UF sports titles draw prospective honors students

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
1

<p>THE HOPEFUL APPLICANTS VISITED CAMPUS SATURDAY.</p>

<p>The Gators' victory in the 2007 national football and basketball championships did more than attract the best high school players for this year's teams. The wins also recruited some of the nation's top high school scholars. </p>

<p>These students came together early Saturday morning for the Honors Program's annual Visitation Day, which provides prospective Gators a chance to visit the campus, meet with faculty members and talk with current honors students. </p>

<p>"We hope to highlight the great things about UF, and hopefully those are just the things they want in a school," said Jessica Liu, a UF freshman and one of the event's coordinators. </p>

<p>While UF's academics and clubs were of interest to the high school students, for some the biggest lure was the national championship trophy. </p>

<p>"UF has an awesome football team, and it's important for me to go to a school with great academics and a great sports program," said Nikki Fragosi, a prospective student from Tampa. </p>

<p>Nathan McMahon, a high school senior from Jacksonville, must soon decide between going to UF or to Dartmouth. He is leaning toward UF and admits that the allure of being a student in "Championship City" is hard to pass up. </p>

<p>"Winning the national championship game definitely made UF more attractive," he said. </p>

<p>Each of the 300 invitees boasted a 4.0 grade point average and at least a 1430 SAT score - a fairly big increase compared to past incoming honors freshmen classes. </p>

<p>Many students left Visitation Day hoping to one day call themselves a Gator. </p>

<p>"Visitation Day really made me consider going here," McMahon said. "It's not just about being able to come here for free, but because I really like the school." </p>

<p><a href="http://www.alligator.org/pt2/070402honors.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.alligator.org/pt2/070402honors.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>This year, fueled by enthusiasm over national football and basketball championships, applications for admission to the University of Florida soared to about 25,000. The problem: UF had only 6,300 available slots.</p>

<p>Of course, prospective students who didn't get into UF could simply apply to one of Florida's other state universities. The problem is that virtually all of the state's largest institutions - Central Florida, Florida State, UF and FIU - had to turn students away.</p>

<p>And the competition for access only figures to get worse this year. All told, 297,000 students are enrolled in the State University System and the Board of Governors expects to have to accommodate the equivalent of 10,500 more full-time students in the coming academic year (the actual number will almost certainly be larger, since many students attend part time).</p>

3

<p>HAHA Nathan. No way.</p>

4

<p><em>Sigh</em> I had that choice. But we couldn't afford it. :(</p>

<p>Go Gators! :)</p>

<p>Argh I got into Cornell and Darmouth, but I'm not good enough for UF Honors. Stupid test score cut offs! :)</p>