Florida Gulf Coast University in
Fort Myers (FL)

We went to a donors function for WGCU, PBS/NPR. Had a tour of the station by staff and reporters followed by a lunch during which we shown what the station has accomplished thanks to sustaining donations. It was quite the experience.

Moved in freshmen son this weekend and have been there for two other events this year. This university is always so well organized and student centered with so many helpful staff and students and a sense of community. Hoping freshmen year will prove our intuition is right. Update: our son has attended one semester and is living in the dorm, loving it there as it’s easy to meet people. Events, plus a resort style pool, a beautiful gym, wonderful game room in the dorms, flag football and opportunities to have fun plus great staff and professors that set a positive tone, has all made a difference. Our student is thriving and enjoying college at FGCU.

I had a delicious experience here! I graduated but I dont have a job right now. Overall would recommend especially if you like nature!

The campus is very nice, it is close proximity to everything a student can want or need. Plenty of options and you do not a car to get around I wish i could go back to school!!!

I love the music program here ❤️ the Professors are amazing and all the students are excited about learning. The smaller school environment allows you more opportunities ❤️. I just wanted to leave a positive review because when I was looking into the music program I couldn't find too many reviews.

WOW! I went there for the first time today and it was very clean, safe, organized, beautiful view with palm trees. I loved the Eagle next on the very top! So original and in tune! ? All buildings are huge, friendly environment. Up to date technology! I mean, I was psyched! I am thrilled to be part of the student body! Very proud to be a new Eagle! Great opportunities. Everyone has a chance at success.

FGCU has a beautiful nature-filled campus with a strong focus on sustainability. The Dunk City Eagles add a fun spirited vibe. Excellent facilities for most sports. Tennis, Sand volleyball, basketball,football,aquatics, etc Known for its small class sizes and hands on learning, it provides a supportive environment.

Modern, well-equipped, seems to live in harmony and balanced with natural environment. Food was a bit over-sold by our orientation guides, I'll be a FGCU parent in fall 2025, so moving my son into the residence hall in August. Excellent recreational athletics facility!

It is an amazing experience. The campus is beautiful and full of nature! Everything was great!

Alright, let’s talk about Florida Gulf Coast University – the young, scrappy upstart of higher education that’s already soaring high enough to make Zeus himself consider a transfer. This place is like a modern-day Athens, minus the togas and the amphoras, but full of thinkers, coders, and visionaries shaping the future. Clubs? They’ve got ‘em. Whether you’re philosophizing over a cup of ethically sourced coffee or building the next AI revolution, there’s a place for you. The Philosophy department? World-class. The Software Engineering program? So sharp, it could probably hack Jarvis (or make their own). Opportunity here is as plentiful as sunshine in the Sunshine State – you just have to be bold enough to reach out and grab it. I never had a problem finding someone to guide me, push me, or answer my questions. Whether it’s a professor, mentor, or fellow Eagle, you’ll always have a wingman. So, if you’re looking for a place that builds minds, fosters innovation, and backs you up like a flock of eagles when you need it, FGCU is the nest to protect. Soar high, stay sharp, and remember – eagles fly together. ???

Gorgeous campus. However unless your a freshman living in sovi there are pretty much no offered benefits. The school puts more budget into incoming freshman than all the rest of your years combined. The teachers in physics and science dept. are impossibly hard. Can’t get a lot of the classes to graduate in 4 years. Most people here aren’t super friendly and it’s hard to make long term friends unless in a sorority/frat. The staff are mostly lazy and rude. Most everything that has hours opens 30mins late and closes an hour before closing time. There are so many pools and a lake but you can’t use any of these if there is any sort of inclimate weather or between 12-5pm. West lake is the best for living aka least dumb rules.

Beautiful campus tucked in the middle of Ft. Meyers Florida! Up and coming D1 school! Dorms are new, modern, secure, and convenient! Wish my daughter started her academic life here but glad she had the high g.p.a to be accepted and get housing as a transfer student! She thriving at FGCU!

Of the three universities I attended during my undergrad (FSU, FGCU, and UGA) (2012–2017), FGCU (2013–2014) was my favorite. Maybe part of that is just that I'm from Naples, and FGCU felt like home; but it was down-to-Earth, people weren't partying to insane amounts like at FSU, campus was actually safe (unlike FSU), the ambience was pleasant, and the size of the university was perfect — you could easily walk anywhere you needed to go (unlike FGCU and UGA). I honestly kinda wish I had finished school here. I definitely wish I had started school here, instead of at FSU. I have nothing but fond memories of my time at FGCU and I hope the school is doing well.

