Florida is a rigged scholarship game!

Can you explain what the 6k allotment means?

That applies to every school in the country if they have the $$

Florida is a very good if not great public school that has steadily gone up in the rankings (ACT 29-33). My own experience at my top 5 public school is that the school bent over backwards to accommodate athletes, sometimes creating whole departments to facilitate academic progress (leading to a loss of accreditation for a few years). It was depressing to watch. I wonder how these kids compete academically? I guess the sports management department exists for a reason.

What's the comment about the sports management dept? I'm a sports management major graduate and make over $300k/year. Not sure what you're getting at.. plus, Florida is a tremendous academic school. Every kid in Florida wants to go there.

Good for you. I am glad you make $300k. If you look at a list of entrance ACTs and major, sports management is at the bottom of the list (along with, sadly, elementary ed). Entrance ACTS have nothing to do with making money, but they do a good job characterizing the academic prestige of the department. I didn't have the hardest major (math), but as a former academic (Ph.D. Econ) we viewed sports management departments as an academic joke. For Florida to continue to advance in the rankings, they need to deemphasize majors such as this. Most elite schools don't even have undergraduate business majors!

I'm not sure you understand the process. You don't declare a major until you are actually accepted into the college. The college I attended according to Niche is 31-34, so what does it matter if they offer Sports Management or not? I could have as easily selected Econ.

Florida is one of the best public universities. Everyone talks about Michigan, the UC schools, Virginia, UNC, etc., but Florida is right behind them in just about any ranking.

Oh he understands the process. You do understand the most rigorous schools don't have sports management majors, correct? So the choice that you posit never has to be made. That is the point. Top schools don't offer this kind of thing. Nothing is wrong with sports management if that is your calling - but the successful people I have known - e.g., Paul Tagliabue was my professor long ago - come from other disciplines. Just another perspective. The score gap at UF between athletes and students is among the highest in the nation. This can't be spun as positive.

I agree with your quality statement concerning UF. It is the quality that makes UF a real anomaly. At lesser schools, athletes may actually help the school (there are several winners today from schools with less than 20% graduation rates). At a place like UF, they stick out like a sore thumb. I lived it. I went to UNC and we lost our accreditation playing this game.
Kudos to a great coach and great athletes. The coach has to know that Florida academics may stand in his way in the future.

I got laughed at a few weeks ago talking about how good of a school UF is academically (#5 public school by US News). It’s really difficult to get into for Florida residents because it is relatively cheap for in state tuition.

I graduated 20 years ago, and it was much easier in my day.

Glad to see the Gators on top in Track and Field.

Don't believe the rankings for any public Florida college or university because the admins fix the numbers in their favor, and are incentivized to do so. For instance, they might just create a junk 1 month summer class to get early graduation to raise the proportion of graduates within four or five years. They have people devoted to this issue. They also pressure profs to pass kids. There are all sorts of ways that they essentially lower standards. Call it the academic side of the Title IX gaming of the system that we were discussing a few days ago where many women athletes are counted for three sports.

I actually agree that administrators play games to improve their rankings, but UF is in any case highly competitive. In 2020-21, UF received nearly 53,000 applications for 6,300 seats in the Class of 2025. In 2021-2022 they received 61,112 applications for the same number of seats. I happen to live in Florida and know a number of really smart kids who didn't get into the school. Doesn't matter the major, a UF degree means something.

UF has been working quite hard to rise up the US News list. https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-rules-of-the-game (unfortunately gated). They’re far from alone. Columbia is doing the same type of crap. https://www.math.columbia.edu/~thaddeus/ranking/investigation.html

UF is virtually the same university it was 20 years ago (a good one, that’s essentially indistinguishable from other flagship universities), it just serves fewer Floridians now (but with the benefit of the people who do attend getting to be insufferable about being a “Top 5” public school).

When the measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

At #28 on US News and World Reports college rankings, I’d say it’s better than “good if not great.”

Its a very good public university and the state has done a great job of making it affordable and if you have good grades and scores, it becomes even less expensive. There needs to be more of this across the country.

I don't know what other states do, but, for a Florida resident, getting into Florida universities is relatively easy--Get your AA at any community college. Around the middle of your first year talk to a counselor and figure out what the prereqs are for whatever college within the university you want to get into, take those classes, and get those grades. You will be automatically accepted into the Florida university system and the college once you complete your AA. Oh yeah, be sure to start the application process somewhat early in your last semester otherwise you'll have to sit out a semester before starting at the university.

Talking about an arrogant twit! Who cares about your Ph.D. in Econ? Economists are a dime a dozen often getting low-level government and industry jobs with business majors managing them. And what's wrong with business majors? I guess according to your logic, Wharton--frequently considered the best business school in the country--is not elite. Or were you just referring to public schools? Let's cross Michigan, UVA, and UNC off the elite public school list as well. Florida's UG business majors are some of the most sought-after graduates in the country regularly receiving six-figure offers from top investment banks and wealth management companies. Should majors like finance be deemphasized as well and only "pure" majors like Econ and math be offered? Keep your elite program but UF will continue to address the needs of the brightest kids in Florida.