<p>My junior daughter received a letter yesterday from UF inviting her to UF to participate in the Outstanding High School Scholars Program. This is a two day event in June where she spends the night on campus in a dorm and takes tours, meets people, etc. for two days. Now, she's toured UF twice, once with her older brother and a few months ago when she did the Friday with Honors as well as the general tour the next day. We have a conflict on the weekend she's been invited for this -- graduation/wedding ... stuff already on the books. I'm trying to decide if this is something I really need to move stuff around for in order for her to particpate or if this is sent out to several thousand kids and essentially the same things we've already done. (The letter says to "hurry and register" as only 200 spots will be available) They've given her a USER ID and password to RSVP for the program and told her that she needs to keep track of that user ID as she will use it to begin to prepare her UF application. </p>
<p>Anyone else ever done this? Any insight? Thanks!</p>
<p>It sounds like your D has already had ample opportunity to see UF. Don't rearrange plans. UF will ultimately decide based on grades, scores, EC's etc, and attending or not attending will have no bearing on ultimate acceptance. </p>
<p>She can send a nice email about why she is declining, etc. And she can hold onto the user ID and password for applying, but anyone can get a user ID and password to apply. </p>
<p>It's a nice opportunity to see UF up close and personal, and to be made to feel "special." But that's it. And yes, it probably went to the top 5% of students based on the FACTS.org info.</p>
<p>Hm this is news to me. Is your D a member of any particular demographic that they might be targeting? In any case, I hate to sound cynical but I doubt she would take away much from this outside of the sugar coated words she hears for 2 days ( the place where she will be staying, Broward Hall, is kind of a dump too! ). I am confident from her previous experiences that she can make an informed choice.</p>
<p>Yeah, that's kind of what I'd been feeling. I think we'll take your advice, Sunnyflorida, and send a nice email rejection ... still expressing great interest in UF, letting them know that she has toured more than once, and sending our regrets due to previous engagement. </p>
<p>gthopeful ... as far as a demographic, I think by the timing it may be off her ACT scores and profile. She scored a 35 on that, and her areas of interested listed are math and science. But who knows ... </p>
<p>Alright, everyone step aside, I have been to this program before, was accepted for Fall 2008, and know EXACTLY what it entails.</p>
<p>So is it the normal speech, greet, meet, and tour? Yes. Are there other things that are included in the itinerary that would be beneficial to you? Yes. The two day program was actually very informative for me, not only about the campus and what it has going for it after you have been accepted, but about the actual application process. They give tons of info and many details about the admissions process and you can speak with the REAL Admissions people (the ones who make decisions, a lot of the people who go to your schools or you speak to actually do not make admission decisions). Also they give you feedback for your admissions essay and actually HAND you the rubric for the essay. This had to be the most valuable thing I got from there because some of the questions on the rubric are not what you would expect. There is also a private q and a session with the potential applicants and current students and there is separate stuff for parents. There is also a lot of generic stuff, like a banquet and a truckload of free stuff, and a college/major fair.</p>
<p>And to those who do not know what this is, it is a program for outstanding students that is given only a handful of times for a (relatively) small number of students. And YES, it is broken up into demographics, where one is Latino Scholars, another Black Scholars, and then Scholars (for everyone else). And UF does not choose many of the attendees, the students' schools or guidance counselors elect them to attend.</p>
<p>My son went last year and was accepted for Honors Fall 2008. The few that he knew that were invited all went on to become National Merit Finalists. His guidance department was unaware of the program. I encourage you and your daughter to attend if you are considering UF.</p>
<p>Zebes - are we the same person? Do we have the same kids???
DS #3 just got the same thing. I think it was related to his PSAT score, which (barely) put him in the commended student range. We're going to the event, but didn't have other plans.</p>
<p>Mom2three ... I'm only a mom2two, <g> :)</g></p>
<p>My husband spoke to a colleague at work whose daughter (last year) participated in this ... she's a freshman in chemical engineering at UF now. She felt, even though she'd already attended tours and such at UF, that she got a lot out of the event and it helped her in terms of clarifying both major and school. So, I just registered my D. Now I just need to get her 19 year old brother to take her and sit in on the Sunday events as I'll be out of state for a wedding. I'll try and make it for Monday's stuff. Why is everything on one weekend? Normally, there's nothing much going on .... this weekend: out of state wedding, SAT subject tests, husband leaving wedding to travel out of country ... and now this. </p>
<p>After speaking directly with the UF Admissions office, it appears that invitations were sent based on your PSAT scores...nothing more. Anyone who received commended status and scored 200 and above, is invited to attend.</p>
<p>Correct me if I am wrong, but when I worked the outstanding HS program 2 summers ago, they gave the participants some type of advantage with their application, but I cant remember what it was. What it this program or the other summer HS programs.</p>
<p>ASMAJ is right. Students who attend the Outstanding HS Scholars event in the past have been allowed to apply early and receive their decision in December but it's not officially an EA/ED application, so it doesn't preclude them from applying early somewhere else. My S was told that it was considered more like a rolling admission situation. Their applications are flagged as Outstanding HS Scholars attendees (they used to use a special colored paper app -- more recently there's a particular place on the online application to indicate that they attended the Outstanding HS Scholars event).</p>
<p>They tell the kids that attending the event is not a guarantee of admission, but it's certainly the next best thing. I don't know of anyone who attended who wasn't admitted.</p>
<p>OP, if your D can't attend the weekend she was invited because of other commitments, you might want to call and ask if she can come to one of the other weekends. As another poster mentioned, there is a weekend for Hispanic scholars, African-American scholars, and Scholars. </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your insight. My D is registered for the event; her 19-year-old brother will be driving her there and helping her get signed in. He'll then participate as me for any Sunday parents meetings. I'll fly back to OIA about 11pm on Sunday and then drive to Gainesville where I've booked a room for my son and I. He'll come home Monday, and I'll be "me" for any additional parents meetings. Thankfully, when we registered there was a drop down menu which allowed for "adult sibling" to be in attendance with the student. And, I was able to add my name as "other attendee," mentioning I wouldn't be there until Monday. </p>
<p>Just to clear something up, participants of these programs are not given the ability to apply non binding ED anymore. With the elimination of ED this year, they eliminated it for everyone. Before leaving the Hispanic Scholars Program, they just told us that we should mention our attendance in a box in the application. </p>
<p>However, despite the obvious advantages in the admissions process, they did their best to refrain from letting us know that we were going to have an edge.</p>