For the fourth consecutive year, Fisher School named sixth best public undergraduate accounting program by U.S. News
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Fisher School of Accounting’s undergraduate program was named No. 6 among U.S. public programs in the latest U.S. News & World Report’s “2021 Best Colleges” edition released Monday.
Overall, the Fisher School was ranked the No. 11 program in the U.S., as it was on the 2018, 2019 and 2020 “Best Colleges” list from U.S. News & World Report. The Fisher School also continues to be the No. 1 ranked undergraduate accounting program in the state of Florida by U.S. News & World Report.
U.S. News & World Report also reported on Monday that for the fourth year in a row, the University of Florida has risen in the Top Public Schools rankings, climbing to No. 6. The rise puts UF on the cusp of its goal to earn sustained recognition as a Top 5 public institution in the country and symbolizes the university’s momentum on academic excellence, student outcomes and affordability. In the past four years, UF has vaulted from No. 14 to No. 6 among public universities and from No. 50 to No. 30 on the U.S. News National Universities list, which includes both public and private institutions.
“Year after year, it gives all of us at the Fisher School immense pride to be recognized as one of the top accounting programs in the nation,” said Dr. Gary McGill, Associate Dean and Director of the Fisher School of Accounting and J. Roy Duggan Professor. “As always, we will continue our pursuit of excellence and thank our first-class faculty, devoted staff and extraordinary students in helping us do so.”
Program and student quality play a significant role in the U.S. News ranking. Fisher’s strength in both has allowed for its continued success among the best accounting programs in the nation. The majority of the most recent class of Fisher undergraduate students have an average GPA of 3.59 and, with Fisher master’s students, have a distinguished combined passing rate of 84.8 percent on the CPA Exam. This performance puts Fisher as fourth in the nation among 294 large academic institutions in passing rate, and tenth in the nation among all 769 academic institutions in passing rate. Fisher students are so well prepared for success while in school that 98 percent of students reported having a job offer before graduation in the 2019-2020 academic year.
The exceptional education students receive at the Fisher School goes beyond statistics. Current student Joseph Robinson (BSAc ’22) highlighted the spark faculty ignited in him for the subject.
“When I took my first accounting class, it changed the way I saw the world and deepened my understanding of how the systems of business worked, and I wanted to learn as much more as I could,” Robinson said in a recent interview. “I have been able to learn from amazing professors and hear from leaders and speakers in various fields. The insight I have gained has been an incredible resource that has positively impacted my life.”
In addition to top marks from U.S. News, the Fisher School’s undergraduate and graduate programs ranked in the top 5 among publics in last year’s Public Accounting Report’s (PAR) Annual Survey of Accounting Professors. When ranked against programs at schools with a similar faculty size (17-23 full-time accounting faculty), the undergraduate program ranked No. 1 overall, and the master’s program ranked No. 2. The two programs were also ranked the No. 1 programs in the South on the PAR’s rankings list by region.
To calculate these rankings, U.S. News surveyed deans and senior faculty members at each of the 511 undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). These deans and faculty members – two at each AACSB-accredited business program – were asked to rate the quality of all program with which they were familiar on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). The undergraduate business school rankings were based solely on the judgements of deans and senior faculty members at peer institutions.
