When it comes to getting into college, students across the country are prepping earlier and earlier for the admissions process. The University of Florida is capitalizing on college prep by hosting its first ever admissions open house for high school students.
UF receives thousands of applications each year (over 30,000, to be exact) but only has enough space for 6,000 students in its freshman class. That means applicants who want to become Florida Gators have to craft an attention-grabbing application with solid test scores and high school performance to boot.
In order to give high school students a better idea on how to prepare for applying to UF, the university will be holding an admissions open house on Nov. 25. The event will be the first admissions open house the school has ever hosted, and will be open to 1,000 ninth- through 11th-graders across the state.
According to Interim Director of Freshmen and International Admissions Chandra Mitchell, the open house will give prospective applicants a full range of information regarding the universitys admission requirements and how they can stay on track during high school to become Florida Gators in college.
Students will be given information on the schools study abroad program as well as financial aid, traditional study programs and new programs such as UF Online and Innovation Academy.
But why talk about college applications when students are in the ninth-grade?
The advantage of inviting high schoolers to the program, says Mitchell, is so that they can start thinking early about college prospects and what they actually need to do in high school to make themselves successful applicants.
I think the advantage is to go ahead and get students to start thinking early on about the actual requirements of what they need to do throughout their high school career in order to prepare them to apply to the University of Florida, she said. Some students dont know whats involved [in the process].
While scores and academics matter to UF, Mitchell says thats not all theyre looking for in future students.
Potential applicants also go through a holistic review where admissions officers review academics coupled with a personal essay and a students resume of extracurricular activities.
About 450 students have signed up since registration for the open house that began on Nov. 7, and plans are underway to have another open house in the spring. The spring open house, according to Mitchell, will allow eighth- through 11th-graders to learn more about the admissions process at UF.
The event is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 25 in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center at the University of Florida. Students will be able to form their own schedules and are invited to attend the entire event or at any time during the posted hours. Interested students can register for the open house atufl.gotocollegefairs.com.
Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen atallison@sunshinestatenews.comor follow her on Twitter at@AllisonNielsen.
