<p>My D will be a new RSMAS student and wants to join SCUBA club. Anyone out there I could exchange some PMs with?
~Zinc</p>
<p>Not yet, but hopefully in a year and a few months when I’m a UMiami student I will be :P</p>
<p>I’ve got my SCUBA license - definitely thinking about joining. What does the club have to offer, and I assume it costs to join?</p>
<p>I found it’s website, I don’t know when it was last updated, but here it is: [UM</a> SCUBA](<a href=“http://www.umscuba.org/]UM”>http://www.umscuba.org/)</p>
<p>Very cool - my daughter will definitely be joining this…thanks MB444.
~Zinc</p>
<p>No problem. I can’t wait to be a Cane!</p>
<p>I want to join too! I’m a certified scuba diver and go practically ever month. It would be great to know an actual group of students interested in the same thing!</p>
<p>FYI</p>
<p>For those of you who are experienced divers and interested in Marine Sciences, RSMAS has a research diver certification class. You’ll learn the protocols of research surveying, sampling etc. RSMAS is often looking for divers to go out on sampling runs and the certification is preferred/necessary in order to take part. The surveys take place all over southern Florida, the Caribbean and occasionally Central America. While many opportunities get posted, if you make yourself known around the Marine Sci department you’re likely to get offered more dives.</p>
<p>I am experienced and the opportunity sounds incredible, but I’m not part of RSMAS. I’m pre-med, although Marine Bio would be amazing to be part of!</p>
<p>sabrina,</p>
<p>I don’t want to hijack this thread away from the SCUBA club but let me briefly offer up some information. There is no pre-med major at Miami. As with most colleges “going pre-med” is about majoring in one of the basic sciences (Biology, Chemistry or Physics) and scoring well on your MCATs. That said, the Marine Sciences major at RSMAS requires that students also double major in one of biology, chemistry, physics, geology or computer science. If you were to follow the Marine Sciences/Biology track you could get very close to majoring in Chemistry as well. So being a Marine Sciences major certainly will allow you to meet any med school requirements.</p>
<p>Being part of RSMAS has the added benefit of being able to get involved in research as a freshman. There are numerous opportunities to volunteer in labs; among the most famous is the National Resource for Aplysia, which provides specimens for research into diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. I think the opportunities are available to any Miami undergrad major, though Marine Sciences and basic science majors may get first chance. </p>
<p>Finally, it’s important to remember that the research diver certification prepares you for underwater fieldwork. For every surprise encounter with dolphins, 6 foot moray eels or being serenaded by whale songs there are countless hours spent collecting and cataloging samples.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/academics/undergraduate/about/[/url]”>http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/academics/undergraduate/about/</a></p>
<p>So ends my sales pitch for RSMAS.</p>
<p>vinceh,</p>
<p>I’m perfectly aware that pre-med isn’t a major, thank you. I’m a bio/psych major, and while I’ve always been interested in marine sciences, I never applied to be part of RSMAS and I’m not sure if it’s too late or not to switch myself over. Also, I’m an incoming transfer student for the Fall.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information though. I’d still be interested in joining Scuba club and doing any of the things you listed.</p>
<p>I asked my daughter about this since she is in RSMAS and the SCUBA Club. Here is her reply:</p>
<p>The SCUBA club is open to all students at the UM. It costs $65 to join for the year, and I think $35 for a semester (though I haven’t joined only for a semester yet, so I don’t know the price). For that you get access to all the club equipment (BCDs, tanks, regs, wetsuits, weights/weightbelts, and other misc gear) for club dives and any other dives you might want to do outside the club during the semester (you just have to coordinate with an officer and sign them out). This past year the club started standardizing the dive rates at $35 per dive. They also started doing a dive card that’s 4 dives for $100. Shore dives are usually about $5 each. Yes, we do go diving EVERY WEEKEND (except the weekend in the middle of finals, and during breaks, though you can usually find someone to coordinate with if you’re really desperate). Usually there’s an open water and an advance dive each weekend, though it can vary. We usually dive off of Key Largo when we’re in the Keys, and a variety of places up north, like Jupiter and Pompano Beach. The northern dives tend to be advanced, and the ones in the Keys tend to be OW. We coordinate with one of the dive shops down here to run OW certification classes around every 3-4 weeks during the semester for $220. We also offer AOW certification classes, though not as frequently, for the same price. There’s a camping trip at the end of each semester during reading days (both semesters last year we went up to Ginnie Springs and dove in the freshwater springs there - there was also an optional cavern diving class). There’s also the occasional “big trip” - last semester we went up to Disney World and dove in the Living Seas aquarium in Epcot ($55 for both the dive and a hotel room). It’s the second largest club on campus, but it really should be the largest, because we’re that awesome. </p>
<p>If you have any more questions, one of my roommates is the Vice President of the SCUBA club this year (and was Treasurer last year), so I can ask her about anything that I don’t know.</p>
<p>SVMMom,
Thanks for passing that along from your daughter. I will pass to mine and she’ll be even more excited about the club than she was! Sounds awesome. Do you think a 50-something dad could sneak into the club without be noticed?
~Zinc</p>
<p>So dive rate is $35 per dive yet a 30 pack is only $20 and we wonder why it is not the largest club on campus.</p>
<p>Zinc</p>
<p>You are welcome! There is also a dive shop close to campus that gives discounts to club members. Tell your daughter that there is also an aquarium club that maintains all the research tanks and does lots of fun social things. That is where my daughter met most of her marine school friends. Tell her to join some clubs right away and she will find friends for life!!</p>
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<p>what is a 30 pack for $20?</p>
<p>I think they mean beer :p</p>
<p>Haha, really? People ■■■■■■■■ on Miami’s board? That’s just wrong :P</p>
<p>SVMMom,
Is that Austin’s dive shop? We were planning on stopping there during orientation week and picking up a few things.
~Zinc</p>
<p>No, it is Underwater Unlimited on 40th street which is much closer to campus.</p>
<p>[Underwater</a> Unlimited - SSI, NAUI, GUE Diving Instruction and service - Call 305-661-0099](<a href=“http://www.underwaterunlimited.net/Home.html]Underwater”>http://www.underwaterunlimited.net/Home.html)</p>