Florida State University remained unchanged from last year in U.S. News & World Report’s latest “2024-2025 Best Colleges” rankings.
While FSU remains ranked 23rd in the annual national report, it is tied with the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and the College of William & Mary. This creates a sense of déjà vu, as all three universities had the same ranking in the top 25 last year.
“We have improved dramatically as a university, but the data used in some of these rankings lags behind what is actually going on at the university,” FSU President Richard McCullough said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat.
Last year, the university dropped four places from 19th place in 2022 to 23rd place – a drop that knocked it out of the top 20 while it was trying to become one of the top 15 public universities in the country.
The decline — although FSU improved in all of the report’s measured categories — was the result of changes in the media company’s methodology. A restructuring decision resulted in 22 metrics being changed to remove factors such as class size, alumni giving rates, percentage of faculty members with degrees and high school graduation rates of students. These are all components in which FSU previously performed well.
FSU Ranking 2023: FSU drops to 23rd in US News rankings; president says it’s ‘odd.’ Here’s why.
The Wall Street Journal and Niche also have their own rankings with very different results. A day before the US News rankings were released, FSU boasted that it was ranked 10th on Niche’s list of the best public universities in the country, moving up one spot from last year while also achieving FSU’s highest ranking in that category.
McCullough compared U.S. News & World Report with Niche and other publications that rate FSU in their reports, saying, “The rankings are interesting.”
“I think we’ll stay where we are, but as we continue to improve, I expect us to move up in the next few years,” McCullough said, referring to the U.S. News rankings. “You never know, maybe they’ll change the metrics again. It’s a crazy thing.”
Topping the list of the nation’s public universities is the University of California, Los Angeles, in first place, followed by the University of California, Berkeley, after the two institutions shared first place last year. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, again took third place.
The University of Florida – ranked No. 6 last year – dropped one spot to No. 7 on this year’s list, tying with the University of Texas, Austin.
Florida universities that have made significant gains in the rankings include Florida International University, which rose 18 places from 64th place last year to 46th place, Florida A&M University, which rose 10 places to 81st place, and Florida Atlantic University, which rose nine places to 103rd place, slowly approaching the top 100.
More FSU rankings in the US News report
Although FSU retained its place in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of best public universities, it improved in several other categories of the report.
In the publication’s “First-Year Experience” category – which is related to retention – FSU ranked No. 7 among public institutions and No. 1 in the state of Florida, as it currently has a 96% retention rate of freshmen and a record 76% four-year graduation rate.
The university also climbed two spots to No. 35 among public universities in the “Social Mobility” category of the U.S. News rankings, which assess how well schools graduate economically disadvantaged students. FSU’s most recent class of Pell Grant recipients achieved an 83% graduation rate after six years, while the university boasts an 86% graduation rate for the entire student body.
“Florida State University faculty and staff are committed to the success of our students,” said Jim Clark, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, in a prepared statement. “Students achieve excellence throughout their careers at FSU because our teams support them in their hard work as they work their way toward a four-year degree and a successful career.”
One of the university’s key highlights in the report’s additional ranking categories is that the College of Nursing’s undergraduate program rose 39 spots from No. 72 to No. 33 among public universities as the number of undergraduate students enrolled in the nursing school quadrupled over the past two years, according to the university.
“Our College of Nursing is amazing,” McCullough said. “It’s going really well. Our dean (Jing Wang) is incredible and does an incredible job.”
“For the students who come here, we do everything we can to make sure they are successful and continue to work hard.”
This is how Florida’s universities fared in the rankings
Here are the Florida State University System’s rankings in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-2025 Best Colleges public university rankings:
- 7. University of Florida
- 23. Florida State University
- 45. University of South Florida
- 46. Florida International University
- 61. University of Central Florida
- 81. Florida A&M University
- 103. Florida Atlantic University
- 126. University of North Florida
- 161. Florida Gulf Coast University
- (Not rated) Florida Polytechnic University
Contact Tarah Jean at [email protected] or follow her on X: @tarahjean_.
