With summer upon us, the University of Florida will soon be filled with the eager fresh faces of a new incoming class.

Amongst those newcomers will be Dhara Patel, of Plant City High School, a young woman whose GPA is even greater than the list of extracurriculars on her resume.

Patel has achieved a 10.03 GPA, through the completion of 17 AP courses as well as time spent at Hillsborough Community College. She will be graduating in the spring with her high-school diploma as well as her associates degree.

“I spent a lot of time making sure my applications were good for every single school I applied to, especially UF,” Patel said. “I knew at the back of my mind that that was where I was going to go.”

Aside from earning a record-breaking GPA in Hillsborough County, Patel spent her time filling leadership positions in clubs such as FBLA and Civinettes.

“I went on a couple tours of colleges and at UF the counselor asked how many of us were in NHS (National Honor Society), everyone raised their hand,” Patel said. “Then she said, see we get billions of people in NHS but how many of you are in leadership positions in NHS? I directed my application that way, to have things to set me apart from the crowd.”

Patel has already created a buzz in the UF community as well as interest from reporters all the way in India. 

“It certainly sets the standard high for this university and is bringing to light the fact that a 10.0 GPA is possible, so what’s next?” said Ishani Jetty, salutatorian of her high school in 2011. “The freshmen and sophomore students that I’ve met so far are brilliant. So many of them come from private high schools and IB schools, and are at the top of their classes. I can learn so much from them. They are achieving more at younger ages, and that definitely means something. These kids are talented.” 

About 30,000 students applied to UF this year and 12,000 are typically admitted. What is changing is the number of incoming applications, according to UF spokesman Steve Orlando. Ranked number 49 on the list of US Best Colleges (National Universities), UF’s acceptance rate has decreased to 44.1% over the years. This means that obtaining admission into the state’s top public university has become increasingly competitive and continues to grow more difficult with every passing year. The incoming freshman class holds an average GPA of 4.4, an average SAT score of 1960 and an average ACT score of 30, according to Orlando. Alternatively, the university has created additional programs including the Innovation Academy and UF Online.

“The Innovation Academy is a way for freshmen to utilize unused classroom space,” Orlando said. Students attend classes in the spring and summer semesters and have a break in fall. 

According to Orlando, the first freshman class for UF Online will be this coming fall. It is an entirely online bachelor’s degree program. The project was created by legislature and tasked to UF to create. It became active in January with transfer students. The incoming freshman population will be full of high-school valedictorians, community leaders and all-around notable students. However, this means that even some academically-talented students were potentially turned away.

“I would be a lot more nervous about getting accepted now,” Jetty said. “I think me and most of my friends would have done so much more in every aspect of our resumes. We would have volunteered more, taken more college courses and tried harder to stand out significantly from our competition-- things current high school students consider the norm.” 

UF has earned a number 14 ranking in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 “Top Public Schools” as well as being recognized by Forbes as a “best value college”.             

“I love the campus,” said Patel. “I love the people there. It seems like a really college-type town that I can mature in.” For many students, it’s a family tradition to attend UF. With every generation, attending the school is becoming more of a feat.            

“My parents are both huge die-hard gator alumni but they did a great job starting from when I was very young at making it completely clear that I can go anywhere I want to go and they would support me,” said Max Sommer, a 21-year-old geography major from Valencia, CA. “They probably did a better job, though, at making me fall in love with everything about UF and making it so there was nowhere else I would ever want to go anyway.” 

According to the New York Times, last year UF’s acceptance rate was 42.42%, the year before that it was 44.10%, and in 2011 when Sommer was accepted it was 43.18%.

“With the athletics being as successful as ever and the academics becoming more and more prominent, I felt like more students were trying to go to Florida than ever before,” Sommer said. “It made the selection process very competitive.”      

For future applicants to UF, Orlando suggests to strive for activities that not only show you to be well rounded but display involvement and leadership. He believes that GPA isn’t just about high numbers, but the actual academic rigor of the courses you are taking.

“Normally you would look to see who won the science fair, but we look to see if the student won a patent,” Orlando said. “Normally you would look to see who was in the marching band, but we look to see who won a medal or competition.”