I am not an admissions professional, but my guess is that if her SAT was 1500+ that it might then be a toss-up school. But she could have a 1600 SAT and I don’t think it would move past a toss-up. When a school has a 24% admit rate, it’s turning down many qualified students. I know that last year there were a number of unhappily surprised families of in-state students who were strong students who were not accepted.
@kevi2900 shared that and, in looking at the table, she could perhaps apply for a summer entry, and I suspect that her odds of admission would be even higher. I don’t know the nuances and requirements/differences with summer entry vs. fall entry, but if UF is her clear first choice, then it may be something to consider.
And I don’t think UF or FSU will matter in that endeavor.
Neuther a target but can get there from both. Will have to work hard, and network.
But many kids from non targets land in those roles. Whether they know someone or not, I don’t know. Not all are finance - many are CS types or math - quants. Some grad degrees.
I’m sure both will have clubs and other direction.
I would seek out the advice of people with first hand experience in these professions. It is much more nuanced than can be derived from Google or LinkedIn surfing.
These are highly competitive and coveted jobs that have fairly specific well worn career paths, most of which start with fairly specific IB roles.
PE tends to be traditional IB (MA, lev fin, AF, etc) while HF tends to come from financial markets (sales, trade, research) ranks. Unfortunately decisions made now will impact likelihood of having access to these opportunities down the road.
Her school and your location will matter. UF says it doesn’t, but it sure seems to. A friend lived in Gainesville and her daughter had top scores and grades, and wasn’t accepted as there were just so many kids from her hs who applied to UF. IIRC, her class rank was in the top 5% in the class. She was crushed and went to school OOS. I think with her grades but in a different part of Florida, she would have been accepted. My nephew was also a top student and had no interest in FSU; it wasn’t popular with kids at his hs (near Tampa).
At my daughters’ hs, which was near Jax, the class split pretty evenly between UF, FSU, and UCF for those who wanted the higher ranked state schools (not as many at USF as it is farther away, but a few did go there and more to Florida Atlantic). Some did prefer one school over the others but maybe they were accepted to all 3?
So I don’t agree it is a shoo in. She has a good chance, but UF is not an auto acceptance.
Def not a shoo in as noted in message 3. But the student is positioned well, has done what they can and statistically is well aligned, even if the SAT doesn’t go up.
I think the list of three - they’re in very good position. Whether they can live for $10k - unless there’s some kind of aid beyond tuition - is debatable and I’d say unlikely.
Then it becomes - should the student stay home and go local to a four year or CC - where they can keep expenses low.
Also should they apply to schools with full rides like W&L and SMU as Hail Mary’s. I would.
Also - the $10K max budget - is that by choice or due to true need as colleges determine it. You can figure this out by doing some net price calculators - so whether it’s a Miami, Emory, Vanderbilt, Harvard - lots of schools meet need. Since you might want to stay in Florida…here’s Miami’s. W&L listed above also meets need regardless of if you win the full ride.
So many colleges meet 100% of demonstrated need - that if you are determined to have it, that can open up more paths if interested and if you qualify.
See the Miami NPC below and a third party list of who meets 100% need (if you do in fact have significant need vs. a budget figure that you determined is best for you).