<p>One of the 25 hottest schools in the US! :)</p>
<p>University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla. </p>
<p>Winning the national football championship, as well as two consecutive basketball titles, is clearly a draw. Applications to Gatorland are up 15 percent in the last two years, nearly twice the national average. But high-school counselors are discovering it has more to offer its 35,000 undergraduates than just a great excuse to hit the sports bars. The university attracts more students from the International Baccalaureate programthe most challenging courses in American high schoolsthan any other college. The average Gator freshman had a 3.99 GPA in high school. Freshman Robin Prywes, a Maryland resident, says the only thing those sports championships taught her was that Florida had great school spirit. She says she liked the school's "academic reputation, student involvement, great weather and friendly atmosphere." But her mother says it was mostly the weather.</p>