I will just start out by saying that I am an OOS student who was not accepted to UF. Just wondering if there are a few people on this boards who were NOT accepted to UF. and currently own a Florida pre paid plan and now live outside of Florida.
We know of a few other students who live in the area who have been flat out rejected as well. Some of these kids were very much likely to get in (based on stats), but now are left wondering if UF is flat out denying them based on the fact that they own a Florida Pre paid Plan and would pretty much pay nothing in comparison to a true full paying OOS students .even with lower stats. One of the kids was accepted to the University of Penn, Michigan, and UNC. Go figure!
Asking whether someone is currently holding a Florida Pre Paid plan during the application process seemed to me like a foreshadowing for a rejection. I also did not pre pay the fee for the dorm so I am not sure if even that has any bearing on acceptance.and maybe even interest.
I should mention that I was accepted to FSU and I did not provide any Florida Pre Paid information on the application. Having said that, I will not be attending FSU and I was not planning to attend UF even if admitted. We have a lot of friends from Florida who have been accepted to all the Florida schools with Florida Pre Paid and they have had no issues. Just wondering about those who are now from OOS, but would be considered In state based on the plan
Accepted UF Class of 2022 - OOS - Florida Prepaid
In this case though, the student ‘pays’ instate rates. For years anyone could buy a FPP plan and one of the benefits was they you’d pay the instate rate even if you lived (or moved) OOS. The school gets the $6500 from the prepaid but not the $20k it would get from an OOS payer.
It may be that the admissions office if putting these applicants in the ‘instate’ pile rather than the OOS one.
I was rejected last year with a 4.5 weighted GPA and a 1400 SAT. I do have Florida pre paid. My application was well rounded and I still don’t know what went wrong.
I should note that my high school was very competitive, and this could have played a role. It does seem that there has been an increase in otherwise qualified students facing rejection.
It felt like the end of the world at the time, but I am now extremely successful in FSU honors.
UF is on a long term campaign to compete with the top public universities (think climbing the rankings to UNC-CH levels or near) which requires being highly selective 36%admit rate this year means about 7/10 applicants were denied.)
Roughly the same average stats got admitted but they got far more applications and thus turned down way more applicants than previously.
I’ve heard of that rumor but it’s got no grounding in reality.
Being highly selective means turning down more students than are admitted and turning down lots of qualified applicants.
I honestly think that having Florida Pre Paid and applying from Out Of State is even MORE of a dissadvantage
disadvantage!.. The fact that you have to disclose this on your application it honestly makes you wonder . We know people with far lesser stats who were able to get in. These applicants were applying as out of state students and will be full paying students… The Florida decision has not bearing on our final college decision one way or the other. However,it does make me wonder. She was accepted to FSU with an out of state waiver. We did not have to disclose the Florida Pre Paid info on FSU application.
I guess we will retry this exercise once again two years from now when the brother gets to apply. This information should not be part of the application. It should only come into play once the student commits to the school
There IS a difference between OOS and IS since UF is a public university, ie., designed to serve instate residents.
For instate, it depends on context. If the high school’s average is 25 and you scored 29, you didn’t do as well as someone whose high school’s average is 16 who scored 25.
For all applicants, level of rigor is paramount - adding honors, AP, DE, AICE, IB, a minimum number should be 16 but they’ll then look at what your school offers - they won’t treat an instate kid with no ready access to a CC and only 5 AP classes offered at the hs the same way as an instate kid with 20 APs at the HS plus access to a CC. It’s just fair and a way to consider who did the best with the cards they were dealt. Their duty as a public institution of the state of Florida is to serve the best students in each florida school district.
For OOS, they have zero duty toward them, so the OOS students are there to bring geographical diversity and fill in spots Floridians haven’t taken. I know that officially they don’t consider major but they have to - they have to see if you have the pre-reqs for some majors, especially engineering which is sequential, as well as all sequential/specific majors. In addition, they need to know since some majors are offered through PACE, but not all. So if your major is full and it’s a PACe major you have a shot at PACE but if your major is full already (ie the college has had more qualified applicants) you’re denied.
The admission officers don’t even know whether the student applied for aid or has FL prepaid. The application is split into subjective and objective. It’s need blind/don’t meet need so all info about prepaid isn’t even included in what either reader reviews. One reader has classes, course rigor, grades, test scores, GPA, rank, how the student compares to their school and what the school is like (highly competitive school’s students get a break on rank, less competitive schools students get a break on rigor). One reader has essays and any other subjective elements. If the conclusion is identical (admit/admit or reject/reject) it’s easy and only split decisions are reviewed.
OOS students have a larger pool in which they compete, basically they have to be the top applicants for their college and for their state, not school district.
@MYOS1634 You are probably right. Not going to disagree with you in the majority of the points. But you have other OOS students (classmates) and teammates who have lesser stats and even EC, APs etc it does make you wonder. UF was never a given and for sure not a shoe in but I honestly think that disclosing the Pre paid plan should not be part of the application. and YES students in Florida should be the priority.
Since some of the Florida schools released their admissions much later than some of her top choices, she had lost interest. However, this was not the case for our old Florida friends who were anxiously waiting for their acceptances. Some got in and some did not.
We will try again in two years with S20 who might end being a slightly stronger applicant.
^ you could simply not check the FL Prepaid box … Not sure it’d work but since UF is need blind they couldn’t really ding you. (Only need aware universities can use financial info to determine admissions and therefore are supposed to link and know this information to the application.)