After two straight years at No. 5, the University of Florida slid one spot to No. 6 among national public universities, according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings released on Sunday.
While UF slipped one spot in the 2024 Best Colleges Rankings, the institution did move up one spot to No. 28 in overall national university rankings among public and private colleges. UF also tied for No. 12 in Best Colleges for Veterans and tied for No. 20 in Most Innovative Schools.
UF has steadily moved up in the rankings from No. 14 (2017) to No. 9 (2018) to No. 8 (2019) to No. 7 (2020) to No. 6 (2021).
The top five public schools on the 2024 list had the University of California-Berkeley and the University of California-Los Angeles tied at No. 1. The University of Michigan came in at No. 3, the University of North Carolina at No. 4and the University of Virginia at No. 5.
UF tied at No. 6 with the University of California-Davis and the University of California-San Diego.
The U.S. News & World Report evaluates nearly 1,500 four-year bachelor’s degree institutions based on several criteria that include graduation rates, peer assessment, graduate rate performance, financial resources per student and faculty salaries.
The rankings come after the Wall Street Journal named UF the No. 1 public institution and No. 15 overall in its 2024 Best Colleges in the U.S. report released on Sept. 6.
Other Florida schools ranked on the U.S. News list included:
- Florida State was No. 23 for public schools and No. 53 for national universities.
- University of Miami was at no. 67 for national universities
- University of South Florida was at No. 89 for national universities
- Florida International University was at No. 124 for national universities
- University of Central Florida was at No. 124 for national universities
- Florida A&M University was at No. 170 for national universities
- Florida Institute of Technology was at No. 269 for national universities
The rankings come after UF set a new milestone in fiscal year 2023 by conducting $1.25 billion in research spending, joining 35 public and private universities nationwide with more than $1 billion in annual research spending.