"Why can't I get into UF?"- And why can't I take this article seriously

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
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<p>Many who frequent the UF college confidential site have crossed paths with a newly published article in the "Palm Beach Post" that comments on the increased difficulty and competitiveness of getting an acceptance letter to UF. </p>

<p>The Article: Why</a> can?t I get into UF? | <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com%5B/url%5D">www.palmbeachpost.com</a></p>

<p>First of all, I'd like to say that this article is completely skewed in not only it's data, but it's intended message as well. </p>

<hr>

<p>The first student (out of two) the author mentions is Chelsea Apparicio, the excerpt reads as follows: </p>

<p>"The recent Suncoast High School grad thought she was a shoo-in. She was enrolled in the school’s International Baccalaureate diploma program. She was an honor society member. She scored 1900 on her SAT. She played varsity soccer since she was a freshman. She logged more than 500 community service hours and served as an ambassador for the school at functions as part of its Mr. and Miss Suncoast program.
“I was really well-rounded,” said Apparicio, 19. “I wasn’t just a book person.”</p>

<p>So, what did Chelsea have that many of us don't have? The answer, absolutely nothing. She didn't get in, but was she really all that special? </p>

<p>She was enrolled in the school's IB program. Who among us on this board, who are wholeheartedly serious about going to University of Florida, has NOT taken an AP/IB class.</p>

<p>She got a 1900 on her SAT's. The average to get in (from UF's 2012 freshman profile-see below) is a (rounded) 1950. </p>

<p>She was an honors society member, and so are 1000's of other candidates. Unless you hold an officer position in your school's honor society, this is nothing special to UF. </p>

<p>The only attractive aspect of this girl's published resume is that she was on Varsity soccer all 4 years, the school's ambassador, and has more Community Service hours than I can dream of having. </p>

<p>What the article doesn't tell you about Chelsea: Her courseload all 4 years and her weighted UF GPA. She could have had a subpar UF GPA and taken only 1 or 2 AP classes. Who knows...certainly not the readers of this article. </p>

<hr>

<p>The second student: Clayton Lambert</p>

<p>We know even less about him than we did the former. The excerpt reads as follows: </p>

<p>"Like Apparicio, the 18-year-old Lambert believed he had the perfect high school resume for UF — swim team captain, cross-country team captain, chess team member, AP courses, IB program graduate."</p>

<p>What we don't know: SAT scores, community service, weighted UF GPA, and courseload. We know he was in an undisclosed number of AP classes, and he was enrolled in the IB program. </p>

<p>The only correlation that we can draw from the information in the article is that he had strong EC's, and he was in the IB program in his school. He was the captain of two school sports teams, and a member of chess club (don't they let anyone join?). </p>

<hr>

<p>Those are the case studies. Onto the school itself. </p>

<p>The article claims: "UF’s average freshman profile reads like this: 4.3 GPA, 1958 SAT score, 30 ACT score." </p>

<p>I don't doubt these statistics. From the 2012 UF Freshman profile, the average statistics for the 2011-2012 academic year read as follows: 4.2 GPA, 1945 SAT score, and 28 ACT score. While the 2012-2013 Academic year statistics are not released yet, with the increased competitiveness of colleges in general, the discrepancy between 1/10 of a grade point, 13 points on the SAT, and 2 points on the ACT is too insignificant to make any noticeable difference in the individual application process. </p>

<p>Source: University</a> of Florida - Admissions</p>

<hr>

<p>I'm not denying the talent of these two young individuals, nor am I denouncing the difficulty of the school's admissions process. </p>

<p>I am, however, denouncing the article's validity as a whole. I believe the author n the admissions statistics because lying about those can get checked very quickly, and could be considered grounds for termination. The style of writing that the author uses, however, paints the picture of an "untouchable" school. 43% of the applicants that apply are accepted. </p>

<p>These two students were rejected for reasons unbeknownst to the public through this article. I'm not denying that the UF admissions process is, at times, seemingly randomized. I'm not denying that people have gotten in who didn't deserve it, and vice versa. </p>

<p>The skew this article puts on the admissions process is deplorable, and had to be exposed.</p>

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<p>You’ve basically established not to believe everything you read on the internet. This includes your post, right here, on these forums. This thread, your OP, to be trusted lightly.</p>

<p>That being said, the point of the article was to show how competitive UF is, that even people who should’ve and would’ve gotten accepted, get rejected. Mainly because of space and resource limitations.</p>

<p>Also that data from the website came straight from an admissions officer. They have no reason to lie. That data was a estimate, roughly. Just like the profile being an estimate. And there’s always the chance the admissions officer, mentioned the higher end of the mid-50%, since the freshman profile are just rough estimates for the mid-50%.</p>

<p>Either way, the point of the article was, it’s getting harder to get into UF, and even those that deserve it, get rejected. You can get accepted just as easily as you can get rejected and vice versa. That’s the point of the article. </p>

<p>You didn’t really expose…anything. No offense (seriously, no offense).</p>

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<p>“That being said, the point of the article was to show how competitive UF is, that even people who should’ve and would’ve gotten accepted, get rejected. Mainly because of space and resource limitations.”</p>

<p>See, you fell for the article. You believe that those kids should have gotten in although there are several factors we don’t know. We don’t know that they should have and would have gotten in because all we have is EC’s on both of them, and a sub-average SAT score on one of them.</p>

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<p>BornToBeaGator, I have talked to so many admission officers; those students could easily have definitively been eligible and should have been accepted but they were rejected. Who knows, maybe if admissions went a little different or if they applied again with the same credentials, they’d get in. There is a small “randomness” factor at UF admissions.</p>

<p>And fact of the matter is, I’ve seen people get into schools like Brown, Duke, and Emory yet they get rejected for UF. Those students are good enough for Brown, Duke, and Emory but not good enough for UF? Well the way how you comprehend admissions, maybe. But fact is this, they WERE indeed good enough for admission to UF and should have gotten accepted…but they didn’t simply because of that “randomness” factor.</p>

<p>What you’re basically doing is ASSUMING admissions to work as one way and then saying “well, this article conflicts with my perception of admissions so it must be wrong.” Talk to an admissions officer and try to get an understanding of the actual process instead of just assuming. And of course, do know that unless you actually work as an admissions officer, you will never truly understand the process. It’s far too complex and intricate to just be able to summarize on or to be able to speculate on.</p>

<p>Don’t forget admissions is super holistic. It’s not all about the numbers. I’ve seen people get in with low scores and GPA and it’s like “how!? They barely did academic work!” Yet they get in because they’re first generation or have amazing extracurriculars or something and they wrote an epic essay. And of course, there’s the randomness factor.</p>

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<p>I wonder if anyone ever turned down an Ivy League for UF… for the reason other than tuition cost</p>

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<p>I do agree that the if these kids’ EC’s were any reflection of their academic work, they’d be in no problem. </p>

<p>There is something fundamentally different from UF’s acceptance process. The fact that each admissions offer isn’t working on the same, definite scale is troubling.</p>

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<p>Very good reasoning and analysis of the article.</p>

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<p>BornToBeaGator: that’s what happens when you have an over abundance of super qualified students, all arguably equally deserving of admittance competing for a very small number of spots; the uniersity doesn’t have the resources to admit them all. They all should be accepted, easily, but fact is limited space prevents that.</p>

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<p>Sabertooth: Saying that ALL students who apply are qualified is false for any college. Almost every student in the state of Florida applies to UF, not all of them are qualified. The acceptance rate for qualified students should be about 55-60%, but I attribute the 43% to space issues. </p>

<p>There’s still a lot of very underqualified students applying, and not all of them deserve to get in.</p>