Best Colleges in NW FLORIDA

So, you're thinking about going to college where you got some kids, looking to go to college, and moving or coming here to Northwest Florida. And you're curious, what are some of the best colleges out in this area in 2023? If that's a question you've asked, then stick around, we got the data coming up next.

Alright. So, let's take a look at that. Northwest Florida, what are we talking about? As you're looking at a map and we look at Florida, on the end of it, northwest is what we call the Panhandle of Florida. It's right below Alabama, right below Georgia, that's where we sit. Right? Some people joke that we're in Lower Alabama, which is kind of true. But, you just can't beat the Floridians that are here. We just or just a different breed. But, that's where we're going to be going. So, there's not a whole ton of different colleges that are here in this area. You have some 4-years, we have some 2-years. And what we did is we went through and did some research on 2022's data going into 2023 of what some of the best colleges are. We use places like niche.com, read reviews and everything that we could get our hands on to rank these schools for you. So, we're going to have a total of seven different areas that you can go in order to get your education going. So, let's get into it. We'll go from the top and bring down to the other options and honorable mentions towards the end.

1. FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

If you couldn't have guessed, is Florida State University. Right? That's going to be in Tallahassee. It's a 4-year school and it is rated in A+. Enrollment each year is about 29,000. So, it's going to be the biggest school by far here in Northwest Florida. So, they rank different parts of these schools, and here's what we got. So, for academics, it is rated in A+. For diversity in A-, athletics, A+, and we have value as an A, the campus is an A, and the party scene, yeah, we found that too, is an A+ in that area. If you've ever been out there and you've been to Florida State, it's a huge campus. You could run across that and still miss your classes. It's interesting, it's a very beautiful place and continues to evolve. There's definitely more and more different shops sand restaurants that have popped up around there. But one thing about Florida State University is, it's pretty spread out. So, just kind of keep that in mind as we continue on. And the sports program is great especially if you like college football. The Doak stadium that's out there is actually pretty cool. Usually, check out a game once a year. Wife went to Florida State, so kind of inducted to that. But yes, Florida State being at the top.

2. UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA

Moving on down for our next one is the University of West Florida. Now, this one's out in Pensacola. It's another 4-year school. It's rated a B+. The enrollment is 6,600 ish per year. So, it's a far cry from the 29,000. So, let's go through this. See, academics is rated as a B+, diversity is also a B+, athletics is an A-. Your value is a B+, campus is an A-, and the party scene, they gave it a B+. Well, downtown Palafox is still pretty fun. I guess it's still a far cry from the scene that you're going to get out in Tallahassee by Florida State University. Alright.

3. GULF COAST STATE COLLEGE

Alright. Going into number three on our list was the Gulf Coast State College. Now, this one's out in Panama City. It's only a 2-year college and is rated B-. The enrollment here was 5,800. And we have academics as a B-, diversity is also a B-. There's no athletics necessarily to be rated here. So, student life was rated a B, value as a B-, campus was B+, and the party scene as a B+. It's Panama City, what would you expect? Alright.

4. TALLAHASSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Moving on to the next one, we have Tallahassee Community College, which is, well, Tallahassee. Where else would it be? This is a 2-year college rated as a B-. The enrollment here is 5,700 ish. Right? Academic rated as a B-, diversity as an A-, student life value C+, campus as an A-, and the party scene as a B+. So, I guess you're just going to have to move from one end to Tallahassee to get to the other up to FSU to enjoy the party life. If that's what you're after, Alright.

5. NORTHWEST FLORIDA STATE COLLEGE

And moving on next, we have the Northwest Florida State College. This is actually in Niceville, and a couple of satellite places around it. This is a 4-year school, it's rated C-. It's enrollment per year is 2,300. Academic are rated as C-, diversity as a B, athletics as a C+, value at C, campus as an A-, and the party scene as a C. Apparently, Niceville, Destin area just didn't make the cut. And we have two others that we'll throw in here kind of an honorable mentions as we kind of move forward.

6. PENSACOLA STATE COLLEGE

So, we also have Pensacola State College in Pensacola, imagine that. It's another 4-year school rated at a C. Enrollment of 3,500. It's academics are rated as a C-, their diversity as a B, athletics as a C, the value is C+, campus is B and party scene as a C+.

7. CHIPOLA COLLEGE

Now, we also have Chipola College. Hopefully, I said that right. That's out in Marianna. It's a 2-year school rated as a B. Enrollment is only 733 students each year. Academics are rated as a B, diversity as a B, student life as a B, value as A-, safety as an A. That's kind of cool, and location as a C+.

So, those are all the colleges that we pulled together for Northwest Florida. Now, there are other ones that didn't quite make the list because they either didn't have a big enough campus or whatnot with that. There are specialty 2-year schools that were throughout here. But my best suggestion is to go on to niche.com, check out colleges and trade schools, and you can filter all of those around this specific area. It'll show you a map exactly where it is. In the reviews, that's where you are going to get the best information when it comes to schools. Whether it's a college, a high school, it could be for your kids, kindergarten, like, whatever that is. The best way to find that out is to read the reviews. Not necessarily what they're using because using for ranking just may not be the full picture of the experience that you're going to have or that your kids might have at that specific university.

But that's all that we have for the best colleges in Northwest Florida here in 2023. If you have any questions about anything that we had mentioned here, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com