University of Florida compared to some of its peers

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Note, for people who might not know, the SAT and ACT scores of ENROLLED (not admitted, which should hover ~1340 this fall) students is close to or on par with Michigan, Wisconsin and even better than U-Texas. Comparing tuition of all of these schools, it might make sense for out of stators who want a fair weather school with great academics and awesome sports to come to Gainesville!!! Being a transplanted New Yorker myself, I don't think people in other areas of the country really know that UF is a great choice and alternative to Big 10-type schools for students seeking a solid education and bright student body.</p>

<p>The</a> Education Trust - Closing the Achievement Gap</p>

<p>The</a> Education Trust - Closing the Achievement Gap</p>

2

<p>That's surprising that it's on part with UMich and Wisconsin. Wow. It's supposed to be getting better, but, wow. UMich = UFL for SATs?</p>

<p>Admitted SATs might be different than enrolled, though.</p>

3

<p>UF's Yield Rate is 63%.</p>

4

<p>That's pretty significant. Either people really want to be there or they're enticed or it's their best option. Either way, I can't imagine that students with SATs around there are settling for UFL. Why would they if they can do equally well (and perhaps get $)? The only problem with this is that students with strong scores may happen to be from a disadvantaged background so UFL is their best option in terms of cost.</p>

<p>It's a paradox, I say!</p>

5

<p>^ It's not a paradox - some people who have stats to get into Emory, Georgetown, and Cornell would rather stay in-state and go to UF. Similar to the University of Texas in this regard. UF is also increasing minority enrollment on campus, and the appeal of athletics & academics is strong for native Floridians.</p>

6

<p>NewEngSoSciMan....Sorry to burst your hubris bubble, but the poor indegent student that goes to UF...you kidding me? The average family salary of the UF freshman is greater than $100,000, which would be closer to 135K in your neck of the woods. There are PLEANTY of wealthy people in Florida who are great students that not only chose to go to UF, but also STAY for LAW and Medical school. There are also plenty of 1400+ SAT candiates dinged.</p>

<p>Heck, even the median MBA student GMAT score is 680, which is 20th best in the nation and equal to the average GMAT at Cornell. The Warrington college of business pogram was granted a $60,000,000 gift last year specifically improve the already soaring MBA program, which is ranked 37 by USNEWS.</p>

<p>Tops on the UF presidents' list is elevating UF to the status of a top 10 public institution and the momentum being built up by the school is currently amazing.</p>

7

<p>NewEngSoSciMan-</p>

<p>U Florida enrolled SAT- 1260 ACT- 25-29 (25-75 percentile)
U Michigan enrolled SAT 1280 ACT- 26-31 (25-75 percentile)</p>

<p>Those are enrolled statistics for Fall 2007. I don't know what Michigan's situation is, but UF had a pretty good bump in applications for fall 2008, so expect a 20-25 point SAT bump for 2008, would be my guess.</p>

8

<p>Granted UF has a rising reputation but even in Florida, UF graduates still may have trouble finding jobs. I know several UF graduates (primarily business and econ majors) that had trouble landing a job above minimum wage coming out of school. IMO and simply put, there are just too many graduates coming out of UF each year and not enough new jobs in the state, leaving some on tenuous grounds in the job market.</p>

9

<p>^ Just so you know almost everyone is having this exact same problem. Even the people who paid $200,000 for their college education.</p>

<p>The great thing about UF Alumni is that they take care of their own.</p>

10

<p>What surprises me about this comparison is Cornell having a 100 point SAT advantage over Michigan. I had always thought Cornell students = Michigan students. I guess it comes down to Michigan having great marketing!</p>

<p>The</a> Education Trust - Closing the Achievement Gap</p>

11

<p>Too bad the S/F ratio is still over 21 versus around 13 at UW and UM. Cornell is about half the size of UM. As a state university with a requirement that about 65% are in state it will always have lower average scores than top national schools half its size.</p>

<p>And from today's COHE</p>

<p>Florida's 11 public universities are bracing for a money crunch so severe that some higher-education leaders have started describing it as an "unnatural disaster."</p>

<p>A slumping housing market is forcing state lawmakers to propose overall budget cuts of $2-billion during the legislative session that begins next week. The university system is already running lean, with hiring and enrollment freezes that followed recent state-budget reductions. Predictions of even deeper cuts loom for next year.</p>

<p>The 300,000-student system may have to be pared back by as many as 17,000 students next fall, an extraordinary development in a state with surging student demand. The resulting overflow of students to Florida's community colleges could compound problems for those cash-strapped institutions.</p>

<p>The budget debate has been nasty at times. Charlie Crist, the state's governor, recently responded to the worries of university presidents about more cuts by saying: "If they're unhappy, maybe they ought to turn the reins over to somebody else," reported the St. Petersburg Times.</p>

