y’all may know people from other areas that have never heard of UCF, but I can assure you thought leaders, researchers, recruiters, technologist, scientist, etc are very familiar with it.

As far as how big UCF is, let’s just say that was a part of a brilliant plan, but that is a post for a later time…

[I am Reality]

2 hours ago, AmIReal said:

US News and World Report Best College Rankings is marketed to high school students and their parents as a starting point in school selection. No professional, at least in the technology arena, uses it to measure a school or graduating student value.

US News rankings include 1388 schools (UCF ranked 171) and are based on things like; graduation and retention rate, reputation, class size, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, etc. This is valuable info but doesn’t say much about the quality of the education or outcome.

UCF seems to do pretty well attracting talent. They are 2^nd in the state in enrolled National Merit Scholars (the best of the best) and 25^th in the nation for incoming National Merit Scholars (13^th in public schools).

Corporate recruiters for technology employers almost exclusively recruit from R1 research universities that are defined on the Carnegie classification as having the “highest research activity”. There are 115 schools on the list and UCF is one of them.  They do not rank them.

On the other hand the Milken Institute ranks schools on their technology transfer- turning research into money- and they rank UCF at 22 in the nation https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-milken-institute-ranks-the-best-us-universities-for-technology-transfer-300442457.html . UF came in 3 and USF 19. That is a lot of technology commercialization in a 100-mile triangle. The ability to commercialize IP is very highly regarded in the tech, research and defense world and tends to attract the very brightest people. Some of y’all may know people from other areas that have never heard of UCF, but I can assure you thought leaders, researchers, recruiters, technologist, scientist, etc are very familiar with it.

As far as how big UCF is, let’s just say that was a part of a brilliant plan, but that is a post for a later time…

You have unfortunately misread the U.S. News college rankings.   

UCF ranked #171 out of 311 "National Universities".   https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

The other 1,000+ regional colleges and liberal-arts colleges were in totally different categories.  

UCF is ranked in the bottom half of "National Universities".

It did NOT rank in the top 15% of all colleges (as you contend).  

That is a HUGE, HUGE difference.  I really cannot overstate how wrong that is.  

We cannot just start making things up.   I am pretty offended.  I devoted my life (and spent many a sleepless night) to get into a Top 25 university.   It's just wrong.  It's wrong to me and to other students who got into even better colleges.   It's the academic version of UCF claiming a National Championship (which shows a total lack of respect for the actual champions who played higher-level competition).

Your comments demonstrate a shocking level of cluelessness.

 

 

[bqknight]

54 minutes ago, I am Reality said:

You have unfortunately misread the U.S. News college rankings.   

UCF ranked #171 out of 311 "National Universities".   https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

The other 1,000+ regional colleges and liberal-arts colleges were in totally different categories.  

UCF is ranked in the bottom half of "National Universities".

It did NOT rank in the top 15% of all colleges (as you contend).  

That is a HUGE, HUGE difference.  I really cannot overstate how wrong that is.  

We cannot just start making things up.   I am pretty offended.  I devoted my life (and spent many a sleepless night) to get into a Top 25 university.   It's just wrong.  It's wrong to me and to other students who got into even better colleges.   It's the academic version of UCF claiming a National Championship (which shows a total lack of respect for the actual champions who played higher-level competition).

Your comments demonstrate a shocking level of cluelessness.

 

 

In my opinion. You’ve completely discredited yourself with this non-sense. 

Like I said, UCF has a loooong way to go but the strides it has made in such a short period is pretty remarkable. 

P.S. - thanks for throwing in your standard, I’m amazing line with the Top-25 University mention. 

I’ll stand by my UCF degree which I am beyond proud to say I have. 

[aent]

11 minutes ago, I am Reality said:

You have unfortunately misread the U.S. News college rankings.   

UCF ranked #171 out of 311 "National Universities".   https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

The other 1,000+ regional colleges and liberal-arts colleges were in totally different categories.  

UCF is ranked in the bottom half of "National Universities".

It did NOT rank in the top 15% of all colleges (as you contend).  

That is a HUGE, HUGE difference.  I really cannot overstate how wrong that is.  

We cannot just start making things up.   I am pretty offended.  I devoted my life (and spent many a sleepless night) to get into a Top 25 university.   It's just wrong.  It's wrong to me and to other students who got into even better colleges.   It's the academic version of UCF claiming a National Championship (which shows a total lack of respect for the actual champions who played higher-level competition).

Your comments demonstrate a shocking level of cluelessness.

