<p>SAT: 2090 (2nd try)
ACT: 33 (1st try)
UW GPA: 3.4
W GPA: 4.7
Rank: Top 10%
Other Stats: I'm in the IB Program so my GPA is a little lower than it would have been if i were in AP. I also took 4 AP classes and am taking another this year. I was a couple points off from being a National Merit Semifinalist and was in the 99% and was recognized as a National Hispanic Scholar. In addition to that, I was given the Presidential Scholarship at Auburn and Stetson, the Pegasus Gold Scholarship at UCF and a scholarship worth about $55,000 from UT Dallas.</p>
<p>Major: Mechanical Engineering
Essays: I think they were pretty damn good as my teachers looked them over and praised them.
Hook: I wrote about how my mom was suddenly diagnosed with a brain tumor in my Sophomore year and how I had to mature very quickly and how it made me into a much better person because I had to take care of myself and sister while she was in the hospital.</p>
<p>Location: Orlando, FL
State: Florida
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
EC: 4 years of cross country, 4 years of track, 1 year of marching band.</p>
<p>I've been in love with UF forever, and although I was probably going to UCF anways because of the money they are giving me, it really hurts not to get in to my favorite school, especially since I thought it was merely a formality. I'm kind of in shock right now. I know I can appeal, but I don't really see the point since there's no way they are also going to give me any amount of scholarships. I just want to know anyone's opinions on why I wasn't accepted?</p>
<p>@sterry23
You deserve it more than me my test score suck. You have everything I wish I had. I believe showing I test plays a part. I showed a lot contacting them on Facebook about how much I loved the school. Emailing them about my live. I believe they record those things. Contact them and see if you can repeal you deserve to get in.</p>
<p>This proves that showing interest helps you here is what they said on Facebook.</p>
<p>“Congratulations, Hakeem! We are so happy for you. We’ve been crossing our fingers for you since August. Please keep in touch with us. We hope to see you on campus this fall!”</p>
<p>I think your grades and scores are similar to my daughter’s who was accepted. Her essays were also extremely good, based on a personal situation not many kids have gone through (too personal to discuss on a message board!) However, are you stating everything you had in terms of EC? Were you involved in any clubs? Did you win any state or national awards? Did you serve in a leadership capacity anywhere? Did you have community service? Did you work during school? My daughters resume was extensive in every category and from what I understand UF uses all of that information. </p>
<p>I have taken several AP classes and many more honors and pre-AP classes throughout high school. I have receive presidential scholarships at Texas Tech University and UTSA, I received the scholarship right below yours at UT Dallas, and was offered a half-tuition scholarship at Florida State University (I am a Texas resident).</p>
<p>On the free response, I wrote about how I can code in four programming languages (CPP, Lua, Java, and HTML), play three instruments (piano, oboe, and clarinet), and compose my own music.</p>
<p>My essay was a narrative on the first time performing in my high school marching band, which, by the way, has made state two years back to back (we changed classes) and was a finalist the first of those years.</p>
<p>I was in band for three years and have about a hundred hours of community service.</p>
<p>I was incredibly baffled because I know of people with inferior scores and ranks than us that were offered admission.</p>
<p>@TomSrOfBoston - Care to elaborate on what you mean by that? UF is my top school and I spent more time on their application and communicating with them than with any other school. I just meant that since I was being given scholarships to so many other schools (not only scholarships but the best ones they offered) I expected to get in. </p>
<p>@kimp70 - I was not in any clubs because I was really really busy but I was the captain of the cross country and track teams my Junior and Senior years and I had nearly 200 hours total of community service over all 4 years. I did not work because again I was very busy. I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t accept me simply because I wasn’t involved in any clubs and didn’t have a job during school, but maybe that’s the case? Or maybe it was my GPA? I’m not really sure but thanks for the response!</p>
<p>@TheRoss I think we’re nearly in the same exact situation. I seem to have just barely higher stats than yours but we’re both above the middle 50% for people that get in for our scores and stuff. I’m just really pissed off that people who have significantly worse stats than me are getting into UF. </p>
<p>This weekend is either going to be fantastic for some of my son’s friends who have had their hearts set on UF for years, or it is going to be utterly depressing - and in every case, his friends are like you all - great stats, outstanding Florida students, etc. The message that was given loud and clear from the admissions rep at the tour we attended was that, though they have some kind of holistic approach to the decisions, the UF recalculated GPA reigns supreme. Just look at the statistics in their brochure that show the percentage of students with recalculated GPAs of 4.0 and above - those students dominate all categories. The chances of getting in to UF without that 4.0 recalculated GPA is next to nil. So, if I were trying to figure out one reason for a rejection, I would look at that recalculated GPA. </p>
<p>Other than that, though, even with the recalculated GPA, there are far too many students who apply who have 4.0+ GPAs and who have the same number of APs and ECs. UF’s focus on moving up in the ranks is turning this publicly funded university into an exclusive ivory tower and the chances each year decline, and the decisions cause confusion, just as things were when I was in California and my friends chose to apply to Berkeley (like playing the lottery) or, I guess, much like those who apply to the Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>I am very sorry for your disappointment, but you do have UCF, and UCF has a lot of exciting things going on. The admissions staff at UF was also clear about sending the message that “you need us more than we need you” - no sense of the welcoming spirit my son has experienced at Alabama or other schools he visited. He was put off by that, though he never planned to apply to UF and had just come with a friend to take the tour (and a friend that we are praying received an admission offer today.)</p>
