He was accepted EA to Miami and the honors college at UCF already. After reading these forums and some illogical rejection/acceptances, I am a little worried about his chances at UF.
SAT:1480
weighted gpa- 4.4
unweighted 3.86
14 AP classes
President of Debate
100 hrs of community service(he only did the bare minimum.
I am hoping my fears are unfounded, but not comfortable yet.
UF has a holistic approach to admissions which in some ways is more subjective than the other state schools and even Univ. of Miami. You can see how they view things by googling “UF common data set.” UF cares less (in an unknown increment) about test scores, for example, than essay, rigor and GPA.
First question is have you computed your son’s recalculated GPA? State schools compute the GPA differently than most high schools. If you haven’t, here is a site that helps: https://www.scoreatthetop.com/gpa-calculator
Next is what has your son done outside the classroom? UF wants well-rounded superstars, so they are looking for meaningful extra curriculars, volunteer work, etc. They weigh this heavily – and much more heavily than any other state school in Florida.
Also, how does your son compare to other kids in his school? The consensus on this forum, for now, is that UF seems to admit a similar number of kids from each high school each year. If you can get a handle on that, it helps in trying to figure out his chances.
While no kid is a lock with holistic admissions, the consensus seems to be that a kid has a good chance if they are are in the top 25% in test score (SAT 1470+ or ACT 33+) and recalculated gpa of 4.6+ and in the top 10% of their class.
I’m curious to know more about your son’s extra-curriculars. Unfortunately, a lot of kids with great grades, rigor and scores don’t get into UF because they haven’t shown UF enough with other factors like essay, ECs, volunteer work.
I agree with @GatorDad305. SAT is great, rigor looks good with 14 APs, you did not give much regarding extracurriculars. Hopefully there is more than you indicated.
What we don’t know is how his rigor and GPA compares to his peers at his high school. If there are a bunch of other kids with 17-20 APs/DEs and 4.0s unweighted, that puts your son’s achievements in a different light. UF looks at grades and rigor in the context of what is available to the student. At some schools, 14 APs are not available or allowable, while in others that is not unusual.
Also, the essay is very important, so that is a big wildcard that nobody can judge.
Hope it works out, let us know.
Thanks for the insight. His ECs were not extensive at all, but he was very involved with debate and speech. He was elected president of the club this year and captain of the competition team. Like I said, his volunteer hours are the bare minimum. His class ranking is 26th out of 582- top 4.4%. Obviously it is a large, competitive school that offers a lot of AP classes. His recalculated gpa was 3.9 unweighted, 4.6 weighted. His essay was very strong. His debate coach used to work for admissions at Ohio State and reviewed it for him. She said it was very good.
He looks like a strong applicant. The lack of other ECs might hurt him but I would say he has an excellent chance.
I agree with @GatorDad305, being in the top 5% of large public high school with SAT in top 25% is a good fit.
Thanks guys. 23 days to go!