Rankings Are Out. (47 < 50 < 102)

US News and World Report, the magazine that seemingly runs the educational system in this country, has released its oft debated rankings of the best universities in the country. The great University of Florida is the only SEC school in the top tier (top 50), coming in at 47, up 2 spots from last year. Florida has remained, to the best of my knowledge, around 48 or 49 for the past 6-8 years, so this is an improvement, if slight.

I'm sure you're all dying to know how those people who chose poorly upon coming out of high school fared. Good. I like that about you. That's why you did well to go to Gainesville and why you're likely doing well in life, it's that competitive Gator spirit (or that superiority complex that all nongators say about Gators). The University of Miami, also known as the University of Jersey Kids came in at 50, cracking the top tier for the first time in their pathetic history. Florida State University came in at a shockingly bad 102. I don't even want to rip on FSU because they are a public institution and exist to serve the people of Florida. It's a shame that they should be ranked so low, but, as I mentioned below, Florida's education system is horrifyingly underfunded, ranked 49/50, coming in second to Lousiana in per capita dollars spent on their university system (I think).

The in-state tuition for the University of Florida is $4,373.00, making it the cheapest tuition in the country, while being the nation's fourth largest institution. Consider that for a moment. The state of Florida has no state income tax and yet still manages to produce a top echelon education for a bargain price. SunTan U, by comparison, will cost a rich white kid's parents $36,168.00 per year so their son Caleb or daughter Meadow can party on SoBe blowing coke and/or their bridge and tunnel friends, and yet they still will be second best to a school which costs 1/8th of the price. It's all about the U.

Some interesting facts about your alma mater.

• For the first-year students that enrolled at UF in 2008, the median SAT score is 1240 - 1410, and the Median GPA was 4.1 - 4.4.
  
• The freshmen retention rate of 94 percent is among the highest in the U.S.
  
• UF admitted 1,049 International Baccalaureate students for the 2004-2005 academic year - more than any other university in the world.
  
• Faculty awards include a Fields Medal (means they're very good at math), two Pulitzer Prizes, NASA's top award for research, and Smithsonian Institution's conservation award.
  
• There are currently more than 60 Eminent Scholar chairs, and nearly 60 faculty elections to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, or Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine or a counterpart in a foreign nation.
  
• UF ranked 15th in the U.S. News and World Report "Top Public Universities" (2009); fourth in The Scientist magazine's "Best Places to Work in Academia" (2005); fifth among all universities in Kiplinger's magazine "Top 100 Public Colleges" (2003).
  
• Milken Institute named UF one of the top-five U.S. institutions in the transfer of biotechnology research to the marketplace (2006).
  
• Some 50 biotechnology companies have resulted from faculty research programs.
  
• UF consistently ranks among the top-10 universities in licensing. Royalty and licensing income includes the glaucoma drug Trusopt, the sports drink Gatorade, and the Sentricon termite elimination system.
  
• UF was awarded $518.8 million in sponsored research in 2005-2006. Research includes diverse areas such as health care and citrus production (the world's largest citrus research center).
  
• In 2002, UF began leading six other universities under a $15 million NASA grant to work on a variety of space-related research during a five-year period.
  
• UF began a partnership with Spain in 2000, to create the world's largest telescope in the Canary Islands. It is completed and you can read about CanariCam here.
  
• For every dollar appropriated to the University of Florida, a total economic impact of eight dollars is spent within the state. Student spending supports local and statewide businesses and tourism.
  
• UF is a major employer, with more than 35,000 employees.
  
• The University of Florida contributes nearly $6 billion annually to Florida's economy and is responsible for nearly 75,000 jobs. UF is one of the largest research universities in the nation.
  
• UF became the first university in the world to be designated a "Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary" (2005) for environmental and wildlife management, resource conservation, waste management, and outreach and education.
  
• UF is one of three universities to be the first in the country to offer an Organic Agriculture undergraduate degree program (2006).
  
• Fresh Food Co., located in the Broward Dining Center, serves local fruits and vegetables for the benefit of product freshness and to support local commerce, as well as reduce transportation, fuel and packaging costs.
  
