It seems like everyone is moving to Florida these days, and that includes kids going off to college. Florida colleges are red hot right now, their application numbers soaring.
Since Florida schools are so competitive, you typically need a high GPA to get in. However, there are some great colleges in Florida that will take you even if your high school transcript isn’t pristine. These colleges offer a quality education and provide students who apply themselves with opportunities to succeed.
This guide covers the best colleges in Florida that accept a 2.5 GPA.
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The Top 10 Colleges That Accept a 2.5 GPA in Florida
The first thing to understand about applying to college in Florida with a GPA under 3.0 is that your best chances are going to be at private schools. State schools in Florida are notorious for putting a heavy emphasis on high school GPA, especially for out-of-state students. That goes not just for the most competitive Florida state schools like UF and FSU but also for the regional and directional schools like UCF, USF, FAU, and so forth.
We’ll also take a minute to explain how we ranked our top choices from one to 10. We didn’t rank them strictly in order of how prestigious they are or where they’re ranked in U.S. News. We also didn’t rank them just on how many students with 2.5 GPAs and below they take.
Instead, we considered both the quality of the school and the chances of getting in with a 2.5 GPA and listed them in the order we believe students should look at them. That said, if you want to have the best chance of getting into a Florida college, you should apply to more than one of them, or even all of them!
#1: Rollins College
- Location: Winter Park, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #1 in Regional Universities South
- Acceptance rate: 41%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 14%
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: 10%
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.5
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,210-1,360
- Middle 50% ACT range: 26-31
- Graduation rate: 77%
Rollins College, a small liberal arts school in the upscale Orlando suburb of Winter Park, is, in our opinion, the best school on our list. Its peer schools among liberal arts colleges in the South include other great universities such as Sewanee, Furman, Rhodes, and Centre. Its campus is one of the most beautiful in the country.
Rollins is known for admitting a lot of students from the Northeast, many of them with strong potential as shown by their test scores, but not the best high school grades. In its most recent freshman class, 14% had high school GPAs below 3.0 and 10% ranked in the bottom half of their high school class.
With an acceptance rate of 41%, Rollins shouldn’t be considered a “shoe in” or a safety school for much of anyone, particularly those with GPAs below 3.0. But it makes a great “reach” school if you want to be in Florida and receive the best education possible.
#2: Flagler College
- Location: Saint Augustine, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #3 in Regional Universities South
- Acceptance rate: 81%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 12%
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: Not reported
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.64
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,000-1,187.5
- Middle 50% ACT range: 19-26.5
- Graduation rate: 57%
Flagler College is an interesting place. It’s located in Saint Augustine, the oldest city in America. It’s tiny and has a strong surf-and-beach culture. Students either love it or hate it, as evidenced by its low freshman retention rate and low graduation rate.
The school also has some interesting and kind of archaic policies, the most controversial one being no opposite-sex visitation in the dorms freshman year (despite the school having no religious affiliation).
That said, Flagler is a great fit for certain students. Namely, those who love the beach and want a small, intimate environment where it’s easy to get to know people and build relationships with professors and other students.
In its most recent freshman class, 12% came in with high school GPAs below 3.0.
#3: Stetson University
- Location: DeLand, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #4 in Regional Universities South
- Acceptance rate: 86%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 5%
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: 22%
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.85
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,030-1,240
- Middle 50% ACT range: 20-26
- Graduation rate: 63%
Stetson University, located between Orlando and Daytona Beach, has a longstanding reputation in Florida and actually used to be much more selective than it is now.
Decades ago, it was considered more difficult to get into than the University of Florida. These days, it has an acceptance rate of over 85% — which is great news if you’re applying with a 2.5 GPA, like 5% of its most recent freshman class were. (A full 22% of them also had a class rank in the bottom half.)
Stetson, like Rollins and Flagler, is known as Regional University because it has Master’s degree programs (as well as a law school) but no Ph.D. programs like National Universities do. That said, it has the feel of a mid-sized liberal arts college.
#4: Saint Leo University
- Location: Saint Leo, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #390 in National Universities
- Acceptance rate: 80%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 37%
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: Not reported
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.13
- Middle 50% SAT range: 930-1,150
- Middle 50% ACT range: 19-25
- Graduation rate: 47%
Saint Leo University is a Catholic liberal arts college just north of the Tampa Bay area. It has 4,000 students on campus and another 7,000 online students. While the school has a distinctly Roman Catholic feel to it, it also offers a traditional college experience, including an active Greek scene on campus.
Saint Leo accepts the highest percentage of sub-3.0 GPA students of any school on our list at 37%. Its average incoming freshman GPA is only 3.13 — and when you consider the degree to which Florida high schools inflate GPAs (top students usually have over a 5.0) that means a ton of B and C students are getting accepted.
