Sam Lee

^^"SUNY"=SUNY, Geneseo

Knights09

Vanderbilt
Florida
Georgia
Auburn
South Carolina
Alabama

Everyone else.

SSobick

"Given Florida's decision to balance its budget in large part on the backs of its state universities on top of already weak funding, I don't see Florida being able to catch up any time soon."

UF only charges about 3k a year in tuition. The Governor is pushing thru legislation to raise tuition to the National Average in only a few years. When UF gets that added revenue it will be a heck of a boost to the overall rankings. In addition the latest capital campaign has raised over $800 million in just over 2 years. We are well on pace to pass the $1.5 billion objective.

ScottieMix

I thought the point of this thread was to rank the schools of the SEC? Why have we gotten so sidetracked by Big 10/Ivy League/Patriot League comparisons?

Historically, the South hasn't had the tradition of higher education and therefore the infrastructures weren't in place. Slowly, some schools are starting to overcome that. I think UGA and UFL have made great strides toward being top notch schools. Do they have room to improve? Of course.

SSobick

"Historically, the South hasn't had the tradition of higher education and therefore the infrastructures weren't in place. Slowly, some schools are starting to overcome that."

On this fact I disagree. Most of the SEC Universities were originally very similar to Sewanee: The University of the South. Kind of Liberal Arts like in approach. Slowly but surely they have successfully switched over to the German Model (ie: John Hopkins).

Here is Sewanee & Tulane's profile (who were original SEC member institutions)

Sewanee: The University of the South - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tulane University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ScottieMix

Everything you posted is right. I'll take it one step further- obscure little Oglethorpe University in Atlanta built pre-Civil War to be the Princeton of the South. Post Civil War it never got back its footing. But I still think that the northeast had an earlier established tradition of higher education than the deep south with a few exceptions.

Where the northeast did such a great job was spreading early education faster. They had comprehensive school systems in place way before the South did. And the Civil War and Reconstruction also set back strides in Southern education. One reason Southern colleges and universities have lagged behind is because the kids that they draw from haven't been as well prepared as their northern counterparts.

UCBChemEGrad

Another thing going for UF is that its athletic program is financially self-sustaining. It also gives back quite a chunk of money to the university. An enviable position in these lean times and with all the national championships the spigot will likely stay open.

A lot of schools can learn from the Gators.

Fortunately, it looks like my alma mater's athletic program has taken those initial steps with a premier football seating section, called "endowment seating program"...a lifetime of best seats with all the creature comforts can be yours for a donation of $175k - $225k.
Cal Stadium

tomslawsky

I'm a product of both SUNY Oswego (BS- cell biology) and U-Florida (MBA), as well as U-South Florida (MS- chemistry) so I have solid grounding here. I loved all three of the, but for different reasons. I also feel that Oswego was solid, academically.

As far as Penn State, the median SAT is 1195- admittedly respectable but significantly lower than GA and Florida. No one has addressed the fact that the North Eastern Schools charge more tax for less quality.

tomslawsky

"But why so selective in your choice of northern states, tomslawsky? What about the fact that the state flagships of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Pennsylvania ALL outrank Florida in the US News rankings?"

Point 1- I was addressing a comment on how UF and UGA can compete due to "northern" influence. I wasn't addressing someone who said that the schools were strong due to "mid western influence". Did you miss that or are you just a bad reader?

Point 2- UF (possibly UGA, too) is underrated by at least 10 schools in US NEWS, as the US NEWS crteria for college rankings is seriously flawed and wouldn't pass as a solid project from a stats 101 class. I mean, come on- you don't see this.

Any other attacks I can dismantle for you?

tomslawsky

"Penn State had a 51.0% acceptance rate in 2007---slightly lower than Georgia's 54.3% and not too far behind Florida's 42.1%"

100*(50.1- 42.1)/42.1 = 19% more selective. If you want to call 19% "slightly", then I guess by YOUR definition, it fits. However, by the general interpretation of slightly, it doesn't cut th mustrd.

tomslawsky

Oh, here is a good one

"Or what about the fact that EVERY Big Ten school outranks EVERY SEC public university except Florida and Georgia---as do Pitt, Rutgers, and the Universities of Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, and SUNY Binghamton?"

I was defending Florida and Georgia ONLY, not the other SEC schools.

bClintock,
Why are you so desultory?

tomslawsky

"Now, I am not aware of any good privates in the state of Florida and that seems pathetic for a state that large."

| University of Miami

tomslawsky

This is kind of fun......I still wonder why the North East charges so much in taxes for schools and produce lower quality schools than Florida and Georgia. Any theories? Why is it that SUNY can have a school like Binghamton filled with Cornell caliber students and not be at the top of the National/International food chain, yet NY is one of the highest taxing states in the US?

Sparkeye7

How We Calculate the Up-and-Coming Colleges and Universities Rankings

By Robert Morse
Posted August 21, 2008

In the spring of 2008, U.S. News asked top academics as part of the regular U.S. News peer assessment survey to name the schools that they think are "Up-and-Coming Institutions." College presidents, provosts, and admissions deans were asked to nominate up to 10 colleges in their U.S. News America's Best Colleges ranking category "that are making improvements in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity, and facilities. These schools are worth watching because they are making promising and innovative changes." This item on the peer survey enabled college officials to pick schools within their ranking category that are rapidly evolving in ways that the public should be aware of and that are not always quickly noticeable in a college's year-to-year rankings.

The "Up and Coming" rankings are based solely on the responses to this section of the peer survey. The following lists, organized by U.S. News ranking categories, contain the 70 colleges that received the most nominations by top college officials for being an up-and-coming institution. They are ranked in descending order based on the number of nominations they received.

Best Colleges: Up-and-coming National Universities

This spring, for the first time, U.S. News asked the experts who respond to its annual peer assessment survey to identify schools that fit this profile. The 70 that received the most nominations range from household names like the University of Southern California to Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich., and Salve Regina, a 2,000-student Catholic university in Newport, R.I.

George Mason University Fairfax, VA Rank
1
Clemson University Clemson, SC Rank
2
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Rank
3
Arizona State University Tempe, AZ Rank
4
University of Maryland--Baltimore County Baltimore, MD Rank
5
Drexel University Philadelphia, PA Rank
6
University of Central Florida Orlando, FL Rank
7
Portland State University Portland, OR Rank
7
University of San Diego San Diego, CA Rank
9
University of North Carolina--Charlotte Charlotte, NC Rank
9
University of California--Riverside Riverside, CA Rank
9
University of South Carolina--Columbia Columbia, SC Rank
9
Azusa Pacific University Azusa, CA Rank
9
University of California--San Diego La Jolla, CA Rank
14
Ohio State University--Columbus Columbus, OH Rank
14
University of California--Irvine Irvine, CA Rank
14
Northeastern University Boston, MA Rank
14
Indiana University-Purdue University--Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN Rank
14
University of South Florida Tampa, FL Rank
14
Ball State University Muncie, IN Rank
14

Link: Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report
----------------
I see University of South Florida being the only Florida school recognized(ranked) by the experts... Interesting!

bclintonk

Ummm . . . so Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota et al. aren't in the "north"? They sure were back in the Civil War days. When did they get kicked out? And I'll bet there are just as many transplants from THIS part of the north in said southern states as there are from the Northeast.

Or don't they teach geography down there in Dixie?