Chance Me For U of F Agriculture?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
1

Hi!

I’m a bright and bubbly African American Senior Graduating this year, and I was wondering what chances I might have to be admitted to the University of Florida. I am looking at an Agricultural Science major. Thank you so much and any input will be well received.

Stats:

Race: Black/African American
Gender: Male
Status: First Generation College Student (parents went but never succeeded)
FinAid - Will be applying for. Family makes 130,000 a year solely from the father, but parents won’t be able to offer very much in terms of aid.

GPA: (this will be at the end of my Senior Year): 4.44 Weighted, 3.9 Unweighted, U of F GPA (Estimation - 4.68)
ACT: 29 Composite (29 E, 31 R, 28 M, 28, S) Retaking next month.
Senior Course Load:
General Biology 1 and 2 (Dual Enrollment at Community College)
General Chemistry 1 and 2 (Dual Enrollment at Community College)
Cultural Anthropology (Dual Enrollment at Community College)
Honors Government and Economics
Spanish III
(My school doesn’t offer many honors, AP, or IB courses, only dual-enrollment at the nearby community colleges, so I have taken 13 classes there, with 10 A’s, 2 B’s, and 1 C.

ECs
Not many, my school is online and has no actual clubs, other than NHS.

NHS Officer (as of this year)
Over 100hrs volunteer work
Youth Usherboard Leader at Church (Since 8th Grade)
Placed on the Community College’s Dean List (district wide)
1st place in high school science fair freshman year.
Full-Time Food-Service Job, with an option to move up to management (I had to turn down to focus more on school)

Thank you guys so much for any input! You may have seen this post on another thread, but honestly, I am just searching for different opinions and information to increase my chances!

2

Hi there, current UF CALS student in an agricultural major here!

I literally had stats that were so similar to yours (29 ACT, first gent, 100+ service hours, DE classes, Dean’s list, club officer) except I’m not male or African American, though.

Majors don’t matter much here in freshman apps, except if you could slightly relate your chosen application major to some of your ECs/work experiences, but I’ll ask this first, what were you thinking about majoring in? UF doesn’t have just “agricultural science,” we have the “College of Agricultural and Life Sciences” with 20+ majors. You’ll have to figure out a specific asset of agriculture to major in, like animal sciences or horticultural sciences or wildlife ecology, agricultural communications, food science, botany, etc. Some majors are more competitive than others, some of the larger ones like biology, microbiology, food science and animal sciences (popular pre-med/pre-vet majors). Luckily with having to choose a specific major, you’d be able to focus on something specific in agriculture at UF.

Do you have any experience with anything in agriculture? 4-H, farming, work experience, summer programs, etc. Those could help strengthen your app. Your stats and EC resume are average for UF, i.e. impressive in general but really nothing too spectacular and different. Don’t take that the wrong way- you’ve worked hard but there are lots of students like you. Plus your familial income may be a bit high to get aid other than loans…

You could also face getting denied at first from UF, that’s what happened to me, and sent to a different university or to get your AA and to apply as a transfer. Sadly UF is known for denying agriculture major students since UF is almost the only college that offers agriculture, and they know they can since we’ll come back (I had to for my major and to get in-state tuition). Literally 90% of the students in my major are transfers and they advertise it like that.

Have you looked at FAMU in Tallahassee? It’s a traditional HBCU but they are also an agricultural school, and IIRC do offer a true, broad “agricultural science” major with a little bit of everything, with all the goodness of Bright Futures and cheap, in state tuition (if you live in Florida). Your stats would be high for an applicant there, and they offer lots of aid (I was offered nearly a full ride there as a safety) and it may be a great fit for you.

3

@mastermind59 Thanks so much! I would actually be coming from out of state. I was definitely interested in horticulture, but I have looked at FAMU and applied, to hopefully get accepted there, as they provide a full ride for students with a 29 or higher. I will hopefully get to transfer to U of F someday…Wish me luck!

4

@whenderson272 You’re welcome! I actually just saw another one of your posts on the scholarship/financial aid board. Sadly like someone said there, I don’t think you’ll get much aid from UF, my family income is <$30,000 and I get no need based aid from UF and none from FAFSA that I accepted. Admissions scholarships are few and far in between and as an OOS student chances are low. :frowning:

A couple other things that I though of for you though. If you’re dead set on UF or Cornell and limited on finances, why not go to CC for a two-year transfer degree, then transfer? Here at UF you wouldn’t be alone, at all, especially in agriculture, and as long as your CC is regionally accredited your credit for GE classes should transfer. That way you could save money the first two years by staying close to home. It sucks, but as someone who had to go that route, looking back I am actually grateful for the extra 1.5 years I had at home while doing CC to both grow up more and to save some cash.

If you’re interested in coming to Florida, two other school suggestions, Warner University in Lake Wales and Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Warner offers a relatively new “agricultural studies” Bachelor’s degree that I have heard good things about, with the ability to get a taste of everything through a general degree. They encourage you to pick up a minor in biology, education, etc. if you’d want a “concentration” in something. Florida Southern literally has one of the most beautiful campuses in the world with a horticulture and citrus studies department with degrees in those and is also known to be good in giving out scholarships and FA. Both are affiliated with Christian churches (Church of God for Warner and United Methodist for FL Southern), but I have heard good things about both, and both give good scholarships on admissions and within their departments.

http://warner.edu/undergraduate/departments-programs/agricultural-studies/
https://www.flsouthern.edu/undergraduate/majors/citrus-and-horticultural-science.aspx

5

Hey! I just received my ACT scores back. I got a 32! With a 35 on the Science portion!