Frustrated with UCF

My daughter applied to UCF 2019 Fall term way back on October 27, 2018. She still hasn’t heard anything about her admission. They had all the required documents as of November 2. After 1st semester was over we had the high school send her updated transcript. And still no decision from UCF. She has been admitted to every other university that she applied to but of course UCF is her first choice. She doesn’t want to commit to another university until she knows if UCF is an option or not.

She has called admissions multiple times and all they say is she’ll know by May 31. Problem is that the other schools she was accepted to have a decision deadline of May 1. I’m really frustrated with UCF. I haven’t called admissions myself because my daughter asked that I let her handle it. That’s fine, I won’t get involved but it doesn’t mean I’m not frustrated with this school. I call b.s. on UCF for their slow admissions office. At this point, I just want them to give my daughter an answer, don’t care if it’s yes or no, just give her a decision so we can start planning.

Is status pending or defered? Just out of curiosity, what are her stats?

When I go to the application status page it just says, “If required documents (transcripts, test scores, etc.) have been submitted, your application is currently being reviewed by our admission committee for the Fall 2019 term.” It has said that since November.

She is out of state, GPA 3.981, Weighted GPA 4.583, ACT 26, she wouldn’t let me read her essay so idk how strong that was and she wouldn’t let me double check her awards, service hours, etc. so idk if she put everything down.

I think from reading other stats on this board that her being accepted is a stretch but who knows, I could be wrong. I hope for her sake I’m wrong. I just would like to have an answer already, especially if it’s bad news so she can get over UCF and get excited about the schools that already accepted her.

Thanks for letting me vent. I’m not letting my frustration be known to my daughter. I know she is already anxious stressed about it so I don’t want to add to that. On the outside I’m being the cool supportive mom that understands it’s a long process but on the inside I’m screaming at them to give her a decision. Lol

Based on my limited exposure to admissions I would suggest she call again and/or ask her councilor to call and make sure everything is in. The seem to have a habit of clearing holds for squeaky wheels. Good luck.

Thanks for the suggestion

Agree that it would not hurt to ask the guidance counselor to see if he/she can get any insight as to why the decision is taking so long.

Another suggestion would be to have her deposit at the top choice college she has been accepted into. This will reserve her spot. If she does get into UCF, the school is affordable, and she decides that is her preferred college your D can inform the first school in writing that she will not be attending and then would be free to deposit at and attend UCF. The only negative of this is that if she does switch to UCF you would lose the deposit at the original college.

As a parent, I would call and explain the dilemma to the admissions person. A compromise would be if you called together with your daughter. I did this with my son in a phone call recently…he took the lead but I was able to chime in my questions. They were the same questions, but mine were more direct and clear thus receiving a direct and clear answer. Good luck!

@LuckyRebel. Oh I can relate to the total UCF frustration. I too was the parent who agonized and got so upset with how they do admissions. I had to call them several times since the status info keep changing from, we need application fee to, we need transcript etc. At one point it was clear she had been accepted since they were sending flyers to our home inviting her to applied to particular programs and yet no status update in the system. On the last call, I remained composed but pointed out how stressful their process makes it for the applicant and their parents. The next day, she received an acceptance online. Maybe it was purely coincidental, but I think calling helps.

@LuckyRebel My son applied the end of October for Summer acceptance and his status changed mid January to “deferred for further evaluation”. He sent in updated transcripts and scores, but nothing has changed. It has been so frustrating! I have called multiple times, but it has made no difference. He has been accepted to several other universities and even put down a housing deposit in November for another.

Orientation registration and housing selection begin in only a few weeks, so he has recently decided on another university. For my son, I can’t imagine him continuing to wait on UCF, especially since they do not have enough housing on campus for all freshmen who want to live on campus.
During one of my phone calls to UCF admissions I was told that you can ask them to make a decision and they will, but there is not a good chance of getting accepted this way.
Good luck. I hope your daughter gets an answer soon.

D not wanting you to read essay? That is suspect in itself. Otherwise, what you post is solid for UCF and this would probably get you in UF for out of state unless something else is way out of alignment. They have rolling admission there right? I was accepted super fast so this does not make sense unless midstream they are tightening up due to talent pool improving.

I have been deferred since November. It may just be because of transcripts. I have called many times and they are currently very behind on processing them. Obviously, I would just call and ask, but they continue to respond with the fact that they have rolling admissions. I relate with how it can be frustrating since I have been accepted into FGCU but UCF is my number one choice. At this point, it is just the waiting game. But they will tell you within the next couple of months if you have been waitlisted or not. Basically, the may 31 deadlines can be for anyone, but you should know before then if you have been waitlisted or not. Usually, they do accept a decent amount of people for summer, so if you don’t get into the fall semester, you have a good chance of getting into the summer semester. If you do get into summer, I would suggest accepting it since if you get into summer, you pretty much get into fall. Plus you have to take summer credits anyways so. But like I said right now it’s the waiting game. Good luck!!

