University of Florida compared to some of its peers

College Search & Selection
21

<p>My gator friends...comparing schools is a game of comparing statistics. You are not going to win this statistics game against top-10 publics, and it is pointless to try. Still, UF is a wonderful school. I am an MIT alumnus with a son in EE at UF....and I don't just <em>think</em>....I <em>know</em> that he is getting an education equal to the best anywhere. I don't care what the statistical averages say because it really doesn't mean much when getting down to specific individuals.</p>

<p>Now if the Board of Governors gets control and the state politicians ever give higher priority to education as the state's population grows, you can be sure that UF's "statistical metrics" will improve. Check back in 5-10 years and you may bragging rights. For now, take comfort that UF is plenty good enough for your student to reach their inherent potential.</p>

22

<p>^ So says you Wisconsin alum. Florida is projected to grow to 28 million by 2030. Our selectivity will keep getting better & better. FYI: Our acceptance rate was only 37% this year.</p>

23

<p>U Florida is probably a lot more statistically similar to U Michigan than many folks may realize. Consider some of the following comparisons (I add in the lowest scoring Ivy college, Cornell, in order to provide further perspective). I apologize for the fact that many of these are for students entering in Fall, 2006. I couldn't find data for Fall, 2007 for everyone, but I think all of the comparisons are made for the same timeframes: </p>

<p>YIELD: U Florida’s yield was 63%, U Michigan’s was 42%. The price tag and the local reputation for U Florida make that a very attractive university to attend and explain much of the reason for its exceptionally high yield. I think that U Michigan’s yield jumps to about 65% for IS students (although they don’t publicly disclose the IS/OOS breakdown). I attribute the difference in overall yield primarily to the difference in OOS students at these schools as U Florida has but 6% from OOS while U Michigan has 33%. Cornell’s yield was 47%</p>

<p>ACCEPTANCE RATE: Neither school has an exceptionally demanding admittance rate. U Michigan was around 50% this past year while U Florida was 48%. Cornell’s acceptance rate was 21%.</p>

<p>UNDERGRAD STUDENT BODY SIZE
U Michigan: 25,555
U Florida: 35,110
Cornell: 13,562</p>

<p>GPA: According to Yahoo Education, the average high school GPA for students entering U Florida was 3.8. For U Michigan, it was 3.75. No GPA data for Cornell. </p>

<p>STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES: </p>

<p>Critical Reading
U Michigan: 580-690 with 21% scoring 700+
U Florida: 560-760 with 15% scoring 700+
Cornell: 630-770 with 38% scoring 700+</p>

<p>Math
U Michigan: 630-730 with 43% scoring 700+
U Florida: 580-690 with 21% scoring 700+
Cornell: 660-730 with 59% scoring 700+</p>

<p>ACT Composite:
U Michigan: 27-31 with 38% scoring 30+
U Florida: 25-29 with 24% scoring 30+
Cornell: 28-32 with 56% scoring 30+</p>

<p>NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARS: In Fall, 2007 U Florida enrolled 168 National Merit Scholars (including 132 sponsored). U Michigan enrolled 62. Cornell enrolled 47.</p>

<p>FRESHMAN RETENTION: U Michigan retained 96%, U Florida retained 94%. Cornell retained 96%. </p>

<p>GRADUATION RATES: Within six years of matriculation, U Michigan graduated 87% of its students while U Florida graduated 79%. Cornell graduated 92%.</p>

24

<p>Hawkette, Michigan and Cornell do not have scholarship funds dedicated to NMSs. </p>

<p>Also, Cornell (and all the Ivies) superscore SAT results, Michigan and Florida do not. </p>

<p>Finally, Florida GPAs are weighed, Michigan GPAs are unweighed.</p>

<p>Again Hawkette, you need to compare apples to apples. You aren't.</p>

25

<p>I noted the inclusion of NMS sponsored scholars.</p>

<p>All schools report data by test section. Apples to apples. </p>

<p>Yahoo Education provides the GPA data. I think you should take it up with them. </p>

<p>I would like to revisit this when the new CDS is reported. If tomslaw is correct, then the comparisons will narrow further.</p>

26

<p>Hawkette, Florida reports that a significant percentage of its enrolling students had over 4.0 GPAs. It is clear that it is reporting weighed GPA. Michigan unweighs GPAs. No student can have a GPA over 4.0. </p>

