I was going off the USnews rank. But doing more research and talking to people in the industries is better. I do know that UF has a great business school especially the MSF combined program. OSU fisher is nationally known a bit better, but it’s close. I was just going off the US news rank for engineering.
it was a matter of financial aid. I am smart enough to get into most of the schools I applied to, but I was trying to see where I could get the most aid. I applied to mainly target schools- 2-3 safeties, 3 reaches, and the rest were targets
Ok, because nanosec’s premise was to set aside the USNWR rankings. But, if you don’t set those aside, UF is much higher ranked than OSU overall. So, it seems that those rankings are used when it supports a point, but dismissed when it does not support the assertion.
all–there’s not really any point in arguing where UF stands. we all obviously applied because we found something in UF that we liked, that’s all that really matters.
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I’m hoping my OOS daughter is lucky enough to get into the honors college. Most of these kids have the same stats it’s a roll of the dice on the admission process. She was deferred at Brown her ED school and only has 1 acceptance so far so getting into honors would be a big deciding factor to picking Florida.
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Much higher ranked? They’re ranked pretty close. The overall rankings are also calculated differently than the program rankings. They’re both good
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right, #6 versus #17 Public. It’s not easy or quick to move into the top 10 and displace schools like Georgia Tech. The higher you go, the harder it is to move up.
All of these other schools are not sitting on their hands doing nothing.
My son applied to 13 schools - targeting those with quality engineering schools, same strategy as many. Shoo in schools, target schools, and reach schools. He’s been accepted to all of the top engineering schools he applied to-and yet I’m thinking UF is a stretch. (In at VA Tech, NC State, Clemson, Penn State and Purdue). Honestly - I feel like all of those schools would be ahead of UF in engineering… especially because (and this is based just on me tracking the convo here) that UF has WAY more online classes - which I think is so weird for what is supposed to be a top-notch university. US News rankings back that up… https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings Anyway - UNC and U of F were what I considered his reach schools. Declined at UNC (applied because it’s in state - but no engineering school so wasn’t really a contender).
engineering rankings mean very little. look at outcomes to get a better picture of the quality of the engineering program. most engineering programs at universities are very similar academically but some are more prestigious leading to better outcomes. For example, northeastern is ranked in the mid 30s for engineering on usnews but is 15th for outcomes at top companies. Similar story for UF.
Yes
I’m sure it’s $$ for OOS but VT is excellent for engineering. Top students in my d’s class with perfect gpa, near perfect test scores were waitlisted. If your son got in, I’m sure he has a great chance for UF engineering. Good luck!!
VA Tech admissions were very unusual this year. Most of my DD’s friends (with very high test scores/GPAs) were waitlisted or denied.
However, you have to applaud the school for their commitment to taking 40% of their freshman class as 1st gen college students. Another parent in NOVA told me that it’s hard for VTech to complete with UVA and W&M (outside of the engineering program), so perhaps they are looking for a new (and very deserving) group of college bound kids.
Vtech engineering is top notch, and the campus is beautiful. Congrats to your son.
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outcomes are certainly important. his focus is industrial engineering - and so we focused on the top programs for ISE, weeding out the Ivies and super elite schools because, well, we’re realistic 
In evaluating outcomes, we luckily have alot of insight into ISE programs. My husband is an IE from NC State. We know many IEs through our various professional networks. Purdue has an outstanding reputation for IE- have worked with many and they have one of the best recruiting programs going. I grew up in Florida (went to FSU), so wanted him to have one good Florida option - as we have friends and family nearby. I guess my point with the original post, after combing through so much of the conversation here, is that UF seems to be much more of a reach school than I originally thought, which flummoxed me given how much education seems to be delivered online.
How much are essays weighted in the UF Honors review process compared to an applicant’s stats? Any quantifiable info on it?
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You have to look at the individual rankings for various programs vs overall school rankings I think. GT is #8 in top public but #1 in civil engineering and industrial engineering, #2 in Chemical, Biomedical, AE, etc. #5 CS, and on the business side #3 in Analytics, #3 Supply Chain Mgt. etc. Florida is #6, but #7 in Agricultural, #7 in real estate, #11 in Accounting, etc. I don’t see rankings for UF engineering.
OSU is #17 in public schools but tied with UF for agricultural, #9 in accounting, #6 in supply chain logistics, and #12 in finance.
All have their strengths.
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Was there a separate application for honors or are students auto admitted based on stats/application?
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There are some separate essays specifically for honors in the common app (idk how it works if not applying via common app)
There are two additional essays for the Honors program in Common App. I heard the essays are very important for Honors acceptance. They are read by a group of Honors students. Some people even call it a creative writing competition.
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Then my son will not get in. He is not a creative writer. He is more like a technical writer.
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Same for my son 
He wrote those essays, but we are not expecting much. He would be extremely happy as long as he gets in the general admission.