UF/ is this enough?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
1

Parent of a rising junior at a competitive school in South Florida. Currently top 6% but not dual enrolling over summer like many others are. PSAT10, 1230 but will be prepping. Current recalculated UF GPA 4.46. Hoping to be able to chose between UF and FSU.

9th grade:
AP Human Geo -B/A
Honors Geometry - A/A
Honors English -A/A
Honors Biology -A/A
Honors TV prod- A/A
Spanish 1-A/A
Pre/AICE Business A/A

10th grade:
Honors Chem -B/B
Honors Algebra 2- A/A
Honors English -A/A
Spanish 2- A/A
AP Comp Sci -A/A
AICE Business AS-A/A
AP World A/A

11th grade schedule
AP Chemistry
AP US History
AP Psychology
AICE Business A
AP Lang
Honors Precalc
Honors Theatre

Extracurriculars:
Deca-district competition qualifier
Theatre :heart:
Thespian Club
March for Miriam volunteer program (paired with holocaust survivor)
NHS - Member and Officer- Secretary/ Social Media. Will run for top officer position next year.

Is this enough? Any other suggestions as to what she should be doing in addition? I don’t know what she has time to add anything else.

2

Much will depend on what the rest of child’s high school does. A friend’s daughter had all that and then some, but she was at a gainesville high school and they don’t all get in. A good gpa and scores help, but they really are holistic and sometimes it is things you just can’t control like who the others in the high school are and what great things they’ve done.

3

Yup, the holistic admissions kind of make UF a bit of a lottery. Check out the other thread where they even rejected a national merit finalist before accepting them on appeal.

I would say the extra curriculars look average. Challenge your student to think about starting a new club at high school or starting a campaign about a community problem that impacts them. Attending city commission or school board meetings, creating protests or some other impact. It can be about anything. They seem to want to look for leaders and not just a well rounded student who just joins clubs.

4

I was hoping being an officer for honor society would check the leadership box and be enough for that category.

5

As others have said, UF’s holistic approach means no one is a lock. So there is never “enough.” Rigor looks very good and grades are excellent. Keep that up, of course. Focus on getting the best possible test score. An area that looks a little thin at the moment is ECs and leadership-- which is not a surprise as a high school sophomore. From what I have heard, UF wants to see how kids will improve the overall environment at the school and contribute beyond the classroom. They want kids who have done well in school but also excelled outside of school. You might want to challenge your student to come up with a community service project or volunteer effort that they can build their leadership skills. The student can pick something that they are passionate about and then take some action to solve a problem or attempt to make a difference in the community. Most high school students have extra time in their lives, so the idea is to get them focused on something other than themselves and try to do something meaningful for the community.

6

Neither of my two kids had much in the way of HS leadership experience. it’s a nice to have but not a requirement.

What is a requirement are activities outside of the classroom. UF isn’t looking for a lot of activities, but they want to see a lot of commitment (time) to those activities you are involved in.

It’s far better to be involved in Theatre for 3 or 4 years, than spending one year in three or four different clubs. It’s also far more important to show that you spend several hours a week on an activity, than only 1 hour a week in a club.

Threatre is an excellent EC, because it shows a commitment of time and effort.

DECA competition is an excellent EC, because it also shows a commitment of time and effort. Being successful in the competition is also a plus.

Thespian Club is of little value (if its only 1 hour a week), unless she’s been involved for 3 or 4 years, in which case it shows a commitment.

March for Miriam volunteer program is great, since UF highly values volunteering. It’s even better if she’s done it for a few years, showing a commitment. It may also make for a great essay subject.

When she’s completing her application, she’ll need to list each EC, and how much time and effort went into it. For example, Threare, Aug through May, 2.5 hours a week.

The more “hours” a week you’re spending doing volunteer work and EC’s, the better. Keep in mind an EC could be anything, as long as it shows a commitment in time. Volunteering at a church, or playing in your own band, it all counts.

That’s why you have to do “something” over the summer. It doesn’t have to be taking AP classes, but it should be something. If nothing else, find some volunteer work, or even a part time job.

To be honest, as long as you’re in the top 10% or so of your HS class, and your GPA/Test scores are in the middle range for accepted students at UF (GPA: 4.3-4.6;SAT: 1280-1430;ACT: 28-32), then EC’s/volunteering/jobs over the summer will have far more weight than taking an extra AP class.

7

Thank you for your replies. The thespian club is more of a tie in with theatre and the theatre class that she is taking. The club also competes which could be helpful. She plans on sticking with her current EC list through senior year and hoping to be President or VP of NHS. Also, her summer camp is starting a leadership program for rising seniors next summer that will get her a ton of service hours. I just don’t see her wanting to start a new club or a business right now. If she had something that she was really passionate about then I could see it, but anything she started right now would kinda be forced and just for her application. I’m hoping she can keep her grades up and get good scores, which I think she will. Unless she really finds something new and interesting that she wants to do, we will probably just roll the dice on UF and hope for the best. There is always FSU which I think should be totally doable.

8

@flprepaidmom I’m not advocating that your daughter start a club or an organization just to add it to her application. I think you are right not to push her in that way. I think it is helpful for kids to participate in activities outside of school, like volunteering as an example, where they see a little bit of the world that’s not just about grades and scores. My rising senior son had a part-time job last summer, which I really think helped his perspective on a few things. My daughter, who is a UF sophomore, did a ton of volunteer work during her summers; she just plain loved it. I think that helped her application a lot though she did it without any prompting from me. There’s no denying that UF is looking for well-rounded superstars and the denial landscape is littered with kids who had good grades and scores but fell short on the ECs. (As I have said a few times before, the son of close gator alum friend of mine did not get into UF but was admitted to honors program at FSU. Fell short somewhere: ECs or essay is my guess.)

And @Gator88NE is right that kids should be doing “something” during the summer. They want to chill out once school ends but after a week or so of doing nothing, they need to get their butts of the coach.

Some of this is playing the application “game” as our guidance counselor describes it. Good luck.

9

My daughter will be in Israel for 4.5 weeks this summer. She will get some very interesting and unique service hours there. When she comes back she will be a counselor in training at a summer camp and also get lots of service hours. Hopefully that will be helpful.