Today, thousands of applicants will get their admission decision from UF. Some will start buying all things orange and blue. But for others, the day will be somber.
For those who are accepted to UF, congratulations are in order. For those who aren’t, UF admissions suggests applicants “take the weekend to do something [they] enjoy with positive company,” and look for other opportunities to join UF’s campus.
In order to transfer to UF, students must have 60 transferable credit hours or an associate’s degree from an accredited institution. Last year, UF accepted about 46 percent of transfer applicants according to the office of admissions annual report.
Brittany Wise, a UF spokesperson, wrote in an email that a student can transfer from any accredited college or university. UF does not have a preference. UF does have a partnership with Santa Fe College, however, and the 2017 enrollment report by the UF Office of Admissions states that UF admits the majority of its transfer students from there.
From 2012-2018, 88 percent of Santa Fe honors students who applied to UF were enrolled, said Bobby Hom, the honor programs coordinator at Santa Fe. The students in the honors program have similar SAT scores and GPAs to UF freshmen.
“Students who come here are just as well prepared as UF students, but for some reason just didn’t get accepted,” he said.
Alexa Withey, a 19-year-old transfer student from Santa Fe who got her acceptance a few days ago for Fall 2020, said she’s excited, but worries about how much bigger UF’s campus is. She said being admitted feels like her hard work from the past two years paid off.
Some students are involved in one of two programs: Gator Engineering at Santa Fe or Gator Design and Construction at Santa Fe. These students are accepted into UF, but they are asked to start with classes at Santa Fe before being admitted to UF.
High school seniors cannot apply to these programs. They must apply to UF and then are selected by UF admissions to participate.
Other universities have more secure relationships with state colleges. Students who obtain an associate’s degree from the College of Central Florida are guaranteed admission to the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida. St. Johns River State College has partnerships with Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of North Florida that guarantee acceptance to students who enroll in their transfer programs early on.
David Mohler, a 21-year-old UF family, youth and community sciences senior, went to Florida State College at Jacksonville after high school, transferred to Santa Fe College and then transferred to UF last Spring. He said he chose Santa Fe over other Florida colleges because he could get his bachelor’s degree and still feel it was from a recognizable Florida school, if he had decided not to transfer to a university.
“It was less about ‘How do I get to UF?’ and more about finding where I wanted to be,” he said
Contact Kaelyn Cassidy at kcassidy@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @kaelyn_cassidy.
