Florida Universities Tumble in 2025 Best College Rankings

Florida International University and the University of Florida were the only two Florida schools to crack the top 100.

September 9, 2024

Florida International University is the 77th-best college in the U.S., says the Wall Street Journal. Florida International University photo

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On September 4, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) released its annual rankings of the 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. Florida International University (FIU) was the highest-ranked Florida university on the list.

In collaboration with college-focused survey and research firm College Pulse and data researchers from Statista, the WSJ considered weighted components including salary outcomes (70 percent) such as salary impact and years to pay off net education cost, learning environment (20 percent), and diversity (10 percent). This year's rankings expanded to 500 schools from last year's roundup of 400.

Private and public universities in the Sunshine State did not fare well in the 2025 rankings.

The University of Florida (UF) which is already dealing with the fallout from Ben Sasse's one-year stint as university president, fell from 15 to 83. It was previously named the best public university in the nation in the 2024 rankings. Now, the publication found UF is 24th among public universities in the U.S.

Although FIU was the highest ranked out of all the Florida schools, it dropped from its previous ranking of 29 to 77. The University of Miami tumbled 141 spots to 231 from 70 while Florida State University fell from 102 to 199. The University of North Florida, which was not listed in the 2024 rankings, comes in at 170.

As far as the rest of the country, Princeton University, Babson College, and Stanford University were the top three schools on the list.

Here is where the Florida schools stand in the WSJ's 2025 rankings:

77. Florida International University
83. University of Florida
170. University of North Florida
199. Florida State University
207. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
231. University of Miami
250. University of South Florida
263. Florida Atlantic University
274. University of Central Florida
355. Rollins College
364. Nova Southeastern University
421. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
447. University of Tampa
485. Flagler College, St. Augustine
498. Florida Institute of Technology

U.S. News & World Report will release its annual "Best Colleges" rankings on September 24.

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Naomi Feinstein is a staff writer of Miami New Times where she primarily focuses on news. Naomi started her career with New Times as an intern from June–August 2019, then worked as a fellow from August 2022 to February 2023 before joining the staff full-time. She graduated from University of Miami where she contributed to the student-run newspaper, The Miami Hurricane. She holds a master’s degree and graduated with honors from the Columbia School of Journalism. In 2021, Naomi was recognized as the College Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists of Florida, and she placed second for Best General News Story in the 2021 Pinnacle Awards.

Contact: Naomi Feinstein

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