Florida’s Best Colleges for 2018: U.S. News & World Report

TAMPA, FL - The big decision for high school seniors is growing closer: where to attend college. The annual rankings for U.S. News & World Report has helped many seniors - and their anxious parents - decide on the best school. The rankings for Florida schools and other information provided in the 2018 report released recently can be an important resource.

The honor of best university in the nation went to Princeton for the seventh year in a row. Harvard University came in second and the University of Chicago, was third best national university, according to U.S. News.

In the Sunshine State, the University of Florida was tops in the state rankings at No. 42 (tie) on the national list, followed by the University of Miami, No. 46, (tie) Florida State University, No. 81 (tie), the University of South Florida, No. 140 (tie) and the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, No. 151 (tie).

In last year’s 2017 rankings, the University of Miami cracked the top 50 of national universities. The school was ranked No. 44 on the 2017 list, but dropped two spots in this year’s rankings. USF moved up 19 spots from last year’s ranking of No. 159.

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U.S. News released several other rankings, including best liberal arts colleges, best public liberal arts colleges and best public universities.

In the Liberal Arts College category, New College of Florida in Sarasota ranked No. 101 (tie) and Eckerd College in St. Petersberg ranked No. 128 (tie).

Williams College in Massachusetts was named best national liberal arts college —its 15th year in the top spot—followed in second place by another Massachusetts school, Amherst College.

In the Regional Colleges in the South category, Flagler College in St. Augustine ranked No. 2, moving up from sixth last year and achieving its highest ranking ever. High Point University in North Carolina claimed the top spot in the same category. This is the third year Flagler has ranked in the top 10 in the college guide.

In the Regional Universities in the South ranking, Rollins College in Winter Park ranked No. 2 and Stetson University in DeLand ranked No. 6. Among the top 25 in the category, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach ranked No. 12, Florida Southern College ranked No. 19 and the University of Tampa ranked No. 21.

For Best Business programs, UF ranked best in Florida and No. 24 (tie) nationally, with FSU ranking No. 45 (tie) and UM ranking No 64 nationwide.

U.S. News relies on various factors in determining the rankings, with retention, graduate rate performance and graduation rate accounting for 30 percent of the rankings.