Will people start to hear back from FSU who were deferred from the priority deadline soon? I’m dying to hear back, FSU is my favorite school and I can’t picture myself anywhere else!
I don’t know, I’ve read in the past that sometimes it comes out earlier for a few people but I have a feeling I’ll have to wait till March 18th. It so nerve-wrecking waiting!
So did anyone get in?
Son was accepted but not until Spring 2016. Didn’t realize that this was even a possibility. Any current students have any experience with this? Concerned about how he’ll fit in half way through the year and how housing would work. He would be coming down from CT and wouldn’t know anyone.
Stats:
GPA - 3.6
SAT - 1910
Intended major - Accounting
How did everyone else fair?
I was originally deferred but got in for the summer with a 3.3 and 27 ACT im so happy!!
@tommc1 I was accepted to spring also. I won’t be attending, but maybe you could transfer to summer.
I got accepted to Fall 2015 with a 4.2 WGPA and a 26 ACT. I got a 1600 on the SAT but I didn’t submit it to them… I probably got in because of how rigorous my senior schedule is (8 AP classes; which I don’t recommend ANYONE) and all my extra-curricular activities…
My son was also deferred and now admitted for Spring. It is not as ideal as Fall since most freshmen come in fall, but I am sure they can meet other spring admits at the freshmen orientation for students attending Spring. He is from NY. My older son is a freshman there now although he stated last fall. He was also admitted with a lower a GPA and lower SAT for fall, so you never know. He absolutely loves it there though. My only concern is will my son get a dorm room on spring. Will have to speak to admissions to see what are the chances, as I would want his first year on campus
@NY2019 my son is going to be a freshman in the fall. We are also from NY Long Island…where are you from?
Commack, how about you?
OMG so are we!!!
I just sent you a private message! 
I was deffered originally but applied for summer 2015 and was accepted with:
27 act composite
3.5 weighted gpa
5 ap classes my senior year with my midyear grades being a 4.3, 9 ap classes total.
I wrote a pretty awesome essay also lol
Anyone else got in with lower credentials?
I was accepted into regular summer, not the CARE program.
@tennis51 man I got in with the same except my gpa was a 3.5
I got deferred but later accepted with a 3.5 gpa and 1908/ 23 sat and act.
The thing not lot a people know is that colleges accept people within three tiers. There’s the top, middle, and bottom tier. If a college accepted only the top tier- how does that look good for them? They literally aren’t allowed to do that. So they accept the top number of people that fall WITHIN EACH tier.
I fell in the middle tier btw so im just going to own my average grades and test scores with confidence and grace. (disregarding that I actually have so many ec activities and community service that that’s probs why I got accepted in the end)
BUT ANYWAYS
So yeah. That’s why people who have outstanding test scores and grades and ec stuff will still find other people who get in, just by having c’s or something.
It’s unfortunate that that happens and that people aren’t given a chance- wen theyre obviously winners and hard workers and people who just want it so bad-- but that’s just how the system goes. Some people have other obligations so they can’t work as hard or dedicate as much time- so they’re grades are lower. By accepting the top of each of the three tiers, more people are given chances.
It’s not that your kid or you doesn’t deserve it. There’s just a lot for Fsu admissions to take in to really make that “you didn’t make it” or “congratulations…” decision.
However
Some things that you can do to up your chances are!!!
- Apply for the summer.
Schools get paid more if their fall class does well so they accept more of the top kids in the fall. Loophole? Summer kids don’t count for the funds that the university gets. So your chance of getting in practically doubles when you apply for summer. (And don’t think you’re stupid or all the summer kids are dumb. They’re not. It’s just easier to get in that way as it’s becoming harder and harder to get into top colleges. I’m going for the summer cause I don’t want to stay in college for five freaking years. Not even four…)
- Do NOT send a generic essay.
If you talked about church? Your growth by playing a sport? Or how your pet is just the best? Guess what. A thousand people just wrote about the same thing. Take in consideration if you were reading a million essays that helped you decide who you wanted (out of the sea of unknown strangers) to be at your university. Are you going to choose the one that says " when I was younger, my mom told me… And that’s changed how I view blah blah blah" ORRRRR are you going to accept that one essay that talks about the worst day (not the best day cause everyone does the best day) of his or her life, why it was the worst and how they laugh about it now? That unique one.
