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UF News University of Florida

UF Among Top Universities In National Merit And Achievement Scholars

January 20, 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida is one of the top universities in recruiting National Merit and National Achievement scholars to begin as freshmen in 2003, according to recently released rankings from the National Merit Scholarship Corp.

UF is again ranked first for National Achievement scholars among public universities and moved up to fourth overall for National Merit scholars among all universities.

With 224 National Merit scholars recruited, UF ranked fourth out of 380 participating schools nationwide and second in public universities, with only Harvard University, the University of Texas and Yale University recruiting more National Merit scholars in 2003. By comparison, UF recruited 186 National Merit scholars in 2002, placing it fifth among all universities and second among public universities.

“The University of Florida continues to attract some of the finest undergraduates in the nation. Our success in recruiting National Merit and National Achievement scholars is a reflection on the quality of the university, our faculty and our student body,” said Provost and Senior Vice President David Colburn. Merit Scholars are selected from among more than 15,000 semifinalists nationally by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. The students scored in the top one-half percent of high school seniors in their states on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test-National Merit Scholar Qualifying Test. The top 10 ranked participating schools, followed by the number of recruited Merit scholars, are:

  1. Harvard University-378
  2. University of Texas-258
  3. Yale University-228
  4. University of Florida-224
  5. Stanford University-217
  6. University of Chicago-182
  7. Arizona State University-176
  8. Rice University-173
  9. University of Oklahoma-170
  10. Princeton University-165

In National Achievement scholar recruiting, UF ranked second this year out of 143 participating schools across the country and first among 63 public schools. UF recruited 60 National Achievement scholars to place it second among all universities nationally, behind Howard University. In 2002, UF ranked third overall and first in public universities with 51 National Achievement scholars.

The National Achievement Scholars program recognizes minority students who place well on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and fulfill competitive academic requirements. About 1,500 of the highest-scoring program entrants are selected as semifinalists. Their scores placed them in the top 2 percent of the National Achievement Program participants, and they scored in the 87th percentile or above of college-bound juniors. The top-ranked participating schools, followed by the number of recruited Achievement scholars, are:

  1. Howard University-71
  2. University of Florida-60
  3. Harvard University-47
  4. Stanford University-46
  5. Washington University at St. Louis-27
  6. Yale University-26
  7. Florida A & M University-25
  8. Princeton University-25
  9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology-23
  10. Georgia Institute of Technology-20
  11. Duke University-20
  12. University of Pennsylvania-20
  13. New York University-19

“UF is extremely proud of the National Merit and National Achievement scholars who have chosen to come to this university. Their large number recognizes UF’s extraordinary educational quality and value,” said Sheila Dickison, director of UF’s honors program. “We had extremely stiff competition, so we feel really good about the outcome.”