Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7
Weighted GPA: 5.0
SAT: 2030, CR: 670, M:690, E:670
ACT: 32, E:28, M:31, R:34, S:36
IB student (Yes/No): no
APs?: Human Geo, World History, English Lang, APUSH, Physics 1, Chemistry, Biology, Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C:EM, Psychology, English Literature, Government
Extracurricular activities: Key Club, Model United Nations
Job/Work experience: none
Volunteer/Community service (list your total overall hours, too): 348 hours. Volunteer with 4 different organizations that help special needs kids play different sports.
Honors, awards, or recognitions: Underclassman Award in Marine Biology, Underclassman Award in Trigonometry, AP scholar with honor
Essay (be honest): I thought it was pretty solid
State or Country: Florida
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Many of the kids at my school that got in were much less qualified than I am, so I’m a bit confused about why I wasn’t admitted. Luckily, UF was not my first choice school but I’m still looking for an explanation.
Didn’t you just ask this is a slightly different form? Ask your guidence counselor to review your credentials and letters.
You need to recalculate your weighted gpa by UF standards which is +.5 for honors and +1 for AP/IB/Dual Enrollment. Also if you go to a very competitive school it could negatively effect you if you dont stand out among your classmates.
You don’t really have that many ECs honestly. That could have easily been the determining factor.
also if you had the IB program available at your school and you didnt take it, that may be a factor
We do not have an IB program. My school is very competitive but I’m in the top 8% of the class. The ECs are really the only thing I can think of. If I call UF will they give me an explanation?
You can contact UF, but they are likely to tell you they had far more well qualified candidates, than they could accept.
With UF’s holistic admissions, it’s really hard for us to say why or why not someone gets accepted. Did someone with weaker stats get selective because of their Essay (which counts at UF)? Perhaps they got selected because they were a first generation student (which UF considers)? Perhaps it was due to the candidate’s geographical location in the state (UF attempts to spread out admits across the state)?
Call and check, in case UF had a hold or something out of the ordinary that caused them to not make the offer, but UF would normally have notified you of any issues.
Otherwise, based on your stats, I’m sure you’re going to be a success, no matter where you decide to go. 
Honestly, I can’t see why you wouldn’t have been admitted. Your credentials are excellent. Is it possible that a piece of your application went missing?
Maybe it was the essay combined with the fact the your school is highly competitive? All of this is speculation though.
@sirsplash Did you check your school’s Naviance to see how someone with your stats did in prior years? Given that you are in-state with a 32 ACT and 1360 (math and critical reading), and based on your gpa, honors rigorous course schedule and AP courses and volunteers work and ECs there is no apparent reason why you were denied. The only basis i can think of are that you applied for a very selective major or had a negative letter of recommendation. I would speak to the Director of your Guidance office and ask him or her to call to make sure there was not a mistake. Contrary to what others above said, I think your Guidance office should be able to get a candid response. I would appeal the decision. If this was your first choice school and given you are -inState, if you do not get a satisfactory response from these suggestions a last resort could be to go meet your local elected State Senator and have that office contact UF on your behalf and seek to get a legitimate answer. Your family are taxpayers and you have top stats for the top State school in Florida. You deserve a candid response.
@trackmbe3 Luckily, UF was not my first choice. My major is Mechanical Engineering and I did not have a letter of rec. My schools guidance department is literally useless, their only purpose is to make sure everyone graduates. So if I want an answer I’m pretty much on my own. I’m not going to appeal, I’d just like an explanation. I’ll call myself and if I don’t get a straight answer I’ll probably just drop it.
UF does not consider your major or letter of recommendations for admissions. Your HS GC can tell you if someone with our stats usually gets into UF, but with holistic admissions, that’s only an estimate.
UF does (I believe) have an appeals process. Please contact UF admissions. (352) 392-1365
With your stats I would not hesitate to contact UF in a nice, professional way - just to make sure there wasn’t an error or oversight of some sort.
I’m very surprised you were not admitted.
Wishing you all the best; no matter what you have what it takes to do well in college!
One of the things I took away from the UF Open House last Fall is UF Admissions is looking for ECs that had:
- A multi-year commitment where a Leadership position was obtained, like club president.
- An EC that shows commitment (time and passion). They used the example of Dance that requires many hours per week over many years.
Volunteering to help special needs kids is a great EC, but I think UF would like to see that kind of community service in addition to a leadership position or developing a talent.
Also did you demonstrate an interest in UF by visiting or at least requesting information?
How many schools did you apply to?
Did you tour UF?
I applied to 4 schools, have been rejected by two. I did not tour UF or demonstrate much interest. I joined their emaill list.
@CaucAsianDad I did not hold a leadership position in any of the clubs that I was in. That combined with the fact that I’m from a competitive school, and that I showed little demonstrated interest could be the reason I was rejected. I just feel that my gpa and test scores should have made up for me weak ECs.
@sirsplash Where else did you apply? Where did you get rejected, admitted?
My S applied to UF for Mechanical Engineering as well. He got in; however, he is rank #1 in his class, National Merit Finalist (Semi-Finalist at the time of application), National AP Scholar (9 AP test by the end of Junior year with 4’s and 5’s in all of them), 16AP in entire HS career, SAT 800/M, 770/CR, 720/W, SAT Sub. 800/ML2; 790/Physics; 730/Bio.
I think competition is getting really hard. If I had to point at something, maybe the 8% class rank didn’t help, especially if you go to a competitive school that sends TONS of kids to UF. Universities want diversity of schools too. Schools with an overload of qualified applicants might be at a disadvantage. Instead of top 10%, universities might take the top 5% instead.
@kittymom1102 I applied to WashU early, UF, Alabama, and FSU. Rejected from UF and WashU, but I got into bama with a nice scholarship and will go there.
I would agree with you that the 8% might have looked bad but there have been at least 20 people that I know of from my school that got in and were ranked below me and had lower scores than me.