Florida State University

Location and Contact Information

The campus is in a medium-sized city.

Overview

Florida State University, or FSU, is a comprehensive, national graduate research university located in Tallahassee. It is one of the two flagship universities in the State University System of Florida.

FSU was officially established in 1851. The main campus, in Tallahassee, covers 489 acres.

In addition, there is a satellite campus in Panama City, Florida. FSU offers year-round study centers in Panama City, Panama; London; Florence, Italy; and Valencia, Spain Additional offerings include 40 diverse programs in 20 locations in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The university was ranked 15th in Kiplinger's "Best Value Public Colleges" February 2008 edition. FSU is home to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, funded by the National Science foundation.

The university is organized into the following academic divisions:

• College of Arts & Sciences
• College of Business
• College of Communication
• College of Criminology and Criminal Justice
• College of Education
• College of Engineering
• College of Human Sciences
• College of Information
• College of Law
• College of Medicine
• College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts
• College of Music
• College of Nursing
• College of Social Sciences
• College of Social Work
• College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance

FSU's athletic teams are nicknamed the Seminoles. They compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Among the notable alumni of Florida State University are Ruth Eckerd, matriarch of Eckerd Drugs and philanthropist; Mark S. Wrighton, Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis; Suzy Covey, pioneer in XML coding; Deborah Mash, professor of neurology, director of Brain Endowment Bank at University of Miami; Stephanie Abrams, meteorologist, The Weather Channel; Reubin Askew, former Governor of Florida; Michael Berenbaum, director of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; and Jay Garner, U.S. Army General (Ret.), former director of Office of Reconstruction in Iraq.

Highlights (vs. Other Schools)

• Many students concentrating in drama and performing arts, music, nutrition and exercise therapy, fine arts, religion and philosophy, liberal arts, and construction trades.
• Large number of programs of study offered.
• Large number of students.
• Affordable tuition & fees.
• High faculty salary.
• High SAT scores (combined Verbal and Math).

School characteristics:

• The school is public.
• Academic calender: Semester.
• Carnegie classification: Doctoral/Research Universities, Extensive.

Features of note:

• The school offers a faculty tenure system.
• There are one or more libraries on-campus.
• Campus housing is available.
• Students may study abroad.
• Distance learning is available.
• Part-time classes are available.
• ROTC.
• Athlete financial aid is awarded.

Similar Schools

Based on proprietary BrainTrack computer comparisons against all other US colleges, these schools appear to be most similar to Florida State:

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Degrees Awarded (in 2009-2010)

Faculty

Tenure (2009-2010):

Students

Student enrollment was 38,682 in 2009-2010 (27,247 full-time equivalent).

About 41% of the freshmen class in 2009-2010 was male and women were 59% of the class.

Undergrads are 75% of enrolled students, graduate students are 22%, and those seeking first-professional graduate degrees represent 3%.

Students under 25 years old represent 79% of the student body. About 4% of the school is at least 40 years of age.

Among freshmen students, 100% are full-time and 0% are part-time.

Admissions Summary (2009-2010)

SAT Test Scores:

Room and Board

Florida State provides on-campus housing for 7,100 of its 27,247 (full-time) students (as of 2009-2010).

Athletics

School sports include football, basketball, baseball, and track. The school is in the Atlantic Coast Conference for major sports.

The school offers financial aid for athletes. Of students receiving athletic financial aid, 208 male students received the aid (men were 60% of those receiving aid) and 138 women were awarded financial aid based on athletics (representing 40% of students receiving such aid) .

Graduate School Focus

Florida State offers graduate (post-Bachelor) studies. The highest degree offered is the Doctorate (Research/Scholarship & Professional Practice).

Graduate offerings include continuing professional education and medical degrees.The school's Graduate School Carnegie Classification is Comprehensive Doctoral With Medical/Veterinary.