<p>@sterry23 - Your grades seem good to me. Her stats for comparison were uw gpa 3.9 weighted 4.78. I think around 12 AP’s (off the top of my head) SAT’s 2050. So similar given that you were in IB. The only thing I can think is the things I mentioned. Again just for comparison, my daughter was a varsity cheerleader 3 years, jv 1 year, all star cheerleader 2 years, about 500 hours community service, she was the president of DECA, president of the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism, won all kinds of state and national awards for DECA and also ProStart, won writing contests, worked 2 jobs during the school year (Publix and Brookstone), during the summer she added a third job (one summer she interned at a hotel, the other summer an intern at a law firm). All while maintaining her grades. I think that did play a part in their decision honestly.</p>
<p>@TheRoss and @sterry23 - My daughter is in the same position. Not only were her scores equal to or better than others that were accepted, she has great EC’s and volunteer hours. She played 2 varsity sports for all 4 years and was captain of 1 for both Jr. & Sr. year. She has been accepted to 6 other great schools and was deferred at UMiami so she has other great options. Some other school is going to get a great student!</p>
<p>@kimp70 - I can see that I definitely had significantly less EC’s than your daughter, but when I’m looking at a lot of my friends in AP at my high school there is no comparison. I know for a fact that all of their GPAs, ACT/SAT scores and EC’s were worse than mine across the board yet they got in. A lot of them have a reputation for going out every weekend and getting wasted. I just can’t fathom how UF accepted them over me. It doesn’t make any sense. </p>
<p>@chesterton - I looked up how they re-calculate their GPA and I am very confident that I have above a 4.0 because of the fact that I’m in IB. Either my essay came off the wrong way to the person reading it or my EC’s were not enough as @kimp70 suggested. </p>
<p>@sterry23 - Yes, I am sure you had a great recalculated GPA. It just comes down to numbers and then that elusive holistic review. You were likely up against 30,000 other applicants for around 12,000 offers of acceptance, and perhaps as many as half of those 30,000 applicants had stats just like yours. It really is like playing the lottery and any student with stats like yours who does not receive an offer of admission should not feel like a failure. I know it hurts and the disappointment is real. I hope that Florida residents who don’t get into UF, but get into our other public universities, will stay in state, because for Florida to move beyond just being the nation’s grave, we need young people to study here and stay here and attract major industry. Best of luck to you. And congratulations on all of your success. You have done the state proud.</p>
<p>@sterry23 I don’t know then, I’m sorry! Do you think AP vs IB had something to do with it then? I wish I was more help. I know it must be a horrible feeling to just wonder why…</p>
<p>@sterry23 and one more thing. I’m about to sound really motherly but everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason becomes very obvious, and sometimes it’s just a step in our lives that leads us to something else (like the butterfly effect). You might be intended for greatness somewhere else or to make a difference in someone’s life in a different place. I hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, UF has a very holistic admissions process. It pains me that excellent students like you are rejected over those slackers who do get in.</p>
<p>Whats even more surprising is UF’s campaign for top ten public shools and how fast they are getting to their goal, yet they have an admissions process like this. Ridiculous. I am hoping they adopt the new process before it happens to anybody else.</p>
<p>I’m hopeful UCF will have a good environment for your choice of major. I myself am an ME major and I would say you deserve a spot way more than half the people in this department (seriously).</p>
<p>The state of Florida has close to 20 million people (and is about to pass the state of New York in population). combine that with very low in-state tuition, bright futures, and UF being a top 20 public school, and it makes admissions to UF highly competitive (it was a heck of a lot easier getting in back in the 80’s!). Folks that may have gone to Duke, Vanderbilt, Emory, etc., are now going to UF. </p>
<p>All of you have other great schools to chose from, some of them likely better fits that UF! =D> </p>
<p>My son was accepted and has friends posting with stats significantly lower than his, that were accepted as well. Some for Summer but accepted nonetheless. I can’t figure it out. It’s not my son’s first choice, as someone else has said he is turned off by the attitude, very large classes(where some don’t even have seats). I just see this massive machine where everyone is a number and it would be very difficult to be involved in many important activities. Other schools are offering scholarships, honors, and they reach out and show that they really value you. Everyone is so wrapped up in rankings they forget about the most important aspect:fit. He may still end up at UF, but we’ve got visits for scholarship interviews at other schools to do, as well as decisions from other schools yet to come.</p>
<p>@sterry23
I wouldn’t bash those with lower scores. My friends got denied and it pains me to death to see them denied. But everyone who had lower scores tried their hardest. Don’t believe that are all dumb or don’t deserve it. Yes I know some hot lucky, but if their scores suck most likely they will leave uf and flunk, and cannot handle the rigor… Sterry23 you’ve seen my scores yes they suck. But I got a letter from Obama got first in regionals state and 14th in nationals for prepared speech. Also my essay was about the struggles of living in Africa and the importance of succeeding here in America. And about how my very ignorant Muslim father was the stereotypical Arab and beat my mother treated us and her like trash, and kept us from doing sports and extracurriculars, which explained why I didn’t have as much. Also affirmative action helps too. But yea you see the reasons they got in are indifferent I really hope they accept your appeal letter. It would be great to see you accepted. Each of you appeal they have had about 5% successful appeals. </p>
<p>That part was not for you I was not bashing merely defending those who got in… Sorry that you took it that way. I put you in to say that do not feel bad and you can try repealing. Repeals are taken in consideration, if you missed to tell them something that affected your education, health, or home life. (Perhaps we can fabricate just a little to make them change their mind) just a thought. Sorry again.</p>