My daughter just toured all the Florida schools, and is very interested in UF, but I fear she won’t get in, somewhat in part because some of the electives she chose (theatre, french) were not offered as “honors” classes at her school. Her stats are info are as follows:
SAT: 1370 (700 English, 670 Math)
GPA Unweighted: 3.64 Weighted: 4.2
Extra Curriculars: 14 years of ballet/dance (20+ hours per week) Officer in National Honor Society, 4 years as Game Day Girl for the baseball team (concessions and ticket sales for the booster program) School Ambassador (assist new students, freshman, speak to underclassmen during homerooms about various topics), Member of the Big Bag Wolves spirit group at her school, she has a job at a local barre fitness studio where she teaches and works the front desk, member of Thespians and performed in the school musical as well as competed at Districts
Awards: Most Outstanding Student from the Modern Language Department, Full Scholarship for leadership and talent from her ballet company, city Youth Leader award nominee
Also if it matters she will have a total of 7 APs: Art History (3), Lang (3), Psych (4), and then this year she’s taking Stat, Physics, French, and Lit
Her GPA is a little low, but still in the middle 50% range for accepted students (4.2 to 4.5). Her test scores are a bit over the average. With her strong EC’s and UF’s holistic admissions process, she looks like a match.
Really? I was afraid she didn’t have strong enough ECs! Her GPA will go up this first semester but not before the deadline I don’t think. Maybe we should wait until the last minute. Is that ill advised? And is it true it matters which major she says she’s interested in? I don’t want her to put “medicine” for example if she’s not sure and that could put her in a more “competitive pile” Thank you!!
UF likes to see EC’s that show a commitment. It’s better to be in a few for several years (and a lot of hours), versus a lot of small ECs. They will LOVE that she spends 20+ hours a week on dance/ballet. Plus the 4 years volunteering as a Games Day girl, etc. They even like the fact that she’s worked a job.
They only consider GPA from 9th thru 11th grade (and some classes in the 8th grade, if they are college prep and on your school’s transcripts). They don’t consider your grades in 12th grade when calculating your GPA. In 12th grade, they want to make sure she takes rigorous classes. If she does get accepted, they will ask for her transcripts after the school year ends. It’s possible, with poor grades, to get her offer rescinded, so you need to get at least C’s.
UF does NOT consider major in admissions. Pick any major, or none.
UF does have a few limited access programs, such as biomedical engineering. In that case you will be accepted as pre-somethingortheother, and have to met the requirements by the start of your junior year.
It’s not 4.2 to 4.5 anymore. It changed to 4.3 to 4.6 this year, and will probably increase to 4.4 to 4.6 or something similar next year.
Also, @alwew3 you have to recalculate your daughter’s GPA. Stuff that is not AP and outside of the core academic subjects won’t count towards her GPA, so theatre won’t be a problem. However, French is still under those categories, so she’ll have to report it. The thing that might hurt is that if she was offered more rigorous electives and she chose not to take them. UF holds course rigor and GPA to be the two most important factors.
“Please note that the University of Florida considers classroom performance an excellent indicator of college coursework success, and therefore places more emphasis on grades and the challenge of the high school curriculum (including the senior-year schedule).”
To recalculate your GPA, use this scale. It’s 4.0 for regular non-Honors classes, 4.5 for Honors, and 5 for AP. Subtract 1 point for every grade below, so a B in an Honors class would be a 3.5, and a C in an AP class would be 3 points. Add it all up and divide by the number of classes and you should get her exact GPA that the schools in FL will use. However, based on what you told us, it seems like her recalculated GPA will be within the 4.2 range as well, but it doesn’t hurt to double check for a more accurate answer.
I agree with Gator88NE. Grades are a little low, but based on what I have heard at several prospective student presentations your daughter’s EC match what UF is looking for. My daughter had one friend in dance and one in theater that were accepted for 2017. They had other EC’s but nothing better than your daughter.
I read in CC that if your daughter apply for summer Term, she’ll increase her chances to get in.
As I see, your daughter has Strongs ECs, any University would appreciate.
Good luck
Thank you all, that was very encouraging. She’s our only child so we didn’t have the benefit of elder siblings when she began choosing her classes (ie she could have taken honors anatomy this year and AP Physics last year, etc)- I don’t want to look back with regret, she’s always been an amazing well rounded child and loved by her teachers, but I know you can’t use that on a college ap “everyone loves her, please take her” ha ha ha
