Effects Of UF’s Admissions Procedure
The University of Florida has made a major adjustment to the admissions process for undergraduates this year. Admissions representatives from UF are calling it SAR: the Self-Reported Academic Record. In the past, the University of Florida, like most universities, required applicants to have transcripts sent directly to the university. That is no longer the case. As of 2013, applicants are required to enter their courses and grades from grades 9-11 and in-progress courses from grade 12 into a form that is part of the online application.
Students should get a copy of their transcripts from their guidance counselors so they can copy the exact course names and other required information.
An applicant can access the SAR once he or she has begun UF’s online application and has a username and password. After logging in, the student then clicks the “Go to self-reported academic record” link.
An applicant will send an official transcript only after receiving an offer of acceptance. It’s important that a student be 100% accurate when completing the SAR because the university will compare transcripts with SAR submissions. The SAR is part of the UF’s efforts to simplify the admissions process on its end, and not a premeditated effort to test applicants’ integrity.
Here are a few IMPORTANT things to note:
- Give yourself time while filling out the SAR. ACCURACY IS CRITICAL! Mistakes happen but they can’t happen on the SAR, or you risk the appearance of fraud. Applicants need to enter information into the form EXACTLY as it shown on their transcripts, including the course level (e.g., Honors, AP, etc.).
- The SAR policy applies only to high school students in the United States. International and homeschooled applicants do not enter their own grades into the SAR.
- Applicants seeking to meet the priority November 1st application deadline must enter grades into the SAR by December 1st. Applicants submitting applications after November 1st must submit the SAT by March 1st.
- For more information, see the University of Florida’s SAR FAQ at http://www.admissions.ufl.edu/ugrad/sar.html or call the admissions office directly.
We will cover all these changes and more in our upcoming webinar: Florida's State University System: What Does It Take to Get In? The webinar will be broadcast live from our Boca Raton office on September 16th, if you would like to attend live, please email Leslie.
