11 Reasons Orlando is America’s Best College City

A recent report from WalletHub ranked Orlando as the No. 4 city for college students in the country and the No. 1 midsize college city in the U.S. The report, which was created by a group of five college professors, compared more than 400 U.S. cities based on 30 key indicators measuring everything from job growth and earning potential to cost of living and attractions per capita. Surprised? We’re not. After all, Tars have taken advantage of The City Beautiful’s unique combination of epic opportunity and amazing adventure for years. To celebrate our hometown’s most recent accolade, we’ve assembled 11 of the many reasons Orlando is the perfect place for college students to call home.

1. Incredible internships

Orlando ranks in the top 10 in the country for internships per capita, and Rollins has an entire office dedicated to helping our students secure the best career-builders. As a result, Tars have a serious leg up when it comes to landing their ideal internship. This semester, your future classmates are gaining real-world experience everywhere from AdventHealth to the United Nations—all without setting foot outside Orlando. Expect all that experience to pay off. Just ask grads like Alexis Meeks ’16, a Rollins psychology major who turned an internship at the AdventHealth Innovation Lab into a career leading hospital employees through human-centered design thinking.

Find out how you’ll put your education in action at Rollins.

2. Career capital

Just a few weeks after she walked across the commencement stage at Rollins, Hannah Holman ’18 began her dream job as a software engineer at EA Sports, a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. That’s just one example of the epic opportunity awaiting Rollins grads right in our backyard. After all, Orlando is ranked the No. 2 best place in the U.S. to start a career and the No. 6 best city in the nation for jobs. More than 150 international companies representing 20 countries do business in The City Beautiful. Opportunities? Yeah, they abound.

See where our grads go.

3. Community connections

Orlando is home to some of the world’s most innovative organizations. Clean the World collects and recycles the soap left behind in hotel rooms and redistributes it to impoverished people around the globe, helping prevent millions of hygiene-related deaths each year. Fleet Farming transforms residential lawns into urban micro-farms then delivers the resulting produce to local farmers markets and restaurants by bicycle, helping to power sustainability and social change in one fell swoop. New Hope for Kids provides tools and resources to children suffering from devastating loss. Those are just three of many amazing organizations that Rollins students have partnered with recently. From community engagement courses to immersive alternative breaks, Tars have myriad opportunities to apply what they’re learning in the classroom to create real change in the real world.

Get a sneak peek at the difference you’ll make in our backyard and around the world.

4. Cool classrooms

Rollins is known for the intimacy and engagement of its discussion-based classes, but don’t expect to be tethered to a round table all the time. Marine biology students study at SeaWorld, English majors explore Zora Neale Hurston’s hometown of Eatonville, and art majors curate exhibitions at the College’s very own Rollins Museum of Art. Political science students study urban development at the Magic Kingdom, music students gain professional performance experience at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and film studies minors critique cult classics and original flicks at the Enzian Theatre. At Rollins, all of Orlando is your classroom.

Go behind the scenes of some of our coolest classes.

5. Park Avenue

Most nights and every weekend, folks from all over Central Florida flock to Park Avenue, Winter Park’s charming promenade of world-class shopping and deluxe dining. For Rollins students, the commute is far shorter. After all, Park Avenue intersects with campus, so everything from hip boutiques and chic cafes to a bustling farmers market and award-winning restaurants are always just a few steps away.

6. We’re a foodie destination

From celebrity chef restaurants near the attractions to James Beard Award nominees like James and Julie Petrakis of The Ravenous Pig and Henry Moso of Kabooki Sushi, Orlando offers dozens of ways to indulge your inner gourmand. In fact, foodie features in national publications like The New York Times and Forbes exemplify how the nation is taking notice of Orlando’s dynamic and delectable food scene.

Find out why our campus dining is consistently ranked among the best in the nation.

7. Downtown is close and kinetic

Located a 15-minute SunRail ride from campus, downtown Orlando is abuzz with entertainment options. Catch a Broadway show at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, which was named one of the World’s Coolest Tourist Attractions by Travel + Leisure. Watch Orlando City take on Major League Soccer’s top teams in our state-of-the-art soccer stadium. Or board a swan boat on Lake Eola and take in the downtown skyline from the water.

8. It’s always sunny in Orlando

Florida is called The Sunshine State for a reason. Heck, even our “winter,” which lasts precisely two weeks, is packed with vitamin D. So grab your sunnies, friend. You’ll need them with a whopping of 236 days of sunshine every year.

9. Entrepreneurial spirit

Orlando was recently ranked among the top 5 large U.S. cities to start a business, and Tars are on the frontlines of Orlando’s flourishing innovation culture. International business grads Julia Dartmann ’20, Luisa Rivas ’21, and Laura Tafur Vidal ’20 teamed up to launch GreenWave Solutions, a sustainability business that’s now supplying sustainable solutions like bamboo flatware and to-go containers to Rollins Dining Services. Dayle Moore ’10 is director of operations at Statusphere, a fast-growing tech startup that helps brands scale their influencer marketing efforts. Meanwhile, Adam Schwartz ’10 ’12MBA, has been featured everywhere from Good Morning America to Shark Tank for his successful startup ventures Knoza Consulting and FRESHeTECH.

10. Proximity to the beach

No Floridian accepts being more than a hop, skip, and a jump from the beach. Nor should you. At Rollins, you’re an hour’s drive from Cocoa Beach and New Smyrna Beach on the east coast and a two-hour jaunt from Clearwater Beach and St. Pete Beach on the west coast.

11. Entertainment Capital of the World

Orlando is known the world over for its one-of-a-kind collection of first-class theme parks and attractions. Indulge your imagination at Disney World’s four parks, immerse yourself in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at two Universal parks, cool off at water parks all around town, and get a bird’s-eye view of it all from the world’s sixth tallest Ferris wheel. With dozens and dozens of attractions to choose from, life in Orlando is never boring.