Anonymous wrote:I'd shoot for UF. Go Gators!

UF is great- but from what I read, very little merit unless you are a national merit scholar. But UCF and FSU offers merit for students with pretty decent stats (over 1400s and over 4 something) - though not sure what will happen this year. Applications at these schools have been up significantly. While I don't have the info for UF and UCF, FSU had an increase in applications by 28% for their early action applicants (early action was only for in state residents). It's mid 50% for SAT was 1360-1450 for this early group.

I'd shoot for UF. Go Gators!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts about UCF? I heard that they give good merit, great Honors College, and have many opportunities for internships given its location. One negative is that housing is tough after freshman year. Anyone have any experience with UCF?

Many FL friends (including recent transplants) send their kids there, especially if they ranked in the top 5-10% in high school, as then tuition is near free. They seem very happy about it, it's a great deal. I frankly don't know if they attract people from other areas.

I think UCF has started attracting a lot of out of state students over the past few years - still heavily Floridians, but its definitely coming under the radar of a lot of out of state students. The cost is a factor since a lot of in-state schools are pretty expensive. Many people just want a good education where they don't go into debt. While a lot of schools offer merit aid, the COA after merit is still quite expensive. However, UCF makes the costs doable (especially with merit). As another poster mentioned, even without merit, the cost is reasonable compared to many other in-state schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a dump. Dorms are newer than UF and Fl. state bec this school was the safety for dummies until 2018 ish. It is still the dummies school as Florida allows anyone with a B or better to get into four year colleges. It’s guaranteed from lottery monies.

Unless you are instate total waste of money.

Not yo mention Florida colleges are headed to unaccredited

If you don’t know why you are stupid.

And sheeeeeeeeeeeeee's back... the resident LWNJ troll.

Good that she's so obviously demented and takes a second to notice and just discounts her comments as hateful garbage.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts about UCF? I heard that they give good merit, great Honors College, and have many opportunities for internships given its location. One negative is that housing is tough after freshman year. Anyone have any experience with UCF?

Many FL friends (including recent transplants) send their kids there, especially if they ranked in the top 5-10% in high school, as then tuition is near free. They seem very happy about it, it's a great deal. I frankly don't know if they attract people from other areas.

Anonymous wrote:UCF has very reasonable out of state tuition, even without merit. It’s just a little more expensive than UMD or VT in state, so an option to look out if rejected in state.

Yep - affordability is huge. Even people who get accepted to their state schools may still consider UCF because of the cost factor. A lot of kids with decent stats (i.e. 4.3 and 1450 plus) have gotten in state tuition and other scholarships at UCF making it cheaper than their in state schools. Also, a lot of dorms at UCF allow kids to have their own bedroom and in some case their own bathroom. While housing is difficult after freshman year, there are plenty of nearby off campus apartments on the school shuttle route.