The incoming class of students at Florida Polytechnic University attended new student orientation on Sunday, Aug. 21. This year’s freshman class is the University’s most academically advanced class yet. Classes began Tuesday, Aug. 23.
The new class of freshmen beginning their studies at Florida Polytechnic University this fall is more well-rounded and academically advanced than any class in the school’s history.
First-time-in-college applications increased by 31% this year, and by 101% since the fall of 2019. Among admitted students, the average SAT score was 1355 – the highest average in the University’s history – and the average ACT score was 30.
Additionally, 95% of first-time-in-college students had completed calculus or pre-calculus in high school, positioning them to do well at Florida Poly, the only public university in the State University System completely dedicated to STEM education.
“The quality of our programs is not only strong, but it’s extremely relevant as we see more and more of our graduates being placed in positions with very high salaries,” said Dr. Ben Matthew Corpus, vice provost for enrollment management. “Our graduates earn the highest salaries of any public college in the state of Florida.”
Another mark of the class’ quality is the fact that 84% are Bright Futures Scholarship winners.
“It’s not just about high salaries; our students want to change the world and see the opportunity to do that in our STEM disciplines in a more intimate environment,” Corpus said. “Many of the brightest students want to be here because we’re small and our majors are cutting-edge relevant.”
This was a strong consideration for Vladjimir Nicolas, a freshman focusing on software engineering from Pembroke Pines, Florida
“Florida Poly is great because it’s one of the best STEM schools I can go to for my major in the area, and I’m not too far from home,” Nicolas said. “Everything here is geared toward STEM, and because it’s a small school, they can cater to students a lot, too.”
The geographic diversity of new Florida Poly students is also increasing.
Out-of-state, first-time-in-college student applications increased by 49%, and incoming students hail from states as far as Washington, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Other students are from countries such as England, Argentina, Iran, Ghana, and Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean.
The incoming class also was successful both in and out of the high school classroom. New Phoenixes have won regional and state awards in areas such as robotics, soccer, ROTC, and coding. Others have been employed in fields as varied as cybersecurity, health care, and food service. Many also were active in student clubs such as robotics and Dungeons and Dragons, or on high school varsity athletic teams such as soccer, football, basketball, and lacrosse.
“When I was looking for schools, I wasn’t really having a good time choosing where to go until my guidance counselor told me about Florida Poly and it just stuck out,” said Robert Grant, a freshman computer science major from Jacksonville, Florida. “I liked the idea of smaller classes because it’s close to what I had in high school.”
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