UF admissions raises the bar

<p>Article in tuesday's Alligator: <a href="http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060411admissions.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060411admissions.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>2004: 11,928 Admitted (57% accepted) = 6,799
2005: 12,100 Admitted (60.3% accepted) = 7296 (too much, wasnt expected)
2006: 10,400 Admitted (expect ~60%) =6,240</p>

<p>At Palm Harbor University High School, students of the International Baccalaureate program once applied to UF with smug assurance.</p>

<p>"It used to be that if you were in IB, you pretty much got in," said senior Ryan Mills, who was accepted to UF. But this year, "at least 30 kids in IB didn't get in, and they're all going to FSU."</p>

<p>Mike Burkett, Mills' IB guidance counselor, said fewer than 30 were rejected, but he and his colleagues throughout the state were surprised at the number of "strong candidates" who were denied admission to UF.</p>

<p>Nancy Carter, Burkett's counterpart at Deerfield Beach High School, made the same observation: UF grows more selective of its applicants each year.</p>

<p>In order to slim its bloated undergraduate class for the 2006-2007 academic period, the university admitted fewer students than it has since 1991.</p>

<p>For Burkett, a higher bar for UF admissions would have been easy to understand. But he thinks the bar is uneven.</p>

<p>"We were hearing about students who - we were questioning, how on earth did UF let them in?" he said.</p>

<p>Interim Admissions Director Pat Herring said the UF admission process has morphed over the last decade. In the late 1980s, students were simply ranked by grade point averages and SAT scores. It was easy to compare one to another.</p>

<p>Now, students' numbers indicate who are candidates for admission, but the ultimate decision requires human scrutiny.</p>

<p>Herring said the application readers - admissions staff, UF faculty and high school guidance counselors from throughout the state - must consider whether each applicant would fulfill a need of the university. Such needs include geographic, socioeconomic and ethnic diversity; artistic talent; and the potential for public service.</p>

<p>"This year, because of our limitations, because of the nature of our program, you practically have to have it all," he said.</p>

<p>Herring said some UF undergraduates have younger siblings who are better students than they are, but who were rejected this Spring.</p>

<p>Left behind</p>

<p>High selectivity bodes well for UF's incoming student body, but it has left some petulant parents behind.</p>

<p>On parents, Herring said: "The level of involvement is much more intense than it historically has been."</p>

<p>Rejected applicants may appeal their admission, but those who apply for an appeal receive a letter that states: "Only applicants with truly compelling personal circumstances are encouraged to appeal."</p>

<p>Political science professor Albert Matheny serves on the committee that judges these appeals. He said there were twice as many this year as there were in 2005.</p>

<p>Last week, Matheny's committee reviewed 200 appeals in about six hours, he said.</p>

<p>Matheny said a strong appeal letter may project a niche for the student in a UF program. Or it may detail an extraordinary circumstance that the applicant had to overcome, such as severe poverty or disease.</p>

<p>Matheny receives many e-mails from parents, and not all are as cordial as the rest.</p>

<p>"Occasionally you'll get some that'll say, 'I went there in the '70s and I've always told my kids that they were going to get in, and I don't see why you won't let them in,'" he said.</p>

<p>Though the official statistics have not been produced yet, Matheny said the average student admitted to UF this semester has a 4.0 GPA and a 1300 SAT score.</p>

<p>The X factor</p>

<p>When admissions officers accept a body of applicants, they assume that about half of them will not enroll. They call the percentage that enrolls the "yield rate."</p>

<p>Last year, when parts of Florida were decimated by four consecutive hurricanes, the university offered too many slots, expecting that many accepted students would not come. As a result, dormitories were crowded, and lecture halls were stuffed.</p>

<p>Officials use the previous year's yield rate to gauge the next year's, but they can only guess.</p>

<p>"What you're trying to do is predict what 10,400 17-year-olds are going to do," Herring said.</p>

<p>And there is often an "X factor," like last year's hurricanes. This year, that factor is the NCAA basketball championship win.</p>

<p>Herring estimates that about 540 more students than predicted will be drawn to UF by a desire to be where the Gators are.</p>

<p>Based on that average of 4.0, my 3.2 ass is damn grateful to be a Gator next year.</p>

<p>is that weighted or unweighted? you are lucky if it's weighted!</p>

<p>Better say thanks to whoever you higher power is. If you go show your thanks by setting the bar higher</p>

