Info on Gator Engineering at Santa Fe…

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
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On UF decision day February 8th, a very small number of applicants will get a peculiar-looking response from the university. They will not be granted admission as a fall or summer applicant, but they won’t be rejected either. Instead they will be offered a “bridge” program called Gator Engineering at Santa Fe. By my calculation, less than one percent of total applicants will be given this option.

If you are selected for this, here’s what’s going on, based on my perspective as the parent of a student who accepted her invitation to this program in 2018:

First, it’s complicated. Students in this program are kind of hybrids. They are part of UF but not official UF students immediately. But make no mistake: This is an invitation to be a part of Gator Nation.

UF has recognized that the workforce needs more engineers, but UF doesn’t have the capacity in its freshman/sophomore level pre-engineering classes to meet this demand. UF does have capacity in higher level engineering courses, though. Gator Engineering at Santa Fe is their solution, a partnership between UF and Santa Fe College in Gainesville.

Students admitted to this program take their critical tracking courses in engineering (calculus 1,2&3, chemistry, physics, etc.) at Santa Fe. They are students at Santa Fe to start but if they reach certain academic milestones, they can become UF students as early as their first spring semester. My daughter is in the program and was officially a Santa Fe student for the fall of 2018 but became an official UF student at the end of the fall term. She still has to take classes at Santa Fe for a couple more semesters, but she’s viewed as a full-time UF student.

How do you end up in this program? You don’t select GE@SF, it gets offered to you by UF. If you applied to UF and selected electrical eng., computer eng, computer science, environmental eng. or a few others and admissions liked you – but were on the bubble and didn’t make the cut for a traditional admit – then admissions forwarded your application among a few others to the college of engineering for consideration for GE@SF. The college of engineering then reviewed the applicants and narrowed it further, which led to the offers for GE@SF. The program is NOT offered to everyone who was a denied a traditional admit as an engineering major. It’s a select group. (Last year it was offered to 292 kids and 66 accepted.)

Reasons why you should accept:
• If you have your heart set on UF (and engineering), then take it. You will be part of the UF community from the beginning and have the chance to become a full UF student by the end of your first fall semester.

• You will likely have the option to live on UF campus as a freshman. The previous two years, freshman in GE@SF were offered the option to live on UF campus, though they take their classes at Santa Fe. Some freshman in the program right now live in the Lakeside Residence Hall. (The UF website currently says you can’t live on campus but the past two years, it has been an option.)

• If you feel strongly that you want to study engineering.

• After four years, you will have an AA from Santa Fe and a bachelor’s degree from the UF College of Engineering.

Reasons not to accept:
• If you don’t like the idea of taking classes at Santa Fe – for at least 3 semesters.

• If you can’t see yourself either living off campus as a freshman and going to Santa Fe or living on UF campus and driving or taking the bus to Santa Fe every day.

• If you don’t feel strongly about studying engineering. Freshman chemistry and calculus are hard. This is not an “easy” way into UF. You can’t be in this program for a semester and then change your major to business or agriculture or journalism, etc.

• If you have your heart set on joining other UF organizations right away: UF clubs, etc. (Not sure about joining fraternities/sororities but you can certainly go to the parties.) In the beginning you are a Santa Fe student which precludes you from some things.

• If you aren’t ready for a challenging freshman year. To stay on track, you need to make good grades.

A few other points:
• Each group of students (they call it a cohort) is small, so the 60 or so kids in the program usually get to know one another. The program gives the freshman students a group and social connection that is sometimes hard for traditional freshman to find.

• Classes are smaller at Santa Fe, usually about 30 kids.

• Tuition is less at Santa Fe.

• Though kids in the program are not UF students to start, they can use many services and be on a meal plan on campus, for example.

• Little things: at the beginning, you can’t buy student football tickets or gain free entry to things like the gym, other sporting events, pool, and museum. But you can use the library, park on UF campus and wheedle your way into other things. This changes for the better once you get your UF admit.

Advice:
• Give the program a hard look. I think some kids view this program as a pure rejection. It isn’t. Yes, you were not admitted to UF for Fall or Summer, but you have an option not offered to everyone. It may not be fully apparent right now, but UF wants you. (There are thousands of kids with flat-out rejections that would love to be you today.)

• Attend one of the many information sessions. UF and Santa Fe staff will give you the complete rundown. Tour the Santa Fe campus and hear from kids who are in the program now.

• Make the decision that is best for you.

There’s more information on the UF GE@SF page on the UF website, including details on the information sessions. There’s also a GE@SF Facebook page which is monitored by both the UF and Santa Fe advisors for the program.

The College of Design Construction and Planning has a similar partnership with Santa Fe. I don’t know much about the academic requirements, but several freshman kids in that program also live at Lakeside and take classes at Santa Fe.

It’s been a year since my daughter got her peculiar admissions answer. I know that we had way more questions than answers on decision day, so I hope this helps any of kids/parents who are hunting for info on the program. Happy to answer any questions.

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Thank you for posting this information. Not sure my son is going to get the UF acceptance so hoping for this option. Fingers crossed.

