Son was accepted to FSU (Invited to apply to Honors Program and got the Freshman Scholarship)
- 3.85/4 Unweighted and 4.98/6 Weighted
- 4.4 Recalculated GPA (Concerning me for UF)
- 1480 SAT (800M) / ACT 33 / SAT II Math 2 (770/800)
*He took the ACT again in December and scored a 35 (but it was too late for UF and some others
Oh well, but he used that score for some RD Apps that were due January 1st. - 9 APs (taking 4 this year, five of the others he got As in the classes and scored 5s on the tests). All classes are either Honors or AP
- Attends Competative Magnet High School in Miami (Engineering and Robitics Program) - they do not rank but he is in the Top 15%). The highest weighted GPA in his class is a 5.6/6 and the kid is going to MIT. So I feel its hard to break the Top 10% unless you have a 5.0 or above which many do. His not being in the Top 10% concerns me for UF as well.
- ECs are pretty good - active in several clubs in school, some leadership on campus, and is a math and physics tutor to underclassmen.
- Volunteering with the same orgnization since freshman year and now holds the role of Volunteer President and Community liason. He works with special needs kids and advocates for inclusion and serves as a mentor to 5 teens with autism. About 400 hours to date and is going to continue volunteering until he leaves for college.
- His essay was reveiwed by several teachers including his AP Lang/Comp and they all said it was great.
- He has some Engineering related certifications including being Certified in AutoCad and Solidworks and has three REC Foundation Pre-Engineering industry certifications in Fundamentals of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Aerospace Engineering. (Not sure is that makes a huge difference on the application of not).
Background: He wants to study Aerospace Engineering. There are few programs at Florida public univerisities. UF is his #1 choice. He applied to FSU I think to mainly please his father and me as we are both FSU alums and met at FSU). We are die hards and he couldnt name an FSU or UF football player to save him life.
He has already been accepted to Purdue’s FYE Program with a great Merit award that brings the COA for OOS to half the cost and UCF Burnett Honors College with the Provost Scholarship (in addition to FL PP and Bright Futures.) He was deferred by Georgia Tech (but its looking like even if he gets accepted RD in March, he isnt leaning towards it mainly due to lack of merit and the cost, we shall see.)
I never thought I would see the day when I’d be anxious and hoping my son would get in and possibly attend UF. My husband and I are at peace. Haha.
I too wish FSU’s Engineering program was on the map in terms of rankings and funding. As far as it not being on campus, that doesnt bother him because he understands that the FAMU kids need access and its only 2 miles from the campus (heck its almost a mile from Westcott to Doak Campbell Stadium). They do have a good shuttle system for FSU’s Engineering school and after Freshman year, not many people live on campus anyway so they pick an apartment close to the shuttle route or drive themselves to the facility and dont have any parking issues. They also have all of those large labs and facilities that just wouldnt be able to fit on FSU’s campus even if they wanted to go on their own and have the Engineering program on the actual campus. Innovation Park just cant fit. If they had an Aero program my son would be seriously considering it.
Wow - sorry my post was so long. (Too much afternoon coffee). 
If my son knew I posted all this he would kill me. Good luck to everyone applying to UF. Is it Feb. 28th yet? Longest month ever…