UF political science student Conor Ruffin considered enlisting in the military as a high school senior before his teacher — a Santa Fe College and UF graduate — suggested Ruffin attend Santa Fe College.
“I trusted him, and I went to Santa Fe, [but] I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to go to the University of Florida,” Ruffin, 23, said.
During his time at SFC, Ruffin served as SFC’s 2022 student body president before transferring to UF this spring with the help of an SFC adviser.
UF admits more students from Santa Fe College than from any of the other 28 Florida state colleges, according to the SFC website.
SFC students’ top transfer choices include UF, University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida.
Mackenzie Taylor, an 18-year-old SFC wildlife conservation and ecology sophomore, said her interest in transferring to UF brought her to SFC.
“My family went to UF, and I wanted to follow,” Taylor said.
SFC has six SF2Universities programs that include direct articulation agreements with the University of North Florida, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, University of South Florida, University of West Florida, New College of Florida and the University of the Virgin Islands.
These articulation agreements guarantee SFC students admission to these partner universities.
SFC also offers five special partnership programs with UF, including the SF2UF Bridge to Baccalaureate, SFC to UF College of Pharmacy, Gator Pathways, Gator Engineering and Gator Design and Construction.
The SFC average transfer admission rate is 65 percent, according to Julie Crosby, coordinator of the UF@SF Center.
The UF@SF Center works with the SFC Academic Advisement Center to assist students with referrals to the appropriate advisors in the various colleges at UF and facilitate access to transfer information.
Crosby encourages students to be aware of their major and prerequisite transfer tracking requirements, especially as they begin considering a transfer from SFC to UF, she said.
It’s never really too early to start preparing once you come to us, Crosby said.
“From an academic standpoint, you want to prepare in high school,” she said.
Matthew Nelson, a 20-year-old SFC pre-nursing junior, always planned to transfer into the UF nursing program.
“I was born and raised here,” Nelson said. “I chose Santa Fe because the quality of education is on par with UF.”
The UF Student Nursing Association assists incoming and current nursing students on their applications, Nelson said.
“They were able to supply me with enough information to produce a viable application,” Nelson said.
SFC also has an honors program with an enrollment rate to UF of 88 percent, according to the SFC website.
Santa Fe College Honors Program is an academic program where admitted students receive academic advising, access to honors program courses and information about worldwide engagement opportunities.
Bobby Hom, coordinator of the Santa Fe College Honors Program, believes the program provides an outlet for students to continue their personal development while transitioning to the same atmosphere at UF.
“The greater benefit of the program is not necessarily in the transfer process,” Hom said. “We do help them with it, but the greater benefit is what happens after they transfer for these students.”
Contact Jinelle at jvazquez@alligator.org. Follow them on Twitter @vazquezjinelle.
Jinelle Vazquez is a senior at UF pursuing a major in Public Health with a minor in Indigenous Studies. They currently report for the enterprise desk covering health. In their free time, they enjoy hiking, photography and making art.
