I was reading how in the state of Texas there is an established law whereby the top X% of students from each Texas high school are automatically admitted to state public universities, including the flagship UT at Austin, assuming they and their high school meet certain standards.
It looks like it started 7-8 years ago with the top 10% gaining automatic acceptance and is now down to 6% for UT at Austin. The % threshold is established and updated based on the goal to fill 75% of the available slots via automatic admission.
UT at Austin is currently ranked #14 of Public Universities by US News. The state population and university system is similar to Florida’s in a lot of ways.
How do you think that this sort of policy would be accepted in Florida?
Does it seem more or less fair to students?
What impact would it have on the overall profile of accepted students?
What impact would it have on rankings like the US News?
Any other thoughts?
BTW, I have NOT heard of this being discussed as a possibility for Florida. Just curious what people would think of it…
@moscott I am aware of the Top Ten Knights program. I was curious what people think about that sort of program being offered across the SUS and specifically the impacts on UF.
@jhmoney Would you have the same opinion if it applied to all accredited high schools whether they are A or F Rated? Private or Public?
@fl1234 I’m not sure what an accelerated school means? Maybe you can share. As for private I know some do not rank however UCF must have a means to figure it out for those. There must be some level of accreditation they all have or need to have and certain levels. I know for some of these sports schools , the level of student isn’t always the best. But someone needs to be in the top 5%. Doesn’t mean they can handle UF or deserve to be in UF. I think for example if a public school that is rated an A , top 5% gets in, if B school top 4% and so on. I mean UF does that now with out this in place. You have schools like Suncoast and Spanish River that kids are getting in around the 10-15% ranking in their school. Versus a school in Belle Glade that night only get kids in the top 1-3% at best as an example. I like the idea. Kids who work their butts off and get in the top 5-8% deserve to get in. It means you pretty much got 90% A’s in a high level public school
@jhmoney my post says accredited, not accelerated. The point is that there are some basic conditions that the school and student have to meet before they are eligible for Auto Admit. For example, school has to be accredited, there is a minimum SAT/ACT for the student, have to have taken certain number of core classes, etc.
What @FLMomof3 is saying is different from what I am talking about. I do think that there is some guarantee of getting into A university, but not ANY university that you choose. What Texas has is different, the top X% is auto admitted to any university which they apply and meet those basic conditions.
If this were a real thing in Florida, I think that schools would be forced to rank, or be less competitive in the marketplace. Though, I can think of one private in my area that would likely not change their policy of not ranking and not lose any students over it.
Yes, it’s the top 20% guaranteed to one of the universities in Florida - not to one’s top choice, necessarily. It would be nice if it was for one’s top choice - but, then, an overwhelming amount may pick UF.
@fl1234 I think UCF’s program rewards kids who are in the top 10 percent of their class who may not have high standardized test scores. There are some minimum criteria as well.
Here’s why I don’t like such a system for UF, for example. It puts too much emphasis on the high school’s class rank, which doesn’t always reward rigor and can be “gamed.” For example, at my son’s school, a kid with an A in an honors class gets the same “credit” as a kid who gets a B in the AP version. Should you reward the kid who takes the easier class? If I could re-write history in a situation where class rank is king, I would tell my son to take fewer APs because the UF recalculated GPA gives more points to an honors A than an AP B. (Ultimately, I think this is why UF only looks at class rank as “considered.”)
As i have thought about this way too much, my latest theory is that UF doesn’t look at how kids are ranked by their school but rather how their recalculated GPA compares to the others from their school, but they also factor-in the total number of academic classes and rigor.
Lastly, if you focus heavily on rank, then you discount the kid who had to work part-time to help support the family and the other “holistic” factors.
Right now, I think the state of Florida has a pretty good system to reward top performing students. Aside from Bright Futures, most kids who are in the top 10 percent of their class have several state universities to choose from (the big dog, notwithstanding). And the state college matriculation agreements make it very fair for kids who might not have done as well in high school to work hard at a state college with a guarantee of admission to a state school.
If one finishes in the top 6% (as in Texas) of their high school class in Florida, that student should have the opportunity to attend UF, in my opinion.
It would be interesting to know how many graduate high school in Florida each year as well as how many freshmen spots are available at UF each year.
Given that UF is not going to increase the number of students, there is a zero sum game here. Specifically, if you use automatic admits, there will be students from worse schools that get in over better students at better schools.
At some of the worst high schools in Florida, many of the top 5% do not even read at grade level. Although it sounds “fairer” to spread out the admissions amoungst all high schools. the results would be exactly the opposite of what you would want.
The top 15% student at a very high level high school would not be admitted to UF where they would likely thrive. The top 5% student at a poor performing school Is not prepared for UF and would likely fail out.
The admissions people at UF spent a lot of time and energy to ensure that they admit the proper class. Using a formula sounds good if you only spend 30 seconds thinking about it. Think unintended consequences.
Texas, if I recall correctly, originally offered automatic admission to the top 10% from each high school, then lowered it to the top 6% because too many unqualified were being admitted over better qualified students.
But, all Florida students need a reasonable opportunity to attend the University of Florida. An additional requirement, in addition to top 6% from each Florida high school, could be a minimum standardized test score on the ACT or SAT.
@FlaParent I generally agree with you. I would say that the way that Texas has it set up there are still 25% of the slots available for students outside of the top X% of their class. So the students at those better high schools would not necessarily be shut out.
I would think that the net effect would be that some students that may not otherwise get accepted would be and thus lowering the overall stats of the accepted class.
It is difficult for in-state students outside of the 6% to get accepted to UT-Austin…there are not 25% of the spots available to them. About 10% of the class is comprised of OOS and internationals. Some of those outside in-state students not in the top 6% can compete for the remaining 15% spots, but that will be alongside recruited athletes, development students, professors’ kids, etc.
Why do “all Florida students need a reasonable chance to attend University of FL?”
I agree that all FL students should have a reasonable chance at attending A FL college / university but why should the flagship get watered down? If it’s about taking the best and brightest, then take the best and brightest regardless of their class standing. To other’s points a top 15% at school X may bring far more to campus than a top 5% at school Y inclusing academic ability.
UF has risen nicely in the rankings. If it wants to stay there it needs to improve its resources (more facilities, many more high quality professors who actually teach at the UG level) and seek to enroll the very best students in FL.
Nothing wrong with falling short and attending FSU or UCF / USF etc. All good schools.
@rickle1 I agree. I would say that to rise further in the rankings, UF needs to attract more high achieving OOS students. If you look at the publics ahead of UF in the rankings, most pull up their stats via OOS students. Their OOS have higher scores and the admit rate is much lower for OOS. UF has yet to attract large amounts of OOS applicants that drive down the admit rate and increase the stats over the in state candidates.
I don’t think that UF has a problem getting the best in the state to at least apply.