Interesting Article on "Most Desirable Colleges by State"

[SCKnight]

Based solely upon the number of applicants so not really the most "desirable" but it at least shows a very important trend in that UCF now has more people applying than any other University in the state including UF. The perception and popularity of UCF continues to grow in the eyes of up and coming students. The idea of UCF as a commuter school should be sufficiently dismissed at this point

http://www.businessinsider.com/desirable-college-state-map-2014-5

Florida — University of Central Florida

• Location — Orlando, Florida
• Number of Applications Received — 31,820
• Acceptance Rate — 49%
• Total Undergraduates — 51,010

 

[muckdawg24]

Dang, that's lower acceptance rate than I thought. No way I could get in these days.

 

[Ace of Knights]

The acceptance rate has been steadily declining for years. Getting in has gotten much more difficult.

 

[Poolside Knight]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...lly-pick-the-colleges-they-attend-new-report/

 

[LemmyKilmister]

Dayum!

 

[cnsaguy]

What's the prerequisite in WY, breathing?

Wyoming — University of Wyoming

• Location — Laramie, Wyoming
• Number of Applications Received — 4,181
• Acceptance Rate — 96%
• Total Undergraduates — 10,194

 

[HammerB08]

UCF is the only "directional" school listed. Pretty cool.

 

[SublimeKnight]

UCF is the only directional school listed. Pretty cool.

I thought central wasn't a direction, I'm so confused.

 

[SublimeKnight]

What's the prerequisite in WY, breathing?

Wyoming — University of Wyoming

• Location — Laramie, Wyoming
• Number of Applications Received — 4,181
• Acceptance Rate — 96%
• Total Undergraduates — 10,194

About 3% of the population is in jail or on parole/probation.

 

[HammerB08]

I thought central wasn't a direction, I'm so confused.

Directional!

 

[LemmyKilmister]

Directional!

I thought it was "regional"...

 

[HammerB08]

I thought it was "regional"...

It's freaking worldwide, brother. UCF blowing up!

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

Glad I got in before the standards changed and I became a "Ra - tard"

 

[UCFProf]

Based solely upon the number of applicants so not really the most "desirable" but it at least shows a very important trend in that UCF now has more people applying than any other University in the state including UF. The perception and popularity of UCF continues to grow in the eyes of up and coming students. The idea of UCF as a commuter school should be sufficiently dismissed at this point

UCF acceptance rate has actually risen a few points while UF's has continued to fall. UF capped undergrad admission a decade ago and FSU a few years later. We've finally been capped, too, and direct connect supplies a lot of our transfers. UCF will always lacks the strong Liberal Arts programs of UF and the huge graduate degree programs of UF and FSU. USF has a med school that is many times larger than ours, and that's why small USF gets far more money from the state than UCF. Grant funding and research are a small fraction of UF, FSU, or even USF, while UCF has for almost 2 decades had the most undergrads in the nation. UF and FSU, as residence colleges with students from wealthier families, have much higher graduation rates, but UCF's graduation rate is among the nation's highest for public metro universities. So it's apples and oranges. Scholastically, UCF is better than at least half the P-5 conference state universities schools (though obviously worse than private universities like Duke, Vandy, Notre Dame, USC, and Stanford).

 

[firm_bizzle]

Florida Technological University would be even more desirable.

 

[Knight_Light]

I thought central wasn't a direction, I'm so confused.

so true.

Any time one has ever asked for directions...it use to be "North, South, East or West"...or even a combination of the two: NW, SE, etc...but I've never been told to drive "central", which actually dictates a location, not a direction or directional.

 

[goody1986]

UCF acceptance rate has actually risen a few points while UF's has continued to fall. UF capped undergrad admission a decade ago and FSU a few years later. We've finally been capped, too, and direct connect supplies a lot of our transfers. UCF will always lacks the strong Liberal Arts programs of UF and the huge graduate degree programs of UF and FSU. USF has a med school that is many times larger than ours, and that's why small USF gets far more money from the state than UCF. Grant funding and research are a small fraction of UF, FSU, or even USF, while UCF has for almost 2 decades had the most undergrads in the nation. UF and FSU, as residence colleges with students from wealthier families, have much higher graduation rates, but UCF's graduation rate is among the nation's highest for public metro universities. So it's apples and oranges. Scholastically, UCF is better than at least half the P-5 conference state universities schools (though obviously worse than private universities like Duke, Vandy, Notre Dame, USC, and Stanford).

