WSJ Best US Colleges 2024 - UF #15

And he didn’t start impeding learning until about 2 years ago. So …

 

From this morning’s Times


The University of Florida lost its much-coveted standing as a Top 5 public university and slipped to No. 6, but rose in stature among all universities nationally, according to the 2024 Best College rankings from U.S. News & World Report released early today.

Many of the state’s public universities followed a similar pattern in a year when Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers moved to overhaul Florida’s higher education system.


This year’s rankings followed a new methodology, which added factors including the proportion of employed graduates earning more than high school graduates. Also factored in were metrics on first-generation college students enrolled and faculty research productivity.

I have long read that the rankings can be and are manipulate. Whatever. If this causes bad publicity, DeSantis will likely emphasize the bolded language as some form of illicit “DEI” and claim Florida is being unfairly penalized for its Homogeneity, Inequity and Exclusion model of education governance

UF falls to No. 6 in U.S. News rankings as other Florida schools also dip
UF falls to No. 6 in U.S. News rankings as other Florida schools also dip - Tampa Bay Times

 

As @ajoseph stated, DeSantis didn't start screwing around with education until 2022, so...

("so" = it's only going to get worse.)

 

Like I mentioned above, they changed a few of their parameters to things that helped us - adding social mobility and outcomes as inputs. Had they not done that and used last year’s methodology it would have been worse.
Next year will be a really important year to see if we stabilized.

 

LOL. "About"? OK, glad that's settled.

 

LOL. So we are going with the "wait til next year's rankings" routine. Got it.

 

Peter Schorsch

 

What you and I always make the mistake of forgetting, THEY welcome the de-education of our children.

 

I always though this Putnam ad from 2018 was odd. Not that he was factually incorrect, college isn't for everyone, but it was the ONLY ad I saw of his running in the Tampa Bay area during his gubernatorial run. Why would anyone want to make dissing a college education the focus of their campaign?

Sadly, it makes more sense now.

 

there is a lot of hyperbole there. The only subjective point in their formula is the peer review, scaled from 1-5. I did the math last year, and even if our rating across that entire population dropped by a full point (say from a 4 to a 3), we would still be top 10 because of how strong we are everywhere else, and in some cases still rising.
I also made the point that next year will tell a larger tale, but it could turn out to be because Sasse didn’t turn out to be the right wing disaster people feared, and DeSantis didn’t throw any more garbage at us once his campaign for prez died a merciful death, if so we could rebound. On the flip side, we had a number of high profile resignations, including Glover and the law school Dean. Over time that could create other issues, but short term, we cleared 1 billion in future grants for the first time and 1.25 billion in research funding year, so it hasn’t hurt us really yet and won’t in next years metrics it seems.
We will see though.

 

I hope so. I want my degree, and my kids’ degrees, to remain elite.

 

We will see. I don't really care about rankings. As you note, it will depend on specified criteria that may or may not be matters I personally care about. And they can be gamed.

But there is no way that DeSantis' attempts to intimidate and devalue academia will not have a negative effect in ways I care about despite whether they can be measured or are reflected in ratings. You cannot try to impose a Hillsdale version of "truth" on eh system and not do harm

 

If I was a disillusioned faculty member at UF who loved it there but hated what Distain-tis was doing I would definitely gut it out until after the next election.

 

Quick question. Where was Florida ranked in education before DeSantis became Gov and where are they this year?

 

FSU dropped precipitously. We are now the only school in the top 50. What changed?

 

Lets be honest.. FSU is regularly over ranked in everything.

 

At New College of FL, where DeSantis’s policies have arguably had the greatest impact the decline has been quick. Anti-intellectualism has its cost.

New College drops double digits in U.S. News school rankings


As New College of Florida undergoes a conservative transformation, the small public liberal arts honors school saw a dramatic drop in its national ranking, according to a newly released list.

New College dropped 24 spots in U.S. News and World Report's ranking of liberal arts schools, into a tie for 100th. The drop follows a trend in the rankings for Florida public universities, with the University of Florida falling one spot to No. 6, the University of South Florida dropping three spots to No. 45, and Florida State University falling three spots to No. 23 among public universities.

 

I see you didn't talk about UCF going up 13 spots. So it's not like it's DeSantis's decisions are affecting the school rankings. Also, USF has risen 72 spots in the past 8 years, so that also is an indication of no impact of "DeSantisism" LOL.

 

No comment on UCF and USF rising? Doesn't that seem to show that DeSantis's policies aren't doing what you stated? Or does it only apply to schools that fall?