Absolutely gorgeous testing facility. Bathrooms were well kept. Very friendly staff. Pretty close to 75. Easy to find. Lots of parking. Some of the parking was grass. Be mindful if raining. They have no coffee at the testing center. They had a Pepsi vending machine, but it was empty. Handicap accessible. New building. Small lockers for testing site. Will not fit a knapsack or large purse. 3 staff members there and three testers waiting. Took 30 minutes to check in. Do the math. They said arrive 15 minutes early. I would recommend arriving 30 minutes early. The email stated I just needed to bring my photo ID. Was not the case. I needed a username and password also. Fortunately, I had it in my car. I passed my licensing exam; however, if you get stressed easy, you may want to consider the aforementioned criteria before testing here.

Currently attending as a graduate student. I would never recommend this university to anyone. They don't care about you as a student, only your money. They don't care if you waste money on unneeded classes, they don't car about anything. The "advisors" will just repeat what you already figured out on your own through the website and then tell you it's not their job and to go check with another department. I'm on my third semester with them and it's just getting worse and worse. Now they only have ONE class I need next semester so my options are to take and pay for two classes I don't need to keep my funding or drop out altogether. No one cares. I hate this university.

A TRUE AND CONCISE REVIEW!!! To start off, I am a local to southwest Florida and have lived here my whole life. While looking into colleges, the most adorable option was to stay at home. I graduated from FGCU in 2021 with my Bachelors of Science in Child and Youth Studies and am currently attending for my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction. During my bachelors I had a few run ins with my advisor, the main issue was that she was not communicating with me what courses I needed as extra curricular, then had me enrolled into my program while I was missing some of those extracurricular courses. Fast forward to my final semester before graduation, she calls me to let me know that she had made a mistake and enrolled me for a course that would not count as an extracurricular “oh and I see here you will not only be missing those 3 credits for that course you didn’t need, but you are missing 6 more”. In the end, after going over all of my courses and signing up for graduation etc. I was encouraged to take 5 courses my final semester at FGCU. This caused a great amount of stress, I ended up paying more than I needed to for my final semester since I was advised to take a course I never needed in the first place, and to appeal my tuition for that course was a nightmare so I never got my money back. Aside from that experience I reregistered for my masters since the graduate advisors are different than undergrad and I did love many of my professors at FGCU during my bachelors. The campus is also very clean and many people in certain offices are just as friendly as the people in other offices who are NOT. Through my masters I have noticed that more now, after Covid, than ever. Many staff in some offices are very condescending and try to shake off your needs as they are too important to help you. Whenever I ask questions I am belitted and treated like a child, as if it were not their job to be helpful. I also had a professor with the audacity to tell me that her life is so much more stressful than mine that she does not have time to answer “simpleminded questions”. Everyone has hard times! Life is not easy for anybody! I was absolutely disgusted reading that email, an adult responding that way to another adult is absolutely insane. If you don’t want to teach or help students build their skill set/ hone their craft, then DONT BE A PROFESSOR!! I have met 3 professors in the college of education with those attitudes. Aside from those bad seeds, there are still so many other supportive and friendly people in the college of education. One of my professors has nominated for awards while others have supported me in my journey and helped me find jobs. As mentioned, the campus is clean, there are many student resources and those staff are very friendly and willing to help. There is also a lot of nature and views around the campus if you enjoy going for a run/walk. My only advice to anyone looking into this university, be ready to stay on top of your own courses and what is needed, if you have questions don’t hesitate to ask your advisor but be sure to keep track of all your own needs. Do not count on certain professors to have empathy or a drive to help you learn, some have absolutely none. DO be responsible for your own learning, make friends in your classes to help you, and enjoy your time in college because it’s only once!

I hear many good things about FGCU as a place of advance study. I can tell you that they have easy access to their location. It is close to I-75 and shopping/restaurant options. They have different housing options, and the campus is large, clean, and well maintained. June 2023

By far one of my favorite colleges around Florida. I graduated here six years ago, and still have the best memories and the best friends that I made here. It’s my first time back since graduating and they definitely have turned this town into more of a city. They took away the small town charm that I loved about this place. But with more people Comes more developments I guess… Great teachers and classes, Energy efficient buildings for all classes, which is awesome, and you can meet a lot of people without feeling like you are just not known. Teachers pay attention to you and are always there to answer questions - the campus is big enough yet small enough for people who come from small towns like me. Extracurricular activities like fraternities sororities, volunteering for groups, etc. is one of the best things to do so that you can meet people and all walks of life.

Beautiful campus! We came for a college tour visit and had a great experience! Our tour guide was wonderful, answered millions of questions, took her time, and was very thorough. The tour helped is to make a decision.

The staff is great and everything. However, this place is not suitable for nontraditional students. Every service you need closes before 4pm, all of their service feels like it's more required to people who are traditionals or recent high School graduates. One time I was talking to one of the administrators in the University about a situation that affected my job and my school work . They told me that I shouldn't work while in school or I shouldn't be in school while in work. If you are a non-traditional student who is trying to get a better future and a better education this is not the right place. They always put traditional students first.