A few errors here -
1) UCF admissions have not been capped. UCF is still growing its undergrad enrollment. Generally though, it's been in the 45-50% admissions rate range since the doors opened.
2) UCF has not had the most undergrads in the nation for almost two decades. Not even close. Two decades ago, UCF had only 20,000+ students, putting it in the range of the 100-150 largest schools in the country. UCF currently has the 2nd largest undergraduate enrollment in the country (2nd only to ASU), but you could argue that it is now the largest depending on how you slice it. It's actually a trickier ranking to develop than one would expect.

You are correct that UCF's graduate enrollment and research funding are not as robust as UF, FSU, and USF. While it is among the 100+ most research intensive institutions in the nation, it's still very much developing and must do significantly more to be solidly among the more elite public research institutions. While UCF has a couple of nationally prominent graduate programs (optics and photonics and counselor education), the vast majority of them are pedestrian and don't stand out in research funding, perceived program quality, or top 20 rankings. A traditionally strong research institution will excel in a number of graduate areas and be recognized in the rankings for it. UCF will be there, but it just isn't yet. Overall, UCF has a US News rank of 168 for National Universities, a nice and steady improvement over previous years. To be taken really seriously, it will need to enter the top 100.

 

[UCFProf]

I thought central wasn't a direction, I'm so confused.

Need to change our name to Disney-Potter State U.

 

[SublimeKnight]

Need to change our name to Disney-Potter State U.

Star Wars A&M

 

[firm_bizzle]

Star Wars A&M

U-Seaworld-F

 

[UCFProf]

A few errors here -
1) UCF admissions have not been capped. UCF is still growing its undergrad enrollment. Generally though, it's been in the 45-50% admissions rate range since the doors opened.
...While UCF has a couple of nationally prominent graduate programs (optics and photonics and counselor education), the vast majority of them are pedestrian and don't stand out in research funding, perceived program quality, or top 20 rankings. A traditionally strong research institution will excel in a number of graduate areas and be recognized in the rankings for it. UCF will be there, but it just isn't yet. Overall, UCF has a US News rank of 168 for National Universities, a nice and steady improvement over previous years. To be taken really seriously, it will need to enter the top 100.

No errors--I just wasn't clear. I meant freshman admissions were capped, just like most other state universities in Florida. Budget cuts during the recession have only partly been restored and not nearly made up for by repeated tuition hikes and student "fees." Grow in attendance is now solely due to AA transfers, mostly via Direct Connect. Also, grad enrollment is among the tiniest portions of any major university (and much smaller than FSU's and UF's). Why is UCF still ranked relatively low? We have the worst student-faculty ratio in the nation and very low alumni donations. But the rankings discriminate heavily against state and especially non-residential universities. That's why USNews doesn't have any public universities ranked in the top 30 and only "flagship" state universities (all residential rather than commuter schools) in the top 120. That said, UCF was ranked in the very bottom tier by USNews until only the last few years. Our acceptance rate and SATs only improved dramatically in the past 15 years. Before that, we were down there with SEC-type bottom-dwelling academic schools. Today, our freshman quality is higher than Michigan State, Purdue, and some of the other Big Ten schools. Go Knights!

 

[Knight_Light]

[QUOTE="goody1986, post: 695244, member: 4782"

Two decades ago, UCF had only 20,000+ students, putting it in the range of the 100-150 largest schools in the country. UCF currently has the 2nd largest undergraduate enrollment in the country (2nd only to ASU), but you could argue that it is now the largest depending on how you slice it. It's actually a trickier ranking to develop than one would expect.

You are correct that UCF's graduate enrollment and research funding are not as robust as UF, FSU, and USF. While it is among the 100+ most research intensive institutions in the nation, it's still very much developing and must do significantly more to be solidly among the more elite public research institutions. While UCF has a couple of nationally prominent graduate programs (optics and photonics and counselor education), the vast majority of them are pedestrian and don't stand out in research funding, perceived program quality, or top 20 rankings. A traditionally strong research institution will excel in a number of graduate areas and be recognized in the rankings for it. UCF will be there, but it just isn't yet. Overall, UCF has a US News rank of 168 for National Universities, a nice and steady improvement over previous years. To be taken really seriously, it will need to enter the top 100.[/QUOTE]

Even 17 years ago or so (1998-1999)...UCF had 30,009 students (huge majority of them were undergrad)...which still put it up there with some of the largest Universities in the country back then. (No clue how one could have thought 100-150 Universities were larger than UCF at that time).

What's great about UCF's phenomenal growth in not only numbers but quality, UCF continues to be ranked in the Top 10 (many times Top 5) for Top Up-and-Coming Universities...which even counts those Univ that were founded in the late 1800's as "young" Universities eligible for this recognition. (UCF was obviously founded in 1963 and the doors to the Univ officially opened in 1968).