12

<p>Tomslawsky, Michigan's mid 50% SAT for enrolled students is 1210-1420 and the mean is 1320. The mid 50% ACT of enrolled students is 27-31 and the mean is 29. </p>

<p>Florida's mid 50% SAT for enrolled students 1140-1360 and the mean is 1250. The mid 50% ACT for enrolled students is 24-29 and the mean is 27.5. </p>

<p><a href="http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/files/umaa_cds2007.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/files/umaa_cds2007.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.ir.ufl.edu/data/cds2006-07.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ir.ufl.edu/data/cds2006-07.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

13

<p>Alex,</p>

<p>The newest available data for Florida has the admitted SAT (2008) scores of at a 1325. Also, I expect this to be bumped by 5 points or so, as I feel UF has left a few slots open for appeals, who are usually people who have high test scores and got dinged. We're not at UM level yet, but if the university can keep it's momentum coupled with being forced to cut admissions due to budgetary constraints, I predict within a few years, UF will boost it's enrolled SAT to 1300+. I bet we fall somewhere around a 1270-1280 enrolled SAT for fall 2008 based on admitted SAT numbers and past trends.
UF</a> ritual: Many apply, few chosen - News - GainesvilleSun.com</p>

14

<p>By the way, if Michigan is forced to go to blind admissions, watch its' SAT score spike 100+ points in 1 semester. Take a look at this;</p>

<p>Undergraduate</a> Admissions to the University of Michigan</p>

<p>90% or better ... the 1996 acceptance rate of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American applicants with grade point averages of at least 2.8 (B-) and SAT scores of 830 (about the 20th percentile nationally)</p>

<p>also 90 % or better ... the 1996 acceptance rate of Asian and Caucasian applicants with grade point averages of at least 3.8 (A-) and SAT scores of 1200 (about the 80th percentile nationally)</p>

15

<p>No matter how much better the scores get UF still has a ways to go to join the top schools. The faculty is not yet up to the quality level of the top schools. It lags far behind in the size of the library and probably in the amount of quality lab space and other facilities.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0106201.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0106201.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

16

<p>The library is very respectable, about the same size as northwestern. Besides, in the electronic age, it is more representative to rank the diversity of literature available to students rather than what is available on site. Therefore library volume size is becoming less and less of an issue, as most state universities share literature within the system.</p>

<p>Also, what is your proof that faculty productivity is lacking at UF?</p>

17

<p>Looks to me like UF pretty much holds its own when it comes to research and productivity.
<a href="http://mup.asu.edu/research2006.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mup.asu.edu/research2006.pdf&lt;/a>
Top 25
Nationally
Private Columbia University 9 0 468,484 21 406,576 11 5,190,564 6
Private Harvard University 9 0 454,495 24 399,764 12 25,473,721 1
Private Massachusetts Institute of Technology 9 0 543,448 10 427,552 9 6,712,436 5
Private Stanford University 9 0 671,046 8 541,667 3 12,205,000 3
Private University of Pennsylvania 9 0 596,756 9 435,343 7 4,369,782 10
Private Johns Hopkins University 8 1 1,375,014 1 1,229,426 1 2,176,909 22
Private Duke University 8 0 520,871 13 347,896 15 3,826,153 14
Public University of California - Berkeley 8 0 525,598 12 268,830 25 1,774,200 25
Public University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 8 0 769,126 3 521,339 4 4,931,338 7
Private Yale University 7 2 422,828 27 330,837 16 15,224,900 2
Public University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 7 1 515,061 15 308,369 20 1,968,930 23
Public University of Washington - Seattle 7 1 713,976 6 625,218 2 1,489,924 31
Public University of California - Los Angeles 7 0 772,569 2 461,145 6 668,338 78
Private Cornell University 6 3 406,341 30 224,828 35 3,777,092 15
Private Washington University in St. Louis 6 2 489,565 18 371,043 14 4,268,415 11
Public University of Wisconsin - Madison 6 1 763,875 4 434,423 8 1,000,857 51
Public University of California - San Francisco 6 0 728,321 5 418,944 10 343,646 135
Private University of Chicago 5 3 272,390 49 229,102 34 4,137,494 13
Public Univ of North Carolina - Chapel Hill 5 3 416,727 28 304,204 21 1,486,147 32
Public University of California - San Diego 5 2 708,690 7 465,629 5 211,178 209
Public Univ of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign 5 2 506,041 17 275,896 24 791,787 63
Private Princeton University 5 1 188,373 81 111,435 75 11,206,500 4
Private Northwestern University 4 5 358,947 32 230,593 33 4,215,275 12
Private University of Southern California 4 5 426,665 26 312,589 19 2,746,051 19
Public Ohio State University - Columbus 4 4 518,088 14 284,675 22 1,726,007 26
Public University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh 4 4 461,693 22 394,444 13 1,529,884 29
Private Vanderbilt University 3 5 318,335 37 261,484 27 2,628,437 21
Private California Institute of Technology 3 4 261,098 52 244,187 28 1,417,931 33
Public University of Florida 3 4 447,146 25 221,898 37 835,698 60
Public University of Texas - Austin 3 4 343,886 34 235,281 31 1,351,158 36
Public Penn State University - Univ Park 3 3 540,125 11 313,196 17 866,788 55
Public Texas A&M University 3 2 456,809 23 173,705 51 4,567,265 8
Private Brown University 3 1 130,741 104 84,126 99 1,843,904 24
Private Emory University 2 6 311,685 43 243,248 29 4,376,272 9
Public University of Arizona 2 5 478,680 19 283,956 23 393,400 128
Public University of California - Davis 2 5 511,757 16 221,937 36 400,837 125
Public University of Virginia 2 5 228,532 66 188,121 47 3,219,098 18
Private New York University 2 4 259,333 53 181,441 49 1,548,000 28
Public Purdue University - West Lafayette 2 3 365,779 31 144,090 59 1,340,536 38
Private Baylor College of Medicine 2 2 476,075 20 312,669 18 1,008,261 50
Private Dartmouth College 2 2 173,266 83 123,109 68 2,714,300 20
Private Rice University 2 0 60,872 153 51,157 130 3,611,127 17
Public Univ of Texas SW Medical Ctr - Dallas 1 5 314,403 39 200,888 42 724,188 72
Public University of Maryland - College Park 1 4 325,648 35 180,943 50 NR
Public Michigan State University 1 3 325,438 36 143,473 61 906,342 54
Public University of Colorado - Boulder 1 3 236,666 61 211,643 39 256,186 183
Private Rockefeller University 1 2 192,222 79 82,535 100 1,556,945 27
Public University of California - Irvine 1 2 257,024 55 150,995 56 169,152 248
Public University of California - Santa Barbara 1 2 151,325 96 92,248 94 80,830 383
Private University of Notre Dame 1 2 74,255 144 48,650 134 3,650,224 16
Public Univ of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Ctr 1 1 353,034 33 150,529 57 263,643 178</p>