Programs of Study

(Number of degrees in 2009-2010 in parentheses)

ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING (39 awarded)

• City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning

ART STUDIES (19 awarded)

• Arts Management

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (1,558 awarded)

• Accounting
• Actuarial Science
• Business Administration and Management
• Business/Commerce
• Finance
• Insurance
• International Business/Trade/Commerce
• Management Information Systems
• Marketing/Marketing Management

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (195 awarded)

• Computer Engineering
• Computer and Information Sciences
• Information Technology

CONSTRUCTION TRADES (257 awarded)

• Apparel and Textiles

DESIGN (59 awarded)

• Graphic Design
• Interior Design

DRAMA AND PERFORMING ARTS (152 awarded)

• Dance
• Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts

EDUCATION AND TEACHING (1,028 awarded)

• Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching
• Art Teacher Education
• Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services
• Early Childhood Education and Teaching
• Education/Teaching Individuals - Specific Learning Disabilities
• Education/Teaching Individuals - Vision Impairments/ Blindness
• Education/Teaching of Individuals with Mental Retardation
• Educational Evaluation and Research
• Educational Leadership and Administration
• Educational Statistics and Research Methods
• Educational/Instructional Media Design
• Elementary Education and Teaching
• English/Language Arts Teacher Education
• Family and Consumer Sciences/Home Economics Teacher Education
• Foreign Language Teacher Education
• Health Teacher Education
• Higher Education/Higher Education Administration
• Mathematics Teacher Education
• Music Teacher Education
• Physical Education Teaching and Coaching
• Reading Teacher Education
• Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education
• Social Science Teacher Education
• Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
• Special Education and Teaching
• Teacher Education/Profess Development, Subject Areas

ENGINEERING (309 awarded)

• Biomedical/Medical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

FAMILY AND SOCIAL WORK (559 awarded)

• Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences
• Human Development and Family Studies
• Public Administration
• Social Work

FINE ARTS (215 awarded)

• Art History, Criticism and Conservation
• Fine/Studio Arts

HOSPITALITY (100 awarded)

• Hospitality Administration/Management

LAW (264 awarded)

• Law (LLB, JD)
• Programs for Foreign Lawyers (LLM, MCL)

LIBERAL ARTS (2,729 awarded)

• African-American/Black Studies
• American/United States Studies/Civilization
• Anthropology
• Asian Studies/Civilization
• Cartography
• Central/Middle and Eastern European Studies
• Classics/Classical Languages, Lit & Linguistics
• Creative Writing
• Demography and Population Studies
• East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Economics
• English Language and Literature
• French Language and Literature
• Geography
• German Language and Literature
• History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
• History
• Humanities/Humanistic Studies
• International Relations and Affairs
• Italian Language and Literature
• Italian Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
• Library Science/Librarianship
• Near and Middle Eastern Studies
• Political Science and Government
• Russian Language and Literature
• Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Social Sciences
• Sociology
• Spanish Language and Literature

MATHEMATICS (87 awarded)

• Mathematics and Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Statistics

MEDIA (388 awarded)

• Communication and Media Studies

MEDICAL SUPPORT AND TECHNOLOGY (98 awarded)

• Audiology/Audiologist and Speech-Language Pathology/Pathologist

MEDICINE (98 awarded)

• Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences
• Medicine (MD)
• Neuroscience
• Public Health, General (MPH, DPH)

MUSIC (206 awarded)

• Music Performance
• Music Theory and Composition
• Music
• Musicology and Ethnomusicology
• Voice and Opera

NURSING AND EMERGENCY MEDICINE (213 awarded)

• Nursing/Registered Nurse (RN, ASN, BSN, MSN)

NUTRITION AND EXERCISE THERAPY (515 awarded)

• Athletic Training/Trainer
• Dietetics/Dietitian (RD)
• Kinesiology and Exercise Science
• Parks, Recreation and Leisure Facilities Management
• Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling/Counselor

PHOTOGRAPHY AND COMMERCIAL ART (54 awarded)

• Cinematography and Film/Video Production

REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT (73 awarded)

• Real Estate

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (86 awarded)

• Philosophy
• Religion/Religious Studies

SCIENCE (522 awarded)

• Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
• Biochemistry
• Biology/Biological Sciences
• Biomedical Sciences
• Biostatistics
• Chemistry
• Geology/Earth Science
• Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography
• Molecular Biophysics
• Oceanography, Chemical and Physical
• Physical Sciences
• Physics

SECURITY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT (384 awarded)

• Corrections and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice/Safety Studies

THERAPY AND COUNSELING (436 awarded)

• Art Therapy/Therapist
• Educational Psychology
• Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling
• Music Therapy/Therapist
• Psychology