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Florida State University

FSU College Highlights and Selected National Rankings

Rankings offer one perspective—often limited—on the quality of programs within the university. There is no single agreed-upon method of ranking either colleges and universities or their programs. Assessing quality is notoriously difficult and subject to all manner of pitfalls. More detail on the various groups and methods of ranking colleges, universities and rankings is available at www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankbib.htm.

Overall, Florida State University has been ranked #53 of the top 6000 universities worldwide in the 2009 Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, which measures scientific communication of scholarly language. The measurement is based on formal and informal academic activity of professors and researchers as reflected by their Web presence. For more information, see www.webometrics.info. Another ranking of world universities is available through the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Higher Education.

Students should review rankings with care and should evaluate a college, university or program against their own needs to determine where they will fit best. In any case, students should remember that quality is not a simple proposition. "All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare." (Spinoza, Ethics, Pt. V, Prop. 42)

Arts & Sciences
  • Best New American Voices has chosen pieces from the FSU Creative Writing program more often than any other program.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Chemistry
General Chemistry
28
   
 
Analytical Chemistry
13
   
Clinical Psychology
 
32
   
English
Creative Writing
   
Top 10 among graduate programs, top 5 among Ph.D. programs
The Atlantic
Philosophy
Philosophy of Action
   
1
Philosophical Gourmet, Nov. 2006
 
Normative Ethics and Moral Psychology
   
13
Philosophical Gourmet, Nov. 2006
 
Philosophy of Biology
   
17
Philosophical Gourmet, Nov. 2006
 
Metaethics
   
17
Philosophical Gourmet, Nov. 2006
 
Philosophy of Science
     
Physics
General Physics
26
   
 
Nuclear Physics
8
   
         
Business
  • CPA Passage Rate is among the best in the country and 5th in the Financial Accounting and Reporting section.
  • Graduates of the College of Business are leaders at some of the nation's major companies, including Welch's, Sunkist, Bank of America, and Deloitte
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Undergraduate Program
   
35
30
BusinessWeek, 2008
Undergraduate Accounting
     
24
Public Accounting Report
Real Estate
 
8
9
 
Insurance/Risk Management
 
4
6
 
Hospitality
     
Top 5 in nation
Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 2006
Communication and Information
  • The College of Communication and Information houses Seminole Productions, one of the leading sports production companies in the nation. Full-time staff and the students they instruct have won more than 40 national and international awards over the last five years for their cutting-edge video work.
  • The College launched the first national program designed to assign schools highly skilled media specialists who assist in obtaining national board certification.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Communication Disorders
Speech-Language Pathology
18
   
Information
 
14
   
School Library Media
 
3
   
Children and Youth Services
 
3
   
Digital Librarianship
 
11
   
         
Criminology and Criminal Justice
  • The College's PhD program is the oldest of its kind in the nation and the College ranks 2nd in publications in leading journals.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Criminology
 
7
   
   
Education
  • The College of Education is ranked among the top 20 in the nation for the number of doctoral degrees awarded.
  • The College of Education partners with two charter lab schools to conduct research and test best teaching practices.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Higher Education
   
18
Top 10 in nation
Peer ranking from Southern Illinois University research
Education
 
41
   
Secondary Teacher Education
 
21
   
         
Engineering
  • The College of Engineering is the most diverse school in the nation, with a faculty comprising 90 scholars from 22 countries.
  • The College ranks third in the nation in BS degrees to African-Americans and ninth in the nation to PhDs to African-Americans.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Mechanical Engineering
     
Top 10%
National Research Council
BS Degrees to African Americans
     
3rd in nation
PhD Degrees to African Americans
     
9th in nation
 
Human Sciences
  • The Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences has the largest enrollment of pre-medical education students at FSU.
  • The College ranks fourth in the nation in degrees awarded, seventh in total enrollment and fifth in number of doctoral students.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Human Sciences
     
