Your school sucks. Unless it's Harvard

When your sports teams decide to take a dive one year, I guess the nerds might as well take over:

With BC-SOU--Merit Scholars-List

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The University of Florida has more National Merit Scholars than any other public university in the nation and is second only to Harvard University among all universities, according to the not-for-profit group awarding the scholarship.

Florida also is the top-ranking public institution in recruiting National Achievement Scholars, a program recognizing high-scoring minority students, and is fourth among all universities.

In the 2004-2005 school year, the state's flagship public university recruited 259 National Merit Scholars, while Harvard's freshman class included 312. They scored in the top one-half percent of the seniors in their state on a qualifying exam.

Florida's No. 2 overall ranking improved from fourth in 2003.

Forty minority students recognized as National Achievement Scholars attended Florida last fall, compared to Harvard with 85, Yale University with 61 and Stanford University with 57.

Joe Glover, interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, credited the recruiting success to the school's academic environment, faculty and student body.

Alex Wayne, former marginal journalism student, credited the wealth of bars and chicks -- even the ones who would never give a National Merit Scholar the time of day. And believe you me, that was most of them.

(Courtesy MGB)