 

 

The way you're doing it is completely asinine. Let me try to explain in a simple way so you can understand:

You say you went to a top 25 university. I'm going to assume you didn't go to a top 5 or 10 university, because you probably would have said that if you did. Lets just say for this example purpose your university was ranked #20. If I look at a ranking system that ranks the "Top 25 universities in the US", according to your logic, I could say "you went to the bottom half of ALL top colleges" because this ranking system only lists the top 25 colleges, as thats the list I'm looking at, and other colleges would be a different category then the top universities in that list. Of course, thats just as asinine as your comment. There is no actual criteria that US News uses to determine that a university is "national" or "regional" other then whether or not it makes the top 300 (well, 311 as their scoring system had many universities tied at that level for the top 300).

As a more local example, they have declared UNF a "regional university" while, according to the state and UNF, its considered a national university, and there intentions are every bit the same as many other "national universities" like, say, FAU and FIU. However, I agree its a lower rate school. US News (rightly IMO) feels its useless and probably inaccurate to give national ranking numbers to schools that would be that low on the list, as the lower you go on the list, the less actual difference there probably is between large ranking differences (the #500 school in the country probably isn't all that different from the #600, its not like comparing the #10 school to the #50 school, where there is likely a huge difference). They decided students who don't go to top 300 schools probably only care about how the schools rank to similiar class schools in their region. US News is still ranking 1388 total schools, and UCF is #171, which means UCF, according to US News, is in the 86th percentile of all universities.

That doesn't mean you are wrong about that not attracting companies. When they're looking for top talent, they don't think 86 percentile is impressive, just as most parents who are strict about their child's education aren't impressed with that for their child, that likely means they're getting a bunch of B's, and definitely not all A's, maybe even the occasional C.

Regardless, US News has certain focuses on its ranking methodology which hurts UCF, which includes looking at alumni giving (endowment), class sizes, and other factors that aren't really academic but heavily hurt UCF in the rankings. UF, a number of years ago, decided it wanted to focus on US News rankings, and was able to massively improve it by simpily decreasing the number of students they admit into the school (thus improving their ratios, without actually improving anything). Maybe its time for UCF to do the same, as people do look at it, but there are pros to being a gigantic school as well. As I mentioned, I do believe UCF's endowment, even given its age and other factors, is really embarrassing, and hope the new president really focuses on that as a top priority. That metric clearly wasn't a priority for Hitt.

And UCF's national championship is real, according to what Alabama has done in the past, and they definitely played the same level of competition this year. If you look at how many top 25 teams UCF played, Alabama played (which lost its conference and has claimed national championships with far less, might I point out), Auburn, Georgia, Clemson, and Oklahoma, they all played the same number of top 25 teams.

[I am Reality]

7 minutes ago, aent said:

The way you're doing it is completely asinine. Let me try to explain in a simple way so you can understand:

You say you went to a top 25 university. I'm going to assume you didn't go to a top 5 or 10 university, because you probably would have said that if you did. Lets just say for this example purpose your university was ranked #20. If I look at a ranking system that ranks the "Top 25 universities in the US", according to your logic, I could say "you went to the bottom half of ALL top colleges" because this ranking system only lists the top 25 colleges, as thats the list I'm looking at, and other colleges would be a different category then the top universities in that list. Of course, thats just as asinine as your comment. There is no actual criteria that US News uses to determine that a university is "national" or "regional" other then whether or not it makes the top 300 (well, 311 as their scoring system had many universities tied at that level for the top 300).

As a more local example, they have declared UNF a "regional university" while, according to the state and UNF, its considered a national university, and there intentions are every bit the same as many other "national universities" like, say, FAU and FIU. However, I agree its a lower rate school. US News (rightly IMO) feels its useless and probably inaccurate to give national ranking numbers to schools that would be that low on the list, as the lower you go on the list, the less actual difference there probably is between large ranking differences (the #500 school in the country probably isn't all that different from the #600, its not like comparing the #10 school to the #50 school, where there is likely a huge difference). They decided students who don't go to top 300 schools probably only care about how the schools rank to similiar class schools in their region. US News is still ranking 1388 total schools, and UCF is #171, which means UCF, according to US News, is in the 86th percentile of all universities.

That doesn't mean you are wrong about that not attracting companies. When they're looking for top talent, they don't think 86 percentile is impressive, just as most parents who are strict about their child's education aren't impressed with that for their child, that likely means they're getting a bunch of B's, and definitely not all A's, maybe even the occasional C.

Regardless, US News has certain focuses on its ranking methodology which hurts UCF, which includes looking at alumni giving (endowment), class sizes, and other factors that aren't really academic but heavily hurt UCF in the rankings. UF, a number of years ago, decided it wanted to focus on US News rankings, and was able to massively improve it by simpily decreasing the number of students they admit into the school (thus improving their ratios, without actually improving anything). Maybe its time for UCF to do the same, as people do look at it, but there are pros to being a gigantic school as well. As I mentioned, I do believe UCF's endowment, even given its age and other factors, is really embarrassing, and hope the new president really focuses on that as a top priority. That metric clearly wasn't a priority for Hitt.

