According to their Common Data Sets they publish annually, the average UF GPA increases about 0.5 each year, with a few exceptions every few years.
Last years average was 4.35, so this year’s will probably be around 4.4 and next year’s will be around 4.45, and the year after could be 4.5.
They obviously have to stop at one point before getting into UF becomes more competitive than an Ivy League, but they seem to be increasing requirements at a rapid rate. If this rate continues, the average GPA in 10 years will be a 4.85, which is only possible to obtain if you’ve taken around 14+ AP Classes where everything else was honors (from 9th-11th), and maintained a 4.0 GPA. Even 5 years from now the average GPA could be a 4.6, which at some schools is impossible to obtain, and at other schools it would require a perfect GPA.
However, with the annual increase, it doesn’t seem to tie in with their accepted student/applicant ratio.
Every year they have roughly the same amount of applicants (~32,000 +/- a few hundred, perhaps a few thousand more a couple of years from now), and they generally accept the same amount of students. About 3 years ago, the average GPA was 4.2, whereas last year it was 4.35 (which in my personal GPA calculation is getting 6 more As), yet roughly the same amount of students were still accepted from a similar size applicant pool. If the GPA shifts were really this rapid, I would expect a lesser amount of students to be accepted since not as many would fall into their average range. Unless of course the average applicant GPA scales with each year as well, but even then that wouldn’t make sense either because the prestige of the university has remained the same and many top applicants and students should still be applying. I wouldn’t expect for each year to suddenly introduce a large amount of top students into the application pool because for the most part, UF hasn’t really changed and its reputation as the best school in Florida has always been there.
Sorry if what I said didn’t make sense, but does anyone have any ideas as to why this happens? Have any of you fellow students noticed admission trends at your high school rapidly decreasing these few years?
The state has been aggressive in rolling out IB and AICE programs, expanding access to AP classes and doing everything it can to push dual enrollment. All in an effort to make college more affordable (by earning college credits in HS).
The state population has been increasing, so while the total numbers of applicants has been about the same, the quality of those applicants has been improving.
Also, I’m sure the rate of increase in GPA will start decreasing (you can only go so high!). You’ll also see a bit of fluctuations, as some years UF will admit fewer or more students, as it’s always balancing out it’s enrollment.
Another way to look at it, is by the % of the freshman class that are in the top 10% and 25% of their class.
The % in the top 10% and 25% of their classes has been slightly dropping over the last few years. What does that tell us? Not much, the difference is fairly small, so we shouldn’t read too much into it, other than UF has been fairly consistent in selecting students.
@Gator88NE Still, IB programs only allow entrance as late as 11th grade. If they were aggressively rolling them out, wouldn’t this mean that they would have to introduce hundreds every year? I mean, it’s possible but it seems likely.
By the way, do you have any links for the AP/IB increase? I’m not doubting you, I’d just like to read into it more,
The increase in course offerings through FLVS is allowing “high achieving” students to take more classes than what their brick and mortar school offers during the day. My D’s school offers 7 periods but many top students take additional classes during the school year and over summer. Most do it to pack as many APs in as possible while keeping a slot in the schedule open for non-academic classes like band and drama (ECs). Some move on to DE once they run out of APs.
Another HS in our district has added optional 8th and 9th periods to allow room for electives while also packing in the APs.
Number of Florida graduates leaving HS having taken an AP Exam:
2003: 32,566
2008: 53,816
2012: 76,128
2013: 80,175
They are still adding new IB high schools, but over the last few years the big growth has been with primary and middle school, IB programs. My local middle school is switch to an AICE program.
I personally have a 5.5656 GPA and am a FL senior in hs. Mine is so high because I’m graduating with my associates degree and I’m only 4 in my class. My friend who is valedictorian will have a 6.0 GPA at the end of this year.
PupuLovesPickles is referring to the UF calculated GPA which is on a 4.0 scale with +1 for AP/IB/DE and +.5 for honors. The Val at my D’s school is a 4.0 UW and will graduate with something near a 4.6.