Florida State University

By James A. Barham, PhD

In brief

Florida State University, in Tallahassee, was established in 1851 and enrolls more than 40,000 students. The state legislature has designated it a “preeminent research university.” By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #78 in the United States and #220 in the world. It admitted 24.2% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1340 and a median ACT score of 30.

It is made up of 16 colleges and nine professional schools and is perhaps best known for its College of Criminology and Criminal Justice and its film school.

Where Florida State’s influence is strongest

Florida State’s influence is led by criminal justice, where it ranks in the US top 15. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:

• Criminal justice: #15 in the US (#19 in the world)
• Social work: #39
• Earth sciences: #46
• Chemistry: #47
• Education: #52

Its highest-ranked specialties in our data are:

• #5 in the US: criminology
• #7: meteorology
• #9: law enforcement
• #11: atmospheric sciences

By comparison, Florida State sits further back in computer science (#109), anthropology (#121), and religious studies (#123).

How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.

Notable people

Six Nobel laureates have been associated with Florida State, including the physicists Paul Dirac and John R. Schrieffer, the chemist Harold Kroto, and the economist James M. Buchanan. Florida State-connected figures also include the philosophers Jaakko Hintikka and Michael Ruse, the composer Ernst von Dohnányi, the actors Burt Reynolds and Faye Dunaway, the filmmaker Barry Jenkins, and the singer Jim Morrison. Our full lists of Florida State’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.

Frequently asked questions

Is Florida State hard to get into? Moderately. It admitted 24.2% of applicants for fall 2024; the middle half of admitted students scored 640–710 on the SAT reading section and 630–700 on math.

What does Florida State cost after financial aid? Tuition is $5,656 for Florida residents and $20,116 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $6,953 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $4,290 for incomes of $30,000–$48,000 to $17,085 for incomes above $110,000.

How do Florida State graduates do? 85.8% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 96% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $68,225.

What is Florida State best known for academically? By our influence data: criminal justice and social work, plus specialties such as criminology and meteorology, where it ranks in the US top 10.