And UCF's national championship is real, according to what Alabama has done in the past, and they definitely played the same level of competition this year. If you look at how many top 25 teams UCF played, Alabama played (which lost its conference and has claimed national championships with far less, might I point out), Auburn, Georgia, Clemson, and Oklahoma, they all played the same number of top 25 teams.

I really don't know where to start discussing your post.

If it gets you off...UCF is a top 15% school.

The world thinks otherwise.

But whatever.

I always forget, Orlando is great and everything here is the best.

 

 

 

 

[AmIReal]

I apologize if I offended you, but I stand by my comment that the US News Rankings are more for high school students to aid in their search and not for corporate recruiters, which is what your previous post alluded to.  I also stand by the rest of my comments. I did not make any distinction between the national or private schools, I merely indicated the total number of schools involved in the survey as I thought the large number gave credence  to their ranking (not that they need it). 

Previously you have focused on tech related industries and I assumed it was still your focus. If so,  let me assure you they do not care where your school ranked in the US News rankings when they are recruiting. 

[aent]

13 minutes ago, I am Reality said:

I always forget, Orlando is great and everything here is the best.

Nobody has claimed that anywhere here. Everyone here is saying UCF has lots of room for improvement and that could improve our recruiting/job situation as well. Just that UCF has also HAD massive improvement in recent history. Orlando's biggest thing it is literally the best at is entertainment/tourism (and arguably conventions), and I know you want to get rid of all that... which is why I'm so confused on why you're here. If you hate the mouse and want it to leave town... Orlando will probably never be a good fit for you.

Edited April 30, 2018 by aent

[I am Reality]

25 minutes ago, AmIReal said:

I apologize if I offended you, but I stand by my comment that the US News Rankings are more for high school students to aid in their search and not for corporate recruiters, which is what your previous post alluded to.  I also stand by the rest of my comments. I did not make any distinction between the national or private schools, I merely indicated the total number of schools involved in the survey as I thought the large number gave credence  to their ranking (not that they need it). 

Previously you have focused on tech related industries and I assumed it was still your focus. If so,  let me assure you they do not care where your school ranked in the US News rankings when they are recruiting. 

I agree there is no direct correlation between the U.S. News rankings and job recruitment.  For better or worse though, the rankings are the generally accepted standard for judging colleges.

If you want to somehow quantity how good a college is, you look first at the rankings. It's obviously not the only thing to look at. 

Every single college in the nation argues they deserve to be higher.  Harvard has been complaining for years that Princeton doesn't deserve to be #1.  So I expected everyone to make lame excuses for UCF.  That was totally predictable. 

Excuses.

I was offended that you willfully misrepresented the rankings to somehow place UCF in the top 15%.

That is not what the ranking said.

At all.

Its a totally crapty thing to do, when so many people like me have worked their asses off to get into great schools. It's beyond crapty. (and I am not using the word "crappy").  

It's soulless and inexcusable.  Just to hype UCF. 

F that.

I can't read the rankings for you.  Nor should I have to. 

You misrepresented them even AFTER I explained it is ranked #171 out of 311.  

That was super-specific information that would have been easily corroborated.

You doubled-down in it though.

i just can't keep arguing every little point.

I can now understand why things are.  And it's sickening.  Everyone is just willfully ignorant.

You make no attempt to be objective.  Even when I spoon-feed you information.

I feel so, so sorry for this city.  No one gets it.  I have lived in so many places that understood their own shortcomings and worked extra hard to fix them. 

People here don't know enough to even care about its problems.

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by I am Reality

[aent]

3 minutes ago, I am Reality said:

I agree there is no direct correlation between the U.S. News rankings and job recruitment.  For better or worse though, the rankings are the generally accepted standard for judging colleges.

If you want to somehow qualify how good a college is, you look first at the rankings. It's obviously not the only thing to look at. 

Every single college in the nation argues they deserve to be higher.  Harvard has been complaining for years that Princeton doesn't deserve to be #1.  So I expected everyone to make lame excuses for UCF.  That was totally predictable. 

Excuses.

I was offended that you willfully misrepresented the rankings to somehow place UCF in the top 15%.

That is not what the ranking said.

At all.

I can't read the rankings for you.  Nor should I have to. 

You misrepresented them even AFTER I explained it is ranked #171 out of 311.  

That was super-specific information that would have been easily corroborated.

You doubled-down in it though.

i just can't keep arguing every little point.

