<p>Hi, I'm currently a junior living in Tampa, Florida and I'm hoping to get into UF :)</p>
<p>SAT: 2100
GPA: 4.6 weighted
Rank: Top 10%
Intended major: I'm thinking about going into Neurobiological Sciences. </p>
<p>EC's:
300+ hours of community service (the local zoo, the hospital, cleaning up beaches). Also included is 100 hours of work in a cancer research lab.
Graphics Editor and staff writer of school newspaper, have my own monthly political cartoon column. Have had several issues where art has been on front page, also won awards
ethnicity: Iranian; fluent. Can read, write, and talk. Lived in Iran for a bit.
Secretary of National Beta Club, Treasurer of Political Science Club. Active in National Honors Society, Ecology Club, Spanish National Honor Society
Published in school art magazine
On the girl's Tennis team
Tampa General Hospital's monthly newsletter (make it + publish it)</p>
<p>Thanks guys! I’m also applying to NYU and Vandy but I plan on attending UF. It’s a better choice according to my parents and academic advisors. If it wasn’t for a wake-up call and reality check from the former dean of middle eastern studies @ columbia university when I visited New York this spring break, I wouldn’t have even considered UF! That visit also changed my mind about majors (from political science/international relations to biological sciences!!).</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me more about UF’s Neurobiological Sciences program? Isn’t that part of the Honors Program?? thanks. I’m not sure whether I want to end up being a pathologist or a neurologist. Or pharmacy! lol. All I know is that I would like to do something related to the sciences…</p>
<p>Anything else I could do to secure admission? My cousin is an alumni (graduated w/honors), if that counts for anything? hahah</p>
<p>^ Can you give me any detail on why it changed your mind about majors?</p>
<p>I can’t tell you about the Neurobiological program, but I know UF has one of the only pharmacy program(1 of the 2, I believe) in the state of florida. Very good pharmacy program.</p>
<p>And you can secure your admission by finishing up strong this year and next. They do ask if you have any family who were alumni, but from my memory, I am 80% sure it only asked for siblings and parents. I do not remember if it asked about cousins, but i’m not sure. And make your essay good, but from my experience/understanding, an amazing essay makes little to no difference from a good or even decent essay in UF admissions. Don’t take that too seriously though if you can of course make an amazing essay. I’m just saying that that is my experience and understanding.</p>
<p>I changed majors because I didn’t think I would be too comfortable in the “political science” atmosphere. I wanted to excel in international relations so I could <em>hopefully</em> enter a specific agency (I could probably get in too since I’m fluent in Farsi) but after talking to my dad’s friend who taught @ Columbia, he told me otherwise. It changed my entire perspective on pursuing the major. </p>
<p>So, I always liked the sciences and medicine. I volunteered at a hospital for two years and most of my family is in medicine; I thought, why not?! lol. I’m REALLY leaning towards pathology but psychology always interested me so neuroscience is always nice too I’m really familiar with pharmacy since I volunteered in the pharmacy at the hospital. I sorted out prescriptions and helped pharmacists on a weekly basis for several hours, so I have experience.</p>
<p>I’m also taking the ACT in June, what score should I aim for? :/</p>
<p>oh and I’m visiting UF next month! I’m excited :)</p>
<p>I really don’t know what score you should aim for, i’m not farmiliar with the ACT, but your SAT score is more than high enough for UF. I’d imagine it’s over the 75% percentile in every section, assuming you didn’t get like an 800 in writing.</p>
<p>If I could offer you any piece of advice, it’d be to get your admissions process done early for all schools, get in your application early, if you need teacher recommendations for any schools, ask them at the beggining of senior year, or even now if you can. Keep your options open(meaning apply to a couple reaches out of state) as you have high stats and will most likely be accepted to better out of state schools and your opinion might change of UF. You only get to apply as a FTIC once in your life, you might as well apply to a couple schools to keep your options open. Also, if you have any problems with an app, don’t ask on CC call the school directly lol. Lastly, if you want to, retake the SAT senior year in OCT or NOV. I took it May of junior year and NOV of senior year, and my score(in May I had several problems during the exam, so keep that in mind), but I went from about a 2000 to a 2110. If I really studied for vocab(the section I <em>tried</em> preparing for) it probably would have been around a 2200(not bragging - it’d be ridiculous to brag I know plenty of people with 2300+; i’m just saying that if you have a weak point, study a bit, as studying can really help on the writing and vocabulary section of the SAT. Writing sections get repetitive and have similar questions on the SAT if you may have noticed.) Thats just for other colleges a 2100 is more than enough for UF.</p>
<p>Invixtus8: You must understand that there is no longer such thing as being a “shoe-in” for admission at UF anymore. A few years ago? Perhaps, but not these days.</p>
<p>I know of many students that got rejected with as great stats or better.</p>
<p>I have come to the conclusion that their are two reasons for this:</p>
<p>1) The most likely and common reason that most were rejected with stats like these or better was Tufts Syndrome. Three people that I know, for example, got rejected probably due to this. One got into U North Carolina Chapel Hill, the other to Notre Dame, and the other one, last I checked, was being sought after BY MIT.</p>
<p>2) There was something, even if it was a small thing, that was missing to make their application seem like they were not a 100% well rounded person. Like having great academic stats, but loads more ECs than CSs (trust me, this has happened).</p>
<p>lambpox: I am not trying to scare you or anything, trust me that is the last thing I want to do with prospective applicants, I just want you to know the facts.</p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will try my best to answer them as best I can.</p>
<p>UF is a State public school. The “tufts syndrome” talk for this school is ridiculous and unsubstantiated. I could also tell you the people I know with a 1600 SAT and 6.8 GPA that obviously were accepted. UF does not reject applicants that are too good.</p>
<p>gpowsang, UF does not need to practice yield protection as it is the state flagship. God forbid UF reject people that do not express an interest in attending. There is still such a thing as a “shoe in” for UF, but you can’t insult the admissions officers with an essay that says in effect “I’m super awesome and therefore I should be admitted despite having no interest in attending”.</p>
<p>satwizard and gthopeful: Like I said before, I know of various kids that should have gotten in with as good as or better stats than this and were rejected that had UF as their number 1 choice.</p>
<p>Invictus8: I was just adding other common words.</p>
<p>UF and NYU are my top two choices. I visited the NYU campus last month. I’m aiming for 5’s on my two APs in may so I can submit them w/ my SAT score, due to their new policy for admissions. My strongest subjects are Lang/US History, and I’ll likely get a high score on both exams…studying really hard! I’m also thinking about retaking the SATs in october.</p>
<p>but thanks for all the input you guys. Yeah I’m fearing ‘tufts syndrome’! However, my school’s valedictorian this year got accepted into Harvard, UPenn, AND UF…so who knows?</p>
I’m also applying to NYU and Vandy but I plan on attending UF. It’s a better choice according to my parents and academic advisors. If it wasn’t for a wake-up call and reality check from the former dean of middle eastern studies @ columbia university when I visited New York this spring break, I wouldn’t have even considered UF! That visit also changed my mind about majors (from political science/international relations to biological sciences!!).</p>