Deferred from UCF. Do you think I have a chance?

Applying to College
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So first off, let me say I’m a high school senior and I was OK student throughout my whole high school career. I first found out about UCF the summer of junior year and I fell in love without realizing the scores that I will need to have to get in. So when I applied, I applied early action however I checked my decision and I got deferred to regular decision now I can’t lie. This really upset me. This is my dream school so for me to get deferred hurt. However, I understand why it’s mainly my SAT score was a 1070 super scored. I took SAT twice. I took the SAT once at the very end of my junior year and I took the SAT again the summer of my junior year. Now the point is that I’ve never been a good test taker in general. So I’m gonna tell you a little bit of some stuff that I did and I want you to tell me what do you think my chance is of getting into UCF.

Extracurriculars

I was a part of the youth leadership council of my state of South Carolina.

I was part of reproductive health council that helped young individual learn about their bodies from teens

I was a part of national honor Society and national technical honor society

I also did a beta club

I was a part of our local gardening club, and I was also part of the mayors council of young youth

something to know about my high school was that there was no honors or AP’s offered at my high school school. **

The one thing that my school did have was a county career center, and I did end up on completing my cyber security class, and I am fully certified for cyber security. Also, I am working on completing my business class which is advertising and marketing and is a certificate at end of that too

One thing that I am submitting through an email to the office admissions it’s a letter three letters recommendations, two from teachers, and one from my principal. I also am submitting a letter of continued interest because once again I love UCF so I just poured my heart in that letter. And the last thing I am submitting is a letter explaining some information on my SAT scores cause I didn’t really like when they asked about your essay. What happened when you took your SAT I never really answered that question I feel that I need to just write it in depth a lot of stuff happens when I first took that SAT and then the second SAT a lot of stuff also have for that same year surprisingly so I just wanted to give them that opportunity to learn about me a little bit more.

Oh one last thing is that I wanted to apply for the hospitality program but I heard it was harder so I applied for their business program instead because when I asked my guidance counselor , she told me to apply for just general business so that’s why I applied with which general business and another thing is, I am out of state student

But overall, what do y’all think? I know that UCF is a holistic type. So do you think I have a chance of getting accepted African that referral or just be honest with me like what do you think in your opinion?

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Why is UCF your dream school?
We can help you find substitutes, quickly due to deadlines coming up.

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IMO the biggest mistake an applicant can make in the process is to have a dream school. Fact is there are many many colleges where you can get a great education, have a wonderful experience, and get wherever you want to go in life.

I hope UCF works out but I also hope you have solid alternatives in place.

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Sorry about your deferral but a few things:

  1. There is no such thing as a dream school. There just isn’t - all have bad profs or roomies or food or dorms, etc. Have you even visited?

OK - what I think is you were deferred, not rejected, so yes you have a chance.

As for why you didn’t get in, you have no idea it’s because of your 1070. No idea. Yes, it’s well below the 25th percentile but you can’t say that’s why you didn’t get in. Truth is, you have no idea why you didn’t.

If I wanted the hospitality program, I’d have applied for it. That said, I think business is a better major - you can do hospitality and more - but you should always pursue the major you desire. I’d argue getting in for a major you don’t want is worse than going to a school and studying what you do want.

So - like anyone, you can hope UCF comes through but no one knows - so you need a list of suitable back ups. We don’t know your profile - as you just gave an SAT and that’s likely not the most important part of your profile - academics (GPA) is.

So what do you love about UCF? The weather, size, location, etc?

Solid hospitality programs that will be easier admits (not sure if you’d get in as don’t know anything about you) - and I don’t know your budget:

You might look at:

Alabama

App State

Coastal Carolina

Michigan State

Temple

And lots more.

Keep the faith - but have a back up.

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Yeah, definitely I see how I worded it wrong. I never meant to say like dream school, but like my counselor was really pushing to school at me. she believed the school was really good for business and for all the things that I really wanted to do when explaining it to her. But I did apply to like other schools so like I applied to Alabama and some schools in Illinois in Chicago and I got in so I definitely am happy about that. It’s just I don’t know. Maybe it’s because all four years in my high school year she’s been pushing that school like my guidance counselor is one of those people like she’ll email me about the school or show new updates about the school and stuff like that so it’s just that I’ve been so connected with UCF through her. It’s kind of hard to let go you know if you get what I’m saying.

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I really worded it wrong. It’s not my dream school but it fit a lot of like the qualities that I wanted in a college for instance I’m in South Carolina and I always wanted it to be near like the beach and I wanted to have that like theme park area for the hospitality / business and I really want it to be able to have a diverse campus and I really wanted a large university so once I told my counselor those things she kept pushing UCF at me all four years in my high school journey and she’s always kept pushing UCF so I feel like I’ve just become so connected with UCF to the fact that she keeps pushing it at me.

