UF Merit Scholarship Chances

woody3692 · 10-25-2009, 06:55 PM

I'm an out of state student hoping to be accepted into UF. I have a 1440 SAT(2100 with all three, 640 R, 800 M, 660 W) but I retook it to try to get at least a 700 on reading. I'll find out on thursday. I also have a 33 ACT but had to retake it yesterday since I didn't do the writing section the first time. I have a 4.2 weighted GPA, which is without honors weighted in but I don't know if UF takes into account honors courses. I am currently dual enrolled at Georgia Tech for calc II and III and I'm top 5% of my class out of about 600 students ( I got one B which was an 89.4 when my teacher actually dropped me down to that grade cause i had an A). What are my chances of first getting into UF and also getting a scholarship. I feel that I have a pretty good chance of getting in but I can't find any info on who gets scholarships. I'm also in National Honor Society, BETA Club, and National Spanish Honor Society. Any info would be great cause I really want to go here!

DTMENG · 10-26-2009, 02:17 AM

if you are a national merit finalist, your chance of getting a scholarship is effectively 100%

otherwise it is <1%. UF doesn't really do merit scholarships except to a few elite students.

joefrommiami · 10-28-2009, 05:28 PM

But even as a NMF, the amount of that scholarship isn't much. I think it's $500 per semester plus $1000 research money.

Is that right?

Ryan82 · 11-03-2009, 05:21 PM

Only Merit scholarship to UF i've heard of

University of Florida Honors Program: John V. Lombardi Scholarship

proud_mom · 11-03-2009, 05:55 PM

UF is real stingy with merit scholarships, but not athletic ones. Due to their national popularity they don't have any apparent problems of attracting strong students and therefore they don't feel they need to offer strong students much. And yes, joefrommiami, the NMF scholarship is weak - a total of $5000 over four years, including the research money. I read an article written in 2006 that they were reducing merit scholarships because they didn't feel the need to offer many. Anyway, even though both my husband and myself are alumni, we aren't pushing UF on our daughter and she would rather take advantage of generous scholarships from elsewhere than not to, to just be a Gator.

Skywalker23 · 11-05-2009, 01:57 PM

Your National Merit Scholarship information might be wrong.

Here is an email I got on August 31, 2009.

"Good morning! If you are named a finalist and name the University of Florida as your first choice school, you will receive a $4000 scholarship per year, plus a waiver for the non-resident portion of your tuition. Additionally, you will be invited to participate in the Honors Program at UF and be granted a $1000 research stipend. If you provide me with your address, I will gladly send you some more information in the mail.

Rebecca Johnson"

I hope my information is right, haha.
Oh, and a waiver for the non-resident portion of your tuition means you pay in-state, right?

proud_mom · 11-05-2009, 04:57 PM

Skywalker23: From other posts I believe your information is correct for out-of-state NMF. In-state ones get $1000.00 per year. They take in the Florida Bright Futures for tuition and then give a total of $5000 for four years - $1000 per year and a $1000 research stipend. To me this is stingy because UCF gives $10000 a year + a laptop to NMF and USf gives $12000 a year + a laptop + an overseas travel scholarship and in-state students at both schools get to add their Bright Future scholarship on top of the above offers. UF used to give about $5000 per year to NMF, but stopped it a few years ago. Now, I have been told by current students that NMF "are treated like Gods at UF." Basically, they have 1st dibs on registering for classes, before everyone, including the honors students. That benefit alone is extremely valuable to students. Congratulations on your NMSF status and hopefully soon a NMF status.

Good luck in your college hunting process and if you choose UF, enjoy, as I am a Gator alumni.

gthopeful · 11-05-2009, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Due to their national popularity they don't have any apparent problems of attracting strong students and therefore they don't feel they need to offer strong students much.

This isn't the reason they're not offering as much as they used to, it's twofold:

1. Berkeley stopped giving out national merit scholarships years ago because they felt students with it weren't achieving more than students without the scholarship. This makes sense to me, as I've seen plenty of useless high SAT students. See: University of California Office of the President

2. I myself read an article on this topic and a UF official essentially said that giving out these scholarships wasn't buying it any credibility with its peers because they were essentially bribing people with high stats to come to UF.

I'm not ungrateful that I got the $24k over 4 years from UF for being a NMF, but I don't really think having a high PSAT is very meritorious.

An0maly · 11-05-2009, 09:10 PM

If I have a 1560/2290 with a 4.0 GPA, NMSF, and in-state, can I basically be guaranteed a full ride at UF?

zebes · 11-05-2009, 10:32 PM

^^^^
No. Other than Lombardi I don't believe there's much in the way of full-ride based solely on merit. I've heard of OOS getting some help with tuition waivers for really high stats, but nothing in-state (again, solely based on merit). My d was Valedictorian, ~4.7 UF GPA, 35/36 ACT ... yada, yada, and she received nothing in terms of merit scholarships from UF. She received a corporate national merit of $2,000/year and the Robert C Byrd, and, of course, Bright Futures. (Even if she'd made NMF, which she didn't -- an off testing day for her -- it wouldn't have helped because her corporate consideration was higher than what she would have received from UF.)

zebes

An0maly · 11-06-2009, 09:32 AM

Alright, thanks for the info. I always viewed UF as a safety so it's good to know that I still might have to pay, despite Bright Futures, etc.

bikedad · 11-09-2009, 05:51 PM

UF seems to have gone the same route as the University of Texas on National Merit Finalist scholarships or any merit scholarships for that matter. IMO it's a risky position to take for a non-ivy or non-private top tier school. They are saying the good students will come here anyway--without a scholarship offer.

D2 will get the NMF offer and might take UF, but few I think will turn down Ivy leagues which are starting to offer need money to very good students or half-rides at better publics, privates and even LAC's to pay full ride at UF. Sorry, Guys, Tebow didn't improve the reputation that much

rogracer · 11-09-2009, 09:53 PM

bikedad...I'm having a hard time following your logic. The counter-examples you bring up are need-based offers, not merit-based, yes? I don't think you will find any higher-ranked schools that offer a better value than UF based soley on merit, especially if you are in-state and BF is covering tuition.

bikedad · 11-10-2009, 12:01 PM

Sorry, I was talking about OOS. The term need-based is a bit of a misnomer for the Ivies--afterall, you first have to get IN the Ivy, then get the need-based. I'm only saying the top students who can land an Ivy, and who have family incomes less than say $100,000.00 (depending on family situation and particular Ivy they're applying to) could get the price of the Ivy knoced down to what OOS would be for OOS at UF without merit help. This is also the new song at places like Tulane and Vandy--at least according to the literature and their admissions offices.

This help wasn't in place when D1 and S1 came through so they took the NMF ride at UF and UT Austin before the draw bridge was raised, but now that the Ivies are helping their students a bit more, it seems IMO to swing the ballance back to them over, say, the good publics who have stopped giving merit like UT and UF. UF is still a great value, just perhaps not at OOS rates given the other opportunities.

Bikedad