<p>Well, this is definitely not good guys, given that this is the perception of UF students themselves! Out of 366 schools in the country, UF...</p>
<p>Rank # 12 - Their students (Almost) never study- Academics
Rank #9 - Lots of Beer- Parties
Rank # 9 - Lots of hard Liquor - Parties
Rank #4 - Party Schools - Parties
Rank # 13 - Dorms like dungeons - Quality of Life</p>
<p>I could do with Jock Schools - School Type but ....these other ones?...I do not think that being on that list is any good. That's exactly the reputation that the University of Miami tried so hard to get rid off back in the 80s...</p>
<p>I think very highly of UF. But having grown up in Florida, I think that UF has ranked near the top of ALL of the party school lists since the lists were first published. Its the sunshine state, and kids seem to find time to party, drink, sun, swim, etc etc. And yeah, some of the dorms are old. But the caliber of students attending, caliber of profs, etc are all up over the past 20-30 years, and would be up higher if the state would raise tuition and or UF had a better source of funding. I recall when UF ranked nearly #1 in all areas. Some characterizations are hard to shake.</p>
<p>Besides, the survey shouldn't be taken too seriously. It's an unscientific online survey of students, many of whom lack any means of comparison and are eager to claim bragging rights as the nation's top "Animal House" campus. I think that the survey is designed mainly to draw attention to THe Princeton Review and its annual guide. The list helps to sell books.</p>
<p>Well, i just do not want to attend a school that is known as a "party school" that's all. I do not think my parents would be very excited about paying for that either. It is not about the rankings. It is about the way the students think of their school.</p>
<p>why not? it is not like every single person here parties 24/7 and never studies...these rankings are useless anyway...i'm sure the average student at FAU, UNF, USF, and UCF studies less than the average student at UF...and those schools are instate think about all the others there are around the country</p>
<p>ChamilitaryMayne, for a school that aspires to be a "top ten" public university, you shouldn't compare UF to other Florida State schools, but rather North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia etc. There is nothing wrong with having a good academic reputation and a party tag as well. But, if UF really wants to be considered at some point a TOP TEN, they are going to have to shake this reputation or reality whichever it may be. For now it looks like UF is headed in the opposite direction, national rankings down, party school rankings up.</p>
<p>I haven't seen these "party" rankings but I would guess that those top ten universities have much better ratings then UF.</p>
<p>I for one, want my kids to go to a school that has a good balance between the two (academics and social), and I did not get the impression that UF was such a "party" school the two times I visited, but obviously I didn't get a clear picture based upon these recent rankings.</p>
<p>its not to say I wouldn't want my son to go to UF, I would, its just so big, so ofcourse you are going to have many students who love to party. You also will have some students who like to party but also get their school work done. Hopefully, this is most likely the majority of the student body.</p>
<p>A dominant interest in "partying" is more prevalent, I believe, in students of lower academic caliber. The party school reputation of UF should diminish as their academic standing increases. As the academic quality of a school increases, so too does the desirability of the school to top students. If UF does not practice discrimination in admissions, selectivity will naturally increase as a consequence.</p>
<p>It's been hypothesized that the changes at UF of late may be related to its admissions policy, which may have coincided with the hiring of new a director of admissions in 2006. I haven't verified this for myself, but if there is an issue there, it will be self-evident when UF posts the CDS for 2007-2008. Pay close attention to the racial mix as compared to prior years. It may be that better qualified students are being denied admission at the expense of fulfilling racial quotas, which is, by definition, is discrimination and is unconstitutional. If that is the case, UF may never reach its full potential. Indeed, UF may even regress somewhat. We’ve seen some evidence of this recently by its decrease in ranking by U.S. News & World Report.</p>
<p>No qualified student should be denied entry into UF. But the criteria for admission to an academic institution MUST be academic. The so-called “holistic approach” to admissions is really just a thinly-veiled device to perpetuate the practice of racial discrimination, which is somewhat akin to the poll tax imposed on black voters of yesteryear. If it so happens that there are more, say, Asians at UF than in the general population, so be it. Same goes for all other races. First and foremost UF must use the academic performance of a prospective student as its primary selection criterion if the university is going to increase its reputation academically. Basing admission on other factors will only serve to reduce the overall academic strength of the university.</p>
<p>i know damn well they party like crazy at wisconsin (it is known for free flowing beer) and probably berkeley, virginia, and michigan too and those are all top 10 publics...i think the students at berkeley made a beer pong robot</p>
