hi! does anyone know how UF compares to FSU and University of Miami in terms of how hard it is to get in? I was just accepted to FSU and UM yesterday and i’m hoping my chances for UF are good. Thanks!
I have heard 4pm and 6pm. We’ll see who’s right lol. Best of luck to all and I’m looking forward to seeing the incoming class at UF! Anybody planning on CS as their major?
I just received an email from UF saying decisions will be available after 6 pm on February 8!
UF is definitely the premier in state school. My son was admitted to FSU and UM yesterday as well. He also got into UNC honors but we are waiting and STRESSING on UF. Everyone in state wants to go to UF because with Bright Futures that means free tuition and books at a top 10 university without even qualifying for a merit scholarship from the school! My older one is a Gator on a benequisto scholarship as well and we’d love to have them both there together! This will be the hardest decision to open and the one that means the most!!!
@H0llyw00d I can’t agree with this blanket statement. “I also understand that their school is so overcrowded that students are forced to take classes online.” This has been addressed in the forums here many times and while a lot of introductory business classes are taken online, I don’t believe this is true across all majors.
Back to yield. I agree with your points. UF is in an interesting position as it relates to merit aid. By definition, most kids who get into UF qualify for the highest level of Bright Futures scholarship which is the full cost of tuition plus $300 per semester for books. For those of us who bought Florida College Prepaid, the addition of BF money makes the instate decision very compelling. This increases the instate yield and increases competition.
UF doesn’t need to increase out of state enrollment because demand is so high in state. (As I have posted a bunch of times recently, out of state acceptance rates are on par with instate.) A lot of kids in Florida get great offers from the University of Alabama, for instance, because the state of Alabama need mores and better students – football notwithstanding.
UF is basically saying: "we are in high demand. we can’t accept every instate kid even though many are high achievers. we want out of state kids for geographical diversity and because they pay more, but we aren’t going to give out a ton of aid to OOS kids because we really don’t have to. If they wanted to increase OOS yield, they could drop the summer requirement, but from an economic and space point of view, they need to keep the doors open during the summer.
UF also doesn’t give out a lot of merit aid to instate kids, either. I believe this is for the same reason – they don’t have to. Most kids are getting a nice chunk of change from Bright Futures.
The other state schools in Florida are chasing UF and they are using merit money as an incentive. For example, my daughter was offered $3k per year from the University of South Florida – on top of Bright Futures. If money was a huge concern for us, then she would be going there. She really wanted UF and so that’s where she is.
My daughter only applied to the state schools in Florida. Her hope all along was UF, but we would have had a difficult time justifying paying OOS tuition and costs at, say Univ. of Texas or, god forbid, UGA. She would be at UCF or USF because the economic argument to stay in state is so strong. (She got in to FSU but that was really a non-starter…)
I don’ t know if increasing OOS enrollment is part of the “We want to be Top 5” plan at UF. It appears that the school is charging ahead with an admissions plan that has been very successful in recent years.
Perhaps @Gator88NE has an opinion…
Best of luck to your kids.
My son got into Miami, deferred at UNC and waiting on UT Austin tonight. His first choice is FL though. I feel he is strong, but worry about his essay, we had many arguments over it. He has a 1520SAT, a 4.74UF calculated GPA, In the IB program, National Merit Semi-Finalist, 1st place in a state biz competition, junior/senior class counsel, varsity sport, etc. Finance Major.
The stress I am feeling is crazy, I know as parents we have seen our kids work so hard and want them to go to the school they think is best for them and yet we are helpless at this point. I feel like sometimes these acceptances/denials are a bit too random.
@JamesFL Our boys applied to all the same schools!! In at Miami, flat out denied at UNC and awaiting UT Austin tonight!! My son has not expressed a 1st choice yet. He’s applied to a handful of other schools as well.
@mamawitch Good luck to your son tonight. I think it will be very hard for them based on what I have been hearing. Over 53k applicants!
OOS mom here; totally stressing. My daughter got accepted yesterday for fall FSU and University of Miami so it gave her some confidence. She was also accepted to USF and UCF but deferred from Tulane. But the be all and end all is UF. We will literally be emptying half her closet if she doesn’t get in. She has been prepping for UF since freshmen year; her senior year has been crazy with all the APs , mostly all math and sciences. Her pure motivation has been to be a Gator. She will be so deflated if she doesn’t get in. Ugh… another week of waiting!
did everyone get an email today from UF? some are saying they did not. I did get one but UF is a reach for me so not sure how accurate it is
@FLBeachBaby Congratulations to your son!! Best of luck to him next Friday 
@RightyRiper I’m an in-state student from near Miami and from what I’ve seen, UF and FSU are both regarded as good, competitive schools. UF, however, is more selective as they have a lower acceptance rate and admit students with higher stats. UF typically ranks higher than FSU, if that’s important to you. In terms of athletics, I can unfortunately be of no help haha (I’m clueless). UF is known for excelling in STEM fields, whereas FSU is better respected for its liberal arts programs. They’re also both pretty big party schools. If I’m wrong whatsoever, someone let me know!
is anyone having an issue where the student’s email address “isn’t recognized” by UF?
@H0llyw00d Clearly the OOS tuition ($28K+ a year) is a major obstacle. Outside of a NMF scholarship, you have to hope for one of the rare OOS scholarships (which are tuition discounts).
UF isn’t overcrowded by any means. Online sections are popular for large (several hundred student) into classes. I think that’s now the case at any large university. Students at UF don’t usually have a problem getting classes that they need.
Looking at the last Common Data set, UF’s Student to Faculty ratio is 19 to 1. That compares well with the other top 10 public universities (UM-Ann Arbor is 15 to 1, UCLA is 18 to 1, Georgia Tech is 22 to 1, FSU is 22.49 to 1…). UF is currently looking to hire 500 additional faculty members, with the goal of getting that ratio down to 17 to 1 or lower.
how do you see/calculate your UF gpa?
UF gpa does not include electives like PE or music or speech, etc. Honors classes are worth 4.5 and AP, IB are worth 5, regular classes are worth 4.
For an OOS, is it hard to succeed at Florida? I just realized that only 11% are OOS, but at the same time it is such a large school I’m not sure how the OOS students are treated.
Hiii I’m probably a little late on posting my stats but as the date gets closer I’m becoming more and more anxious!
OOS (NY) Female
GPA: 3.7uw 4.0w (on a 4.0 scale)
SAT: 1320
8 APs
Secretary of National Art Honor Society
Captain of Girls Varsity Golf team
Went to states twice for Speech and Debate
Member of National Honor Society
Lots of volunteering hours & work on my resume as well
@JamesFL our sons sound very similar! LOL I don’t think mine will choose UNC as he didn’t get directly into their business program and won’t want to pay out of state tuition with no guarantee of the major he wants. He’s very into being a finance major and has been super invovled in FBLA in high school. He’s waiting to find out the results of his business honors interview at UT but he’s not a Texas kind of guy. He’d really like to do the MSF program at UF I’m not sure of his recalculated gpa but he has a 4.91 and a 33 ACT Hopefully it will be enough with tons of leadership and 14 APs
@fbhsmom It sounds like your son is very competitive, especially with getting an interview at UT. My son got denied last night. Yes the MSF program is what my son wants to do also. I worry that there are too many top kids fighting for the same spots. I can’t believe he works 7 days a week every week on school and he still might not get into his home states top public school. Do you live in Florida, we are in Orlando.