National Merit Finalists rejected from University of Florida?

@amsunshine congrats to your daughter! Does she plan to attend uf?

UF is definitely at/near the top of her short list, but she is just not sure yet. She has a couple of other great acceptances/scholarships and she’s also waiting for a number of other decisions. It’s going to be a month or so before we get a clearer picture of where she’s headed, I think.

My girls are in-state and were both accepted. Surprisingly enough, one was accepted to the Honors College and the other wasn’t. Of those accepted today, did you get into the Honors College? In the letter for the one accepted, they mentioned a $2000 scholarship which I’m sure doesn’t stack with Benacquisto. But it was interesting because I’m assume that means that the Admission Committee really didn’t look at the NMSF/NMF status. Otherwise, why would they offer a scholarship to someone who already has a free COA scholarship?

@alaqualia @Nervous123Mom I’m really surprised as well. I’m sure they will have some other great options though.

@OneMoreToGo2021 My girls want to study CS and there is a legitimate argument to be made for both schools which is better for CS. Same for PreMed if accepted to UCF’s Burnett Medical Scholars program.

@Nervous123Mom oh no, I’m so sorry! What do you think was the reason? Would you mind sharing stats etc.? Maybe cc can do a post-mortem for you.

This must be a yield issue, if it’s obvious that an applicant isn’t likely to accept, why not preemptively reject and offer seat to someone who would accept. It’s like how some guys don’t ask pretty girls out due to fear of rejection.

My DD20 was accepted today IS to Honors Program for Fall 2020. No mention of scholarship but I believe they send that out later this week. She has 1560 SAT, 35 ACT and 4.0 unweighted and good ECs and RECs…good luck with all the difficult decisions to come!

My son was accepted to UF today but apparently not for the honors program. NMF, SAT 1560, ACT 34, 4.0 GPA UW, all honor and AP courses, good ECs. Any other NMFs get in to UF but not to honors?

My D did not apply to honors, but fwiw, honors program admission at UF has not always been predictable based on threads from past years. Lateral admission is always possible if your student is still interested.

My NMF did not get Honors but not surprised since we knew her essay wasn’t all that stellar, and she, being the sibling of two Gators, knew Honors might not be a good fit. However, in reading other threads, plenty of finalists did not get Honors. Just like admissions, it’s a mystery how they fill their slots! Congrats to all!

@PPuggle @Sound6 My NMF D20 also got accepted to UF yesterday but has no mention of the Benacquisto scholarship offer. Do your D20’s acceptance letter mentions it? Or is there a chance that NMF got accepted to UF won’t get the Benacquisto?

Unless you’ve read whole thing from application and essays to LORs and adcom’s remarks, it’s hard to say if decision was based on academics or something else.

@CupCakeMuffins fo you need LOR for honors? I know they don’t take them for regular admissions.

UF doesn’t require LORs? In that case may be essay?

The financial packages, including Benacquisto should be out within the next two weeks.

Benacquisto is guaranteed for any accepted NMF as long as they list UF (or other school with Benacquisto, i.e. UCF, FSU, USF, etc…) as #1 before the deadline which I believe for most is May 31st.

Interesting about not being accepted for Honors College though esp because I have one of each. My daughters have a friend at UF who says it’s not really a big deal. The biggest benefit is early registration and that they can always re-apply after completion of Freshman year if they really want to be in the program.

We are wondering too. If you read the fine print of the Benacquisto you must get some sort of merit scholarship from the college, a corporation or the NM Corp. UCF has been very encouraging, telling NMFs that they will FOR SURE be given a merit scholarship to ensure they will get the Benacquisto, but my daughter has not heard anything from UF (which she named as her first choice on her NM application). Now we’re on “pins and needles” waiting to be assured that she will get this at UF also. How long is the wait???

https://admissions.ufl.edu/afford/scholarships

The national merit and benaquisto info is here.

From the UF scholarship
Page: National Merit Finalists/Benacquisto Scholarship
UF offers a $500 annual scholarship to all National Merit® Finalists that indicate UF as their first-choice institution with the National Merit® Corporation by their deadline. This scholarship qualifies as a college-sponsored scholarship for the Benacquisto Scholarship offered to in-state and, this year, extended to out-of-state students named as finalists by the Florida Department of Education. The scholarship covers the remaining institutionally-posted cost of attendance after Bright Futures (if eligible) and the qualifying National Merit® Scholarship are applied.

@PPugle: Early registration for courses is a very significant benefit.

@Publisher I imagine it would be helpful. I wish both daughters made Honors but it’s not a deal breaker in their decision making process. There is still a lot for them to weigh between their options and I honestly don’t know which way they are going to go.