<p>I agree with UbiquityEssence its not that big of a deal. And I dont think very accurate either so whatever. </p>
<p>I know whenever I looked that stuff up in highschool we were always ranked above Georgia in the party school category and I always felt Georgia was worse in that area so I never took it seriously.</p>
<p>You're probably right that the average student at FAU studies less than the average student at UF. It really depends on how much the transfer students figures into the total.</p>
<p>There are also people at FAU that study more than people at UF.</p>
<p>kirst, I was responding to nycollegedad's comment: "For now it looks like UF is headed in the opposite direction, national rankings down, party school rankings up."</p>
<p>UF's academic ranking appears to be heading down nationally, which makes no sense. How can this be, given that the number of applications is up and the number of spots for freshman is fixed? The only rational explanation for this is that UF is using other criteria besides academic performance for selection. If you try real hard, you might actually be able to comprehend what I am saying. Or you can just make flippant remarks...</p>
<p>That is simply not true. There are thousands of things that could have happened to make the ranking go down. UF was tied last year with a bunch of schools, so maybe those schools could have simply improved their numbers more than UF did. Or maybe the peer reviewers were having bad days and gave low scores. Or any of a million other scenarios.</p>
<p>It's not like US News and World Report is the be-all and end-all of academics in the first place.</p>
<p>My "flippant remark" was because you said that students of lower academic caliber are more interested in partying. Where are you even getting that from? Also, I wasn't sure where you were going with the rest of the post. It seems like a clip out of another debate (in a beaten-to-death thread) altogether. And hasn't Florida supposedly had a "race-neutral" admissions for several years now?</p>
<p>This weekend I ran across an old copy of US News Colleges 1999 (printed in 1998). UF ranked 23 in the public University list and was not on the top 50 list. It was just in the Alpha list. </p>
<p>Look at the general trend in the past 10 years up.</p>
<p>Clearly the overall trend of UF is up, especially over the past decade. I think what i originally was trying to say was from the prospective of a parent of an oos student applying to UF. Obviously, when you are admitted to the university or you are an alumni, you are thrilled when the national rankings and admissions standards are all showing dramatic improvement. On the flip side, when you are a borderline applicant, you look for reasons to give you a sense of hope that you may gain admission. Let's call this years rankings a "pause" in an overall upward trend. From my perspective, i want to believe that this pause indicates that the admissions standards may not be as difficult as many have discussed at length on these boards. </p>
<p>kirst could be right and there could be a myriad of factors contributing to the pause. </p>
<p>FLboy is also correct. applications are at an all time high while the percentage of admitted students I would guess is near an all time low. this would be a clear indication of a school that is getting increasingly selective. </p>
<p>perhaps us news is looking at other data. for instance. the mid 50% profile hasn't changed all that much over the past three years in terms of the SAT range. the bottom part of the range has been at or near 1200-1220 for three years. maybe other universities have shown a rising trend in this area. who knows what they look at.</p>
<p>it doesn't really matter, except for bragging rights. whether you are ranked 45 or 55 is in my view not a big difference. </p>
<p>for those who attend or are graduates, while UF is not a top ten public iniversity and may never become one, it is clearly a very good school and ranked well. Most large universities could point to some ranking and be proud of that. several schools ranked below UF, have some higher ranked academic programs. It really depends on what you want to study.</p>
<p>for those who are applying (like my son), maybe a pause in the national rankings can create a window of opportunity to gain admission.</p>
<p>Well, I agree that the trend for U of Florida is down. It is a complex process and the State government has something to do with it as well.</p>
<p>"State spending on the 11 public universities has grown every year, but it hasn't kept pace with student growth, leaving Florida with the second-poorest teacher-student ratio in the country, besting only post-Katrina Louisiana.</p>
<p>UF law Professor Danaya Wright said she and her colleagues are discouraged from making too many photocopies for students -- an effort to save money. She spent a year as head of UF's faculty senate and is now ''disillusioned with the state of Florida'' and contemplating leaving"</p>
<p>Too many students, too little full time faculty, too many TAs, top faculty thinking of leaving. On top of that, add the reputation of a "party school" and of " students are least likely to study" ...where is UF headed???</p>
<p>Until last year, throwing money like crazy to National Merits and other top students from all over the country helped to maintain a 'top notch" student body. Well, they are not giving those awards anymore.... and buses of those students are not likely to keep coming.</p>