Is it true that UF's college on engineering is highly competitive?

Recently I was talking with a senior friend of mine who will be attending UF next fall. Of course I want to attend there (I’m currently a junior) and I am highly considering pursing computer science. He informed me that despite have a good standing, it can hard to get into it and many kids get sent to Santa Fe instead.

He followed up with telling me when the time comes it might be better applying as undecided and later switch to comp sci.

Any thoughts on this? I mean I do have some time before I even have to write applications, but it was something that was in the back of my mind. Thank you!

UF doesn’t consider major in admissions. Choosing CS will not hurt your chances. You can also easily switch your major at Preview, or anytime when you’re a Freshman or Sophomore.

On the other hand, UF does have a few special programs, like Gator Engineering @ Santa Fe, that would only be offered to you if you had picked engineering as an option.

If by “sent to Santa Fe” you mean the Gator Engineering at Santa Fe program- it is a special program offering direction admission into UF’s College of Engineering. It is guaranteed UF admission after one semester at Santa Fe, upon the condition of making a minimum of B-. If someone didn’t get in as a summer/fall admit, and they chose a certain engineering major, they will be redirected to College of Engineering where the faculty there will pick those who are qualified applicants. Only a select number of people will receive this offer, not obviously not everyone gets it. It’s is offering a direct way into its College of Engineering. Pretty generous of UF to have this program as they still make way to offer direct admission for those students instead of rejecting them along with the other rejected applicants. Choice of major won’t affect chance of admission. However, choosing certain majors will save you from getting rejected & offered an alternative. For example, it could be the majors offered under PaCE program, or the Gator Engineering at SF majors (which includes CpE, EE, EnvE comp sci). Those two were created for to make way to admit more students who would otherwise be rejected without them. Choosing undecided won’t affect chances of getting admitted, but it’ll give you no alternatives.