Florida safety options
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Anonymous
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S/o from the USNWR rankings thread - I'm the poster who assumed Florida was a good safety school for my Florida resident kids and learned it's not! I've got a freshman and junior, 3.6 - 3.8 uwGPA's, junior has a 1380 PSAT score. Both are interested in math or engineering. We're a military family who needs the in-state tuition.
Ideas for them? |
Anonymous
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The typical progression of Florida schools goes UF—>FSU—>UCF/USF—>everyone else (FGCU, FAU, UWF, UNF, FIU and probably some I am forgetting). Look up the stats of their admitted classes and see where your kid stands.
USF and UCF used to be viewed as commuter schools FWIW. That has changed some. The “everyone else” group may be similar but I know very few people who went to those schools so I’m not too sure. |
Anonymous
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PP adding a few things, UF admissions can be a crapshoot because it’s very holistic. But to help chances your kid needs AP classes and solid extracurriculars.
Also, don’t sleep on UCF for math/engineering. |
Anonymous
| I think UCF is a bit better than FSU when it comes to engineering. Not sure about a math major. Just make sure they do the full volunteer hours for bright futures. With the tech tuition waiver and highest tier bright futures my kid makes money attending college with an engineering major. |
Anonymous
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Florida Poly? It’s got about a 50% admissions rate and is less competitive that UF. Much smaller university though.
I would also consider looking at some public universities in GA and AL (there may be decent merit aid to make them more affordable, some even have specific scholarship money for OOS applicants). |
Anonymous
UCF works hard to attract National Merit Finalists and their honors college is supposed to be excellent. Combine that with their CS program, that would be a great way to go. Research more on College Confidential. |
Anonymous
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Some kids go to Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville for two years and then transfer to Florida then. I think Santa Fe Community College currently has around 30,000 students.
I have a lot of personal friends that could not get into Florida. Safeties would be FSU or UCF. I think the college around Naples/Ft Myers, FAU is coming on strong. |
Anonymous
You may be thinking of FGCU in Ft. Myers. FAU is in Boca. |
Anonymous
| lol, FSU is not a safety. That’s very dated thinking |
Anonymous
Wowza, you are right! Their fall 2023 admitted student profile is 4.3-4.6 GPA and 1340-1450 SAT. |
Anonymous
I think Florida uses a 5.0 scale. |
Anonymous
No, it uses a 4.0 scale but you get extra GPA point for AP, IB, and dual enrollment: https://admissions.ufl.edu/apply/freshman/our-decision-process |
Anonymous
In that case, the 4.6 at the 75th percentile is really high for a school of that caliber. |
Anonymous
| We toured FAU and FGCU last year and thought they were both nice. Great value and beautiful schools with lots to offer. Really nice people too. |
Anonymous
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UNF
Flagler Eckerd |