University in United States
Gainesville, FL, United States
University profile
The University of Florida in Gainesville is a public research university and, in its own description, the state's most comprehensive university, a land-grant institution with ties to every Florida county and a top academic medical center. Its roots go back to nineteenth-century predecessors, the East Florida Seminary and the Florida Agricultural College, and it joined the Association of American Universities in 1985.
Teaching is organised in sixteen colleges: Agricultural and Life Sciences; the Arts; the Warrington College of Business; Dentistry; Design, Construction and Planning; Education; the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering; Health and Human Performance; Journalism and Communications; the Levin College of Law; Liberal Arts and Sciences; Medicine; Nursing; Pharmacy; Public Health and Health Professions; and Veterinary Medicine. UF is the only US university with six health-sciences colleges on a single campus. The Graduate School supports more than 250 graduate majors.
UF emphasises collaboration across disciplines, a strong record in technology transfer, and a university-wide push to build artificial intelligence into the curriculum and research, supported by a $70 million partnership with NVIDIA announced in 2020. Research themes highlighted by the university include semiconductors, diabetes, agriculture and citrus, mosquito-borne disease, storm monitoring and Parkinson's technology.
Undergraduates can enter through several routes: the standard freshman programme, the Honors Program with the Honors Village residential college, the Innovation Academy (a spring/summer-term pathway with an innovation minor embedded in more than 25 majors), PaCE, UF Online, and transfer pathways with Santa Fe College. Housing and Residence Life runs a large range of residence halls and villages, including Beaty Towers, Broward, Hume, Jennings, Keys, Lakeside, Murphree, Rawlings, Springs and Tanglewood Village, with living-learning communities, pools and recreation spaces.
International students follow the same freshman application as all other applicants and receive the same comprehensive admission review. UF International Center supported over 6,500 international students in 2024-2025. UF is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Its sports teams are the Florida Gators, with orange and blue as official colours since 1911.
Projected tuition and fees for incoming first-time undergraduates (30 credit hours): $6,440 for Florida residents and $34,620 for non-residents. Estimated total undergraduate budget: $25,830 (in-state, on or off campus) and $54,010 (out-of-state). Graduate tuition and fees: $12,780 (in-state) and $34,780 (out-of-state); estimated graduate budgets $34,320 to $58,470. Residency for tuition purposes is determined by the Office of Admissions at application.
No separate application. About 10 percent of admitted freshmen receive merit awards, notified by mid-March. Presidential Scholarships: $5,000, $8,000 (Gold) or $10,000 (Platinum) per year. Out-of-state tuition waivers: Alumni up to $10,000, Sunshine up to $16,000, Gator Nation up to $20,000 per year. The Admissions Honors Scholarship is a $2,000 tuition waiver for University Research Scholars. The John V. Lombardi and Stamps Scholarships are four-year awards for students admitted to the Honors Program through Early Decision or Early Action. National Merit Finalists naming UF first choice by May 31 receive $500 a year.
The Machen Florida Opportunity Scholarship gives a full grant and scholarship package, up to need, to first-generation, low-income first-year students (family income under $55,000, assets under $35,000, based on the admission application and the FAFSA).
Students on F-1, F-2, J-1, J-2 or G-series visas are not eligible for federal aid administered by UF. They may receive private or college-awarded scholarships, and admitted international freshmen are considered for the out-of-state tuition waivers. Graduate students should contact their department or college dean's office. International Center: (352) 392-5323.
UF scholarships | Aid for international students | Cost of attendance
UF Presidential Scholarships (Presidential, Gold and Platinum) →
Machen Florida Opportunity Scholarship (MFOS) →
UF Financial Aid for International Students →
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View scholarships for University of Florida →Prospective freshmen apply only through the Common App. Applicants choose Early Decision (binding), Early Action (non-binding) or Regular Decision (non-binding), and may request Summer B or Fall entry. The UF Supplement and a personal essay are part of the application. The application fee is $30, non-refundable, with fee waivers available through the Common App.
For 2026-27: Early Decision application deadline October 15 (materials October 22, decision December 11, confirmation January 8); Early Action November 1 (materials November 8, decision January 22, confirmation May 1); Regular Decision January 15 (materials January 22, decision March 19, confirmation May 1). Official test scores are due May 1 and official transcripts July 1. Enrolment is confirmed with a non-refundable $200 tuition deposit.
Minimum requirements: graduation from a regionally accredited or state-approved secondary school or equivalent (such as GED); sixteen academic units (4 English, 4 mathematics, 3 natural sciences with two including a laboratory, 3 social sciences, 2 sequential foreign language); at least a cumulative C average in the academic core; a record of good conduct. Admission is competitive and most admitted students exceed these minimums. UF requires SAT, ACT or Classic Learning Test scores, has no test preference and superscores all three; the ACT Science section is no longer required. SAT and TOEFL code 5812, ACT code 0758. Applicants also complete the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (STARS), unless they studied outside the US under a non-US grading system.
Transfer students apply to a specific college and major by the college deadline, pay a $30 non-refundable fee and submit transcripts from every institution attended. Transfer applications are generally received six to nine months before the term starts, and limited-access programmes need extra materials.
International freshmen follow the same application and receive the same review. Applicants with non-US secondary coursework submit at least three to four years of secondary transcripts with certified English translations (unofficial copies for review, official on enrolment) and a course-by-course credential evaluation with GPA from a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services. SAT, ACT or CLT scores are required. English proficiency (transfer and international coursework pathway): minimum TOEFL iBT 80 (PBT 550) or IELTS Academic 6.0; scores are valid two years. Proficiency can instead be shown by one full-time academic year at an accredited institution in the US or a country where English is the only official language, or an equivalent of an associate degree. Applicants from a listed set of countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and the United Kingdom, are exempt from English proficiency testing.
All graduate applicants apply through the UF Graduate School application on CollegeNET, choosing their college and major, with a $30 non-refundable fee and no fee waiver. Deadlines vary by department. Most applicants submit GRE scores sent electronically (school code 5812; UF does not superscore); all MBA applicants submit GMAT scores; some engineering programmes accept the Fundamentals of Engineering exam in place of the GRE. Applicants with a prior graduate or professional degree from a regionally accredited US institution may be exempt at the programme's discretion. Unofficial transcripts are accepted for review.
The University of Florida's main campus is in Gainesville, in Alachua County in the northern part of the Florida peninsula. The campus covers about 2,000 acres and holds more than 1,000 buildings, 16 colleges and 7 libraries.
The campus joins a historic core with research and classroom facilities and preserved natural areas, and it connects to adjacent innovation, commercial and residential districts. The university has operated on its Gainesville campus since 1906 and offers 26 undergraduate residence halls.
UF Health, the university's academic health center, is based in Gainesville and closely affiliated with UF Health Shands Hospital. The College of Medicine also has a 110-acre campus in Jacksonville, and UF Health facilities extend across Florida, including Jacksonville and Orlando. UF/IFAS has offices in each of Florida's 67 counties as well as on the Gainesville campus.
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