#7 University of Florida (#34 in National Universities)
9 University of California--Irvine
10 University of California--San Diego
11 University of California--Davis
12 College of William and Mary
13 University of Wisconsin--Madison
14 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign
14 University of Texas--Austin
16 University of Georgia
17 Ohio State University--Columbus
#18 Florida State University (#57 in National Universities)
18 Pennsylvania State University--University Park
18 Purdue University--West Lafayette
18 University of Pittsburgh
22 Rutgers University--New Brunswick
22 University of Washington
24 University of Connecticut
24 University of Maryland--College Park
24 University of Massachusetts--Amherst
UF scored 71 points. The two schools at the #5 rankings scored 72 points. UF is so very close to that top 5 ranking…
FSU has been rapidly rising in the rankings.
In the 2016 listing, it placed at # 43 for public universities. FSU moved up to No. 38 on the 2017 list. In the 2018 list, it ranked No. 33. In the 2019 listing, it moved up seven spots to #26. Now it’s tied at #18.
A key reason for FSU’s rise has been it’s rapidly improving graduation rates.
A lot of UF metrics have improved (this fall UF added 500 new faculty members), but it usually a year or two delay before that starts to show up in the rankings.
A few hours ago, it was announced that Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to make an announcement at 9 a.m. Monday at the University of Florida. No details about the announcement has been released, but it may have something to do with the rankings being “officially” released on Monday.
USF is ranked #44 for Public Universities (about what FSU was ranked in the 2016 listings) and #104 in National Universities. That’s tied with Auburn, the University of Oregon, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, and two or three other schools.
UCF is ranked at #79 for Public Universities, which is tied with several schools, including Colorado State University and Washington State University.
Looks like UF and FSU moving up nicely. UC’s well represented on that list…6 of 9 of them. Put the next 25 PUBLIC’s down…the other 3 UC’s will be on there. Crazy that the newest UC Merced now at #104 Nationally (up 29 spots last year, 32 spots this year-maybe most in nation?). All 9 UC schools now just about cracking the Top 100 Nationally on US News!
The UC is the best regarded system in the nation. The UC’s do well in all of categories used in the rankings (Student Outcomes, Faculty and Financial Resources, Student Excellence, and Alumni giving) , but really excel in the Expert Opinion (20%) category (including Mercer).
@Gator88NE - As an alum of UC Santa Barbara, I can attest to the rigor of the UC courses and the quality of the faculty. While other colleges and universities were kow towing to faculty demands for easier workloads, the UC system held firm and refused to change to a calendar using semesters rather than quarters. The result is that UC students have access to more classes for their education, but those classes are intense. Drinking from a fire hydrant is an apt way to describe it. The system works, however, and that fact is reflected in these rankings.
California schools are not allowed to consider race in admissions. The higher echelon of the UC system thus does not reflect the true demographics of California. It does however make their numbers look good. If one is wealthy or Asian or both the California system is a good fit. The one positive of California is that they do fund their colleges. The same cannot be said for Florida.
The Florida College System state operating funds is funded at $1.3 billion
Total operating funding for the State University System of $4.4 billion and total state
operating funding of $2.6 billion
The state of Florida spends 15% of it’s budget on education (k-12, Higher Education), California spends 14%. Cal spends more in total $, but it has a much larger system (UC/CSU/CC).
In 2017, California spent $12,143 per student compared to Florida’s $9075. Florida schools do well in the USNews ranking because the tuition is low relative to every other state except Wyoming. The amount spent per student (per the WSJ) at following institutions is as follows: UCLA $48130, University of Florida $19,630, FSU $12,680. There is a strong correlation between spending and outcomes. I suspect Gator88NE is not a soccer mom.
I know a few top kids who turned down UF for UCF because of the perks associated with Burnett. All were Benacquisto scholars so finances presumably didn’t play a role in choosing over UF. A dedicated honors college should help UF attract even more top kids.
LOL…more of a soccer dad, swim dad, football dad, cross country dad…
You have to keep in mind the cost of living differences between high cost CA and low cost Florida. $10,000 will get you a lot more in Florida than CA. It’s simply cheaper for universities to operate in Florida than CA.
No one understands what’s up with UCLA’s numbers, it’s way out of line when compare to other UC’s. Let us know if you have any insight!
@Kdawg9 - By that reasoning (UCLA $48130, University of Florida $19,630…There is a strong correlation between spending and outcomes), outcomes for UCLA students would be 2.5 times greater than those of UF students. First, I have no idea how you would quantify such an assertion, but I’m absolutely certain that this just isn’t possible. The public sector in California has never had a problem spending money, but their track record for producing results to justify that spending has been a problem for a long time.
@dropbox77177 - If UF is smart, they will, with this new honors program, eliminate the group think creative writing club admission system and focus the college on academics, instead. That would create a more diverse student body within the college rather than forcing STEM focused students to become mavens of the written word who share the same values and ideologies as the students reading the essays.
UC-Berkeley has about the same, yet it’s not spending anywhere near this amount. Other schools like UT-Austin ($31B) and TAMU ($13.5B) have much larger endowments and don’t spend anywhere near this amount.
These are all large research universities, and a LOT of endowment spending goes to non-educational targets, like medical research.