Here is the latest ranking just released by Forbes.

One thing worth noting: Forbes' ranking is not simply an academic-prestige ranking. Its methodology places considerable weight on career outcomes, earnings, debt and ROI, which makes it particularly useful if you're evaluating colleges from a career/financial-return perspective.

double B...Florida is ranked higher than Texas as a function of ROI. For example, Florida's tuition for in state and out of state students is lower than UT's. And oragator, you were correct, the ranking I posted yesterday was last years 2025-2026. This one was just released yesterday.


UT #13 and A&M #24

Forbes Top 25 Public Colleges 2026-2027
Rank
Public University
State
202526 Rank
Change1
UC Berkeley
CA
1

2
UCLA
CA
2

3
University of MichiganAnn Arbor
MI
4
1
4
UC San Diego
CA
3
1
5
Georgia Tech
GA
7
2
6
University of Virginia
VA
9
3
7
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
IL
11
4
8
University of WashingtonSeattle
WA
15
7
9
University of Florida
FL
5
4
10
UC Davis
CA
13
3
11
UC Irvine
CA
6
5
12
UC Santa Barbara
CA
12

13
University of TexasAustin
TX
14
1
14
University of MarylandCollege Park
MD
10
4
15
UNCChapel Hill
NC
8
7
16
WisconsinMadison
WI
16

17
Purdue University
IN
21
4
18
William & Mary
VA
19
1
19
Binghamton University (SUNY)
NY
24
5
20
Stony Brook University (SUNY)
NY

New
21
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
CA
17
4
22
University of MinnesotaTwin Cities
MN

New
23
NC State
NC
23

24
Texas A&M University
TX
20
4
25
Florida State University
FL

New

Surprised to see Florida ahead of UT. UT draws a much wider range of applications and is more difficult/selective with their admissions than Florida. Honestly, I would swap them.

Those this years rankings or last?
Thought I read both UF and UT fell this year.

They may have tweaked the formula a bit, salaries seem to have a higher impact. Higher cost areas and engineering schools seem to hw e benefitted.

https://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/

double b said:

---

Surprised to see Florida ahead of UT. UT draws a much wider range of applications and is more difficult/selective with their admissions than Florida. Honestly, I would swap them.

---

I don't know that is really the case any more. The numbers would show that U.F.'s test scores have outpaced U.T.'s. I would imagine that is because, unlike U.T., U.F. isn't mandated to automatically accept top performing students from not-so-top performing schools.
I doubt there are many large public schools, if any, with mid-50 SAT and ACT scores of 1420-1520 and 32-35.
From Oragator's post on another thread:

These numbers are bonkers for the UF Class of 2030. pic.twitter.com/KvMlJ02HI3

— Dan Thompson (@DKThompson) June 12, 2026

A&M grad tapped to lead UF

Google AI comparison

I certainly understand that, but if I ask families who are considering schools outside of T20s, the vast majority of them submit applications to UT over UF. UT also has a lot more desirable honors program that carry an elite status nationally.

They just carry a stronger perception nationally despite those rankings and that won't change the minds of those families.

double b said:

---

I certainly understand that, but if I ask families who are considering schools outside of T20s, the vast majority of them submit applications to UT over UF. UT also has a lot more desirable honors program that carry an elite status nationally.

They just carry a stronger perception nationally despite those rankings and that won't change the minds of those families.

---

I think both are on a definite upwards trajectory. The demographics of both states alone dictate that. UF doesn't have to compete with A&M (mostly for engineering) and Rice for top students, or SMU for business students like Texas does. I live out of state, so I am not necessarily privy to sentiments of parents in Texas.

One thing I agree with you 100% on is that the Honors Program at U.F. leaves much to be desired. My son is in it at U.F., and other than really nice new Honors dorms, I would struggle to tell you any way in which he is benefiting from being in it.

He Who Shall Be Unnamed said:

---

double b said:

---

I certainly understand that, but if I ask families who are considering schools outside of T20s, the vast majority of them submit applications to UT over UF. UT also has a lot more desirable honors program that carry an elite status nationally.

