Chances at UF?

SAT: 1210 (retaking in June for 1300)
Recalc UF GPA 4.0
IB student taking Bio HL Eng HL History HL Psych SL Math Studies SL French SL
AP classes: HUG LANG LIT USH ENVIRO GOV
may dual enroll statistics during senior year
Worked 3 jobs since high school- publix Mcdonalds American eagle
Extra curricular: track assistant, Big brothers big sisters mentoring, Debbie’s Dream foundation, NEHS, Homeless Coalition, FNHS
-first gen college student
-minority

Is there a good chance of getting accepted to UF? Or even FSU?

Hard to say. My daughter got in
ACT:33
GPA: 4.79
Duel enrolled, 4 yr JROTC, part of multiple clubs

Out of 4 she knew who applied from her school who were top 6/7, only her and one other got in. Write a good essay. Not sure what they look for. Worth a try. She never applied to FSU.

@jajsmom 4.79 UF GPA?
That’s very very high. Of course your daughter got in.

@IB2018 Uf does very little recruiting for minorities. Look at the amount of minorities already there.
Both your SAT and GPA are low, I’d consider UF a reach.

Mmmm, 4.0 recalculated is kinda low, especially since the average this year was 4.4 and the 25th percentile was 4.3. UF’s average SAT this year was somewhere around 1360ish, so even 1300 would be considered low.

I don’t know about FSU either. I heard from some Seniors this year that this girl with a 3.3 unweighted and 4.1 recalculated GPA got rejected from FSU even though she’s in IB. It could have been other things, though, like maybe a late application or a really bad essay. I think you’ll probably get into UCF/USF, but not so sure about FSU or even UF.

Also, apparently not a lot of people know this but Florida banned affirmative action a while ago. Being a minority doesn’t really help unless it’s for certain scholarships, but I don’t think that’s anything specific to UF. If you look at the trends of acceptance for each race from 2016, I think Asians and Whites had above a 50% acceptance rate whereas Hispanics/Blacks/other URMs had ones in the mid 30s, and I remember seeing one with a 26% acceptance rate. Even if race helps a little, it probably won’t help that much if you consider those statistics. However, from what I’ve seen on this forum, being first gen actually helps, but I don’t know if it’s that big of a factor. Maybe you’ll have an advantage if you have the same stats as someone else who wasn’t first gen, or maybe they’ll give you a bigger boost? Nobody really knows, but I think it’s safe to say that you shouldn’t rely on those factors to get in.

As for the classes you’re taking, I don’t know too much but I do know that UF really focuses on course rigor. I remember seeing something about how admissions officers don’t just look for AP/IB classes taken, but also look for the type to make sure that they weren’t “freebie” classes. If I recall correctly, it’s something about IB Bio/Chem/Physics being viewed as much harder than IB Enviro/Psych, IB Calc being more rigorous than IB Math studies, AP History being harder than Human Geo, etc.

Guys the only place where minority status/first gen will be at Elitist schools that are lacking that certain race.
ex. WFU is 6% hispanic and 7% black. Being an underrepresented minority will definitely help here because (1) the school cares about diversity and (2) it lacks diversity.

State schools, on the other hand, are there to serve their STATE. Not cater to a specific race to try to make their school seem diverse. Also, state schools are likely to be much more diverse than elite schools.

I had an extremely rough freshman year. I actually transferred to a much better school into the IB program sophomore year. I am planning on writing my essay that somewhat focuses on this and how it was a positive choice that changed my perspective on life, specifically going to college.

From what I’ve read, being first gen won’t really help me with my current stats? Should I dual enroll a science class to help boost my gpa? Is there any recommendations that could possibly help me have a better chance at admission? (Besides SAT score of course)

@IB2018 I’m assuming you’re a Junior, and at this point there’s not much you can do to help your GPA. Senior year grades aren’t sent to UF, and you only report the classes you will take on the application. It wouldn’t make sense for them to see them anyways since at most public schools the first semester ends late January, and you get your decision back early February.

Not trying to sound discouraging, but to make up for a lower GPA you’d really have to ace the SAT/ACT. 1300 won’t cut it, but even with a high SAT score your chances still aren’t that secure since UF’s known to prioritize GPA/Course Rigor over SAT scores, whereas UMiami does the opposite (according to Gator88NE).

The best thing you can do right now is just to write a good essay.