UF is the 54th best college in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report rankings.
The ranking system is based on factors including freshman retention rates, test scores, faculty-to-student ratio, reputation and graduation rates, and included 281 public and private universities. UF tied with Pepperdine University for 54th place nationally.
UF is the highest-ranking Florida public school on the list. The University of Miami ranked 44th, and Florida State University ranked 97th.
Bethany Schuster, an 18-year-old public relations junior, said she’s impressed by the rankings but thinks UF should have been higher.
“The College of Journalism and Communications is one of the top in the nation,” she said. “How does that translate to 54th overall?”
Schuster said she thought UF’s reputation as a party school may have also affected the ranking.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said UF is pleased with the results.
“The university has worked very hard to keep moving forward despite a challenging budget situation, and those efforts seem to be paying off,” he said.
Orlando said some people may be critical of the methodology that U.S. News & World Report uses, but students and parents pay attention to its Best Colleges list.
“Measuring an experience can be a little bit of a subjective thing sometimes,” he said. “Rankings help put some sort of measurement in there.”
