I’ve always been told that students from Gainesville are at an advantage when it comes to getting in because apparently UF likes locals. At the IB school here, we had a 99% acceptance rate to UF last year (87 kids applied, 86 got in), and a ton of kids from the other magnets were apparently accepted as well. Is this just a coincidence or do state colleges just like hometown students more?
Does anyone have a map or data set that shows individual acceptance rates per county or something like that?
Given that a great many UF employees send their kids to Alachua County schools, there is a strong tendency to support local kids. The other county that is somewhat easier to get into UF is Leon County.
Gainesville has one of the best IB programs in the country. Likely due to the influence of the parents who are employed by UF.
UF doesn’t share acceptance rates by county, but they do list counties and high schools by # of applicants.
Top Counties by # applicants
- Miami Dade 3,125
- Broward 3,124
- Palm Beach 1,968
- Hillsborough 1,954
- Orange 1,760
(notice that Alachua county is not one of the top 5, yet it’s one of the top 3 or 4 for [u}enrolled students)
Top HS
1 Cypress Bay HS, 384 applicants, Weston, FL
2. Saint Thomas Aquinas HS, 247 applicants, Fort Lauderdale FL
3. Coral Reef HS, 239, Miami
4. Suncoast Community HS, 222, Riviera Beach
5. H. B. Plant HS, 187, Tampa
6. Winter Park HS, 185, Winter Park
7. Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS, 178 Parkland
8. Miami Palmetto Senior HS, 174, Miami
9. Stanton College Prep HS, 171, Jacksonville
UF also shares the number of enrolled students by counties.
Geographic Distribution of Enrollment by Florida Counties, Fall Terms (1989-2014)
http://www.ir.ufl.edu/factbook/i-06_hist.xlsx
(note that Alachua county’s enrolled numbers have been trending down…likely due to increase competition, especially from south Florida).
A map of 2011 Fall Term Enrollment by County:
http://www.ir.ufl.edu/factbook/Enrollment_Cnty_Fall_Maps.pdf
Yeah, I’m pretty sure we have an advantage to an extent. I’m a senior at EHS right now and I think when I was a freshman, everyone in the graduating class who applied was accepted. It’s also probably because it’s an IB school, and the admissions officers probably know about how rigorous our program is. Plus, Florida schools in general love IB students and had an 88% IB acceptance rate at UF in 2011 and FSU had around 94% (I think, can someone confirm?) . I don’t know about them being biased towards Alachua kids, though. GHS’s Cambridge has a relatively high acceptance rate as well but I have a few friends at BHS that claim that only about 40-50 get accepted each year (In a class of 500). I don’t know about the other non-magnet schools but I doubt they have high acceptance rates.
@PupuLovesPickles Holy shit, I’m a junior at EHS right now and I might know you (I’ll PM you).
@Gator88NE That’s what everyone says but I still have my doubts that EHS is really one of the “best.” Our rankings have been decreasing over the years and a lot of the good teachers left within these last few years and got replaced by people who had either never taught before or were used to teaching undergrads at UF. Hopefully when I apply it’ll still be well known 
. By the way, thanks for the data!
Alachua County has strong schools. The 3 high schools in Gainesville. offer an IB program at one, a Cambridge Program at another and an excellent AP program at the 3rd, Buchholz High School. Buchholz’s math team has won the national championship every year since 2008 and is ranked nearly at the top of Florida schools with the highest pass rate on AP tests. The AP teachers have been there a long time & love what they do. Also, of all the city schools, it had the most NMSFs this year. Had to put in a plug for Buchholz as a proud mama!
To anyone thinking of moving to Gainesville, you can choose from many wonderful schools, all with great qualities.As far as UF admissions, I have no idea if it helps to be from Alachua County. But it sure is fun being in a college town and taking advantage of all that UF has to offer. My son loves attending the University of Florida and my daughter hopes to hear in Feb. that she will be a Gator, too!
Oh, it also could be because local schools have such a high yield rate. I don’t know about the others but EHS usually has a 75% yield rate, so I’m assuming they’re more inclined to accept students from schools with traditionally higher yield rates since the kids are probably going to attend.
@floridamomof3 as one of those math-teamers and merit semifinalists, I second that