UF Leads Public Universities In National Merit, Achievement Scholars

January 4, 2005

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida has moved to the top spot in public universities’ enrollment of both National Merit Scholars and National Achievement Scholars, as announced by the National Merit Corp.

Overall, UF ranks second nationally in National Merit Scholars and fourth nationally in National Achievement Scholars within its 2004-05 freshman class.

With 259 National Merit scholars recruited, UF is behind only Harvard University in recruiting more National Merit scholars in 2004. In 2003, UF recruited 224 National Merit Scholars and ranked fourth nationally; in 2002, UF recruited 186 National Merit scholars, placing it fifth among all universities and second among public universities. This year, there are 8,258 National Merit Scholars enrolled nationally at 375 institutions.

“UF’s remarkable educational and social opportunities attract some of the nation’s most talented undergraduates,” said Joseph Glover, interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “UF’s ranking as the nation’s top public university in enrolling National Merit and National Achievement Scholars is due to the rich academic environment created by an outstanding faculty, staff and student body.”

Merit Scholars are selected from 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 SAT-National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The top-10 ranked participating schools, followed by the number of recruited Merit scholars, are:

1. Harvard University — 3122. University of Florida — 2593. University of Texas — 2424. Yale University — 2245. Stanford University — 2176. University of Chicago — 1987. Washington University at St. Louis — 1978. Princeton University — 1929. University of Southern California — 18310. University of Oklahoma — 170

In National Achievement Scholar recruiting, UF ranked fourth this year out of 166 participating schools across the country and first among the 76 public institutions. UF recruited 40 National Achievement scholars, ranking behind Harvard, Yale and Stanford universities. Because of a change in the methodology at the National Merit Scholarship Corp., college-sponsored scholarships are no longer counted in the total number of National Achievement Scholars.

The National Achievement Scholars Program recognizes minority students who place well on the Preliminary SAT. The top-ranked participating schools, followed by the number of recruited Achievement scholars, are:

1. Harvard University — 852. Yale University — 613. Stanford University — 574. University of Florida — 405. Duke University — 356. Howard University — 297. Princeton University — 277. Washington University at St. Louis — 278. Massachusetts Institute of Technology — 229. Columbia University — 1910. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — 1810. University of Pennsylvania — 18