Uf faces higher-stakes decisions after law school surge and negligence lawsuit

UF students and patients will feel immediate pressure in two places: law school admissions are getting tighter, and the university now faces a negligence lawsuit that could shape how its health system defends care decisions. As of Sunday at 11: 00 a. m. ET, those shifts trace to a national application surge and a court filing naming UF’s leadership and health entities as defendants.

UF law school applicants are spending more time and money to stand out

UF students preparing for law school are adjusting their strategies as competition rises, with higher stakes placed on grades, LSAT performance and the kinds of experiences that separate one applicant from another. Owen Beatty, a UF pre-law adviser, said UF students applying to law school increased by about 15% this past cycle, and he also said applicants are submitting more applications to different schools than they did two years ago.

Nationally, the Law School Admission Council’s compiled data from the American Bar Association shows U. S. law school applications are up 12. 6% this cycle, a 35. 2% increase compared with two years ago. Beatty said the surge is already reshaping how UF applicants prepare, including spending more on test prep while prioritizing GPA and LSAT scores.

That competition is also changing timelines. Beatty said pre-law advisers try to normalize gap years to gain work experience, and he said about 70% of students who started law school in Fall 2025 were at least a year out from their bachelor’s program. He also said he expects anxiety among applicants to increase alongside the trend, especially because many applicants are already high-achieving students.

UF Levin College of Law students say the cycle feels personally more competitive

For current and prospective students, the tighter environment is no longer abstract. Cecilia Carbone, a first-year law student at the UF Levin College of Law, said her choice to apply wasn’t driven by trend, calling it a personal “calling, ” and she said she believes a law degree can have broad impact. Her comments come as more students compete for the same limited number of seats across the country.

Alana Walker, a 21-year-old UF political science senior, applied to law schools for the 2026-2027 cycle and said she has heard back from two of the three schools. Walker said she felt intimidated when she saw declining acceptance rates and increasing competition, and she expects the next cycle to remain highly competitive for at least the next couple of years. Because of that environment, she said she took the LSAT more seriously, and she said many of her friends did the same.

Beatty framed “experience” as a primary differentiator when test scores and GPAs cluster at the high end. “Where you can really differentiate yourself is your experience, ” he said, describing a landscape in which strong numbers alone may not separate applicants as clearly as in prior cycles.

UF Board of Trustees and UF Health entities face negligence claims with no court dates set

In a separate and more formal legal development for the university, the UF Board of Trustees, along with UF Health and Shands, were named as defendants in a negligence lawsuit filed on February 20, 2026. The suit stems from an alleged botched dental procedure by Dr. Sherif Hosney at the UF Health Faculty Dental Practice in Gainesville.

The lawsuit alleges the plaintiff underwent a routine dental procedure on July 10, 2023, and that Hosney “negligently dropped a 2. 5-centimeter dental burr” into the plaintiff’s throat, which she “inadvertently swallowed and/or aspirated” while in a supine position. It further alleges Hosney failed to immediately locate, retrieve or account for the foreign object and failed to initiate appropriate emergency protocols to confirm its location or otherwise prevent further injury.

The filing says the plaintiff was emergently transported to the UF Health Shands Emergency Department and underwent a lung examination procedure because staff allegedly believed the burr entered her respiratory system, though it later was determined that was not the case. The lawsuit says the plaintiff required prolonged inpatient hospitalization, imaging and invasive diagnostic procedures until the burr could be safely removed, and it states she was admitted to UF Health Shands Hospital for approximately five days. The filing says the burr was eventually found in the cecum of the plaintiff’s intestine, lodged there for several days, and was retrieved on the final day of hospitalization.

Summons have been issued for the defendants to appear, but they have not yet responded or addressed the allegations in court. There are no scheduled court dates right now. The lawsuit names multiple legal entities that encompass UF Health and Shands, describing “varying levels of responsibility and authority” over the plaintiff’s care, and the plaintiff seeks more than $100, 000 in damages.

For now, the next concrete change will come when defendants respond in court or when a first hearing is scheduled. If court dates are set, the litigation timeline and early motions will determine how quickly the negligence claims move from allegations into contested legal arguments.