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Did I miss your GPA / rank and rigor?

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Just adding some context

GPA – with a 4.8 unweighted

Rank – I was number 13 out of 270 students

Once again, like I listed before my high school school then allow any honors classes so I couldn’t take any

And I do have I have a lot of certifications and I will list them if you do need them

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Your counselor isn’t going to school. Let’s find the right for you. And she may have been pushing but she can also look at average stats (and you only mentioned a test) to know it wasn’t safe.

If you’ve not been, you’d have no idea if you would love it - is the point. You weren’t even going to study what you wanted - that doesn’t seem like something one would love (although I think it’s a better major, even for someone who wants to go in hospitality - which doesn’t need a degree and the coursework is too narrow - IMHO).

UCF is a fine school but no doubt Bama and the others in Illinois you’ve gotten into - are just as fine.

…..as long as you can afford them.

Sounds like you already have a home - that’s most important.

Best of luck at UCF or otherwise.

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Then why didn’t you apply to Coastal (or did you)? You’re near Myrtle and you have attractions galore. That meets your exact fit.

A bit further from attractions - but ETSU (not horribly far from Dollywood but not close) and WCU (not horribly far from Dollywood or Asheville - but also not close) might fit your desires. They both have hospitality.

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If you’re talking about University of Central Florida, extra curriculars are not an important factor in their admissions process. They tell us that, so your ECs didn’t factor into their decision. Big schools like that primarily use a formula to determine admissions, focusing on gpa and test score and then tweaking the gpa to account for the rigor of your courses or lack of it.

They have their own reasons which determine how many applicants they admit in early action. You were deferred, but I expect that you will be admitted during the regular decision process.

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If you really want to go to UCF, you could start at Valencia Community College and get all the same benefits of being in Orlando and have a path to UCF.

Through a partnership called DirectConnect to UCF, Valencia A.A. and select A.S. graduates are guaranteed admission and a smooth transition to UCF. In fact, 25% of UCF’s upper division students come from Valencia.

UCF is not really ‘by the beach’ as it is an hour away and traffic can be horrible in Orlando.

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Can you and your parents afford the universities that admitted you without loans?

I agree with your counselor that a business degree is more useful than a strict Hospitality degree, especially if you can have lots of experience on the side.

Did you apply to Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, UNC-Wilmington, UNC Asheville, Unc-Charlotte, Queen’s Charlotte?
And going up the coast we can suggest more if you wish. Lots of tourist areas in Virginia, around DC..

Disney has internships and summer programs that you can join from anywhere so you don’t need to be in Orlando for that.

UCF is very very big and not that well-funded so lots of students fall through the cracks, especially those in the bottom quarter or admissions (45% do not graduate in 4 years, which isn’t bad but means you need to plan for 5 years since their bottom quarter scores are around 1200 and average GPA is 4+ weighted with honors classes, which your school doesn’t offer, so you’re starting at a disadvantage and are likely to be among the 45% who need an extra year.)
The Valencia to UCF pathway sounds like a very good alternative too, especially since you can have housing and access to UCF.
Lynn, Barry, and FGCU would be likely for you, did you apply? If not, run the NPCs and see if they’re within budget. I know they’re not big but they meet your other criteria.

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OK, first of all let me just say thank you all for the amazing recommendations and I do plan on using a lot of them. I I love that a lot of y’all didn’t like to straight dumb for even wanting it to be a chance of me getting in so that’s great. UCF is in my family‘s financial range. I earned a lot of scholarships that I can apply to my tuition as well, so I’m pretty much set on the financial sector of UCF or any college. Also, some of the college recommendations that y’all did recommend I actually have been accepted to and hearing the way that y’all talk about coastal and a couple other colleges that I saw listed. I’m definitely gonna open my options a lot wider than UCF and honestly, y’all helped me out a lot. Obviously I think they’re still like a little part in my heart that loves UCF but the way that y’all talk about some of these other colleges that I’ve seen listed I like what I’m seeing so definitely gonna look into some other options so that’s the update for right now I plan on updating y’all again when I get my decision back just putting it out there but once again all of y’all gave me great advice for other options list and helpful advice so I’m definitely gonna listen to all of y’all and thank you so much for this.

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Since you have some other schools that you like (just like UCF best), I think you’re fine to wait and see if you get into UCF in RD. You might, and you might get in for one of the summer start sessions (so be ready to go!)

Orlando is the summer is delightful (NOT).

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Got into UCF with 1240 but summer start is required. Maybe you can inquire if you can be considered for a summer start?