Like thousands of other high school seniors, Charles Kennedy logged into the UF admissions page Friday to see if he would be a future Gator.
But he didn’t see a “congratulations.” He didn’t see anything at all.
“I didn’t get through till almost an hour and 45 minutes later,” said the 17-year-old high school senior. “Just sitting there and anticipating definitely got me pretty anxious.”
Kennedy’s family decided to go out to dinner to keep busy. On his phone in the car, the page finally loaded. He got in.
“My mom went crazy,” he said.
UF had 28,834 applicants, said UF spokesman Steve Orlando.
Orlando said the standards for prospective students have stayed the same, but the university has seen the number of applicants rise.
UF accepted 12,370 for Summer B and Fall 2013 semesters. Orlando said the enrollment goal is 6,400.
UF’s Innovation Academy admitted 2,114 students. Students enrolled in the program take classes during the Summer and Spring semesters and have the Fall semester off.
About 1,100 of the 2,114 students who were admitted to the program were given the option to start in the Fall or Summer term, Orlando said. The remaining applicants were only offered admission to the Innovation Academy.
The enrollment goal for the Innovation Academy is 500. The average SAT score was 1967 and the average ACT score was 30.
Contact Alexa Volland at avolland@alligator.org