Do not write a boring essay. That’s like an automatic rejection if you don’t have already SPECTACULAR grades.
- Change your major.
If they actually look at it (cause I honestly don’t know, but hey. Every little thing helps)
They’re more likely to accept you if you apply under law or psychology or accounting rather than undecided or like creative writing.
The best thing is is that as soon as you get accepted and pay your fees- just change it back to whatever you want. It doesn’t cost anything to switch a major and like 80% of people do it regardless just because everyones young and no one really knows what they want to do fresh out of highschool.
- Take. Hard. Classes.
It’s your senior year. So what? Don’t take four art classes, a pe, and cooking.
When you write the SSAR, you want to write down you had no core classes for your senior year? You think that looks good? I got psychology, music theory, statistics, chinese, literature and comp, all ap classes- and Fsu sees a person who works hard till the end. That’s what they’re looking for. You take great classes then relax your senior year cause it’s your senior year- they’re going to think that will reflect on how you treat college. And that’s not what they want.
- JOIN CLUBS
gah!! Even if you were in them for two months? You just paid your club fee and bought a shirt?? Just join something!! Beyond hard work, Fsu looks for people who are competitive and having lots of clubs under your belt shows both of those things. I’m president of book club. You wanna know what we do in book club? Its a giant group of pregnant lit teachers and us and we all talk smack talk about literature. And yet it’s still something I can put on my resume. SO JUST JOIN A CLUB! (Multiple clubs looks better)
- Call them.
It really seems annoying, trust me, and it won’t always work cause some people in admissions are little crabby crabs who want to go home- but call them and if you get someone that sounds nice and sounds like they care- tell them what your name is and about your application and let them know you care. A lot of grown ups were telling me this when I was worried about being deferred and so yeah, I called them.
And I got the meanest freaking lady.
She was so condescending that I was pissed and was like “okay lady, just for that im not going to Fsu whatsoever”
But then I called again and got a dude who sounded polite and young, who really helped me. I asked him “what can I do before the next wave of admission replies come out to show that im serious and I want to go to Fsu?” And just with that he got my name and my application and the fact that I was relentless and confident.
These are the biggest things that I’ve learned after my experience of applying to three schools. After One acceptance. One deferral. And one rejection. it’s come to where Ive got my next steps and im good to go and so now for everyone else out there who is going through the same thing or will be going through it soon I really hoped all this helped.
It’s 12:43 am and im finally done with this comment.
Don’t you go scrolling past.
@ztfck13 honestly the best advice i couldve received, thank you so much!
@zft2015 Excellent post. You could probably post this in the forum for just about every university.
It would be an excellent post if it was correct for how FSU does things. There’s a lot of good info but also a LOT of incorrect information there.
Not Necessarily. Colleges can accept whoever they want, sure, but the public ones do typically have to report certain admissions stats, and they normally have to provide the data that shows HOW they get that data. There’s a reason FSU’s numbers skew a certain way for acceptances. They have a few students accepted that don’t meet certain minimums but there’s literally only a handful- and usually they are international or really disadvantaged students that are showing that maybe the SAT just isn’t their thing.
Not to burst your bubble but a 3.5 GPA (especially weighted) and a 23 ACT isn’t exactly middle tier. Actually, that probably lower quartile of stats. Though yes, your extra-curriculars probably saved you here. Significantly.
Course Rigor. Grades/GPA. Test Scores. In that order, those are the big three that FSU cares about- and course rigor and grades/GPA are basically an entire level of important higher. Even FSU says this in their Common Data Set. “Just having C’s” doesn’t get anyone into FSU.
There’s over 30,000 students that apply to FSU every year. Someone’s going to be disappointed, so the smallest things are going to start having to make the difference in accepted and not. Low grades, even if you have “an excuse” become a problem.
(Apparently my response was too long… had to cut it in half)
Not necessarily. Fall students are what FSU reports their Common Data Set - and are what most major publications use for stats/rankings/all that nonsense. That doesn’t mean that FSU lumps all the lower-quality students into summer.
