OOS Transfer Application Experiences

We have not received a decision yet, no. They did update her application status page to reflect the transcripts they’d received.

It looks as though they have what they need, but the message is not exactly clear. It says that “if all required documents have been received” then the application is being reviewed by the admissions committee. What we’ve sent covers all the listed transfer requirements. However, there’s still a note that she needs to provide her final grades for this semester “prior to entering UCF.” I don’t know whether that means they need that before they will render a decision, though.

She may call them again in the next few days, not only to ask that question, but also to confirm that they’ve processed her documents to qualify as a resident for tuition purposes. That indicator on her application status page switched back to “non-Florida” when they processed the new transcripts. As noted in an earlier post, her status as a beneficiary of the FL pre-paid plan grants her that status.

The UCF portal still doesn’t show that they have received my daughters Fall 20’ grades even though we have sent them twice and her community college has given us a receipt showing they were sent and accepted. My daughter has left voicemails and emailed with no response for the last few weeks trying to get confirmation that they have indeed received the grades. Honestly it’s making us want to just forget about UCF and have her just pick between Florida State and USF.

That’s frustrating! We had better luck reaching a person on the phone calling Admissions as soon as they opened in the morning, but that was a few weeks ago. My daughter is going to call again tomorrow morning to ask the questions I mentioned in my last post.

I hope you’re able to get confirmation from them on the transcript receipt. Those administrative hangups are the worst, after all the kids have to do to get in a position to be competitive.

They are sometimes slow to update those To Do and Hold items on the UCF Student Self Service page, if that’s what you’re looking at.

Calling Undergraduate Admissions directly has always been helpful for us.

Daughter called admissions this morning and heard that they are very likely going to wait for her spring semester transcript before making a decision.

I’m sort of ambivalent about that, as it feels like waiting until the last minute, but she’s having a great semester so far and her GPA is likely to go up.

We will work on the residency status in the meantime, making sure that it’s correctly reflected.

I talked to her about her feelings on the delay. She is not surprised, and doesn’t seem to be too caught up about it, though both of us would love to be finished with the application process at this point.

I also asked her to begin thinking about what she’d like to do in case it doesn’t work out. I have to admit I have been taken by surprise by how competitive UCF admissions are. That was sort of her one school that met all the criteria we set. So I’ve asked her to disregard the rules and think big - either for transfer this fall or after another year at the community college.

I hope that in the end, she gets into UCF. If not, though, I want it to be an opportunity for her to make an even better path for herself. We’ll see how things go.

Good luck!

The residency thing should be a no-brainer. It’s right there in the Florida Prepaid website that if you are a Florida Resident when you purchase and move out of state later, you retain residency for tuition purposes.

Thanks, Jim! I agree about the residency status - just a matter of getting somebody’s attention to fix it.

I’m still optimistic, but I think it will be a good use of her time to go exploring for other paths while we wait.

I don’t get what you mean UCF takes SPARK not transcript (well at least until you graduate). Did they directly ask you for a transcript?

SPARK is only for applicants that have not yet graduated high school. Transfer applicants provide transcripts for college work and high school (if needed to show completion of the foreign language requirement). They have all the information for the classes she’s taking this semester. Apparently they want to wait and see what her grades are for them before she gets a decision.

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So another update: The status page officially reflects now that they have deferred a decision until she can provide her transcript for this semester’s grades. I don’t think this is a bad sign, really, and she’s doing well this semester, so we are confident. I advised her to use the time between now and the end of the semester to expand her search a bit for other places that she may want to transfer to. My hope is that, come May, she’ll have her choice of a few places to go.

They take “SPARK” (fancy new name this year) because there is NO “official high school transcript” until the student has graduated.

Also, the process for transfers (which I know nothing about) is completely different than for entering freshmen.

I think it is smart to encourage her to expand her search. UCF required her SAT, so it could work against her once again. I hope she does really well this semester and it tips the scale in the right direction. Good Luck!

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This is not true. USF and FIU use official transcripts you send to them at application. You can get an official transcript from a public school at any time it’s simply not a final transcript.

Is SPARK a form of self reported grades??

Yes just like SARR

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Updating: Daughter now has acceptances in hand from two art schools for this fall, SCAD and Cleveland Institute of Art. We need to find out from them what their aid packages will be, and when they need to have a decision. I don’t know if we’ll be able to wait until the end of the semester to give UCF a final transcript for current classes. I am asking her to keep UCF on the radar just because it would be so much better financially, but obviously that can’t be the sole concern either.

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