UF vs. FSU

[parent2noles]

<p>Here’s an easy example:

The purpose of this compilation of national rankings is to provide an indication of the University of Florida’s performance in comparison to our peers across the country. In most cases, we rank the University of Florida among the Association of American Universities (AAU) public institutions, our most immediate reference group.

See: [Office</a> of Institutional Planning and Research - UF National Rankings](<a href=“http://www.ir.ufl.edu/nat_rankings.htm]Office”>Office of Institutional Planning and Research - UF National Rankings)</p>

<p>Seems reasonable, right? However, consider physics, a fungible, graduate (PhD) program. For 2008, the dreaded USNWR has UF and FSU on the same page: [Rankings</a> - Physics - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physics-schools/rankings/page+2]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physics-schools/rankings/page+2) and you could very well conclude FSU and UF are very close in training physics PhDs (I doubt if many could explain the difference between the two and suspect it would be political and thus nil).</p>

<p>UF presents it’s rankings like this: <a href=“http://www.ir.ufl.edu/nat_rankings/us_news/physics_old.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ir.ufl.edu/nat_rankings/us_news/physics_old.pdf&lt;/a&gt; Clearly this is more favorable to UF and effectively eliminates a close competitor for grad students who want a PhD in physics. You’d think the MAJOR physics university about 120 miles away might make the list…but no - AND it uses the same USNWR (albeit from 2006). </p>

<p>Marketing. Pure and simple. ;)</p>