UF Class of 2022 Discussion Page

@FoxWarrior @Mom2NND I have very similar stats but received no merit money… did your D visit campus/demonstrate interest before applying to UF? I’m wondering if I didn’t get money because I didn’t demonstrate enough interest

@livv13 it’s pretty clear no one really knows why someone gets in UF over someone else with better numbers, and same with scholarships. UF basically tells you this. It’s all holistic. They are banned under state law from using race, but other than that it’s their discretion. I’m not saying I agree, just that that’s UFs system. They do highlight what is most important, very important, and less important. But you’ll never know exactly why you got in or got rejected, for admission or merit scholarship. It just is what it is. (I’m a Gator alumni fyi and I’m not bashing here, just explaining)

@caveatesq that’s just not Forida. Florida schools are very much like Florida in general, suburbian life. The schools blend into the suburbs. They are not Penn State, Ann Arbour, Charlottesville, or like a bubble where you don’t know the outside world exists like when I visited Sarah Lawrence in the Bronx. The Florida system is quite excellent. But it is not a beautiful Oasis of study hidden away from the rest of the world. That’s why I like it though, we live in the real world. Better for our kids to learn that sooner than later.

@GatormarriedNole I do not agree with your comments and my best guess is that you have not seen Penn State, Michigan or UVA. UF felt very similar to Penn State to me and my son but with warm weather. The campus is very enclosed in its own bubble with a small town with limited resources on the campus perimeter. The campus felt very much hidden away from the rest of Gainesville. That struck us as odd given the sheer number of students at UF. We expected the campus and the town to be more seamless and walkable than they were. Instead it was pretty clear that students need some form of transportation (car or scooter) to get around.

University of Michigan is much more integrated with the City of Ann Arbor and has much less of a distinct, enclosed campus. UW Madison is similar. Both schools provide a significantly more urban environment than UF with shops, restaurants, bars, theaters, coffee shops and services all within any easy walk. UVA and Charlottesville are quite a bit smaller but also offers a fair amount within a very short walk.

BTW, Sarah Lawrence is in Bronxville, NY and not the Bronx. Bronxville is a very high brow NYC suburb in Westchester County. I grew up and still live not far away and agree that it is not the real world.

@caveatesq Looks like your son has some great choices. I agree with you that the UF campus is not seamlessly integrated with the rest of Gainesville. Thirty years ago, the campus was very much its own distinct entity. Students didn’t really venture downtown too much because most of what they needed could be found on campus or nearby. The UF campus is walkable but it is hilly and it is 2,000 acres. Today, the gap between the campus and downtown is narrowing and UF continues to fill-in the acreage with new buildings – museum, performing arts center, new rec center and lots of sports fields. Is it as “mature” of a college town as Ann Arbor or Madison or Charlottesville? Perhaps not. But it does have lots of smart kids, great weather and a student-centric culture. Your son can’t go wrong with his many options.

@livv13 yes my D visited and toured UF during her junior year. We are in same boat with another school that is her top choice- no merit aid but it seems that most of the people who received merit aid from that school (at least who commented about merit aid) were minorities with lower stats, etc than so many others who did not receive merit aid. It makes no sense. I am sorry for your position, I know how it feels. Wishing you luck with where ever you go

@gatordad305 Thanks. At this point, my son is considering UF, Wisconsin and Ohio State. He was deferred Early Action from U Mich and still waiting on a decision. He considered UVA but chose not to apply as the school felt too small for him and was likely a significant reach.

He liked UF a lot but has reservations given the very low concentration of out of state students that attend.

@caveatesq Why the concern over the low % of OOS students? I’ve seen this posted in other threads, so multiple folks have that concern. Do they think the in-state students may be too cliquish? Or that it’s easier to make friends with other OOS students? Perhaps the thought is that some schools do a better job of supporting or welcoming OOS students than others?

Just wondering… :-?

@Gator88NE We’ve seen stats indicating that somewhere around 5% of the student population at UF is from out of state - and in this current freshman class, only 19 students come from our home state of CT. That seems to be much lower than at other high-ranking state flagships.

Our concern is that incoming in-state students will come in with established high school friends and be less open to outsiders. It also stuck us as very odd that UF feels the need to establish a separate Learning Community for OOS students. Why would they think that students would want to separate themselves from their peers merely because they don’t reside in FL? The need for a Learning Community for OOS students seems to shine a spotlight on the fact that OOS students somehow feel out of place at UF.

Separately, here in the Northeast, UF is relatively unknown. When I mention that my son is considering it, I get comments like “that’s the Gator school, right?” My son will likely want to return back to the NYC metro area and UF’s lack of name recognition here could hurt his job prospects.

@caveatesq All very valid concerns.

Keep in mind that Florida is a huge state (20+ million), and is very selective. It also doesn’t have the “in-state” competition, you find in the Northeast from private schools. I think I saw where UM-Ann Arbor had about 10,000 instate applications, while UF has 3 times that number. UM and UW need OOS students, as they don’t have enough in-state students to support enrollment and need the OOS tuition.

