<p>Well the pundits have proclaimed UMD journalism as clearly superior to UF's. But here are the most recent rankings available from US News...UF at no. 6 and UMD tied at 11th.</p>
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Univ. of Missouri at Columbia
<ol>
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Columbia University (N.Y.) </li>
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Northwestern Univ. (Medill) (Ill.) </li>
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Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill </li>
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Indiana Univ. at Bloomington </li>
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University of Florida </li>
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Ohio University (Scripps) </li>
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Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison </li>
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Univ. of California at Berkeley </li>
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University of Kansas (White) </li>
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Univ. of Md. at College Park </li>
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University of Texas at Austin </li>
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Syracuse U. (Newhouse) (N.Y.) </li>
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Arizona State Univ. (Cronkite) </li>
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Univ. of Minn. at Twin Cities</li>
</ol></li>
</ol>
<p>I think when most people refer to Maryland for journalism, it's more likely for networking into political journalism. Gainesville never gets hit by hurricanes, and most of the retired people start at Orlando and go south, with the biggest concentration in Miami. And as far as voting goes, its because retired people have the time to wait in polls. But again it really depends on the Journalism that your friend plans to go into.</p>
<p>Two major cities both less than 30 minutes from UMD. Both have their own sport teams, local cable stations, and radio stations. The sports of both schools will be good for sports journalism. UMD does have spirit. For as little as it counts princeton review did rank it number 1 in "students pack the stadiums". JUst because UF won the national championship in basketball this year doens't tower it over umd athletics. UMD won 4 national tourneys this year(competitive cheer, field hockey, womens bball, and mens soccer). There is a Mens bball trophy residing in college park too from a just 4 years ago.</p>
<p>For anythign political you have to recognize that Washington DC is the political capital of the world. I have friends that are in high school having congressional internships in the capital building. Being this close to DC is an advantage.</p>
<p>The OP asked for differences between the schools. That was followed by a rash of statements that UMD "clearly" has the best journalism department with tenuous rationale being provided by the school's proximity to DC. Objective rankings, however, show that UMD does not have a better department. Consequently, the choice between UMD and UF must come down to other factors, based upon the OP's preferences that only he/she can answer. Both are large state schools with good programs. Differences are largely going to be geographic...great weather and a college town vs. proximity to DC.....and, of course, the question of which of the two options will be the more expensive.</p>
<p>They put Newhouse at 13?? Eh...Uh...how did they do the rankings this year? Just curious. I was always under the impression that UMissouri, Northwestern, Syracuse have always been at the top for journalism...not attacking, just curious.</p>
<p>I mean...do Berkeley and Columbia even have undergrad journalism???</p>
<p>i have interviewed for faculty jobs at both places. maryland is one of the best in the nation for public affairs and political journalism programs and has many strong ties to official washington and washington and baltimore media outlets if that's where you desire to work.</p>
<p>florida on the other hand is a much larger program with a much more comprehensive college of communications, with very strong majors in such areas as advertising and broadcasting. it's probably better in these other areas though still very strong in traditional print journalism. if your goal is florida media, or even in the southeast, a gator degree is very solid.</p>
<p>College Park Jounralism is quite good. Its location near DC is also quite appealing to future journalists in terms of job, intersnship, etc. If im not mistaken, many umcp journalists alum are working in DC area. Connie Chung is alum, for one. :)</p>
<p>Its florida/Maryland week by the way. We are going to own Florida come this sunday. ESPN 2 and a UMD student black out. Oh, its going to be good.</p>