WHAT’S NEW WITH HONO MATT BAROCAS: UF’S SECOND SCHWARZMAN SCHOLAR UF Honors has yet another reason to be proud: Matt Barocas, a senior in the Honors Program, is the second ever Schwarzman Scholar from the University of Florida. The Schwarzman Scholarship is a prestigious program that pays for students to earn their master’s degree at the Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Barocas is a political science and history major from Pinecrest, Florida. After he gets his masters through the Schwarzman Program, he hopes to go to law school or graduate school. He plans to have a career in diplomacy or public service, which his experience in Beijing will certainly prepare him. Barocas was attracted to the Schwarzman Program’s “call for future global leaders” featured on their website. The program offers renowned academic and leadership development as well as cultural enrichment from living in China for ten months, which made the opportunity too enticing to pass up. Barocas previously had little knowledge on the country, and he wanted to change that. “The US-China relationship is going to be really important,” he said. “No matter what I do, it’s going to factor into my career, so not having a background in it was a deficiency that I was looking to fill.” Applying to the program was quite the undertaking. With the help of Kelly Medley from the Honors Office, Barocas wrote multiple essays, gathered letters of recommendation and put together a video to demonstrate to interviewers why he was the best candidate for the scholarship. The interviewers were particularly impressed with his video, which involved him baking bread. “It was kind of cheesy. It was a metaphor for cultural understanding: baking bread and coming together.” When asked about why he chose to focus on bread, Barocas laughed and clarified that he liked baking bread before quarantine made it trendy. The interview itself was 20
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nerve-wracking minutes of questions, but he felt prepared thanks to his mock interviews with Medley. By immersing himself in a cultural and political environment that is distinct from America, Barocas hopes to engage with new ideas he never had the opportunity to before. He encourages other UF students to apply for the scholarship as well. “I don’t know how many people from UF have ever applied. Maybe that’s why there’s only two,” he said. UF is fortunate to be represented by someone as committed as Barocas, and hopefully other Gators will follow in his footsteps. Story by Holly Smith PROGRAM WELCOMES HONORS CLASS OF 2025 On Feb. 26, the UF Honors Program welcomed 1,549 applicants to join its class of 2025. Receiving just over 11,300 applications, the Honors Program saw an acceptance rate of about 13.7% this year--a slight increase from 2020’s acceptance rate of 13.3%. The accepted class had an average GPA of 4.67, SAT of 1497 and ACT of 34. The program also welcomed eight Lombardi Scholars and three Stamps Scholars who were hand-selected from a pool of over 200 nominees by distinguished Honors faculty. Through general admission, UF accepted 15,220 students out of a record applicant pool of 52,513 for an acceptance rate of 28.9%. Accepted students had an average GPA of 4.51, SAT of 1392 and ACT of 31. The university expects 6,400 students to enroll. This year was especially competitive for the University of Florida and the Honors Program. Prospective students completed their applications under the added stress of the pandemic, which has made for an unconventional college admissions season. Claudia Johnson from St. Petersburg, Fla. was one accepted