I can now understand why things are.  And it's sickening.  Everyone is just willfully ignorant.

You make no attempt to be objective.  Even when I spoon-feed you information.

I feel so, so sorry for this city.  No one gets it.  I have lived in so many places that understood their own shortcomings and worked extra hard to fix them. 

People here don't know enough to even care about its problems.

 

 

 

So to confirm, you don't believe more than 311 universities exist in the USA? Universities not in the top 300 like UNF just do not exist?

[I am Reality]

7 minutes ago, aent said:

So to confirm, you don't believe more than 311 universities exist in the USA? Universities not in the top 300 like UNF just do not exist?

I can't read the rankings it for you.  Nor should I have to.  

There is a very clear definition of "National University".  

Read it before you embarrass yourself more.

And even if you are right that the difference between national and regional colleges are arbitrary, UCF STILL would not be a top 15% school.  That is a gross (and likely willful) misinterpretation of the rankings.

Edited April 30, 2018 by I am Reality

[AmIReal]

Are you confusing my posts with someone else? I seriously do not understand how you could or would be offended by anything that I posted. Btw, did you have any thought on any of the other rankings I included.

[I am Reality]

14 hours ago, AmIReal said:

Are you confusing my posts with someone else? I seriously do not understand how you could or would be offended by anything that I posted. Btw, did you have any thought on any of the other rankings I included.

You have chosen to lie about objective and verifiable facts about the rankings, even after being told yesterday you are wrong.

You can lie and twist and distort things all you want.

i just don't have time for it.

And you owe an apology to students who devoted their lives to getting into ACTUAL top 15% colleges. 

Have a little decency.

And making crap up to support your "Orlando-is-everything" agenda.  

I am embarrassed for you.

Your opinion counts for nothing when you ignorantly ignore objective facts.

 

[bqknight]

1 hour ago, I am Reality said:

You have chosen to lie about objective and verifiable facts about the rankings, even after being told yesterday you are wrong.

You can lie and twist and distort things all you want.

i just don't have time for it.

And you owe an apology to students who devoted their lives to getting into ACTUAL top 15% colleges. 

Have a little decency.

And making crap up to support your "Orlando-is-everything" agenda.  

I am embarrassed for you.

Your opinion counts for nothing when you ignorantly ignore objective facts.

 

How about, we take pride in the city we call home. I'd venture to say that most of us CHOOSE to live in Orlando, would be kind of weird to think of the place as this second-rate POS that you seem to think it is. 

That being said, I'd also venture to say that we all want Orlando to KEEP improving because the city HAS improved. Your negativity on things is draining - assuming your degree from your Top 25 school has paid off - you most definitely manage people in your business - it must be dreadful to deal with your negativity. You have no foresight into the future. No plan on how to make things better. You just like to demean and belittle. SAD as our President likes to say. 

It honestly sounds like Orlando is not the place for you. Not one good thing about the city has ever come across your keyboard. 

[HankStrong]

He just loves attention Knight.

[I am Reality]

1 hour ago, bqknight said:

How about, we take pride in the city we call home. I'd venture to say that most of us CHOOSE to live in Orlando, would be kind of weird to think of the place as this second-rate POS that you seem to think it is. 

That being said, I'd also venture to say that we all want Orlando to KEEP improving because the city HAS improved. Your negativity on things is draining - assuming your degree from your Top 25 school has paid off - you most definitely manage people in your business - it must be dreadful to deal with your negativity. You have no foresight into the future. No plan on how to make things better. You just like to demean and belittle. SAD as our President likes to say. 

It honestly sounds like Orlando is not the place for you. Not one good thing about the city has ever come across your keyboard. 

How predictable...agree with the guy who tells blatant lies.

Because it fits your small little worldview.

To hell with the actual truth.

But I can out-BS any of you:

  Orlando is the best city in the world.

  Orlando is the most properous city in the world.

   Orlando is the most educated city in the world.

   UCF is not only Top 15%, it is #1.  In the world.  F Princeton.

    Disney and Universal jobs are the best-paying jobs in the world. To hell with FB's average $230k/yr jobs.  Disney workers get free admission!!! 

    Orlando is home to every corporate HQ in the world. 

    Our restaurants are the best in the world. 

    Our nightlife is the best in the world.

     Lake Eola is the most beautiful city park in the world.

     Our airport is the biggest in the world.

    Our convention center is the biggest in the world.

    Downtown the best urban area in the world.

     UCF is the national champion.

    The Magic will win the NBA championship.

I too can lie just like AmIReal.

 

 

[aent]

16 minutes ago, I am Reality said:

How predictable...agree with the guy who tells blatant lies.

[...]

I too can lie just like AmIReal.

Well, I know you said you are a lawyer...