Hey guys! I have been to Gainesville before, but I wanted some more insight. Gainesville is so much fun, and I would love to be able to be within an hour of the beach (my absolute favorite spot). I absolutely love Georgia and Florida, so I thought UF would be interesting to look into. I am heading down to Florida at the end of March (all of my family lives in panhandle). The campus is beautiful, but obviously that’s not a clear indication. Also, yes, my parents can afford it. For any current students, what is the environment like there? If it does not really sound that great, I might cancel my visit. I will also be visiting Vanderbilt as I have a connecting flight with a layover. My mom loves the school as well, so it will be nice to have an option that is completely in the clear. If it goes as expected, it might become a top choice. 
I live in Florida and visited UF and Vanderbilt (I’m also applying and visited Emory - I see your icon is Emory). UF is not near a beach, it’s probably an hour and a half away (probably east coast beach). It’s a nice campus and has a ton of student activities. Vanderbilt is much more walkable, but both are similar with Greek life, surrounded by local shops and restaurants, and also both have the med school/hospital attached. I personally liked Vanderbilt a bit more because of the smaller campus. Did you apply to Emory? I liked Emory a lot. Emory is cool, close to the city and beautiful small campus. I just feel like UF is sprawling. UF is in my top 3, but I’m really hoping for a school closer to a city like BC or Emory. I didn’t apply to Vanderbilt because it was too much of a stretch for me.
@BCBoundMaybe Thanks for the insight! I am actually a rising junior in high school. UF is an hour an a half from both sides. It would be so nice to go on weekend trips occasionally to St. Augustine or to my family in Destin (like 4 and a half hours, but manageable). I am starting to narrow my list down and get my tests in.
Current student here. No we are not that close to a beach, but we have so many awesome natural springs and lakes around campus that make up for it!
If you want closer to the beach, consider FSU. UF has a lot to offer, but so does FSU! (also closer to your family in the Panhandle) Here’s an idea: apply to both and see how it goes!
A lot of out of state visitors are under the impression that FSU and UF are beach towns, but they’re actually both extremely far from the coast. You’ll rarely (almost never) have time to go to the beach. If you want to go to school somewhere with great beaches try USF, FAU, or FGCU. They’re lesser known (and likely safety schools if you’re viable for Emory or Vanderbilt) but they have a lot to offer (especially financial aid wise $$)
Other than being far from the beach, UF is great. The campus has a lot of attractive buildings. It does get hot in the fall/summer though if that’s an issue- they call it the swamp and it’s fitting based off how humid it gets.
@esaturn55 No one ever said UF was a beach town. Gainesville is in the middle of nowhere. I know that. Thank you for the suggestions though! I would be traveling home to Ohio during the summer, so I should be okay. @20177588 UF is an hour and a half from St. Augustine Beach, and about an hour and a half from Horseshoe Beach. That’s not too bad! Anyways, the beach is not really the important thing for me (although it is nice). I want to have a balance of fun and strong academics. Do you feel that you have that there?
I like to refer to ohio as “Oahu.” It made it feel exotic when I lived there.
University of North Florida is quite close to the beach in Jacksonville.
For a combination of fun and academics I’d be thinking FSU. UF does have some fun, of course, but I think the academics are more intense.
@ab2002 I literally said friday night how amazing it is that the same people stumbling home from the bars will be the future doctors and engineers. Students here know how to have fun, and you can party as much as you want to, but academics are definitely the top priority. I dont know the exact percentage but id guess around 90% of the students here were in the top 10% of their high school and people genuinely know that school comes first.
*edit: to add on to what was said above, fsu also has the work hard play hard mentality, but UF is stronger in academics and you can still have just as much fun here. Trust me, I am not one to look down on fsu or think theyre not as good as uf. however, people’s friends come to visit all the time from fsu and 95% were rejected from uf and even though they love fsu, they would have gone to uf had they been admitted.
I would agree with @20177588. FSU does have incredible academics and many students are extremely serious about school, but UF has the better reputation and you’ll have just as much fun.
@esaturn55 Sounds nice! I am excited to visit.
Also, by the way it is going, I have an idea of what I am going to get. If I get a 1460 SAT and a 4.4 UF W GPA, do you I have a good chance of getting in? I have 5 leadership positions, and over 100 hours of community service. In addition, I am working on a political campaign during the summer and the fall.
A 1460 and 4.4 should put you in excellent shape for UF. I believe that’s above their middle 50%.
Keep in mind that they do tend to occasionally turn away highly qualified applicants. A friend of mine who is currently attending Duke was rejected by UF. This is not meant to scare you though, it’s uncommon and I believe it’s very likely you will be admitted.
Be sure to perfect your application essay. From what I’ve heard, UF takes the this component very seriously.
Ha! But I know the percentages (comes from the common data set).
UF:
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 73%
Percent in the top quarter of high school graduating class: 95%
FSU:
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 41%
Percent in the top quarter of high school graduating class: 83%
Lets compare it to a few other schools…
UW-Madison:
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 52%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class: 89%
UCF:
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 33%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class: 71%
UGA:
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 55%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class: 91%
UF’s admissions are very “holistic”. Still, GPA and class rigor are very important (which leads to a higher class ranking).
Note: if you look up other schools information in the common data set, pay attention to the % of students that actually report class rankings. At UF it’s 90%, but if you look at a school like Georgia Tech, where it’s optional, it’s only 39%. Schools that are “optional” tend to inflate the % of the class in the top 10% (as those with poor class rankings, will not report them).
@Gator88NE oops i guess i tried to inflate UF stats a little bit but theyre still very impressive. Thank you!
@Gator88NE My school absolutely refuses to do class rank. Should that be a worry for me?
No, don’t worry about it. It’s much more common with Florida schools. Otherwise, it’s not something UF requires.