The Front Row

Where have you seen that FSU is closer to achieving AAU status than any other school in the country? Based on research dollars they are not one of the top.

Here are two articles I have read on it. FSU isn't even mentioned. So unless something has changed significantly I can't see it happening.
http://chronicle.com/article/As-AAU-Admits-Georgia-Tech-to/65200/
http://www.nanoscience.gatech.edu/zlwang/news/chronicle%20of%20higher%20ed.pdf

So if I read that correctly schools (like Cincinnati at 37 who is mentioned in both aricals but they will never get into the big ten) have significiantly higher research dollars. I have no idea what other criteria there are but it seems like there are a lot of schools much higher than fsu. If there is as much money in the aau as I think I have read here would football really lead fsu to jump the spots needed

And I know nothing about either article other than I googled who is next on aau. I just haven't seen fsu anywhere.

I was dumbfounded that JohnsHopkins does 85% more research than the next closest school and gets 2.5 times as much Fed grant money than any other school.

True, but I think that Cincinnati never getting a B1G invite has to do with more than just research dollars. I just about got lynched when I posted a thread about UC several months back.

Research dollars are literally one factor of several and even then they AAU is only concerned with federal research dollars not total research!

This means FSU is firmly ahead of AAU members like Kansas, Oregon, Iowa State, Indiana, Tulane and obviously many of the smaller schools like Brandeis.

Their lead indicator of phase II of AAU membership evaluation is USDA and Industrial research. Many schools can't even participate in this category as things like veterinary schools only exist at land grant institutions. Indiana and Kansas are comparable to FSU as a non-land grant AAU members.

The fact Wisconsin ranks ahead of OSU shows how much a veterinary program (at the agricultural level) can impact the total number of federal dollars. Again, federal research dollars are only one variable in the equation.

Other categories like Post Doctoral Degrees again puts FSU within the range of AAU schools outranking *Nebraska*, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, and Iowa St. UC ranks lower than any of those schools despite being comparable sized in terms of total student population. (Which would essentially 'offset' there research $$$ advantage)

FSU by all the evaluated indicators (along with Virginia Tech) looks like one of the leading candidates for potential AAU membership. The key for many of these schools becomes tightening admission standards for undergraduates and becoming slightly more selective.

The key is familiarizing yourself with the standards of AAU membership evaluation first.

Agreed. Hockey would be bigger if it wasn't so expensive for kids to play. I always wanted to play hockey (other than street hockey with roller-blades) but it was simply too much money and time for my parents to commit to.