That typically leads to only a handful of Florida students (outside of a few large magnet HS) from each High school, being accepted and enrolled at UF. My son and daughter come from a HS that had over 600 graduating seniors, my daughter only had 1 or 2 real friends enroll at UF, while my son had 3 (but none of his close friends, which really bummed him out). Most freshman will be looking to make friends. Very few HS cliques survive UF’s holistic admission process…

UF likely setup the OOS LLC in an effort to recruit OOS students that have the same concern as your son. UF wants to increase the % of OOS, not for the additional OOS tuition, but to increase it’s national profile. They will also say it’s to make the student body more geographically diversified.

To be honest, most of the students in Broward will not be OOS. It’s a very large dorm that’s popular with freshman (it’s very social). IMHO, the best part about the OOS LLC, is that it will give you a leg up in getting assigned to Broward.

I can understand your concern with name recognition. I would recommend using LinkedIn. You can look up UF and select Alumni. Then select for New York, and you get a sense of how many Gators work in New York and the type of jobs they have. I would guess much of it is in finance. You can also do this for Boston or any other areas.

You can do the same with the other schools on your list.

Good Luck! All of his options are great. :-bd

@caveatesq @Gator88NE It’s ironic that a state like Florida, where almost everyone that I know (GenX) is from somewhere else, would be considered unfriendly or unwelcoming or whatever of out of staters. Aside from my kids and their friends, I only know a handful of Florida natives, but then again I was at UF in the 80s. While some of the big Florida high schools will send a bunch of kids to UF (last year my daughter’s school sent 40+), most kids will be on their own and need to find a new group of friends. I remember parachuting into my dorm not knowing a soul, even though a majority of kids were from “somewhere” in Florida. A lot of it depends on the kid, too. One of mine makes friends in seconds while the other has a careful cultivation process. Regardless of where they go, all kids need to get involved, join clubs, go to games (and make 80,000 friends quickly, for example) and break out of their comfort zone. @caveatesq , please keep us apprised.

@Mom2NND thank you, best of luck to your D as well !

Received my snail mail acceptance notification today.

@livv13 the admission process seems to be a secret puzzle. Similar situation here different school.

My D’s H.S. counselor said very few of her class of almost 600 were accepted to UF this year, she knows of only a handful. It seems that the acceptance rate of OOS students is probably considerably higher than 5%. I know my D was excited to learn of the possibility of a diversified class, not an extension of high school. Background: we are Floridian transfers from the west and just now really learning about Gator life. Would love tips on housing for the limited campus for those enrolled in Summer B.

“if” Florida wants to increase their OOS enrollment I think they need to really step up their recruitment game. They have literally no presence where I live (MA). Whether it is true or not, my takeaway is that they aren’t that concerned and are focused on providing a great education to their in state students, totally understandable. But from a recruitment standpoint, Florida is literally dead last out of any of the schools I applied to in terms of communication, updates, information etc.

@Rubix1 We are from upstate NY and I agree that the communication from UofF was very light. My D applied to South Carolina, UGa, UofF, and Vtech…honestly very little communication from any of them. Once accepted at SC she was sent many emails but a just one or two snail mails. From our experience the Northeastern schools are much more aggressive…and I can’t tell you how many mailings she got from Elon, Univ of Arizon, Univ of Denver, etc etc.

Keep in mind that schools like Elon, University of Arizona, University of Denver, etc, depend on OOS students for revenue and enrollment. They HAVE to spend far more on recruitment, than schools like UGa and UF.

In the NE, you have a large number of excellent universities/colleges, fighting over a limited pool of students. Many of these schools are private, charge a significant amount for tuition, and can afford to spend more $ on recruiting.

On the other hand, some state public schools (that don’t depend on an OOS tuition revenue scheme), like UF and UGa, don’t have large recruitment budgets and have more than enough well qualified in-state applicants (and state supported funding).

UF is charging in-state students $6,500 a year for tuition and fees. That’s crazy low. And there is no “$ surprises”, even room and board cost (on-campus and off) are fairly low.

UF is hiring regional recruiters (starting with the Midwest), but the OOS enrollment goals are fairly modest. In truth, they can’t, based on state politics, too negatively impact in-state enrollment. Still, they have plenty of room to increase the currently, very low OOS rates.

What’s interesting is this year’s large spike in OOS applications (something FSU is also seeing) and seeing how it all works out. UF accepted a LOT of OOS students, but how many will enroll? How much can UF increase it’s OOS enrollment, without offering tuition discounts?

Things could get crazy at FSU, since the DO offer significant tuition discounts (OOS tuition waivers).

UF has a 50% yield (accepted students that enroll) for in-state students. That % of yield is much lower for OOS students.

If we continue to see a growth in OOS applications, we’re going to start seeing a drop in the OOS acceptance rate. For an extreme example, we can look at GT, where the in-state acceptance rate is around 40%, and the OOS acceptance rate is around 20%. That really wasn’t the case before GT switch to the common app, several years ago, which lead to a crazy increase in OOS applications.

It may be far easier for an OOS student to be accepted, this year, than in 3 or 4 years. While the % of OOS students increase, the number of slots for in-state students will decrease. That means the in-state acceptance rates will also drop. In-state acceptance rates will also drop, based on the states population growth.

All of which makes programs like PaCE and Gator Engineering at Santa Fe, even more relevant for future in-state students.

My son is OOS. Pennsylvania. He has committed to UF.