#5: Jacksonville University
- Location: Jacksonville, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #36 in Regional Universities South
- Acceptance rate: 58%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 11%
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: 24%
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.73
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,110-1,260
- Middle 50% ACT range: 24-28
- Graduation rate: 57%
Jacksonville University is a small, private college with about 3,000 students located south of downtown Jacksonville, Florida. Despite its small student body size, the university competes in Division I athletics in the Atlantic Sun Conference, though it discontinued its football program in 2019.
In JU’s most recent incoming class, 11% had below a 3.0 GPA and 24% of those submitting class rank were in the bottom half of their high school class. These numbers indicate that a student with a GPA in the 2.5 range would have a strong chance of admission to JU.
#6: Lynn University
- Location: Boca Raton, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #49 in Regional Universities South
- Acceptance rate: 80%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 31% (including 8% with GPAs below 2.5)
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: 48%
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.3
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,033-1,185
- Middle 50% ACT range: 21-25
- Graduation rate: 53%
Lynn University is a small private university with a lush campus in suburban Boca Raton, FL. Its South Florida location makes it easy to network for internships, jobs, and business opportunities. The campus is 30 minutes from West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and a little over an hour from Miami.
Lynn is one of the most forgiving schools on this list when it comes to low high school grades. Almost one-third of its most recent incoming freshman class had below a 3.0 GPA in high school, and nearly 10% had below a 2.5.
#7: Barry University
- Location: Miami Shores, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #395-435 in National Universities
- Acceptance rate: 60%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 20%
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: Not reported
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.4
- Middle 50% SAT range: 880-1,070
- Middle 50% ACT range: 17-22
- Graduation rate: 38%
Barry University is located in Miami Shores, about 10 miles north of downtown Miami. It is known for its health science and other preprofessional programs (most notably, occupational therapy) and has a large number of adult learners. It’s a Catholic university but doesn’t have a religious feel to it.
The average GPA of incoming freshmen at Barry is a 3.4, but one-fifth of its most recent class had below a 3.0, so you definitely have a solid chance with a 2.5 assuming the rest of your application is strong.
Barry’s low graduation rate of only 38% is concerning, but the students who manage to make it through tend to do well, as the school’s Miami location puts it in the middle of one of the hottest job markets in the country.
#8: University of Tampa
- Location: Tampa, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #16 in Regional Universities South
- Acceptance rate: 26%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 7%
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: Not reported
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.5
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,080-1,280
- Middle 50% ACT range: 22-28
- Graduation rate: 62%
The University of Tampa is one of the fastest-growing schools in Florida and perhaps in the entire country. In a little over a decade, its undergraduate enrollment has gone from 5,000 to 10,000. Its campus is right downtown and features plush dorms and student apartments (though housing shortages are common thanks to increasing enrollment) and sparkling new amenities.
Only 7% of the most recent incoming class had a GPA below 3.0, and the acceptance rate has plummeted all the way to 26%, so getting into Tampa with a 2.5 isn’t as easy as it used to be. But if you have high test scores to compensate for your low GPA, you still have a decent shot. Perhaps the most important factor in your application is your family’s ability to pay full freight, as UTampa is VERY need-aware.
#9: Palm Beach Atlantic University
- Location: West Palm Beach, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #382 in National Universities
- Acceptance rate: 88%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: 15%
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: Not reported
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.58
- Middle 50% SAT range: 980-1,210
- Middle 50% ACT range: 19-26
- Graduation rate: 58%
Palm Beach Atlantic University is an interdenominational Christian college in downtown West Palm Beach with about 3,000 undergraduate students. The campus is close to both the beach and the Clematis Street nightlife district of West Palm, but as a Christian school, it also has some pretty strict rules about drinking and partying, so that’s something prospective students should be aware of.
PBAU regularly lets in students whose high school grades are under 3.0, including about 15% of last year’s incoming freshman class, so if the idea of going to school in Palm Beach intrigues you and you don’t mind the strictures of a faith-based college, PBAU is one you should apply to.
#10: Nova Southeastern University
- Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
- U.S. News ranking: #227 in National Universities
- Acceptance rate: 76%
- Percent of incoming freshmen with GPAs below 3.0: Not reported
- Percent of incoming freshmen in bottom half of high school class: Not reported
- Average GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.9
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,040-1,310
- Middle 50% ACT range: 20-27
- Graduation rate: 61%
Nova Southeastern University has a compact campus in suburban Broward County and is known largely as a commuter college for local students from South Florida. But it has taken strides to become more residential in recent years, including building nice new dorms to entice students to live on campus. Nova also has a law school and a pharmacy school.
Nova Southeastern doesn’t make its common data set public, so we don’t know exactly how many students with GPAs in the 2.5 to 3.0 range it admitted in its most recent class. But the school is known in South Florida as a relatively easy one to get into, and we personally know several students who’ve gotten in with mediocre high school grades.
