<p>Although I am in the minority and attend a private Catholic preparatory high school as apposed to attending a public high school, I could never fully understand why the University Of Florida admissions committee has an “unwritten” policy of generally denying most applicants from private high schools and preference is given to those applicants from public high schools. Many students in my senior class that applied to UF and were denied, are these same students that were admitted to several Ivy League schools around the country. Several cases in point; two prospective applicants from my high school that were denied to UF as a freshman for fall 2011, were accepted to MIT on a full ride including room and board. Trust me, MIT is much more selective than UF ! Several other perspective applicants from my high school that were also denied to UF, gained admissions to Harvard, Chicago, Brown and GW. UF turned these students down although their scorces included on average a 35 ACT, nearly perfect GPA and SAT’s scorces in the 2320 range. It is quite apparent that the UF admissions committee openly discourages applicants from private high schools and “bends over backwards” to accommodate those applicants from public high schools. WOW - Possibly discrimination ??? Isn’t discrimination against the law ???</p>
<p>edit again: eh, I don’t care enough to make a sarcastic comment and argue with you.</p>
<p>Let me guess, public high school ?</p>
<p>Let me guess,
<a href=“http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110404231009/fairlyoddparents/en/images/1/16/FairyFairyQuiteContrary068.jpg[/url]”>http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110404231009/fairlyoddparents/en/images/1/16/FairyFairyQuiteContrary068.jpg</a>
?</p>
![http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110404231009/fairlyoddparents/en/images/1/16/FairyFairyQuiteContrary068.jpg[/url]](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110404231009/fairlyoddparents/en/images/1/16/FairyFairyQuiteContrary068.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>i thought it was common knowledge by now that schools like UF rejected overqualified candidates. this isn’t a private school thing (or a UF specific thing), but yes there probably is ‘discrimination’ occurring at some level. its innocuous, and very mildly inconvenient for a very small number of people <em>at worst</em>.</p>
<p>this thread is harping on a form of ‘discrimination’ that hurts no one. i’m not sure why you’d waste your time writing about it. i’m also going to take this opportunity to address a common theme that has developed in the last few posts you’ve made: you seem like a whinny, bitter-for-no-reason twat. please stop. we get it, there are a lot of hardships you suffer for having gone to a fancy catholic private school, and thus you deserve our sympathy while you subtly deride public schools (and UF) for being inferior to your standards of honor and excellence. that kind of attitude it not welcome here, nevermind anywhere else for that matter.</p>
<p>aforautumn----</p>
<p>What a load of pseudo intellectual ******** !
To set the record straight, My family and I came from a communist country and English was not our first language. My family immediately assimilated into the American culture and through hard work, both my parents became physicians, and financially secure which permitted them to send myself and my siblings to private school. I truly dont understand why an American born citizen supposedly like yourself would display such disdain towards a person such as myself. I am only seeking parity in the application process and I hope that the application admissions process to gain entrance into such a great school such as UF is based on fact rather than on inflated grades and that a person such as myself will not be penalized solely because my family made a decision to send me to private school.</p>
<p>I disagree… I know 12 people on my floor here at UF who came from Private Schools one of which is one of the best ones in Miami…</p>
<p>OP, there are students that can be considered “over qualified” for UF… My guess is that the admissions committee rejected them knowing that they would get admitted (and enroll) into a school more prestigious… It has nothing do whether or not they attend a private school or public (It would actually make more sense for them to admit those from private schools over those from public, as they’d have to pay out less financial aid and give fewer scholarships), but rather how “qualified” they are.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call it “discrimination”, but rather playing it safe. If UF were to admit everyone who had stats similar to your classmates, their yield rate would be terribly low… </p>
<p>The college admission process will never be truly “fair”, but that’s life. You have to learn to accept it. </p>
<p>As to this
</p>
<p>I know how you feel. My parents and I came to the U.S from a post-Soviet country (I have a Soviet birth certificate). They had to learn English in their 30s/40s, and I started school not knowing a word of it. Today, both work two jobs to support the best possible lifestyle they can. </p>
<p>Those born in the U.S. don’t understand how fortunate they are to have been born here; how many chances they’ve been given to succeed, or how much worse it could be.</p>
<p>However much I understand your frustration, I agree with the others in that your comments make you out to be rather bitter.</p>
<p>That’s odd, I have several friends who got into UF from private schools, and they’re nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, that proves nothing, but there don’t seem to be any statistics either way, so it’s all just speculation. Maybe your school doesn’t have requirements compatible with UF’s?</p>
<p>
No, no you did not. Communism is a world, classless, stateless society in which the means of production are controlled by the workers; there’s no such thing as a communist country. You came from a country claiming to be communist for propaganda purposes; I bet they also claimed to be a democracy or a “people’s republic” too, but that doesn’t make it so.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state. No country has ever been Communist in the true sense of the word. All practiced an extreme form of Socialism (there were class distinctions in the USSR, for one).</p>
<p>The USSR/PCR aren’t Communist countries much like the United States isn’t a Democracy, but rather a Constitutional Republic.</p>
<p>Interesting you mentioning Belen Jesuit here (I presume). I recently spoke to a parent of one of your fellow students who was wondering why so many of your brothers who went to schools outside of Miami were returning and enrolling at Florida International University. Her theory was this: The students were so accustomed to living such an upscale life style; ie. Parties in Cocoplum and Gables Estates, BMW’s and Mercedes as gifts when turning sixteen, luxurious “quinces” at the best hotels in Brickell, and dinners in South Beach, that when it came time to have fun in college towns such as Tallahassee and Gainesville, these students were simply bored and just couldn’t relate to Budweiser beer parties and intramurals for fun. </p>