<p>"I would like to revisit this when the new CDS is reported. If tomslaw is correct, then the comparisons will narrow further."</p>

<p>You are assuming Michigan's numbers won't improve. That may be the case, but then again, it may not.</p>

27

<p>Alexandre, unless things have changed I'm pretty sure UF and also FSU superscore for the SAT.</p>

28

<p>I assumed they did not because they are public. But some publics, like UVa, do. If that's the case, then it is not fair to compare UF's SAT scores to Michigan since they are not reporting the same thing.</p>

29

<p>Florida reports both weighted and unweighted GPA. Yahoo's GPA is the unweighted GPA. My personal feeling, though is that the GPA's especially at the upper end are so inflated, they give more of a picture of the "cluster" that a student graduated in rather than a clear numerical ranking.</p>

30

<p>No matter what the student stats say, UF is a LONG way from being considered a peer of Michigan or Wisconsin. Give it another 25 years maybe.</p>

31

<ul>
<li> -</li>
</ul>

32

<p>^ Unlike your region, ours isn't dying off. Florida is projected to reach 28 million by 2030. Selectivity will become like it is at UCLA in the future. I agree UF won't catch Michigan, but I think Wisconsin is in our grasp.</p>

<p>Check out the famous alumni out of UF:</p>

<p>List</a> of University of Florida people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>

33

<p>Both Florida and Michigan are having difficult financial times which will adversely affect state money which can be spent on education.</p>

<p>With more than 2 percent of its households entering some stage of foreclosure during the year, Florida documented the second highest state foreclosure rate for 2007. </p>

<p>Michigan documented the nation’s third highest state foreclosure for 2007, with 1.9 percent of its households entering some stage of foreclosure during the year.</p>

<p>What are the endowments for the two,which will help them weather the storm.</p>

<p>I agree that Florida is making great strides in reputation and taking steps to increase its standing even more. However, most people here need to look at the short term: what will be the relative reputations when they or their children graduate and look for jobs or want to go to grad school? Regardless of what happens in the future, for the near term, the reputation of UMich trumps UFL.</p>

<p>My son is dreading the prospect of Michigan's cold weather. But despite the strong attraction of the weather, the football and basketball teams, when he was accepted to UMich, on his own, he decided to withdraw his applicaton for University of Florida.</p>

34

<p>OK, in 2005, Michigan had the 78th highest SAT scores and Florida had 109, tied with Illinois (out of it looks like ~770 schools surveyed.) This puts Michigan at the top 10% of schools and Florida in the top 14% with a spread of 31 schools between them. This was 3 years ago now, it would be interesting to see how the numbers will look for Fall 2008, as I know Floridas' SAT scores have improved by 30 points or so. But then again its' relative rank will depend on how other schools did as well.</p>

<p><a href="http://mup.asu.edu/research2007.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mup.asu.edu/research2007.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

35

<p>OF course the caveat being that Michigan doesn't superscore.</p>

36

<p>What's driving all this UF cheerleading/spam? Though not an elite school, it's still very solid. They didn't win any national titles this year... so what gives?</p>

37

<p>
[quote]
UF's Yield Rate is 63%.

[/quote]

It might have more to do with the fact that most of the incoming students are in-state (94%) ... mandated by state legislation? If UF were allowed to admit 30% or more OOS, you will see the yield drop and the stats go up significantly.</p>

38

<p>Since you asked- No national title, but don't forget the Heisman trophy. Honestly, what better way to break the stereotypes about a school than to present clear-significant data to a pool of applicants who might not have otherwise considered UF as a solid alternative. Oh, and I couldn't think of a better place to do it than here. Why do you call it spam?</p>

39

<p>It's not spam-keep on posting it and informing folks. U Florida is underrated on the national scene and the more information that folks have about the school, the better it will look. </p>

<p>Re your comparisons with U Michigan, they may superscore for admissions purposes, but like every university in the country, they report their data by section only and provide the highest score. No institution has an incentive to report anything but their best numbers. Always interpret reported data by every school as superscored unless there is an explicit statement to the contrary.</p>

40

<p>UF's SAT numbers are much more a function of demographics and lack of quality competition than any quality the school itself offers. It's the best of a mediocre to good lot in Florida-and it's cheap.</p>