Anyone receive IS merit aid?
@collegegirl1512 . I wouldn’t consider UF to be a traditional college town campus. Gainesville is a fairly good size town that happens to have a university in the middle of it. Most of the college hangouts for food/fun are on the north edge of campus-University-which is walkable. The rest are downtown Gainesville which is about 6-8 blocks east of campus-not really walkable. Does that help?
Yes thank u!
Does UF allow opposite genders to hang out in the dorms
Gainesville is a college town. 
Gainesville has a population of 131,000. UF has 50,000+ students. It’s very much built around the university, and that includes the night life.
@collegegirl1512 Yes, there isn’t any rules around opposite genders hanging out in the dorms. The old fashion dorms will dedicate a floor to one gender, but every resident hall will have both genders. The suite style halls have both genders on the same floor.
@collegegirl1512 My son and I just returned from a trip to UF. He’s been admitted and is considering UW Madison, Ohio State, UF and Michigan (dream school and not yet admitted). We really enjoyed the UF campus but some of the facilities seemed a bit worn and tired compare to those at the other schools.
Gainesville was a bit of a let down. It may be a “college town” in that it has a large university and student population but it really pales in comparison to other college towns such as Ann Arbor, Madison, and even College Park. I was disappointed at the lack of restaurants, shops, cafes and galleries in the area immediately surrounding campus. With the huge student audience, you’d think that the town would offer more than it does,
@caveatesq, I agree with you that some of the buildings are drab looking, especially the older dorms. Most of the buildings from the school’s growth phase 50 - 60 years ago were the boring architecture of the times, and UF has chosen to remodel the buildings instead of tear them down. Maybe they will become treasured when they get old enough to be historic! As far as Gainesville, the city didn’t grow up around the campus, so it lacks the main residential and shopping district immediately adjacent to the campus. Downtown is a couple miles east, but the two areas are being joined together with major redevelopment. But as far as the students go, they don’t leave the campus to eat because there is a dining hall, restaurant, or snack shop just about everywhere. And the bars are right there across the street on University Ave.
I should point out that over 80% of the students don’t live on campus (of which 2/3’s are freshman). Off campus housing is cheap and plentiful, the restaurants and cafes are scattered about town. Lately my daughter has gotten into visiting all of the micro breweries…
@caveatesq We were just in Gainesville on Thursday / Friday for an orientation with our daughter and many of the kids had already left on Spring break. Definitely not as busy on campus the past few days. Within Florida, Gainesville is without question a college town. Other large schools are in Orlando (Disney town), Tallahassee (politics town), Tampa and Miami (it’s own world and I can say it because I live there.) I can’t compare Gainesville with Madison or Ann Arbor (though i did have one wild night there a long time ago) but it is a great place to go to school. The students are at the center of it all – but hey, it’s not everyone’s first choice. Best of luck to your son with his decision.
anyone know when they will release financial aid this year? or when they released it last year?
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I believe last year’s financial aid was released in late February. This year UF said they want to release it by mid March.
@patalexandra I believe last year’s financial aid was released in late February. This year UF said they want to release it by mid March.
and all merit money’s all been assigned, correct? That’s the feeling I got.
Merit Money from the Office of Admissions has already gone out. Financial Aid to come.
is it a letter or email
Can someone chance me for this March 30 decision?(:
Date Applied: before Nov 15 but due to family issues could not submit SSAR before Dec 1
Unweighted GPA: 3.68
Weighted GPA: 4.45
UF GPA (If you calculated it):
SAT: 1180
ACT: 25
State Of Residence: OOS (NH)
Male / Female: Female
Summer or Fall:Summer
Class rank: 20 of 316
AP’s: 1 - AP Biology (my school does not offer a lot of AP courses)
Extra Curriculars: 3 year Drum Major, Newspaper editor, trumpet lesson teacher, student council rep, track and field captain, more
Senior Schedule:AP biology, honors english, honors pre calculus, honors economics, sociology (semester), honors band, jazz band, honors law and ethics
Is UF your first choice?: yeah, I got waitlisted at CU, so UF is now my #1
Other schools you applied for: Florida Tech, UF, Clemson, UNH, Notre Dame, UGA
Major/Field of Study: Genetics
Comments: First gen college student… wrote essay on my difficult childhood.
@poeticpromises You’re test scores are likely to hold you back. When you listed ECs did you emphasize leadership positions?
@poeticpromises Sorry to report that I have not seen many UF admits with test scores below 1200. The average for Feb. admits was 1364 SAT and a 4.4 UF recalculated GPA. One never knows with UF’s holistic admissions but you are well within the “reach” category. Good luck.
Does anyone know why I didn’t get any merit money? I am OOS, have a 36 act and a 98/100 gpa, a ton of ECs with leadership, varsity sports etc, and I was accepted into the honors program upon admission… without merit money I can’t afford to attend UF and apparently the emails for merit money already went out, I’m so bummed