I submitted an application to UF over the weekend (2/16), having found out way too late about the great academic and financial opportunities that are available at the school. Even though the space-available decision date is over a month away, I’ve been trying to figure out whether I have a chance of being admitted or not. Everything that I’ve found so far states that space is super limited for late applicants. Here are some stats that may help:
Major: Undeclared, applied to honors college
GPA: 4.0 UW/4.3 W (OOS, not a Florida resident)
ACT: 36
APs: 5s overall – calc, physics 1 and C, others…; AP Scholar with Distinction
ECs: captain of swim team, jazz band, musician, leader in school’s academies, a few external volunteer positions, lifeguarding, tutoring business
National Merit Finalist
Essays: 7-8/10 ish?
If anybody has any experience with admissions through the space-available basis, I’d love to hear it. If I managed to get in, there’s a high chance I’d attend. Please let me know your opinions or if there’s any way I can demonstrate my interest in the university!
I’m curious how strict uf is with the late application. We called and they said there was limited availability however since they are trying to become a top 5 public college I wonder if they will reject NMF. It seems that they would still accept them even if they applied late As they need nmf to improve their ranking…
Hopefully they are open to accepting late NMFs like it seems UCF and other Florida universities are. They don’t publicize the number of NMFs that they attract, which may indicate that they give less preference to NMFs than the other universities. Any insight into this would be appreciated!
I would not be surprised if UF soon has the most NMFs of any school in the country, given its size, USNWR ranking, and the availability of an auto-free ride even to OOS. I think Benacquisto has only been open to OOS now for two admissions cycles, so no doubt the numbers are still growing.
@GatorDad305@OneMoreToGo2021 indeed! My thoughts exactly . I am moderately concerned that UF doesn’t guarantee the full ride the way that USF and UCF do, but other than that it’s basically a no-brainer for DS21. He does seem to have a reasonably good shot at UChicago and MIT given the interest we’re seeing from their football coaches and the fact that his academics are well above midline for both schools, but he’s still probably going to end up at UF. Go Gators! (omg, never said that before in my life!)
@rollingstone988 what state are you in? We are in NC and my twins got accepted to UNC Chapel Hill but If they get into UF they would most likely go there but waiting till March 27 seems like forever. They are both NMF but we didn’t find out about UF and the Benacquisto until beginning of Feb. if we had known about it back in October they would have definitely applied before November 1.
I’m from WI and am in the exact same situation. I wasn’t aware that the Benacquisto applied to UF either – I only got mail from UCF promoting their program. The wait is so tough. It would be so nice to know something at this point!
The UF admissions officer who came to our school’s college fair said they don’t give preference to National Merit students during the review process like UCF does. That being said, I imagine the NM kids have stats that exceeds the school averages and have a higher chance of being accepted in which case, they receive the Benacquisto scholarship. She also strongly recommended applying before the Nov 1 deadline because she said there weren’t many spots left after they made their initial decisions. Good luck!
Every indication I have seen from UF is that they build their class in this round. If you haven’t applied by the first deadline and your name isn’t Zach Evans, then you are probably out of luck.
I got in yesterday! I must’ve gotten lucky. No admission to the honors college, though. I figure they filled that up in the first round – I’ll just have to apply for it as a freshman. Thank you all for your help in navigating this admissions process.
@Melissa96 If state budget is cut what happens to OOS Benaquisto students? Full pay OOS tuition? Would OOS portion of tuition be waived for remaining years? Would other scholarships take over?
If other scholarships have been offered then they would take over. Otherwise it is possible the student would be responsible for out of state tuition. OSS Benaquisto is fairly new so I can’t imagine it going away already but can’t guarantee that it won’t.
@Melissa96 When can we expect to see Benaquisto in one.uf under Financial Aid? I see $500 National Merit College Sch but there is no mention of Benaquisto.
. I am moderately concerned that UF doesn’t guarantee the full ride the way that USF and UCF do, but other than that it’s basically a no-brainer for DS21. He does seem to have a reasonably good shot at UChicago and MIT given the interest we’re seeing from their football coaches and the fact that his academics are well above midline for both schools, but he’s still probably going to end up at UF. Go Gators! (omg, never said that before in my life!)