Top 10 in nation
2004 Food and Agricultural Education Information System
 
Law
  • FSU graduates have placed first in the state in five of the last eight administrations of the Florida Bar Exam.
  • The College of Law places 98% of its students within 9 months of graduation.
  • College of Law faculty regularly ranks in the top 30 most downloaded on the Social Science Research Network, with tax faculty in the top 15.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other
Groups and Organizations
     
52
 
 
Environmental Law
 
11
 
Law School for Hispanics
     
3rd in nation
Hispanic Business Magazine
 
Medicine
  • The College was the first new allopathic medical school created in the United States in a quarter century.
  • The Association of American Medical Colleges has recognized the College of Medicine as a leading innovator among American medical schools.
  • The College of Medicine is one of the leading producers of family medicine residents in the country and is recognized by Hispanic Business magazine as one of the nation's "Top 10 Medical Schools for Hispanics.''
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other
Groups and Organizations
       
1
Percentage of graduates entering family medicine residency positions (2006)
American Academy of Family Physicians
       
2
Percentage of graduates entering family medicine residency positions (three-year average through 2007)
American Academy of Family Physicians
         
Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts
  • FSU Film School faculty have received two Academy Awards, one British Academy Award and 12 Academy Awards nominations for their creative work in the motion picture industry.
  • In 2004, the prestigious Directors Guild of America recognized the FSU Film School ahead of all other U.S. film programs for "its distinguished contribution to American culture through the world of film and television."
  • FSU Film students won more Student Oscars (2) and College Television Awards (5) in one year than any other film school.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
   
3
 
3
Gourman Report of Graduate and Professional Programs in American and International Universities—1997
 
Music
  • The College is home to the nation's leading music educator and most published scholar.
  • The College is home to two Grammy Award winners, a former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, a Pulitzer Prize winning composer, a former leading tenor with the Metropolitan Opera, and the world's preeminent scholar in medical music therapy.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
   
5
12
 
Opera
 
3
5
 
 
Nursing
  • Nursing graduates had a 97.8% passage rate on the state certification examination.
  • One hundred percent of the College of Nursing's Advanced Nurse Practitioner master's degree graduates earn national specialty certification.
  • The College is among the nation's most male-friendly nursing schools.
         
Social Sciences
  • The interdisciplinary faculty in the College's Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy is led by David Macpherson, one of the most highly cited economists in the world.
  • Federal R&D funding for Sociology is among the nation's highest.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Demography
Population Studies
 
14
 
Political Science
 
9
17
22nd among all U.S. universities, 8th among public universities, based on success of its PhD candidates on the job market
PS, journal of the American Political Science Association
Public Affairs
Public Management Administration
 
15
 
 
City Management and Urban Policy
19
   
 
Public Finance and Budgeting
17
   
 
Sex and Gender
8 among graduate programs; 10 among Ph.D. programs
   
 
Sociology of Population
14
   
Urban Planning
     
13 overall
8 among public universities
Planetizen, 2007 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs
       
Social Work
  • The FSU College of Social Work undergraduate program is the largest in the nation.
  • The College of Social Work is a leader in education with the first accredited on-line MSW in the United States, the first accredited MSW in Florida, and the first doctoral program in social work in Florida.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
   
25
 
24 in nation
Princeton Review's Gourman Report
 
Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance
  • The Department of Dance is home to legendary ballerina and FSU Professor of Dance, Suzanne Farrell.
  • The New York Times recognized the College's Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training as one of the best acting conservatory programs in the country in 2003.
  • Nearly 100% of graduates of the College's Department of Interior Design are placed in architectural and design firms upon graduation.
Area Specialty Graduate Program: Rank among Publics, US News & World Report Ranking, US News & World Report Rankings by Other Groups and Organizations
Art Education
     
3
Graduate Programs
Studies in Art Education
Dance
     
Top 2 university programs in nation
Dance Magazine
Fine Arts
 
28
   
Theatre
 
Top 10 in nation
   

 

 

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