Thank you for all your thoughts and suggestions. It’s good to know I’m not alone in my frustration.

@Likesbikes It really didn’t surprise me that she didn’t let me read her essay. She didn’t let me read any of her writings and papers throughout h.s. She’s very independent. I’ve never had to hound her about homework or getting assignments done and turned in on time. She always been very self motivated and got it all done and has gotten pretty good grades. So I let her do her thing. Her little sister on the other hand… lol

@NinjaMom123 I am so tempted to call and just tell them to give her an answer, just to have a no answer so she’ll move on to her 2nd choice school. I’m not going to do that though. I don’t want to interfere and make something happen or not happen. I’m going to let it be and silently deal with my frustration. I asked her today if she planned on calling and she just kind of sighed and said she didn’t think it would help. I asked her to give calling some thought.

@Brooke98 I haven’t really thought about if she would enroll in summer if she got accepted for summer instead of fall. Her h.s. graduation isn’t until June 16. That would be quite a push to get her there and situated before summer term starts, but it could be done if that’s what happens. I’m going to plant that thought with her tomorrow to make sure she knows that is a possibility and to think about if she would want to do that.

I will definitely post an update when she gets a decision.

I would have her call again. Sometimes squeaky wheel gets the oil.

PLS know that she may be talking to a student employee (not that they dont know what they are talking about) and may get a different answer if she can get to a different person.

If she is 18, they may refuse to answer any questions to a mother without her on the phone call.

Yes, In the state of Florida, you are required to take 9 hours of classes during summer sessions, but know that these can be taken online or at a different school as a transient student. If you take from a different school, you will HAVE to have the class preapproved and go thru a few very easy hoops to get it to count, but it may be worth it.

I am a mom of a junior and senior at ucf.
Go Knights…charge on!

I actually registered on this site, JUST to comment to this thread. YES, the admissions process at UCF is beyond frustrating. It’s our OOS senior’s 2nd choice college. Her GPA isn’t great, but extra-curriculars are very strong, and she has gotten into every single other school she has applied to for Fall 2019. We were expecting acceptance to UCF, possibly with a Summer start. But it’s been “crickets” with them.

We need to be registering her for orientation and a dorm somewhere else, if UCF is not going to be an option. UCF has had everything they needed since early November, plus we had 1st semester transcripts sent, just in case. At this point, I wish they would just decline her admissions request, so we can forget about UCF. I understand that my daughter might not be a top candidate for them, so why leave her in pending status limbo.

@TwoHighSchoolers OMG We are in the exact same boat! Housing, orientation, all those things we have to do are on hold until we hear from UCF. My D isn’t letting her UCF dream go and accepting her 2nd choice school at this point. Leaving the kids hanging is really not fair when they have been waiting for 4 months. Especially since kids that have applied in the last month or two already received a decision. Super frustrating.

I just want to say that I am sorry this is happening- they said May 31??? That’s ridiculous! I have a freshman at UCF and I can’t imagine how awful this would have been if this would have happened to my D last year.
@LuckyRebel - my guess is it’s her ACT score holding her back, but her GPA is excellent, so it should balance out. Maybe her major is competitive? Maybe she should change to Summer???

I hope everyone hears back soon- I’m really disappointed to keep hearing these stories!

To any high school juniors who read these threads- warning- apply to UCF as soon as applications open- usually late July and do the UCF application with an essay!!! I think this was why my D heard back so quickly last year.

Everyone has to deposit somewhere before may 1st. Perhaps kids still waiting could think in terms of “where could I deposit till May 31?”

@jeneric I agree that the earlier you apply the better. Mys on applied in August to USF and was accepted in the beginning of October. Still waiting on an answer from UCF (he applied in October).
I spoke with someone in UCF’s admission department and was told that they look at your GPA and test scores, then if you are competitive, they read your essays.

Small update: No decision yet but my husband called Admissions today, explained that D applied Oct. 27 and we had her updated transcript sent at the beginning of February. Admissions said that it should take a week to recalculate GPA and if we don’t see a change in her status they’ll expedite it.

Here’s to hoping.

I woke up this morning, thinking about how I would NEVER recommend to any other out-of-state family to go through this ridiculous UCF admissions process. Our daughter just asked us yesterday if she could re-visit her two safety schools (that she really doesn’t want to attend, but are very financially feasible), and I know she would prefer to use her “college visit days” to visit her top two schools (Arizona State University and University of Central Florida) instead. But, seriously, how do we book another Orlando trip, if UCF won’t update her admissions status.

If anyone from UCF is reading this, just defer the kids, if you need to, but PLEASE don’t leave their status just pending for so long. This slow process is leaving the high-schoolers with hope that any day now they might be admitted. It is really a horrible practice.