Transferring to a University

[Klutzington]

Hello all. I plan to attend an in-state University here in Florida. I really am looking at attending UCF. UF seems overhyped and I prefer the Orlando area.

Do any of you have experience with transferring to UCF or any universities in Florida? What are the chances of someone with a 3.85+ GPA in their Associate's Degree (age 18) transferring to one of the universities? ([Note, I did not take B.S. classes, I took all the way up to Calculus as well as Biology classes and Chemistry classes, and the standard general education requirements, obviously.])

Thank you all in advance.

Edit: I am going for a Biology (for pre-professional majors... aka Pre-Med) Bachelor's Degree

[Badpaladin]

Honestly a GPA above 3.5 should be able to get you into any school (that isn't in California) you want. Whatever school has the best overall program in Biology is what you should be shooting for -- "hype" over a particular university doesn't really matter at the departmental level. Some schools that are considered amazing can often be rather mediocre in some areas, and the inverse is also very much true.

In short, do some research about your department and strength of the emphasis you want your major to be in.

[Klutzington]

Honestly a GPA above 3.5 should be able to get you into any school (that isn't in California) you want. Whatever school has the best overall program in Biology is what you should be shooting for -- "hype" over a particular university doesn't really matter at the departmental level. Some schools that are considered amazing can often be rather mediocre in some areas, and the inverse is also very much true.

In short, do some research about your department and strength of the emphasis you want your major to be in.

What's up with the California thing? I'm not aware of anything happening in California.

[Spectral]

I think you'll have no problem getting into UCF. I don't know a ton of about Florida, but in New York (where I'm from), state schools were happy to accept good students from community colleges, and they encouraged these sorts of transfers.

On a side note, UF's not overrated, it's a really good school that's quite respected in biology. UCF's a perfectly good place to get a 4-year degree as well, and I'm not bagging on them in any way, but UF is definitively better.

[Badpaladin]

What's up with the California thing? I'm not aware of anything happening in California.

Big-ass budget cuts, over-enrollment. . .in short, a massive inflation in selectivity with respect to the quality of programs available due to the tragically dreadful economic state of things. But even then, it's really still all about the departments. Some schools may have a very low minimum entrance GPA, but have a rather high major-specific GPA requirement. At my school, the minimum is a 3.0, but they did a cutoff at 3.5 for my department. I'm sure there's some schools with even more stark differences.

It might not be a bad idea to compile a list of curricula from various schools and ask someone who's "in" the Biology field to see if it's good or not. The last thing you want is to dedicate yourself to a school you haven't thoroughly researched only to find out they don't really offer what you really want to do.