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Thanks for this. I still have a question. If they did not choose the engineering major would they have been a straight rejection from the school. My son was accepted to this program today. He did not think he should have checked engineering when he first applied because he’s not 100% sure but it was too late to make that change. Did the engineeeing choice on his application hurt his chances of regular undergrad admission or help him becaue there was this option for him? We’re just confused.
A friends son did this route last year and said it’s been great for him so far.

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It helped him to list an engineering major. Would have been rejected otherwise. I recommend attending one of the information sessions if you are considering the program.

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Thank you!

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For what it is worth, your son was right on the bubble for a traditional admit if he was admitted to GE@SF. His application was chosen by the college of engineering. They want him. But as I wrote, it’s not for everyone. Your son probably has great options. Congratulaions. Good luck.

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Great info! Our son received this offer today for the fall semester and first reaction was disappointment. We’ve been reading the info on the UF website for the Gator Engineering at SF to get a better understanding of this offer. Your info filled in many holes (housing,meal plans, etc) . A few of questions on the critical tracking courses:

  • Are the critical courses listed on the model semester plan for UF the same as those offered at SF?
  • How many critical courses are required for summer or fall to be accepted as official UF student at the end of the fall semester?
  • The model semester plan for the first semester lists critical courses that require a prerequisite. If one has to complete the prerequisites, will it not take longer to meet the critical course requirements that the 3 semester example gives?
    Thanks for taking the time to help the kids and parents through this stressful period. We plan on attending one of the information sessions at SF but your info helps tremendously.
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Your posts are very helpful. Thank you. We are in California and both Gator alum. It’s just worrisome sending him out of state with all the unknown of housing etc. I can see many advantages especially with out of state tuition. We’ll definitely come to an info seminar next month.

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@pirate11 the critical tracking courses mirror what is taken at UF. For the first year, everyone is mainly taking Chemistry, calc 1&2 and physics, regardless of which engineering major you choose. Some kids go faster than others. Each kid has to take at least one critical tracking course in the fall. This is typically Chemistry 1. Get a B and you are official UF. My daughter took Chem 1 and a Calc 1 last fall, made her numbers and switched from being a Santa Fe student to a UF student.

The prerequisites come into play for math. The kids have to take a placement test to qualify for Calc. A good AP score also places you in Calc.

My daughter started in summer and took intro to chem as a refresher. She lives on UF campus and loves it. It can be a bit odd for the kids in the program because they are hybrids. They get tired of explaining it.

Happy to help. The past year has been an adventure and we learned a lot so I’m happy to share. Ask away, pm, whatever…Go Gators.

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@taber1234 housing was HUGE for us. My daughter was all in on the program but my wife was freaking out at the idea of her living off campus as a freshman. Hopefully new kids in the program can have the option to live on campus this year.

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Thanks for the info! I got accepted to the Gator Design and Construction @ Santa Fe. Do you know any details regarding this program vs Gator Engineering?

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@paths2college yes, it is similar in concept but with different requirements, it takes a bit longer to gain uf admission. I think a minimum of two semesters. A number of freshman in the program live on UF campus at the Lakeside complex. One of my daughters roommates is in the program. It is run through a different college and only offered to a small number of kids. You will be invited to information sessions. Great opportunity if you want UF.

The reasons not to accept mirror what wrote in my original post.

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Hello, do you know if it’s possible to skip the program entirely if you already tested out of most of these classes?
I am fairly certain I’m passing both AP Chemistry and AP Calculus BC, and I’ve already passed AP Physics and AP Calculus AB. Based off of the information of ‘critical-tracking courses’ for my major, the only class I might have left is Physics 2.

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Interesting program. Do you think it’s possible to get a term change?

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@guyfierifan I don’t think so. You might be able to skip calc one and go directly to calc 2 but AP physics is not equivalent to college physics with calculus. Not sure you could bypass Chem 1 either. They will want to see 4s and 5s on AP tests in either case. All good questions for the admins of the program.

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@paths2college what do you mean?

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FYI: On housing…

Looks like UF is targeting 6,400 enrolled freshman from this year’s class. If that’s the case, they should have plenty of housing available, on campus, for GE@SF students.

A few years ago UF lowered the number of enrolled freshman from 7K+ to around 6,500. This is what opened up housing on campus for GE@SF students.

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I did call housing and the Dorm named Lake Side is the only dorm available for kids in the Gator engineering at SF. My son is considering starting summer B not sure if he will be able too , and if dorm is available for that session. He has two friends who are going into different programs at UF/SF who want to room with him , but I have dorm with FL pre paid . Not sure what will be better for him. Any thoughts welcome.

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This was extremely helpful. Did your daughter find the commute from lakeside to Santa Fe difficult. My son who will be doing the same program , wants to join AFROTC in the fall and is thinking that being on campus will make that part easier, but not sure about the commute to Santa Fe though he will have a car.

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Do the lakeside apartments ever have an issue with bats? Being it’s so close to the UF bat Houses.