Beautiful university, great professors, nice housing, good community, lots to do, lots of options for food, nature trails, lots of parking, easy to navigate, etc. Amazing university especially for environmental students. I love being a student here. Only complaint is that most of the general staff (not professors!) is rather unhelpful and difficult to work with. You constantly have to nag people and deal with incompetence just to get anything general done (housing, enrollment, fees, etc.). If you are a new student, try not to get discouraged by the incompetent staff because once you finally deal with the nonsense, the actual education and community aspects are worth it imo.

Amazing school, great professors and staff. Very safe school.

As a coming sophomore for the first time, I love the place. The teachers actually like, even love their jobs and do it greatly. The campus is new, Eco friendly, and just gorgeous. Not like the brick museums I usually come across while looking for colleges. The only problem I've experienced so far is the student population, most of which consist of neckbeards doing nothing but revving truck engines all over campus, but what can you do. Overall, this University of probably the best decision I've made.

I'm writing this review in response to the negative comments I've seen, and the topics/"problems" they describe. I'm an incoming freshman with test accommodations, specific housing, transfer credits from Duel Enrollment, and with a food allergy. FGCU has been nothing but amazing, when visiting I was welcomed with warm smiles and a friendly atmosphere. They are at the pique of environmental awareness, with a food forest, campus-wide solar power, a food forest, and 400 acres of reserved nature. The dorms and buildings are modern, with the dorm rooms being some of the best I have seen. I've attended a multitude of their events, and have visited/compared them to other universities, and few even come close to this school. Volunteering Requirement: FGCU does have a graduation requirement of 80 volunteer hours for incoming freshmen, and 40 for transfer students with 60+ credits. This equates to 20 volunteer hours a year, or 10 a semester. Students can earn hours doing on campus work, off campus work, and participating in event planing. I understand this is not for everyone, but with having around 365 days to complete 20 hours, for most this would be a simple task. I understand fully that people who have to work 1-4 full time jobs to pay for university may not be able to do this, but there are options that can assist with this. There is a Live Learn Community housing option that focuses on volunteering, as well as tending to the food forest. This would be able to provide ample opportunity for those who have difficulty finding time to volunteer. Accessibility (testing): For accessibility, FGCU has one of the most detail oriented Accessibility offices I've seen. The rooms are fantastic, the accommodating spaces are wonderful, and I had no problem getting my papers approved. If you/your child had to get accommodations for the ACT/SAT, use the same paperwork for that. If not, send a letter to your pediatrician/specialist for them to write out the details of you/your child's condition/disability. You can also type it out yourself, in detail, exactly what your conditions entail along with the specific accommodation needed for it. Then send that letter to the doctor to get it revised and approved. After getting the paper written and approved, send it to the office for accommodations. With this, it should get approved. Food Allergy: I have a gluten allergy, which means I cannot eat any food that contains gluten. Including seasonings and sauces such as soy sauce, teriyaki, most BBQ sauces, various seasonings...the list goes on. When going to FGCU, they had the best accommodation to my allergy. It was one of the few universities I didn't get sick at when eating there. They had Gluten Free pancakes, waffles, pizza, BBQ, fries, bread, seasonings, sides, and everything you could think of. Now, they recently added gluten free options to the menu as a constant, but yo do have to request for the Pizza and pancakes/waffles to be made. All you need to do is ask one of the chefs by the allergy station. If you have another form of allergy, they will sit you down with their head chef and nutritionist and create your food plan. After that, they will be in contact with you for when you eat. FGCU is an amazing university with kind staff, forward thinking operations, superb campus security, and one of the most student-focused dorms ever. Out of all colleges I've seen, FGCU is the most well rounded, only being 20 years old.

As a student, I've been consistently displeased with FGCU's service. They provide the education, nice buildings, decent teachers, and clean environments but they don't care about their students. You can call an office 18 times in a row and no one will ever answer. Go ahead, send an email. Send 5. No one ever responds to those either. You can show up to an office and sit outside for 20 minutes waiting to see someone who isn't even there and no one will tell you. You can't sign up for classes as everything fills up in minutes of the posting time, and you definitely don't have any leniency whatsoever. You can't cancel housing but you have to apply halfway through the prior semester. There is a clear lack of respect toward the students and it definitely ruins the experience overall.

(Paying for my sister to attend. Came for orientation). The campus is huge. Super clean. Their power runs off from solar panels and they recycle everything. Not to mention the school spirit here is A1. As far as the important school stuff, the staff was super helpful with everything. Had no problem turning things in last minute and they processed paperwork right then and there! You definitely get what you pay for...you feel me!

This is a beautiful campus. My son is attending on scholarship and really enjoys it. I can't give it five stars for one reason. And I have seen other reviews stating the same problem so I know it was not our fault. The admissions office claimed to have not received my sons transcripts AFTER he had been accepted, assigned a dorm room and taken our deposit. He had to send an actual hard copy of his transcripts overnight FedEx. When applying, you really have to stay on top of the admissions office because they seem to have problems with the computer systems.