<p>the 4.0 GPA is average weigthed gpa</p>

<p>I know--I was asking alanstats if his GPA was weighted or unweighted.</p>

<p>i think a big reason is the ease of the online application and the fact that many kids apply to many other schools with no intention to go to uf. i applied to uf because my parents wanted me to and because it was an easy 15 minutes out of my life. this mentality floods the applicant pool with kids who have no intention of going and it steals spots away from kids who actually want to go. each year, each college gets more selective. kids realize this and in turn they apply to even more colleges, hoping to get into at least a couple. i applied to 12 this year (accepted at 5, waitlisted 1, rejected 6) and i know many who did the same. i have many kids in my school from IB who were rejected and a valedictorian at my school as denied and another one was waitlisted (i'm not in IB). no school is anyone's "safety" or anything anymore; the number of applications to each school just makes it more of a luck and numbers game than anything.</p>

<p>on the bright side for uf, it'll definitely help their push to become a truly elite public university as their student body just becomes more and more impressive.</p>

<p>i'm sorry about taking someone's spot; i have lots of friends who didn't get in and i feel terrible about taking their spot. i really do feel bad and i don't see why my parents made me apply to uf.</p>

<p>dearkonstantine, what school did you end up deciding to go to?</p>

<p>well i'll just go for my whole college deal haha:</p>

<p>rejected (i'll go for the bad ones first):
penn (ED)
yale
wash u
northwestern
dartmouth</p>

<p>waitlisted:
cornell</p>

<p>accepted:
uf
penn state business school honors
william and mary
michigan-ann arbor (20k michigan scholar award scholarship)
university of virginia</p>

<p>i'm going to uva because it was my dream school along with penn. i'm very pleased with how admissions worked out for me; i got into my top choice and i most definitely can't complain.</p>

<p>uf is still a great school, it just wasn't for me. i don't really feel the gator spirit for staying in florida for more than the 17.8 years or so i already have.</p>

<p>check that i only applied to 11 schools my bad haha</p>

<p>Congrats on the success. The UF environment isnt for everyone. I can completly understand not staying instate. I am applying to medical school next year and hope to go out of state (emory, vanderbilt, gwu are some of the few I am considering).</p>

<p>thanks. yeah, i don't really dig the uf campus or the student life. and althought high school social life has treated me extremely well haha i don't really want to have the same people and same deal in college.</p>

<p>


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<p>That's why schools have waiting lists :)</p>

<p>Congrats dearkonstantine! However, don't expect the social life etc. to be much different at UVA. I'm sure you have other reasons for choosing the school though. :)</p>

<p>Great that there is an option in Florida that is a state school with state prices and yet a reputation for students who are high achievers. Now if they would just get better dorms. I know, I know, all wrapped up in state funds and stuff</p>

<p>oh i don't expect it to be differnt in terms of mechanics in the social life</p>

<p>it's just that it's new people haha</p>

<p>and froshtobe, i totally agree. uf needs to require that all freshman live on campus and provide more campus housing and nicer dorms. i think it'll bring the student body together and help make uf a truly elite public university.</p>

<p>Absololutely, there is the spirit. Plenty of people will naysay but don't let that diter you. I have been told that being on Campus is a "must" for a freshman and yet choices are so issue oriented at U/F. Just look at the number of posts historically asking the dorm questions at U/F - confusing, old, problems and yet sometimes fun places but how to figure out which and where and with the least pain for a year. Imagine that 3 people may be stuffed into a sardine can size room and then adjusted to the new rigor, people and still try and excel. Mold issues, leaky roofs at times etc.</p>

<p>Ugh, I just saw the above typos-- sorry. Yes, I can spell - just don't type too coherently late at night.</p>

<p>haha I see, good point. No one from my high school went to UF besides me so I always forget that some people run into HS people everywhere they go.</p>

<p>Personally, I don't want UF to provide more campus housing or make it much better. The city wants that too, but for a different reason. The student ghetto is already dying, and it's really sad that other people aren't going to get to experience it. It's fun having your own house sometimes, and it teaches responsibility too. </p>

<p>There's not enough of a demand for campus housing. 90 something percent of freshmen already live on campus. In the past two years at least, there has been enough space for EVERY upperclassman who wants to live in a dorm to come back.</p>

<p>There are other things UF can spend its money on. The administrators have that opinion too I guess, because they basically laughed in the face of the city when they suggested more campus housing.</p>

<p>"There's not enough of a demand for campus housing. 90 something percent of freshmen already live on campus. In the past two years at least, there has been enough space for EVERY upperclassman who wants to live in a dorm to come back."</p>

<p>Actually have to disagree with this statement. Housing only accepts ~2000 upperclassmen that want to stay on campus thats why they have the lottery every year. The problem is that the majority of freshmans dont come back on campus for a second year, so there are enought spaces to fill the ~2000 or under quota the enter the lottery. Also housing hasnt had the space for all the freshmans that wanted to live on campus for the pass two years, esp last year. They over book in housing and have to reject people or put them on a waiting list. They usually send out a letter saying that you can get out of your contract for a reduced price so they can get others in a room if you decided over summer to move off campus. Housing have been filled to capacity and they have been forced to make triple rooms that werent suppose to be triples.</p>