<p>Kauffman,</p>
<p>The state isn't going to allow UF to raise tuition adequately because the state would ultimately have to pay the larger BF tuition costs (since 100% of incoming UF freshman are on BF). The only way this could happen is if BF is drastically changed. Either make it much harder to get BF or lower the percentage of tuition coverage.</p>
<p>Btw, a 970 on the SAT won't get you into UF unless you are an athlete or you are a VERY special case.</p>
<p>"the reason for it being popular is the balance between state best academics, amazing sports program, and overall college feel in gainesville. take away 2 of those and you got urself a problem."</p>
<p>According to who? No I am sorry but being ranked the #1 party school and #1 University in which students never study is a HUGE PROBLEM to me! </p>
<p>The sports program will always be around because of the wealthy Bull Gators who have a committment to excellence. The academics are the best in the state, but we need to watch our back or the University of Miami could potentialy take that away from us.</p>
<p>Lastly, I want to lose that localism feel that the Alachua County Residence bring to the table. These are the same idiots who booed Chris Leak because of the color of his skin. You call me an "extremist", but I am merely guilty of advocating for excellence in all of UF's endeavors.</p>
<p>I came into Fall with 12 credits from AP's and 6 from Summer B and I really like the fact that I have the ability to take 12 credits for 6 of the 8 semesters. Much like Zebes' son, I intend to enter law school and GPA is the name of the game (Along with LSAT of course). Individuals who take the same route should not be penalized IMO. I am doing what is in my best interests and I will still graduate in 4 years. Taking 12 credits isn't a crime against humanity. </p>
<p>Also, I agree that there should be a very dramatic decrease in BF after your 4th year.</p>
<p>goufgators, thank you for that point about rasising tution means more money put out by the state to cover 100% BF, it slipped my mind. </p>
<p>as for the #1 party school thats bogus, i can tell you for sure FSU is a bigger party school, because i will attending in the spring. my whole life has been uf, uf, uf, and it is def not the biggest party school. those stupid polls mean jack**** to me, only to the naive parents who think their kid is going to ruin their life at one of these schools.</p>
<p>lastly, maybe im wrong, but i wouldnt put UM and UF in the same category anymore, for undergrad, i feel as though UM is the most overrated, overpriced school in the state. i live in miami and its a bunch of hype. my 2 uncles who are now doctors went to miami for udnergrad and now say that for the 33 grand it takes to get ur BS, its not worth it at all. ur better off at FIU having a good gpa.</p>
<p>Kauffman, you have a point the University of Miami is overpriced for the average middle-class family, however it offers a great environment for the sons and daughters of the wealthy from primarily the North East region of the USA, and abroad. You have to attend this institution or one of the basket schools (ie: Boston University, George Washington University, Syracuse, and Pepperdine etc) to understand that they do in fact have a solid niche demographic that attends these institution. In a broad brush I would characterize them as Medicore, but economically advantaged students (obviously some exceptions apply). For them it is about who you know, and not what you know. Very connected families and lots of job opportunities will be available to these students.</p>
<p>You will notice that each of these institutions have a solid undergraduate program and usually a few good Professional Programs. Overall their Graduate Programs are lousy, and are massively underfunded in comparison to their respective State Flagships. However, I caution all Gators not to underestimate the rising of the "U". Their President is a real gunner, and she is marketing this school in a way that appeals to this specific demographic.</p>
<p>As it stands right now alot of South Florida's best & brightest still continue to attend the University of Florida, but if we are not careful then this shift will favor UM.</p>
<p>I'm proud to go to UF, for it's academic reputation, athletics AND atmosphere. I hated my undergrad institution because it lacked all 3. I will probably never go back there for homecoming or donate money because it was just a dull place all around. I agree with kauffmanV36 that UF has a perfect balance. You can't take away the partying completely, but even if you could and made it so that everyone at UF was a drone who marched from the library to the dorm , dorm to the library, the school wouldn't move that much higher in the rankings anyway. UF is known for having one of the most prideful student bodies and such a strong alumni network because of the way it is. If you take away the feel that makes UF what it is, you would lose some of that. And guess what? Having a large national (and international) alumni network is worth far more for your career than another 15 spots higher on a ranking.</p>
<p>SSobick, soooo what would you like to do to lose that localism? Would you like to build a wall around the university? Maybe we could put all those who aren't affiliated with UF in special cam-I mean gated residences? For their protection of course. Or how about this, we could just pick up the whole campus and move it to a city like Tampa, where the localist feel is more crime laden and dangerous?</p>
<p>"UF is known for having one of the most prideful student bodies and such a strong alumni network because of the way it is. If you take away the feel that makes UF what it is, you would lose some of that. And guess what? Having a large national (and international) alumni network is worth far more for your career than another 15 spots higher on a ranking."</p>
<p>So the alumni-network that has been growing since 1853 is going to up and disappear if we cut down on the partying? Maybe the Bull Gators might get upset, but I very much doubt that our alumni would stop supporting their alma mater. I have talked to numerous alumni who are absolutely disgusted about the black-eye that we have been given by Princeton Review. It is a negative reflection on the 340,000 alumni that have graduated from this esteemed institution. I think it's time to tone it down a couple notches.</p>
<p>I also want to add that I support the University Athletic Association because they have given over $45 million to support academics since 1990. This is VERY unique in the world of college athletics, and I will never complain about the UAA.</p>
<p>Per the following link:
College</a> Navigator - University of Florida</p>
<p>The 4 yr graduation rate is 53%
The 5 yr graduation rate is 77%
The 6 yr graduation rate is 81%</p>
<p>Interestingly:
The female 6 yr graduation rate is 83%
The male 6 yr graduation rate is 78%</p>
<p>That 53% 4 yr graduation rate sounds like a problem.
