University of Florida (in State)
Her desired major is Pre-Vet
GPA UW 3.5 Weighted 3.9
SAT 1950 Ver 710 MA 660 W 580
A few clubs only notable achievement in clubs Going to State Latin Competition 2 years in a row winning 10th place 3 times (in a large state Florida).
Also participated in Duke TIPS for 2 years in biology centered learning (her desired major) going to Costa Rica for the second camp.
Volunteer work at the Human Society (also goes with her desired major).
3 years of Language (Latin)
5 AP classes including Calculus
4 Dual Enrollment
Graduating from Virtual School (3 years at a regular high school top 20% rank)
I think this is a stretch school but she really wants to get in here and is only applying here and FSU. I think her chances at FSU are very high. But decision is early enough that is she doesn’t get in she can still apply to UCF or USF.
I think the Essay will need to be strong but I"m not sure what she’ll put in there. Writing about herself isn’t her strength.
Are you sure 3.9 is your D’s UF GPA? Although your D’s SAT is above the 25th percentile, her GPA is below it… if 3.9 is her actual UF GPA; the 25th percentile is at 4.0-4.1…
Pretty sure. It will come up a little as she finishes up Government in the next 3 weeks so it will be on her transcript and will be an A. But it won’t move much.
Where did you get 25th percentile? I’d love to see more statistics.
On their website they list the middle 50% as 4.1 - 4.5 and SAT as 1810 to 2060
So her SAT is a little above the middle of the middle 50% and the GPA isn’t in the range. So I’m worried is this even a reach school or is it a no go?
Obviously we’ll still apply but I don’t know should I keep her hope her alive or start talking up FSU.
Also with the low GPA would it actually matter if her SAT was higher? She has taken twice. I’m fairly confident her math still has room to grow by about 40 points. But she feels tested out and doesn’t want to take it again (she also took the ACT scores not back yet).
UF’s a high match/reach school. If you’ve read the website (the UF freshman profile), then you know UF uses holistic admissions. 50% is based on GPA (most important) Class Rigor, test scores (not as important) and the essay. The other 50% is EC’s, work, volunteering, leadership, etc.
A higher SAT may help a little bit and it’s worth re-taking. It’s really your EC’s that will have to make up for that low GPA. Another way to look at it, 75% of last year’s class was in the top 10% of their class.
You should apply, but it’s a bit of a reach…
I also highly recommend she apply to a safety school, FSU’s requirements have gotten higher, and even with it being a match, it still may be prudent to have a back-up. Think about USF or UCF (if not another Florida public university that’s not local). These are on rolling admissions, and she would get back a result in October/November. She’s also likely to be offered a merit scholarship (and maybe a spot in the honor’s college). Nice to have an offer in hand, while you wait on UF and FSU…goes a long ways to reducing the stress.
I wish teenagers were grounded in the real world. She plans on only applying for FSU and UF for now. But she is getting her app for FSU in by Oct. 15th so she’ll know Dec. 9th. If she doesn’t get in she’ll still have time for UCF or USF. I’d love it if she went ahead and applied to a couple places like UCF, USF, Clemson, Alabama. Several of those would give her financial offers based on her SAT scores amd aren’t bad schools. UCF and USF she’ll have time but Bama the app would have to be in by Dec. 15th and I don’t think she’ll have time so she’ll miss out on scholarship opportunity. But she doesn’t want to leave Florida because she’s earned Bright Futures which pays for tuition.
It seems every year around mid February the there is an article in a Florida paper answering parents questions like “Why did my darling snowflake not get into UF?”
Here is a quote from a 2014 article in the Orlando Sentinel. “The school has its pick of valedictorians and student-body presidents, science-fair winners and debate-club champions. And each year, some of the state’s brightest students are turned away.”
Here is a quote from 2013 Palm Beach Post article “If you won your high school science fair, that’s wonderful,” [Steve] Orlando said. “But if you tell us that you got a patent on something you invented, that’s the kind of thing we’re looking for.”
You can google “Want to go to UF” to find those articles. They may help your daughter to understand why UF is not a sure thing.
BTW, I am with you @Muffinman111 , I had to tell my D to not fall in love with UF until after she is accepted.
Oh I thinks she knows UF is a reach but she believes FSU is going to let her in. Which I tend to agree but I still wish she’d apply a few safer places. I have looked at the data on college data and there are people with her GPA and ACT that got in but of course there are plenty that didn’t. Poking around I feel like she does have a chance at UF maybe 25% chance but that her chances at FSU are more like 85%. I’ll keep encouraging her to apply other places but she at least has a plan to apply early because the back up choices accept apps on a rolling basis with March as their scholarship deadline. I’m mainly concerned she hasn’t considered very many choices so she may be missing out on a great school.
If you want her to possibly apply to Clemson , she needs to start her application. Merit scholarship deadlines are Dec 1. With her current scores, if she ranks in the top 10% of her class, she qualifies for $ 7500.00. If she had an ACT of 32 or SAT of 1440, she’d qualify for $ 15,000. Her aid at Alabama would be much greater . Alabama and Clemson apps are very easy to complete with no essay required. My son completed his Clemson app in about 30-45 minutes .
