<p>UF maybe the best school in Florida for Floridians who are in-state due to the price difference w/ Bright Futures. </p>
<p>UM is a better option for out-of-state students that get a lot of the merit/financial aid money thereby greatly reducing the cost of attendance.</p>
<p>University of Florida and the University of Miami are easily the two best schools in the state of Florida. Nothing else comes close to either one.</p>
<p>So...if what you say is true, then a highly qualified undergrad applicant (who wants to stay in Florida) should go to UF or UM no matter what?</p>
<p>What if they want to study meteorology, for example?</p>
<p>Obviously as is the case with just about every school, it depends on the person's intended major. </p>
<p>Now sure FSU as you have been thoroughly supporting here may infact be better than University of Florida and University of Miami for meteorology</p>
<p>At the same time you have to keep in mind that overall, University of Miami and University of Florida are the two best schools in the state of Florida.</p>
<p>They are not only the two highest ranked schools but they also have very good departments in a number of fields not just a few. For the general applicant who maybe interested in a number of fields University of Miami and University of Florida would be the better choice as opposed to FSU which also has a few good programs but not as strong offerings across the board.</p>
<p>I see in the near future florida having 3 schools in the top 50,and four in the top 100, if UCF is able to control its growth, increase endowment and strength programs, also reduce commuters.</p>
<p>USF, also!</p>
<p>I've posted a number of USNWR analyses that show FSU with more ranked programs than Miami. FSU is second only to UF in terms of graduate programs in Florida - where it counts. U Miami has recently increased FTIC stats, and here some are claiming Miami is overtaking U Florida while completely ignoring FSU, again only because of FTIC stats. To me, this is shortsighted and silly. It's wishful thinking, akin to a sports game.</p>
<p>Yet, those who don't know better might believe this hyperbole. This is frequently what prompts me to write. It's nonsense.</p>
<p>FTIC stats, while important, are not the most important measure of quality in a university. They are important, to be sure, but the overall contribution of a university is especially hard to quantify as the results may not be seen for years. This is especially true for those engaged in basic research. FTIC stats are influenced by strange things, like sports success or ad programs for example. They can change rapidly. Solid research can contribute to the good of far more, for generations.</p>
<p>Therefore, while U Miami is likely the best private university in Florida; it's not in the league of either UF or FSU in terms of programs.</p>
<p>I definitely disagree with the idea that UM is taking over UF. There is no doubt, parent2noles, that a public school offers a much broader range of programs than UM would. </p>
<p>I think the best way to figure out what the "best" school in Florida is is to break it down by major.</p>
<p>Journalism? UF.</p>
<p>Music? Undoubtedly UM.</p>
<p>and so it goes, and different schools come up for different majors :)</p>
<p>This would be my suggested method for anyone considering colleges in Florida. </p>
<p>Determine the program(s) you want, then visit the schools that do best in that area. </p>
<p>For Music or Fine Arts, though, got to go with FSU. Probably the best music school in the SE US. Hard to get into.</p>
<p>Just checked - the FSU School of Music (PhD) program is ranked 15th in the US. UNC- Chapel Hill is a bit higher in the Southeast. U Miami is around 42nd. UF's is not ranked.</p>
<p>What does anyone know about Florida Tech (FIT)? My son is going to be an Engineering major and we visited Forida Tech a few months ago. VERY impressive at first glance.</p>
<p>For engineering, UF's got the best programs at this point; probably followed by UCF.</p>
<p>Parent2noles is correct. However, FIT produces some excellent engineers...I say this as an engineering hiring manager and from personal experience....my ex-wife graduated from FIT and turned down a full ride to MIT grad school. Your son should check out other options, of course, but if he chooses FIT as best for him, it would be a fine choice.</p>
<p>Why did she turn down a full ride at MIT though, did she choose something like Caltech or Stanford instead? BTW why does Florida Tech have such a low middle percentile of SAT scores? I would've expected it to at least have a high math score since it is a tech school.</p>
<p>Florida tech? If you mean Florida A & M, it is a traditionally black college and that is not the demographic that usually shines on the SAT. Most of the best Florida state residents who chose an instate school wind up at UF or FSU.</p>
<p>I may not have been clear...after doing well at FIT she was offered a full ride to grad school at MIT. She ended up turning down MIT for a full ride at the University of Rhode Island (which has an outstanding Ocean Engineering program)...but that's a little beside the point. I brought it up only to illustrate that a good student can get a quality education at FIT. Additonally, top FIT grads perform as well as those coming out of any school according to our internal company metrics.</p>
<p>Miami is in a different category than FSU and UF. Miami is a small, private, EXPENSIVE university. UF and FSU are good public universities. They both offer about the same, and in some cases, a better education compared to UM. UF is best the best overall school in Florida, followed by FSU. Then you have the regional universities like UCF, USF, FAU, FIU etc..
BTW, for music, motion pictures, and arts, FSU is BY FAR the best school in Florida and one of the best in the nation.</p>
<p>I'm a bit surprised to see that no one has suggested that Eckerd College should be considered as one of the best schools in Florida. Also, from parent2noles informative posts, I suspect that the overall distance between UF's and FSU's academic assets is not as great today as some would believe.</p>
<p>FSU MBA you are clearly biased. University of Miami although expensive, is also a very good school on par or better than University of Florida and Florida State University in many categories.</p>
<p>Rankings wise University of Miami could very well surpass University of Florida as the highest ranked school in Florida</p>
<p>Roo,</p>
<p>For crying out loud - calling FSUMBA biased is silly. We're all biased, except - just maybe, when we make statements against interest. At all times keep your hand on your wallet on this board. </p>
<p>I freely admit I'm an FSU alumnus with kids at FSU, too. I will certainly challenge anyone who posts false or misleading info about Florida State. I will also post news and ratings about FSU - in the FSU section, including comparisons with UF and UM.</p>
<p>You, for example, evidently earn a nickle every time someone reads one of your 'U Miami reaching new heights today' posts. Or, you're an alumnus, or a fan, or you work at UM and so on. You just don't say this, that I've seen. </p>
<p>Keep it real, have fun, maybe help some people out.</p>
<p>That being said, UM is a solid third in number of graduate school rankings behind UF and FSU. This is where the real money is at a research university. The undergrad rank changes rapidly as do FTIC stats, so I wouldn't take that to the bank singing a merry tune. Moreover, FSU and UF have to toe the line with (somewhat) accurate releases of data - UM as a private school has a lesser standard to worry about, so that must be kept in mind as well.</p>
<p>This is not to say UM's not a good school. It is. You can get a fine education at UM. Lots of people have. (of course, they're still paying the loans off.... :)</p>