Hello! I am brand new to this forum and have found it very helpful! We are OOS and my D is a HS junior. UCF is her top choice for Exercise Science/Event Management (will major in one and minor in the other). I am concerned about her chances for UCF. Her unweighted GPA is 3.95. She is taking ACT in December. She is an extremely hard-worker, but not naturally bright so while her GPA is good because of her hard work, I am concerned about how the ACT will go. We will plan on her getting a tutor this spring and re-taking it again in June. Her school is academically rigorous, but does not have any classes designated as “honors”. They offer very few AP classes. She is taking AP History this year along with a dual credit exercise science class. Next year will take AP Gov, AP Stats and dual credit oral communications. Given the lack of availability of honors and APs, I am worried about how her GPA will look in comparison to kids who have the opportunity to take honors classes in everything and get the benefit of a weighted GPA. She is involved in a ton of ECs…competitive gymnast, newspaper reporter, VP of Best Buddies, gymnastics rec coach, student ambassador, 175 community service hours in the last 2 years and has an internship this semester in athletic event management. She will plan on completing the optional essay for UCF. How do I help guide her to increase her chances at UCF? Any thoughts on her chances? We will be making a formal tour at UCF this spring. Would it help to make an appointment with admissions for her to have the opportunity to show herself?
I wouldn’t worry too much about not having access to honors or AP courses. Your school should send a school profile along with her transcript that gives information on the types of classes they offer, number of APs, population profile, etc. With her unweighted GPA, she should be fine. They don’t penalize people for not having access to courses others do.
The best advice I can offer is to apply early, by mid-September at the latest. Write a strong essay and demonstrate interest in the short answer questions asking about why ucf and major.
Agree with @vannevka, as long as she is trying hard in those AP classes and taking them when she can, I think she should be fine with gpa. Again, UCF will know the school’s situation in class offerings. As far as the ACT, I definitely agree on the tutor. I was in a tutoring program and my SAT jumped 200 points and my ACT 5 points. I think doing well on those scores would benefit her tremendously. Remember, UCF does not superscore the ACT but does superscore the SAT. I would highly recommend taking this into consideration, but I definitely recommend taking each test at least once. Those extracurriculars look really good, especially best buddies and all of those hours done. That internship will look really nice.
For reference, 28 ACT 1350 SAT 4.12W 3.65UW. I am also OOS. I was accepted 9/30, applied 8/17, all of my supplemental pieces turned in 9/27. I am going into pre-nursing, so my EMT and PCT certifications through my school really helped me, and I think that internship will have the same benefit for your daughter. Definitely do some things related to her major of interest.
I have always loved and done dual credit, and if she has the time in the summer or during school then absolutely take more. It helped my gpa personally and I think that if I hadn’t had taken them I would not have gotten into UCF. Look into how dual credit would affect her with her school’s policies (i.e. higher weight, letter grades with A=99, B= 89, etc). I have only taken 6 AP classes my entire HS career. I never recommend taking 7 or more (let alone like 4) in a single year as many of my peers do, and honestly the number she is planning on taking does not even seem terrible.
I have never made an appointment with admissions but I do not think it would hurt at all and I think it would show interest. The BEST thing you can do is apply in August! This will show interest! Even if you apply super early but don’t turn in your supplemental pieces for a while, you will be processed quicker and with rolling admissions the sooner the better! Absolutely do the essay. If anything is optional, always do it.
I wish you and your daughter the best of luck! Go knights 
@harvestmom She sounds like she is on track- her core classes and her foreign language are the grades UCF cares about and will recalculate her grades based on those. In September, the ACT will superscore automatically, so you might want to wait till that happens to send in her score. She also will have the chance to take a single section in September- take advantage of that if necessary.
Typically the UCF application opens in late July- have her apply, send her transcript and write her essay as soon as it opens. My OOS D18 was not a strong test taker, she went to the Open House and talked with an admissions officer her freshman year of high school. I doubt that mattered much. Her GPA outweighed her so-so SAT, so make sure your D stays on top of her grades. Good luck!