USF is raising their standards…

[USFan]

Good job USF!

Freshmen Enter USF Brighter Than Ever

By ADAM EMERSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Mar 25, 2007

TAMPA - Judging by its numbers, the University of South Florida has admitted its smartest freshman class ever.

Students who scored an A-minus average or greater in high school make up the majority of next fall's prospective freshman class at USF, according to university figures compiled through mid-March.

In addition, USF has invited hundreds more students to its Honors College, the university's academic crown jewel.

USF admissions officers began romancing next fall's freshman class when those high-caliber students were high school juniors, said Robert Spatig, the admissions director. When they reached their senior year, many found an appealing offer in their mailboxes: apply to USF, no essay or application fee required.

The challenge now for USF is persuading those students to follow through and show up.

Students typically apply to many schools, and every Florida university is competing for the state's best and brightest. Many have offered admission to the same students. To gain an edge, universities send a barrage of e-mail and brochures as early as sophomore year.

"It's like a political campaign," said Spatig, who also serves as president-elect of the Southern Association for College Admission Counseling. "The earlier you get on a student's short list, the better they seriously consider you."

For the Tampa area, the results of this aggressive recruitment can be a mixed blessing. Landing the best students raises USF's stature, and most of the university's graduates apply their skills locally or elsewhere in Florida. But many B-average students who could have gained entry years ago must now first consider community college.

These days an array of public and private university choices awaits mostly top students such as Tony Kuriam, a senior at Tampa's Jesuit High School. Kuriam, 17, said he's seriously considering USF's Honors College on his way to medical school. He has a 4.3 grade-point average, weighted with advanced coursework, and a 1490 out of 1600 on the SAT.

With marks like that, USF has competition for Kuriam. He also was accepted to the University of Miami and Loyola University Chicago, and he's awaiting word from the University of Florida, Cornell University and Johns Hopkins University.

"When I talk to medical doctors, they tell me that USF's got a great medical school," said Kuriam, who admits he never considered attending USF until this year. He visited the Tampa campus last week during an information fair, Stampede to Success, held mostly for students who haven't committed to the university.

Playing Up The Perks

About 400 prospective freshmen and their parents attended Stampede to Success at the Sun Dome.

These days, students of Kuriam's abilities apply to five to seven colleges, Spatig said.

USF may have missed many of those students in previous years because its admissions office focused mostly on recruiting them during their high school senior year, Spatig said.

When Spatig arrived at the university last year, he had stylish brochures highlighting USF's best attributes drawn up and mailed to sophomores and juniors.

USF also tapped the Florida Department of Education's Talented Junior file - a list of the state's high school juniors who rank in the top 20 percent of their class. The list totals more than 50,000 students.

This year, USF admissions officers visited 315 Florida high schools between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, a much bigger number than in years past, Spatig said. In addition, thousands of seniors received packets offering the generous application benefits: no fees to apply, no essay required, priority status.

Brittney Bagiardi, 17, is one such beneficiary. A senior at Port Charlotte High School, about 100 miles south of USF, Bagiardi applied to USF and two private colleges, Florida Southern College in Lakeland and Saint Leo University in Pasco County. She didn't pay any application fees and was accepted into all of them.

Florida Southern and Saint Leo each offered Bagiardi $8,000 in scholarships and a spot in their honors programs. But she plans to attend USF in the fall to satisfy her interest in intramural sports and community volunteerism, as well as her interest in pre-med study.

Going After The Same Students

Bagiardi, whose high school GPA is 4.1, is one of more than 5,000 freshmen admitted to USF so far whose GPAs exceed 3.7, an A-minus average. That's about 60 percent of the pool of students accepted for the next academic year. At this time last year, the university had admitted 3,300 students with A-minus or better.

The average GPA of freshmen admitted to USF so far is 3.8, Spatig said. Of the 8,200 prospective freshmen offered admission for this fall, about 1,740 were invited to USF's Honors College, which requires at least a 3.7 GPA and a 1270 SAT. At this time last year, just more than 1,000 had been offered admission to the Honors College.

"I think that the pool of students in Florida is getting stronger, and we know it's still growing," Spatig said. "And USF is attracting a larger share of them."

So are most other Florida colleges and universities. Just like USF, the University of Central Florida has admitted about 8,000 prospective freshmen, and the average GPA is about 3.8, said Gordon Chavis, UCF's assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions.

Chavis estimates that 50 percent of students he has admitted also received admission to the University of Florida and Florida State University. "We typically are all going after the same kinds of kids," he said.

And they're all going after them in similar ways. Tiffany Valle, a 17-year-old senior at Port Charlotte High School, was blitzed by e-mail and brochures from USF and UCF after she expressed interest in attending each on the colleges' Web sites.

The 4.0 student received admission to both. She decided to go to USF after UCF required her first to attend its summer semester.

"I'm not going to deal with all that," she said.

[theman123]

o great! i need to pick up my grades if i wanna go to USF

[USFan]

What grade are you in?

[theman123]

What grade are you in?

8th

[Guest BasketBull.]

What grade are you in?

8th

You are brighter than most already! I wasn't a Bull until I was much older.

We need more Bulls like you.

[E.T.]

o great! i need to pick up my grades if i wanna go to USF

You can do it !

[theman123]

What grade are you in?

8th

You are brighter than most already! I wasn't a Bull until I was much older.

We need more Bulls like you.

Been a Bull for far longer ago as well

[bulls96go]

oh oh...here come the gnats!

[Triple B]

What grade are you in?

8th

My son's in 8th. I saw that and it scared the crap out of me .... A-.    

[Grateful Dad]

What grade are you in?

8th

You go, little bro.  You can do it if you are willing to work for it.  Get all the help you can and don't be afraid to ask.  I moved around a lot and have gone to five or six different colleges.  I can tell you that THERE IS NOTHING LIKE BEING A BULL!!!