Also, and this part cannot be stressed enough: EVEN FSU RECOMMENDS THAT EVERYONE APPLY FOR FALL, NOT SUMMER. This is because FSU automatically re-considers all fall applicants for summer admission in the event they are rejected for fall.
Summer applicants only get a chance at summer. It’s also not that much easier to get in via applying for summer. There are significantly fewer spots for summer than fall, and the difference in stats is constantly shrinking.
This can’t be stressed enough for any university. Though, FSU admissions officers have said in the past that the essay is basically a final determining factor, and for the vast majority of applicants it’s not even read. My advice always has been, and will likely always be: don’t lie in it, don’t just crank out some generic crap, but also don’t fret and freak out over it. Odds are probably about 500:1 that your essay even gets read.
Changing your major doesn’t really matter. You aren’t formally admitted to your major of choice anyway until certain conditions are met (technically you’re pre-whatever your major until then). In most majors it’s just passing the pre-reqs and getting a certain number of credits.
Don’t change your major to something that sounds easy in hopes that it will help you. It won’t. It’s not really considered simply because so many students change theirs in the first year or two.
I’m pretty sure that (among maybe a few others), the majors where your major actually matters- and this may have changed in the last couple years- are Nursing, anything visual or performing arts, and possibly engineering.
I don’t think engineering matters that much but since it’s a major that’s primarily off the main campus I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that’s the case.
Yes and no. Course rigor is FSU’s biggest factor, yes. However, you should not take hard classes just to take hard classes. Doing poorly in a hard class is not any better than doing well in a lower-difficulty class, and in some cases it can actually be worse.
Don’t join just to join them and put them on an application. Yes, FSU wants to see extra-curriculars, but if you have a bunch of them it’s not any better than having one or two where you were in a leadership position. That’s really what FSU wants to see: they know that you can join 10-20 clubs and say you’re a member, but what they care about most is seeing you apply yourself.
I hate to burst your bubble but the vast majority of people you talk to on the phones don’t ever do anything involving saying yes or not to your application. There’s a BUNCH of work-study people employed there that are answering the phones. If you weren’t ever transferred to an admissions officer that actually reviews applications, you probably didn’t do anything towards helping your application. It’s the sad truth.
Yes, contacting admissions shows that you care, and if you have any questions or concerns it’s the way to go. But don’t delude yourself into thinking that calling the admissions office will save your application. Yes, it can help a little to show that you’re on top of things when you screw up or if you’re worried, but that’s really about it.
I normally don’t do this but honestly, a lot of what you posted here was either incorrect or questionable at best. Some of your advice is good and your heart was in the right place but a lot of it was simply incorrect.
I agree that the “3-tier” acceptance statement is not exactly accurate. They accept the best students they can get until they hit their numbers. They have a darn good idea of how many acceptances they need to send out to get their incoming freshman quota, based on historic trends. Yes I know the top tier to get the best students is highly competitive, hence where they offer scholarships, and Yes a smaller percentage of top tier students who many schools are competing for will accept (my D’s friend got accepted to UF as well, but chose FSU Honors program due to the scholarships they offered her). And My D has Bright Futures which would apply at any state school. Disadvnataged students, first generation to attend college, minority students, athletes, and the arts students also receive different consideration, so you can’t compare that to the general acceptance rates…I’ve even been told that they try to take students from across the state, so a student from a more rural HS with minimal representation may get a little extra consideration. And having a parent or sibling who attended is also a small kicker, all things being equal (nothing beats GPA, class rigor and test scores).
I also agree with @Pasbal regarding contacting the Admissions Office - have patience, but you MUST get through to an Admissions Officer or Administrator vs. the students who answer the phones. This is not easy when they are crazy busy reviewing applications and such, but these are the actual decision-makers and they will always have they inside scoop - not saying they can legally tell you everything nor will they, but if done right it can certainly help in terms of getting real advice, accurate info, etc.
Also the early acceptance matters - remember they are filling to a number. So if a larger % then expected accept in December, the number of slots remaining open for the March acceptance is that much smaller, thus making those slots more competitive. This is the basic law of supply and demand.
Overall, your best bet is to talk to students and parents who’s students got in last year and compare to where you are, that is the best indicator (but never a guarantee).