My worst nightmare....

[outrunner]

the GPA average is a load of bunk.  now adays, kids can graduate with over a 4.0.. coming from a private school, getting over a 4.0 was impossible.. 4.0 is perfection.  nowadays, a lot of public schools offer classes where you can possibly get a 5.0, which is a bunch of trash to begin with, which over-inflates people's GPA's and inflates incoming classes' GPA's.  I can tell you right now, my AP classes at my private school were as difficult as the AP classes coming from public schools and i didn't receive any "extra credit" for such a thing.

That's why colleges look at both weighted and unweighted GPAs.

[813knight]

I would also like to reiterate, if you want to go to USF, just go to HCC for a couple of years, then you will get in for sure.  a good amount of USF is made up of community college transfers.

also if the OP sis is telling the complete truth....if she really wanted to be a Bull she could have reapplied for Summer Session that is a little easier to get in with the combo of her grades, legacy(possible family alumni), ect. I don't think she had to be dragged against her will to UCF  ;D

Bigger City, more opportunities(not just disney), larger alumni base...just better.

I think it's sort of a wash, Tampa was more of a Finance base(industry is a mess) while Orlando has good tech industry base(EA Sports) and military tech companies, people would be surprised at the amount of money on the north side of the city in places like Heathrow....Orlando if forming a tech corridor. Orlando is not just the tourist corridor

[Bull Martin]

Bigger City, more opportunities(not just disney), larger alumni base...just better.

I think it's sort of a wash, Tampa was more of a Finance base(industry is a mess) while Orlando has good tech industry base(EA Sports) and military tech companies, people would be surprised at the amount of money on the north side of the city in places like Heathrow....Orlando if forming a tech corridor. Orlando is not just the tourist corridor

Two things, first is there is a lot of industry in Orlando.  I got my degree from USF in Chem E and I work in Orlando.  There are a lot more engineering opportunities out here than I first realized.  Most of them are on the North side of Orlando.  The south end is more tourist based industry, but there are a lot of other sectors.

Second, just like USF, UCF is actually a pretty decent school in certain areas.  I know UCF's engineering program is on par with USF's, especially on the computer side.  I can't really speak for all of their programs, but I'd say 95% of the degrees from either school are interchangeable.  I'd add that 85% of degrees from UF are likely interchangeable with USF and UCF as well.

[abababa]

I grad from hs in 04 and back then even everyone got into USF. Only knew one kid who got rejected. Not many kids applied to UCF but about half I'd say got in. Now it seems everyone from my school (in Pasco Co) goes to UF or UCF instead of FSU and USF when I went there. The budget cuts have really made schools tighten up restrictions. Both UCF and USF could easily choose to admit like 2k applicants, have really low acceptance rates and great freshman profiles if they wanted to game the US News system every so often. Although it seems like both are growing those profiles without doing so anyhow.

Martin where in Maitland are you? I love this area.

[The Sheriff]

I laugh about my 2.19 GPA from back in the day. A 2.19 GPA at a public high school in Northern VA is probably equivalent to a 3.5 GPA or higher with respect to a public high school in Florida. I was writing for our city newspaper before graduating from high school, yet, my lit grades in high school were borderline C's at best. The quality of education is severely lacking across the nation, but in some states, more so than others. If you told me you graduated from most Arizona public high schools with a 3.5 GPA, I would figure you might be qualified to flip burgers at a local In and Out Burger. I was dumbfounded with the lack of education among fellow students my first two years at USF while taking general education requirements. Only when I got to my upper level core classes did I see that there were some very intelligent and talented individuals in my classes. That's just my two cents.

[Bull Martin]

I grad from hs in 04 and back then even everyone got into USF. Only knew one kid who got rejected. Not many kids applied to UCF but about half I'd say got in. Now it seems everyone from my school (in Pasco Co) goes to UF or UCF instead of FSU and USF when I went there. The budget cuts have really made schools tighten up restrictions. Both UCF and USF could easily choose to admit like 2k applicants, have really low acceptance rates and great freshman profiles if they wanted to game the US News system every so often. Although it seems like both are growing those profiles without doing so anyhow.

Martin where in Maitland are you? I love this area.

I'm in Winfield.  It's right next off I4 and Maitland blvd.  It's behind the chick-fil-a across from the RDV and EA building.

[abababa]

Ok yeah I used to live in Maitland Summit before heading more towards Winter Park.

[commbull]

The good thing is...if she every tries to talk smack, I have plenty to shoot back.

And she did apply early, way back in October. #7 in her class of about 500.

There is no way USF denied someone who is 7th in a class of 500, something is wrong here.  Did she not take the sat or act?  Did she not fill out the application properly, is she lying to you about not getting in bc she wanted to go to ucf and knew you would be mad?

I think I'm with Jeff about this--sounds unlikely.  Of course, sometimes students get in at X and not at Y, and the standards are about the same at USF and UCF, but someone in the 2% of a high school in Florida not getting in at USF....  I think I'd ask for a recount on that one.  Maybe, somehow, very low test scores, or a very easy curriculum? 

[ctbrown24]

Geez kids, play nice.

Her test scores were very average. She applied to the three schools back several month ago. She was accepted in to FAU two days after submitting her application.

She will not go to HCC as my family does not live close to USF and not worth it to have to worry about room/board just to go to a CC. She is only thirty minutes from UCF and is planning to commute the first two years.

[NCBull]

the GPA average is a load of bunk.  now adays, kids can graduate with over a 4.0.. coming from a private school, getting over a 4.0 was impossible.. 4.0 is perfection.  nowadays, a lot of public schools offer classes where you can possibly get a 5.0, which is a bunch of trash to begin with, which over-inflates people's GPA's and inflates incoming classes' GPA's.  I can tell you right now, my AP classes at my private school were as difficult as the AP classes coming from public schools and i didn't receive any "extra credit" for such a thing.

I would also like to reiterate, if you want to go to USF, just go to HCC for a couple of years, then you will get in for sure.  a good amount of USF is made up of community college transfers.

Overall in America, private schools weight GPAs just as much, if not more, than public schools.  I work at a university in NC and once saw an applicant who was ranked 95th in her class with a 5.19 GPA...from a private school.  Incidentally, we rejected her (not for GPA, plenty of other issues).

It is not uncommon for AP classes in high school to be weighted two full points...so an A is 6.0 and a B is 5.0, etc.  Honors classes are an A is 5.0, B is 4.5, etc.  The grade inflation is really out of hand and does no one any good from an educational assessment standpoint.  This is why most colleges/universities adjust for high school GPAs and come up with an "in house" score based upon determined criteria.  I'm not sure if USF does this, but it's likely.