<p>Again, this is coming from a Belen mom who said that most of her son’s friends ended up returning after no more than one year away. </p>
<p>Now, knowing that, I can understand why an admissions officer would shy away from these students.</p>
<p>
Merely professing to follow something does not make it so; the People’s Republic of China isn’t a people’s republic, now is it? My conjecture wasn’t merely that, as of yet, there have been no communist countries, it was that a communist country is impossible, and that term has been born out of large parts of the Western World believing about half of Soviet propaganda. One-party rule has nothing to do with whether a country can be considered communist or not. You’re right that a country can certainly be socialist, though whether class-divided, exploitative, non-democratic countries practicing state capitalism are socialist or not is a whole different discussion.</p>
<p>One more thing, perhaps your school can make it easier for students to enroll in AP courses so they have an opportunity to increase their weighted GPA making them more competitive.</p>
<p>I mean do the school administrators really think that someone getting a 98 in an honors class will do that much better in an AP course than someone getting a 95? That’s kind of ridiculous isn’t it? Sort of discriminatory if you ask me. </p>
<p>And let’s not get into the appeal process for that student getting a 95. They may have better luck speaking on the “red phone” to the White House.</p>
<p>@ cnmpsyd;</p>
<p>UF is a public institution, naturally it has to give priority to public school students, why? not all public schools are A schools, many are C and even D schools. Those unfortunate students that got stuck in a bad school and their parents can’t afford a private education are not very likely to be admitted into a private university, so public institutions need to give preference to these students otherwise they would be automatically rejected from access to a quality higher education. Also, UF gets tax payer money, so do public high schools. If your parents send you to a private school, they don’t have to pay the portion of the county tax that goes to the school district whenever they pay their property taxes in whatever county it is that you live. Thus priority goes to whomever is putting their taxpayer dollars into their school, that’s why we’re taxed on it for.</p>
<p>About the discrimination, No. It’s not discrimination. Illegal Discrimination comes when you are rejected on the bases of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age or disability. Discriminating based on socio-economical basis is perfectly legal for the office of admissions. Some schools give the lower income students preference, whereas the private schools give the higher income applicants preference for obvious reasons… </p>
<p>Also, you are not being “penalized” for coming from a private school. Did you apply and were rejected, or you are planning on applying? what are your stats? that might help answer the reasons why you were rejected -if you were. It is not only based on your school gpa and what school you came from. It also depends on your community service, which school you applied to and how many spots are available at that particular major that you’re applying to. </p>
<p>I don’t know what country you came from, but if you came from Cuba, then yes, you DID come from a communist country (communism is not the same in theory as it is in practice). Anyone else that doesn’t believe so go ahead, take a little raft and sail to Cuba and try to live there for a month, where all you get is a little card that lists all the supplies you can get for a month: one bar of soap for the entire household and one roll of toilet paper for the whole month; and when you finish highschool, you do not chose what career you want to study, the government decides what is best for the country and that’s the career you’re assigned to study, no pouting allowed. And let’s not talk about the food distribution. What do you think that system is called?</p>
<p>I am US born citizen that grew up in a third world country, (not Cuba though) and I honestly feel lucky I grew up in South America. I do get to see both sides of the story, and it gave me a sense of reality that you don’t get in this country alone. Yes, those who were born here and have never set a foot out have no idea how lucky we are to have born in a country where you can receive financial aid to go to school, or government subsidized loans to pay for your school. Let’s not touch any other topic.</p>
<p>Before everyone starts barking at me, sorry if I come across rude -it’s not what is intended, I’m just too straightforward, and some people read it as me being rude. Not trying to offend anybody in this forum, just wanted to give my two cents.</p>
<p>Just my two cents. I went to a private school in Ft. Lauderdale (St. Thomas), and I know a large number of people who were accepted and are attending, myself included. But, how does you being a minority weigh into this?</p>
<p>My family is from a small town in southern Italy…Although, thank goodness, we’ve never had to deal with communism, poverty is poverty, whatever shade it is in or however you got there. I feel blessed that I had an opportunity to attend the school I got to attend. I know that I worked nonstop to get the grades, opportunities, and extracurricular activities in order to make myself more attractive to various universities. I feel even more blessed that I am able to go to UF without killing my bank account. Your friend can enjoy himself at MIT on his free ride, while another student can be thrilled at the fact that he may attend UF with the benefit of scholarships set up so he can also succeed.</p>
<p>There seems to be a lot of Haterade for Gatorville recently.</p>
<p>So glad you performed a sound statistical study on this matter before making assumptions, cnmpsyd.</p>
<p>Anyway, I hate to pull the “I worked in admissions” card but, seriously, the OP’s assertion is ridiculous. The difference between the ratio of private admits vs. the ratio of public admits is small. People are getting rejected from all sorts of high schools.</p>
<p>At my private school, students were given a boost in UF admissions because of the high school’s perceived difficulty. Universities know about HS’ reputations. </p>
<p>It’s about the YIELD RATE. Now rant about that all you want. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We can’t win with anybody. Well, hopefully we will on the field this year…</p>
<p>
If they cared about yield, why did they get rid of ED?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Allowing lower income students to review their financial aid packages before committing to a school ultimately trumps yield rate (as it should, IMO). </p>
<p>So, no, maintaining a high yield rate is not the most important thing to UF but it still matters. It’s used in rankings, after all, and Bernie is really hellbent on making UF a “top 10” public. </p>
<p>Ridiculous, I know.</p>
<p>I thank everyone for their replies and although I may be 100 % incorrect, in my heart, I honestly believe that UF unofficially bends over backwards to assist the public school applicants at the expense of private school applicants.</p>