• A school-record 12 Gator athletic teams turned in top-10 finishes in 2007-08, marking the seventh consecutive year that 10 or more Gator athletic teams finished among the nation's top 10. Those finishes propelled Florida to sixth in the 2007-08 Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings. Only Florida and UCLA appear in the top 10 in each of the last 25 national all-sports rankings.

• Florida's 89 percent graduation success rate (GSR) of athletes reported by the NCAA in 2007 makes UF one of only three programs in the 2007-08 NACDA National All-Sports top 10 to post a GSR above 85%.

• Florida's 2008-2009 National Champion Football team had a 100% graduation rate.

• The University of Florida has more than 340,000 alumni.^[92] The alumni account for multiple Nobel Prize winners, nine U.S. Senators, almost 40 U.S. Representatives, 11 state governors, and eight U.S. ambassadors, multiple state supreme court judges, and various federal courts judges. UF graduates have served at the head of such diverse and important institutions as the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission, MTV, the United States Marine Corps, the National Organization for Women, FedEx, Burger King, NASCAR, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Boston Red Sox, Nike, and Boeing Enterprises. In addition alumni have been Presidents of Rice University, Rutgers University, Florida State University, the College of Charleston, Randolph-Macon College, the University of Central Florida, New College of Florida, the University of South Florida, and Miami University.

• Major corporations run by graduates include Merrill Lynch, Northwest Airlines, Gartner, the Hudson's Bay Company, Deloitte & Touche, J. C. Penney, Reebok, Macy's, Scripps, Golin Harris International, Discover Financial, Avaya, Walt Disney, Amtrak, The Richards Group, Scripps, the Gate Petroleum Company, and the Houston Astros. Major regulatory bodies such as the Federal Communications Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the American Bar Association, and the United States Department of Transportation have had University of Florida alumni at the helm in the modern era. In addition, UF has a history of 12 Rhodes Scholars.^[182]

• Among the individuals who have attended or graduated from the University of Florida are actress Faye Dunaway, Price is Right announcer Rich Fields, author Michael Connelly, Nobel Prize winners Marshall Nirenberg and Robert Grubbs, pilot Paul Tibbets, governor & senator Bob Graham, reporter Stephanie Abrams, musician Mel Tillis, award winning architect Lawrence Scarpa, poet Geri Doran, director Jonathan Demme, comedian Darrell Hammond, columnist Kiki Carter, congressman Adam Putnam, actor Stephen Root, sportscaster Jesse Palmer, producer Scott Sanders, senator & governor Lawton Chiles, TV personality Bob Vila, novelists Kate DiCamillo and Carl Hiaasen, judges William Dimitrouleas and Harold Sebring, administrators Carol Browner and Alan Stephenson Boyd, inventor John Atanasoff, astronaut & senator Bill Nelson, owner of Yankees franchise Hal Steinbrenner, guitarist & songwriter Stephen Stills, and the daughter of Dave Thomas, Wendy Thomas, the namesake of the food-chain Wendy's also attended the University of Florida.

• The University of Florida has also been home to over 125 Olympians throughout the years, nearly 150 active and retired NFL football players and 3 Heisman Trophy winners, more than 30 MLB baseball players, 30 NBA basketball players, and over 40 PGA Tour & LPGA golfers. Famous University of Florida athletes include the NFL all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith, NFL Hall of Fame football player Jack Youngblood, tennis players Lisa Raymond and Jesse Levine, golfer Tommy Aaron, basketball star Joakim Noah, baseball player David Eckstein, soccer players Abby Wambach and Heather Mitts, swimmers Tracy Caulkins, Nicole Haislett, Ryan Lochte and Dara Torres, and football coach Steve Spurrier.
• The University of Florida received the following rankings by "The Princeton Review" in its "2010 Best 368 Colleges Rankings:"^[133]
  

  Category	Rankings
  Best Career/Job Placement Services	1st overall
  Jock School	2nd overall
  Students Pack the Stadium	2nd overall
  Party School	2nd overall
  Lots of Beer	4th overall
  Best College Newspaper	8th overall
  Major Frat and Sorority Scene	12th overall
  Everyone Plays Intramural Sports	15th overall

• And finally, the most important of them all: The ratio of women to men is 54:46. Fuckin' A.

Go rank.
Go Gators.