Updates: Early Action at FSU, work hours v volunteer hours, digital SAT, and more

Housing is an issue at all schools

As housing prices increase, more people prefer to live on campus.  When you decide which school to attend, send your housing deposit in as soon as possible.  In this current environment, missing the deadline for housing deposits equates to not being able to live on campus.

New records at every school

We live in Florida.  Our population increases dramatically each year.  The tuition at state colleges and universities is very reasonable.  Each year, individual State University Schools report new records such as “largest number of applications ever,”  “largest freshman class ever,” “most qualified freshman class ever,” and “largest student body ever.”  Our state universities are more prestigious than ever.  The Florida State University System is ranked number one in the nation.

FSU has an October 15 deadline for Early Action

Florida residents who submit a complete application (includes SSAR – Student Self-Reported Academic Record) by October 15 will receive a decision by December 1.  Students who submit applications by November 1 will hear from FSU on February 15.

The deadline at UF is still November 1

The SSAR deadline is now November 15. 

SAT Update

The PSAT will be digital in 2023.

The SAT will be digital in 2024.

2023 students need a 1210 or 1330 on the SAT to qualify for Bright Futures.  In 2024, the 100% level with require a 1340 (25 or 29 remains for the ACT).

ACT Update

In 2020, the ACT was prepared to roll out modular testing (students could test on one or two of the four sections).  The pandemic halted that roll out.  As of today, there is no update on modular testing. 

Volunteer Hours v. Approved Work Hours

For this year, the decision on who can submit “approved work hours” instead of volunteer hours is a district decision.  On the state level, students CANNOT combine volunteer hours with approved work hours. 

The spirit of the legislation is that nobody wanted students from poor families to quit their jobs so that they could perform volunteer hours. 

UNF  (Jacksonville)

-Largest freshman class ever (more than 3,000)

- 120 credit Engineering program

UCF (Orlando)

-record number of applications

-four campuses include the main campus in Oviedo and the downtown campus (partnership with Valencia College)

FAMU (Tallahassee)

-       #1 Public HBCU school in the nation

-       Three + three law program

Florida Gulf Coast (Fort Myers)

-       Enrollment exceeds 16,000 students

-       Added Environmental Sustainability as a major

New College of Florida (Sarasota)

-       Each freshman is assigned a Professional Career Coach

-       As a true Liberal Arts school, you can create your own major

University of South Florida (Tampa, St. Pete, and Sarasota)

-       Largest applicant pool ever

-       Added Supply Chain Management as a major

-       Now uses SSAR

University of West Florida (Pensacola)

-       Enrollment exceeds 13,000 students

-       Using Common App and SSAR

Florida International (Miami)

-       Top 100 Public School in nation

-       Minority-majority school

Florida Atlantic (Boca Raton)

-       More than 35,000 applications last year

-       Wilkes Honors College is in Jupiter

-       FAU has an eSports Arena

Florida Polytechnic (Lakeland)

-       44% admission rate last year

-       Majors in Big Data Analytics, Renewable Energy