Class size, lack of advisors ?????</p>
<p>
[quote]
The 4 yr graduation rate is 53%
The 5 yr graduation rate is 77%
The 6 yr graduation rate is 81%
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I wonder what the graduation rates are when broken down by major. Engineering is one of the bigger colleges on campus and those rates might be shifted a bit because of it.</p>
<p>ssobick, i am equally offended by the rating received by the princton review, i just look at it a different way. i agree, cut back on SOME partying, but that is the students responsibility, if they are not mature enough to make the decision then they have a personal problem. back to the rating of biggest party school, i think it looks horribleon the school, but the solution isnt to stop bars, this is because the rating is wrong IMO, UF is NOT the biggest party school. it sucks that so many people took note of it but what are u gonna do, i just think its wrong.</p>
<p>i'm sorry, but I don't even think UF would be in the top 10 "REAL" party schools.</p>
<p>^^^exactly.</p>
<p>If the Princeton Review Rankings are the result of student responses, then are you people saying that students have the wrong impression of the school that they are attending themselves?? I am sure that if those high numbers did not feel that there is a party like atmosphere, they would not have answer the survey that way.... The same goes for "students never study"</p>
<p>Even if students from other schools have that impression, it may be coming from somewhere...</p>
<p>As far as Miami being academically mediocre compared to UF.....keep crying a river. Some of you are too full of your delusional selves..</p>
<p>The rankings are flawed. They only asked like 300 (if I remember correctly) random students. 300 students represent about .6% of the total student body. I don't think we need to go into statistics to understand how stupid the survey is right?</p>
<p>SSobick, you're SAT comment does not have much merit. The point of bright futures is to give all hard working students a chance to attend college. You are always talking about students who can not afford to leave home and must stay in their own towns. Well many students cannot afford expensive SAT prep programs. (the ones offered in my area cost around $2500 and are completely sold out). </p>
<p>The real crime may be the low 3.0 gpa that is required. My sons had many "brainiac" friends with 1400+ scores and 3.0ish GPA's because they were very smart slackers. My niece is at UF with a 1020 SAT and a 4.7 GPA. She was a diligent student in high school and UF took notice. She was never a good test taker but always had an incredible drive. Thank goodness she wasn't penalilzed for that.</p>
<p>helpful mom, you make a good point. i just have one question for you, should those "brainiac" friends with super high SAT scores and mediocre SAT scores be penalized for not giving their full potential in high school but showing that there is something worth value in that head of theirs.</p>
<p>IMO, this is how the student body of UF divides into 2 groups. you have those like your daughter who were hard workers, had drive, average test scores, but a better GPA than most. then we have those "brainiac" kids who slacked in highschool, did what was needed to get by, but got amazing test scores. i dont think either should be punished and choosing one is not fair.</p>
<p>I think students getting the majority of their tuition paid with only a 970 on the SAT is tragic. The Legislature needs to fix the requirements, or they will lose the program. It already costs $600 million a year from our tax funds.</p>
<p>USNWR SCORING CRITERIA Subsections:
1- Peer Assessment / 25%
2- 6 yr graduation rate / 16%
3- Per student spending / 10%
4- SAT / ACT scores / 8%
5- Faculty Salary / 7%
6- Classes fewer than 20 / 6%
7-Top 10% students / 6%
8- Actual vs. Predicted graduation / 5%
9- % of alumni who contributed / 5%
10- freshman retention rate / 4%
11- Professors with highest degree / 3%
12- Classes of more than 50 / 2%
13- Acceptance rate / 2%
14- Student Faculty ratio / 1%
15- Percent of full time faculty / 1%</p>
<p>Grand Total Points 100%</p>
<p>Good SAT scores are worth 8%.
While students in top 10% are worth 6%.</p>
<p>Mom
1020 SAT with a 4.7 gpa sounds like major grade inflation in that school.</p>
<p>Probably a subject for an entirely different thread, but I bet all those kids with 1400 SAT's and 3.0 gpa's were boys. Probably proving the studies that show that boy's brains don't mature until 22ish?? (some never do).</p>
<p>Me and a few of my classmates were invited to take the SAT in middle school. I got a 980. The minimum SAT score for BF should be an 1100 at least. Anything lower than that, and its really kind of pointless to fund someone's education. The money should go to the smart people.</p>
<p>You guys are missing the point that some people just don't test well for a variety of reasons or don't get to take SAT prep classes. The scores were not nearly this high when I was in high school. We took the test ONCE, maybe twice, and only the very well to do took the prep classes. GPA is very important because it will show how well the student will do in college; SAT alone may not. When a student has a very high GPA in high school, it is obvious that they worked hard. My son has a friend who got an almost perfect score and has no common sense whatsoever. He is so disorganized that his mom has to call him every morning so that he will wake up for classes. He wound up dropping 2 classes already in his first semester and he was a national merit finalist. He is at UF!! Maybe he will mature, maybe he will succeed eventually. But one thing is certain, my niece is amazing and has made only one B in 3 semesters (all A's so far)</p>
<p>My husband has a friend who is a dept. head at UF. He told us that they have a formula where they compare GPA to SAT. If a student has a very high SAT and low GPA, they see them as not going to be successful at UF. If it is the reverse, like my niece, they see someone who really exceeded their abilities in high school and they LOVE that! He also said that a good essay is KEY to admissions.</p>
<p>There has been much talk in doing away with SATs and I think that would be great! GPA is so much more important and a student should not get bright futures based on SAT. It really is penalizing students. Change the GPA to at least 3.5 if you want to change something and make them work for it.</p>