<p>With the overwhelming amount of financial support and favoritism UF has enjoyed from the State Legislature up until the recent past, it is quite honestly shameful that UF is not more highly ranked. UNC, UVA, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Univ. of Texas, Univ. of Michigan are far better schools than UF in rankings and in academic activity, and in my opinion are far more deserving of their “flagship status” than UF. Why? There is no excuse for UF not being ranked higher than it is. To criticize FSU, is missing the point. The mere fact that the FSU law school is quickly catching up to the UF law program, that a Medical School with state of the art facilities and partnerships with some outstanding organizations in Florida (e.g. the Mayo Clinic), as well as a University with National Lab in its backyard, are no small accomplishments. Believe it or not, I chose FSU over UF, Cornell, UM and UNC back in 1986. Why?.. I liked it better. I was a dual major in Political Science and German, both of which were awesome at FSU. I have an M.A. from Michigan State University and am getting my doctorate from Texas A&M University as we speak. The truth is that either school is great, but as far as who has come the furthest with much less help… it’s FSU hands down. So don’t feed me crap about how everyone views one as better than the other. Out here in the real world (I work for the U.S. Department of Defense in Okinawa, Japan) no one gives a damn. The fact is the student should choose whatever school they feel is the right fit. In my case, with an awesome academic background, FSU was the right choice… GO NOLES!.</p>