I have my own theory about why that student from the class of 2014 did not make it into UF but did make it into Cornell. 1) Her chosen major was psychology. This major is so overloaded that UF will not allow you to minor in it. 2) She never showed true interest in UF by visiting or communicating with their admissions team. I did not get the impression she really wanted to go to UF and that must have come though in her essay.3) While she was smart,( high PSAT and SAT) she did not take the most challenging courses at her high school but instead chose to take honors courses or less challenging AP courses. 4) Her only school activity was band and she did not necessarily excel at the state level in band as others in her group did .5) She simply had too much competition in her peer group at the high school which was filled with many high stats kids who ALL applied to UF and all took much more challenging AP courses such as AP Chem. This group also had many sports and science kids and national award winners. Several of them showed genuine interest in UF by making multiple visits and even going to a special program arranged for them by a science teacher at the high school. She did not take part in that group. The girl’s main activity was volunteering at an abused children’s shelter. By the time she decided to apply to Cornell, she had lots to write about in a very meaningful essay about her work at the children’s shelter and she changed her major to music therapy and psychology. ( Not a high demand major at Cornell). Just my theory!