<p>Chardo, I had the same reaction, where I am Miami is seen as a party school for rich white boys, whereas Tulane is seen as a slightly less entitled/more diverse party school, academics the same or Tulane above Miami; UF is seen as equal to FSU depending on the academic department and both being party schools too, and slightly less rigorous academically. Tulane wins in the “prestigiosity” department - as a sort of close-to-Emory but-not-quite school.
What the rankings say is that all these schools are of similar caliber (remember that even the creator of the USNWR rankings indicates the exact numerical should not be considered as a precise number but as an indication within a group - in this case, national universities ranked 45 to 60 for instance).</p>
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<p>In other words, these schools are all equal in quality.
Really Informative, this obsession with US News rankings is bizarre. Do you really think there is any real difference in schools ranked 5 numbers apart? Miami doesn’t have a better reputation academically; it’s just that people think that because it’s private and more expensive that means it’s better.</p>
<p>OP, figure out how much your parents can pay for your education, visit as many as you can, apply to 6-8 of them and then choose from those which accept you.</p>
<p>I still think that your safety fears are overblown unless you have absolutely no common sense and plan to roam the streets at night by yourself. Focus on your best academic fit.</p>
<p>Tulane is comparable to Miami, both are about the same size (about 13K for Tulane to 16K at Miami), and about the same number and types of programs/majors. You really should take into account your major, in deciding between these two Universities. That and location (which is a personal choice).</p>
<p>UF is a large state flagship university. It’s academically in line with the other two, but has far more programs/majors and resources (at 49K, it’s over 3 times the size of either school). Really it’s the private vs. public discussion (and lots of reasons to pick one over the other). That and your major (for example, if you’re picking engineering or agriculture you would pick UF) should play a role in your choice.</p>
<p>FSU is not on par with UF. UF is trying to break into the top 10 of public universities (it’s currently about 14), while FSU’s plan is to break into the top 25 (it’s currently about 40). UF still has more resources, is more selective, and on and on… Some FSU programs are very competitive, but overall it still falls significantly behind UF.</p>
<p>The following link may be of use:</p>
<p>[College</a> Results Online](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search1ba.aspx?institutionid=135726,160755,134097,134130]College”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search1ba.aspx?institutionid=135726,160755,134097,134130)</p>
<p>Gator88NE, Thank you for that link! FYI…to others reading…the site Gator linked to is not only specific to the colleges in this discussion. Different colleges can be selected for comparison. I am constantly surprised, after so much reading and research, to keep finding more resources that I had not yet discovered!</p>
<p>It seems to me the schools in this discussion are basically ‘too close to call’ on paper alone. This choice comes down to fit and the specifics of the program you might be interested in.</p>