<p>I am pretty ticked off right now because someone I know at my school got the following stats:</p>
<p>Male
African American
SAT: 1380/2400
Class rank: Top 5%
GPA: 4.33</p>
<p>AP Classes:
AP Art History
AP Microeconomics
AP Psychology
AP Biology
AP English Language
AP U.S. History
AP Computer Science A
AP Macroeconomics
AP U.S. Government
AP Comparative Government
AP English Literature
AP Calculus AB
AP Physics C</p>
<p>This person is also in National Honor Society, national english honor society, french club, band, national society of high school scholars, and has done volunteer work.</p>
<p>But still, how did this person get into UF with those test scores, regardless of everything else? Arent test scores everything?? I am ticked this person got in...is there a reasonable explanation? Or does jus being a top 5% Florida student guarantee admission to UF like their booklet says....</p>
<p>yah, but what about SAT scores??? why is it that someone gets in if they are in top 5%....why is that in UF's booklet...i didnt konw that was still in affect.</p>
<p>if it's 1360 / 2400, that's pathetic... BUT, I guess the university took into account of his high GPA score (which shows a bit of consistent academic dedication)</p>
<p>Who knows.. maybe he wrote a killer essay, maybe the Admission Officers think that SAT's aren't for everyone.</p>
<p>Colleges know that SAT's aren't everything. Given certain amount of time and money, you can get a higher SAT score. It all depends on your performance on that day. It's not as accurate of a measure for hardwork and consistency as your GPA and EC's. Plus, some people react better on standardized tests than others.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that UF still has the "top-5%" rule in effect for in-state students from public high-schools. But even if it didn't, UF does not weight SATs anywhere near as strong as GPA and number of AP classes taken....which, for this applicant, are very strong.</p>
<p>He is obviously just a great student. Personally I have to wonder (and somewhat admire?) how someone with SATs in the 400's can take this many AP courses.</p>
<p>This goes to show that the SATs are definitely racially biased, since any kid with academics/ECs like that would be expected to score much, much higher. There IS a reason that colleges adjust for race when it comes to the SATs.</p>
<p>SATs are not everything. It's a myth among high school students and parents. They are often used for cut-offs and scholarships (in the lower ranked universities), but they never decide admissions.</p>
<p>According to their website, UF requires a minimum of 440 on the CR & M sections, and they do not consider writing. This guy met the minimum. </p>
<p>Further:
[quote]
Admissions is more art than science: the admissions process is designed to consider all aspects of an applicant’s academic record and personal experiences, and ** is not intended to admit applicants solely on the basis of grade point averages and test scores.**
<p>Well, that's life for you, lol. Best to just accept it, congratulate him (he seems like a very smart guy, perhaps just not good at standardized tests), and move on.</p>
<p>The SATs are culturally biased, not racially biased. There really is a difference. To my eye, the cultural bias comes in because the material one reads in college is culturally biased. That is true whether one comes from landlocked Kansas and must read "Moby Dick" or whether one comes from South Chicago and must read "The Great Gatsby" or "As I Lay Dying."</p>
<p>The great leveler appears to be how much a person reads (at least on the verbal section).</p>
<p>Minorities do have another disadvantage on standardized tests, however. I tried to find this study on line but couldn't. Anyway, there has been a study in which minority students were given a standardized test with different sets of instructions. In one test, students were told that the researchers were looking for racial differences in testing. In the other test, students were told that the test was just for normalizing data and had no significance, whatsoever.</p>
<p>Minorities did substantially better with the instructions that it was simply for normalizing data. A control group on non-minority students did a bit better, as well, but didn't show anything near the jump minority students showed (as I recall). So, it would appear likely that at least one of the factors leading to minority underachievement on standardized tests is the pressue minority students may put on themselves.</p>
<p>The complaints of the original poster are quite childish and from what I gather about the 5% admissions standard in Florida, his/her opinion is profoundly uninformed.</p>