I am so “shocked” by some of the replies here from the usual suspects replying with race and daddy bought me in BS. What the OP is saying is that kids in state who are getting academic scholarships other places are getting outright denied at UF. These are not sons/daughters of alumni with questionable academic achievements. The long term impacts remain to be seen but as a central Florida resident for life I know of many multi generational Gator families who are completely turning away from UF. No more donations or monetary support whatsoever. I feel for the next call I get from one of the three colleges I graduated from at UF; the tenor of my response for a donation will be felt through the phone.
What'd I miss? You don't think admission should be a meritocracy? You think other factors should be considered?
You are just not getting it. Do you really think Florida is serving the state people. Why do we have to go to all corners of the earth to recruit student. What happens in 10-15 years when UF is begging for money and it’s not gonna be from our state alumni? So we make a call to Bangladesh asking for contributions? Those foreigners ain’t living in this state pal!!
Do you propose the university discriminate against a candidate because their parent could not afford or “qualify” to attend the UF? Wouldn’t this result in a form of “white privilege” in as much as many very talented non-white Floridians and non-Floridians would be denied admission because their parent(s) did not have the opportunity to attend UF ….. likely due to their parents’ (or parent’s) sociology-economic situation that was not their fault?
But the semi-pro athletes are there to entertain students, staff, and alumni. They are now an integral part of the “uni experience”.
first of all, I think the OP is the first person who mentioned race. Beyond that, I’m not sure exactly why you’re upset at UF. If a school has even somewhat high academic standard, applicants will be rejected there and accepted elsewhere.
Both my kids got accepted as out of state students. Did they get in because my wife and I are both graduates? Or did they get in because of my years of contributions to a gator messaging board? No idea. But their package of grades, test scores, and extracurricular were impressive enough to get sunshine scholarships so the school wasn’t gettin out of state tuition from me. Unfortunately, they didn’t get in-state either as they both selected other schools for which i still ended up paying out of state tuition for
So your complaint is primarily about foreign students or students whose parents didn't go to UF? And I think the basic question that is confusing people here is this: Do you think a son or daughter of a UF grad should be admitted over a more qualified student whose parents did not go to UF? Or should that depend on how much money that student's parents have donated to UF?
I always wonder what people feel is an acceptable % for international or out of state students. Seems like whenever I hear someone complain that UF isn't taking in state kids and I ask what % is acceptable, they often give me a number that is well below the actual numbers. Translation, UF's student population remains comprised much more of in state kids than most people think it is. And athletes comprise a nice chunk of those out of state kids too. Take a look at a number of SEC schools if you want to see higher out of state kids.
Yeah, but that's not what Wingtee implied in his OP... not even close. He's talking an deference to foreign international students versus American legacies with great credentials.
My opinion. International students 1%. Out of state students 10%. Other 89% made up by in state students.
[ Not to mention out of state students pay much higher tuition. Which means way more money for UF. A lot of my friends at UF were rich kids from NY that just paid full out of state tuition for 4 years, which was like 4x more money at the time. And I could be wrong but I believe international students pay even more than out of state.
The main problem I see is that we’re not charging out of state students enough. Since UF out of state tuition is only $22k, but other top public schools like UNC and Michigan are charging $35k-$45k, Florida students are competing against a larger pool of top out of state applicants than other states just because it’s cheaper and UF becomes their top choice. Florida schools should be charging students from other states exactly what those states would charge Florida students to attend their schools.
So I had a friend while I was at UF from China. I'm from the Tampa area and the third generation from my family to go to UF. Want to guess which one of us still lives in Florida 16 years after graduation?
Daughter just got her acceptance letter to UF yesterday. She also got into UVA but waitlisted to Va Tech. Joke up here seems to be no one gets accepted to both.