Why does UF not recruit?

navarre1 · 11-20-2009, 09:05 PM

Maybe they just don't like us..LOL My daughter recieved an invitation to the outstanding scholars weekend, which she attended, but nothing in the mail from UF since..

Ryan82 · 11-20-2009, 11:08 PM

They do recruit top students. A week ago they had Honors Visitation Day, where they try to recruit top students in Florida to come to UF.

My parents and I drove up from Ft. Lauderdale and it was pretty impressive.

Maybe her stats weren't high enough, only a few kids from my school got an invite.

Helpful Mom · 11-20-2009, 11:32 PM

My friend's son also attended that last week. This is something new that they are doing which makes sense if they want to keep the top kids in Florida. They used to not invite you until after decisions were out and they were losing kids who had already accepted elsewhere.

navarre1 · 11-20-2009, 11:57 PM

Maybe her stats weren't high enough. They were above the 75th percentile and above the honors college requirements. She has unsolicited mail from just about every top 20 college in the country, asking her to apply, but nothing from UF. I wanted her to apply, but she wouldn't. I just can't help but to think, if UF just put forth a little effort she might have applied.

ASMAJ · 11-21-2009, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Maybe they just don't like us..LOL My daughter recieved an invitation to the outstanding scholars weekend, which she attended, but nothing in the mail from UF since..

When they recieve 25,000+ application, recruiting is probably a waste.

Quote:

This is something new ..

Its been around for a while. At least 5 or 6 years.

Quote:

Maybe her stats weren't high enough.

All the XYZ "days" that they have is pretty much the same. They just cater it to the students that will be up that day. From memory, I know there is the honor visitation day usually coordinated by SHO. There is an African-American and Hispanic day (sometimes two days) for top student in that category. They have another one for people that scored well on ... (not sure if its PSAT or SAT). Those are coordinated by the admissions office. Same stuff for all: tour, student panel, college fair, application tips, fin aid tips, and for some a sleep over in Broward.

gthopeful · 11-21-2009, 09:21 AM

Quote:

I wanted her to apply, but she wouldn't. I just can't help but to think, if UF just put forth a little effort she might have applied.

Some schools will send out solicitations to anybody -- even people they know they won't admit. Wash U is a good example of this. For the cost of a few pieces of first class mail they can convince you to blow $100 to apply. I hope your daughter is smarter than to believe a few pieces of mail involves any real interest on the school's part. I bet it goes a bit deeper than something superficial like that; a lot of the highest performing kids in the state look at UF in a less-than-flattering light.

FWIW, I don't recall getting any solicitations from UF either.

zebes · 11-21-2009, 09:42 AM

I can't say that we looked at it as recruiting, necessarily, but when D was asked to participate in the honors weekend (of which there were 200 slots) and we registered for it the day we got the letter in the mail and were shut out because she was not one of the first 200 to accept, we had several emails back and forth with one of the people associated with that weekend. We were encouraged -- strongly -- to use the special ID number that she'd been given in the invite letter on her UF application. Not sure if it's true or not, but we felt as though that ID got her application flagged in some way. Obviously, we have nothing more than anecdotal info from her and several friends (all different schools) who also got an ID number and UF admit .....

zebes

navarre1 · 11-21-2009, 10:45 AM

I would think UF would want to keep the top 25%, of students in the state, from going to lower ranked schools and to also pluck some Ivy type students away from the Ivies. UF just seems to rely on it's reputation alone. I do think UF's lack of effort is letting some top students slip away. Anyway, just my thoughts. What do I know?.. LOL

rsala004 · 11-21-2009, 02:42 PM

suckers for advertising.

joefrommiami · 11-21-2009, 09:26 PM

It's interesting that UF makes a big deal about the number of National Merit Scholars in attendance, yet makes only a token effort to recruit them.

I'm getting less impressed.

SSobick · 11-24-2009, 08:05 AM

** You all are right UF needs to start being more proactive about recruiting the best & brightest!

UF does not recruit because we have terrible admissions policies.

1st - we have egregious holistic admissions
2nd - we give substandard legacies an unfair advantage
3rd - we take far too many in-state students

motherbear332 · 12-21-2009, 11:08 PM

joefrommiami,

Until a few years ago, UF did make a great effort to recruit NMFs and offered very generous scholarships to get them. Then they decided (like UT Austin recently did) that the money could be better spent in other ways.

Technomancer · 12-22-2009, 06:23 AM

and their national merit scholarships are still very generous for oos students.

SSobick · 12-22-2009, 06:53 PM

Rumor has it: UF is starting to make a push for some of the strongest graduate & professional students in the United States.