18

<p>The annual research budget at UW and UM is about $300 Million more than UF. UM and UW both have over 70 National Academy of Science members, UF has around 20. UM and UW had over 40 faculty win major awards while UF had under 20. All that from the study you linked except for total research where newer info is out now. UF is coming but it's got some ground to gain too.</p>

19

<p>When I consider productivity, I could care less about individual accomplishments, rather accomplishments in the aggregate. It's like, I want my Football team to win the championship. If they do that, I don't give a rat's hairy behind how many all stars are on the team. So, if UF has high productivity and not a lot of "award winning" prof's, that is fine with me. </p>

<p>Here is the list of the top 25 public research universities from the above link. How many people do you think realize Florida is more productive than U-Texas when it comes to research. I think as Florida rises, the hardest obstacle for it to overcome is to make people realize the numbers and not make judgments based on pre-conceived notions. </p>

<p>Here is an example: the median GMAT score of the UF MBA student is 680, 21st highest in the nation. This score is higher than U-Texas, Penn State, North Carolina and is equal to Cornell. However, the program is still fighting the notion that "it's only Florida" . Even though UF competes for top 20 students, there is still some brand equity that needs to be established. Personally, I think they should use their iternal marketing staff to come up with ways to improve the image...sort of put your money where your mouth is...They have a GREAT marketing staff (on paper), why not challenge them to do what they're best at and improve the value of the UF degree on the open market.. OK, a little off topic, but in fairness, I'm a UF professional MBA student.</p>

<p>Top Public Research Universities (1-25)
Public University of California - Berkeley
Public University of California - Los Angeles
Public Univ of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Public University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Public Univ of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Public University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh
Public University of Wisconsin - Madison
Public University of Florida
Public University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Public University of Washington - Seattle
Public Ohio State University - Columbus
Public Penn State University - University Park
Public University of Texas - Austin
Public University of Virginia
Public University of Arizona
Public University of California - Davis
Public University of California - San Diego
Public University of California - San Francisco
Public Univ of Texas SW Medical Ctr - Dallas
Public Texas A&M University
Public University of Maryland - College Park
Public Georgia Institute of Technology
Public University of Iowa
Public Michigan State University
Public Purdue University - West Lafayette</p>

20

<p>For one thing that ranking is based on where they placed on all the sections that make up the report. It's not really a ranking perse as you could be #1 in all but one category but you would be behind a school ranked #25 on all items. Not really fair. But I love that report and have linked the data in it many times on this site. It used to be published by UF but moved to ASU last year--don't know why.</p>