They just carry a stronger perception nationally despite those rankings and that won't change the minds of those families.

---

I think both are on a definite upwards trajectory. The demographics of both states alone dictate that. UF doesn't have to compete with A&M (mostly for engineering) and Rice for top students, or SMU for business students like Texas does. I live out of state, so I am not necessarily privy to sentiments of parents in Texas.

One thing I agree with you 100% on is that the Honors Program at U.F. leaves much to be desired. My son is in it at U.F., and other than really nice new Honors dorms, I would struggle to tell you any way in which he is benefiting from being in it.

---

Beyond UT's Honors programs, the 40 Acres Scholars program is considered Ivy-level. I currently have a student in that program, and for the past two summers, he's interviewed side by side with other Ivy League-plus students for exclusive internships that no other schools even offered to attend.

After his freshman year in college, he interned in Miami with a crypto-based firm. This past summer, after his sophomore year, he interned for a crypto-based firm in Switzerland, making the equivalent of six figures as a 20-year-old.

Rankings aside, UF doesn't offer opportunities like that. Plus, UT has a laundry list of world-class honors programs such as:

• Plan II
• Dean's Scholars
• Polymathic Scholars
• Turing Scholars
• Canfield Business Honors
• Texas Honors Computer Science and Business (Texas CSB)

UF's Honors program is more like Texas A&M's Honors program, emphasizing and encouraging a more interdisciplinary approach, unlike UT's, where they appeal to niche fields.

Hearing outside opinions is always interesting to me. Not here to shill for UF or say it's better than any other school. UT has its advantages for sure. And I don't know much about the honors college these days or how it compares.
Will only say that UF's strength, and why it does well in the rankings, is that it does the basics of a university really well. Attract good students, retain them at a high rate (very low dropout rate), high graduation rate, low tuition so student debt is low, and get them good jobs. It's never been a bells and whistles school.
I would also say that there's a reason rankings differ greatly across services. It's largely about what's important to the student, lots of good schools out there, it's about finding the one that's best for them.

Those are great offerings!
My son was lucky enough to get into the MSF Program at UF, which is run by Aggie graduate Kelly Herring. She has done a great job of curating top performing Finance kids and putting them into an accelerated position in the program. She doesn't baby them, but she makes sure they get put into great positions.
As a Junior, my son is already taking Masters level classes and he and his classmates will graduate in 4 years with a B.S. and a Masters in Finance. If you look at the site, the program offers 100% placement of the kids into internships. You can click on the link of the places where the kids are going (including my son's) and see it's pretty dang solid. If you have another kid somewhere along the line who is pretty sure this is the path they want to pursue, it's worth a mention. I will be beyond thrilled if my son gets a return offer after completing this summer's internship, but I also know the program will get him placed if it isn't a match.

Masters in Finance - UF Warrington

All the best

Thanks for that info. I have a HS daughter who is thinking about Finance and UF is looking more attractive as time goes on.

What would you say are the things the UF finance program is looking for, beyond the obvious grades, course rigor and SAT/ACT? Are there certain AP classes or extracurriculars they want?

That would be really hard for me to say, to tell you the truth.

My son entered as a Political Science major with a minor in Finance. His high school activities were VERY Poli Sci oriented. His high school had a Finance program he was in, though, and I believe he won some awards in that program.

Some time around Christmas of his freshman year, he decided to drop Poli Sci and focus on Finance, much to my delight. That put him "behind the 8-ball" for getting into the MSF program, as he had to double up on some of the weed-outs that all Finance majors have to go through, and the MSF kids really need to have those nailed. It hasn't been easy, but now the support of the program is behind him while the expectations are ahead. Finance is NOT an easy major at UF.

USNews rankings are out for this year.
They added an income after graduation component, which makes sense. But don't think they factored in cost of living, so the Cali schools benefitted. Don't know where you all were last year, but UF fell one spot among publics (passed by a Cali school), Texas fell with us.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/top-public?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc