If you want to know where Gators work, live, and what companies recruit UF grads, I would highly recommend using LinkedIn. Search for UF, and select the Alumni tab. You can add any region, company, etc., and see a breakdown of Alumni.
Here are the rankings of some other Florida schools:
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Florida International University, leapt 17 spots on the same list of public universities nationwide.
FIU climbed from No. 95 last year to No. 78 this year — the biggest jump among Florida schools and the third-largest increase among its public counterparts in the nation.
FIU tied with Kansas State University, Oregon State University, University of Arkansas, University of Hawaii-Manoa, University of Maryland-Baltimore County and University of Rhode Island.
Florida A&M University was recognized as the seventh best overall Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the country, its same rating as last year. It stands as the first public HBCU in the nation.
The University of South Florida, in Tampa, remained the same as last year: No. 46 among public universities, No. 103 among public and private schools.
USF tied with Temple University, University of Arizona, UC-Santa Cruz, University of Illinois-Chicago, and the University of Tennessee.
The University of Central Florida, based in Orlando, scored 67th among public institutions, up from 77th last year, and 148th among all national schools, up from 160th last year.
UCF tied with University of Cincinnati, University of Mississippi, University of Alabama, University of Alabama-Birmingham, San Diego State University, Rutgers University -Camden, George Mason University, Colorado State University and CUNY-City College.
Nova Southeastern University, a private university based in Fort Lauderdale, ranked 213th nationally.
Florida State University, They did ok.
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The football coach probably has a $2M bank account.
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The UF Top 5 Banners are now up around campus. If you go to the UF/Alabama game on Saturday, you’ll see them around the stadium.
I wonder what they did with the top 7 and top 6 banners. 
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Now that I’ve taken a more detailed look at the results, here are some details in the US News rankings:
UF’s overall score is 78 (same as UNC and UCSB ). Lets also compare it to UNC, UCSB and UVa(who’s score is 80).
The rankings are based on 6 major areas (see my earlier post on the details).
Outcomes (40% of the score).
UF’s outcomes rank #9 out of National Universities (not just publics). UNC and UCSB both ranked #16. UVa is ranked 28th. This is UF’s strongest category.
UF>UNC=UCSB>UVa
Expert Opinion (20%).
UF’s peer assessment score (out of 5) is 3.8. UNC is 4.2 and UCSB is 3.6. UVa is 4.3.
UVa>UNC>UF>UCSB
Faculty Resources (20%).
UF faculty resources ranked at #48.
UCSB>UVa>UF>UNC
UCSB is significantly better than UVa, while UNC is significantly worse than UF. Not what I would have expected. Faculty salaries at UCSB are high (ranked #11) while class size (but not student to faculty ratio) and % of faculty that are full time (88%) seem to be the issues at UNC.
Financial Resources (10%)
UNC>UVa>UF>UCSB
Student Excellence (7%)
UVa>UCSB>UF>UNC
Alumni Giving (3%)
UVa>UF=UCSB>UNC
UF (and UNC and UCSB) are being driven up the rankings due to great student outcomes (which is great for those of us with students at these schools). UF has also made improvements in all other areas used in the rankings.
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Thanks for the details, very interesting.
Making up the 2 points to catch UVA will be very challenging. Most of these criteria cannot be directly affected, they are byproducts of decisions and initiatives of the university and take time to produce results. Also, UNC, UCSB and those right behind UF are not going to sit on their hands and be complacent.
It seems to me that Resources are the key. Increasing resources not only improves those categories, but should also have secondary effects which improve the other categories like Outcomes.
I am curious what others think…
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Yes, UF’s rise has been due to increase funding and student excellence.
In a few days, I’ll post something on how UF (and the other state universities) were able to improve funding (from multiple sources). Understanding how we got to this point today, will help show how UF will trend in the future (vs other public research universities).
The Lincoln Project put out several papers, a few years ago, on what they term “Public Research Universities” and the challenges they face. One article explains the financial model used by this universities. I highly recommend looking it over.
Section 3 in the article describes how public universities have responded. Florida’s response was different. The state of Florida bucked the trend by increasing state funding (a few years after the recession of 2008, which devastated all public universities, including Florida’s), did not significantly increase tuition, and did not become dependent on out of state tuition.
Does lower tuition than OOS peers ultimately hurt quality of experience? Did UF change some things operationally as well, like starting somewhere other than main campus?
No, all Freshman start on campus. In fact, they reduced the number of accepted freshman by a few hundred, a few years ago.
"Public Research Universities have four main sources of revenue.
- Tuition and Fees
- State Appropriations
- Federal Appropriations and local/state Grants and Contracts.
- Auxiliary, Hospital and independent operations, and “other” sources of Revenue (such as Endowment and investment income). For example UF has gotten millions from Gatorade royalties.
Most OOS public universities have had to raise tuition to counter reduce state appropriations. That’s not been the case in Florida.
Revenue from Tuition and Fees has been flat for the last several years (over 10+ years?). They have been frozen or raised it by very little.
State Appropriations have significantly increased. UF has worked with the state legislature to come up with several ways to increase funding.
First, UF would not raise tuition, as long as the state increased appropriations. Keep in mind that the state is paying much of the tuition by Bright Futures or/and the state Prepaid plan. The state has a strong incentive to keep tuition flat by providing state appropriations.
Next the state worked out an arraignment where they would increase funding, but only if the university met a set of performance metrics. This performance based funding is used by all of the State universities. As they improve, the get more funding. This also gave the state legislature confidence that the money is well spent, so they have been increasing funding every year.
Finally, the state has been open to funding capital projects by all of the universities. Every year UF seeks funding for several projects, and usually gets funding for a few of them (as does the other state universities).
For Federal Appropriations, UF has been focused on growing research funding. UF research spending was at a record $942.2 million in 2020 despite the pandemic.
For Auxiliary, Hospital, etc., UF has been working to grow different sources of income. They are one of the best universities at marketing it’s own research.
The University of Florida raised an all-time record $562 million last fiscal year. It marks the third consecutive year that giving has surpassed $500 million.
As long as the economy stays strong (in Florida), we can expect funding to continue.
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Thanks for the detail. The state’s increased funding is very impressive. That’s not the case in other low tax states, like Texas.
So how does this all affect kids getting jobs? Do recruiters really care? Does the school go on a marketing blitz to get the word out to companies? Is the question how does a regional school become a national recognized school?
Yes, they’ll go on a marketing blitz and no it won’t immediately change anything but perhaps over years.
it’s still a highly in-state student body and it’ll take a long time to change the perceptions vs. a UNC/W&M/UT Austin, etc.
Plus, companies have target schools by major and are always adjusting.
Also do people except the ones here when choosing a school really care? Maybe they do. When helping friends /families with school choices I have to point out their ranked in this or that to them. They like never look that up. They just know they want to go to X and school. Maybe it’s because they are just known good schools to start with.? If Michigan dropped to 10th place in best public, (for heaven sake!!!), Don’t think that would effect their applications /acceptances one bit. But it has a history of being a great school due to other factors. I am sure the same is true of this school.
You are correct - and different schools have different focuses - for example, ASU / UTK/ Michigan State for supply chain. Arizona for MIS. Syracuse for journalism and other media, etc. UGA as a public for International Relations.
Of course UF being ranked as top 5 University adds value to students degrees (and alumni).
UF fall Career Showcase fair is the largest career fair in the Southeast. The below article includes links to employers attending this year’s fair. Keep in mind that COVID has impacted all career fairs, pushing a lot of employees to “virtual” fairs.
Very true. Dozen’s of national companies (Amazon, Microsoft, etc.) target UF (along with dozens of other schools). You can see this in LinkedIn, by where UF alumni live and work (lots on the West Coast, NY, Washington DC, etc.).
In fact, you’ll fine far more Florida kids on the west coast, than W&M and UNC, because UF generates so many more STEM majors. That’s going to reflected by the companies that recruit at UF.
You hit the nail on the head… Alumnis… Now let them reach into their deep pockets…
MSU is a great example of rank not mattering and yes I am aware of supply chain.
It is a great, great local college that has national attention. If your in Michigan it’s local per se…
I haven’t looked but it’s like ranked low even in enginerring but it has a great enginerring department and applications like most schools have been up and getting in is getting more difficult yearly but probably due to sports it has national appeal.
I think it’s great that UF has some better rankings. My daughter went to Beloit College… No one cared about rank but for the students that went there it was a great school. That school even has some national appeal especially in Anthropology. But I get it, I guess at the end of the day you point to these things to signify improvement and some bragging rights… Lol…
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I don’t know about W&M, but UT Austin only has about 10% OOS students and by law UNC can only have 18%. Most flagships serve their residents first, and UF is no exception.
I’m just saying “perception wise.” Don’t get me wrong, UF is a great school as is FSU - the selectivity is high.
Interestingly, I walked campus last night and today and saw not a single top 5 banner although I’ve seen the pics so i’m sure they’re out there.
I know UF is a great school. But I don’t think company strategies change overnight - and I hope people apply to the right school for them.
Let’s be honest - if you live in Missouri, Mizzou may be right for you. Live in Wisconsin and it may be right for you. If you are a great student living anywhere, Bama and Arizona are right - and Bama ranks tops for internships - and it’s - I don’t know - not Vandy, Florida or UGA (the SEC top 3) - so…and I get it. Not denigrating Florida. I’m glad my kid is not there - but only because it’s not the right fit - too big - as was UGA which may be harder to get into and is stronger in her major.
My bigger concern is her major - International Studies - she could go to Harvard and I’m still not sure what you do with it 
will let you know in four years!! She is learning Chinese.
People have reasons to go to the schools they choose and I hope everyone is proud of their school - but obviously UF is wonderful.
I do wonder the out of state NMF decision - if that will hurt??
I expected UGA to rise pretty well but didn’t…it’s very difficult to get in.
It wasn’t UF’s decision, it was the state legislature. But really, there were a couple hundred NMF at UF, and some of those are instate, so they will still be there. A couple hundred out of 30,000? Won’t hurt.
The Benacquisto program had only been there for a few years.