@Boomer1964 Yes, I read OP’s post carefully and am aware of her current status. I am commenting on my observation of her, and others’, posts here on CC related to the perception that UF’s admissions policies are unpredictable for very high stats kids. Are those perceptions incorrect? Could be. A luke-warm LOR, a bad grade in a key class (which would impact GPA, by the way), or just a poorly completed application could keep a high stats kid from any college. But those are all rare events; the sentiment expressed here (which could be based on inaccurate rumors among parents throughout FL) is that UF’s admissions have gone off the rails in terms of being predictable for very high stats kids.
GT is a FAR smaller school than UF ( for a state half of FL’s population) and it has 60% Instate students. The ‘supply’ for those slots is much smaller and Georgia residents have a legitimate gripe if qualified students are routinely rejected to benefit OOS students. Same for any other state.
One-third of every senior in our HS applied to tOSU in the past five years. 79% of those applying to ANY four year school applied to tOSU. That is about 700 students in the last five years. Zero students in the top 10% of their class, or by SAT/ACT score, or by state-wise GPA were rejected. None. The OP’s daughter would need to slice about 100 points off of her SAT score and .6 off of her GPA in order to be near any danger zone. And tOSU’s average SAT/ACT scores are a tad higher than UF’s, and 30% of the undergrads are OOS. But UF rejects a higher proportion of applicants than tOSU does (much bigger state and somewhat smaller school). I don’t see any reason for UF to resort to ‘holistic’ admissions because they have SO MANY applicants like the OP’s D that they just need an additional filter. The stats don’t support that conclusion at all.
I am not picking on UF, nor trying to praise tOSU. I am just highlighting a practice that, if true, I think is wrong and something I would be pushing against if in my state. If the administration is trying to raise the stature of UF at the cost of its core mission, then I believe citizens have a gripe. You are supporting that school with your tax dollars. Is UF the only public college in the US doing this (if indeed true)? Heck, no. And could the state legislature be fully aware and supportive of this? Maybe. Perhaps they wish to beef up the OOS (and full OOS tuition payments) for UF so that it requires less state $ support. And one could argue that is what is good for the state…spending less money on its state flagship. But that will come at the cost of more and more high stats students not getting to attend. The residents of FL need to be ok with that, certainly not me.
Because of lots of factors, state flagships across the US are becoming more and more selective. That is a simple function of supply and demand. They are more popular with the current generation of prospects for many reasons. But some flagships are slowly raising the strength (as measured by stats) of their incoming classes over time, and some are being aggressive with classic ‘stature-raising’ tactics, used successfully by many private colleges, in order to increase revenue (from both instate and OOS students). The very human desire to want something more if it is perceived to be rare or difficult to obtain is leveraged by colleges all over the US, every day.
There are lots of good reasons for a college to raise its stature, hence attractiveness and willingness to pay, for applicants. Life is much easier for the administration of a college which has won that game. Being the head of enrollment at an elite university is FAR easier than at a public institution with a mission to serve the interests of the state overall. In fact, the job is radically different in these two circumstances. But the consequences for future prospective students are enormously different under these two scenarios. Parents should be paying attention to the enrollment trends at their state flagship and asking if it is what they want to see, IMHO. One could make an argument, either way.