<p>I'm a rising senior from south of Boston, and I'm looking into Architecture at Miami, currently my first choice. From what I've heard of other schools, majoring in architecture (especially a 5yr program) is suicide and a complete forfeit of a social life. Is this true?! Any advice would be appreciated. I visited Miami in June and loved it. :)</p>
<p>Jcro2006 - Could you tell us how much you liked the visit, and how Miami was? I don't know if I can afford to visit, but I may fly down and hit up UGA, UF, and UM-Coral Gables, if I get accepted to those schools. Just do one-a-day.</p>
<p>A2Wolves6,
Hope you know what you got yourself into... I think I could really write a book about my visit :) Skim if you want...
Well, here goes. I really loved U. Miami. It was meant to be a 1/2 day visit and we planned to take the other 2 days we were there to chill in the city and lounge on the beach for a mini-vacation, but once I'd been to the campus I couldn't stay away! I don't know how much you already know about Miami, or whether or not youre interested in architecture like me, but heres a quick summary... </p>
<p>1) The campus was absolutely beautiful. The grounds are well kept, theres lots of lush vegetation and lawns to lounge around on and gorgeous trees with shade. The whole campus is relatively small; it takes about 10-15 minutes to walk across, and most dorms are in the middle so it's pretty convenient. The dorms were small, but cozy and the beds have a cusion on the wall-side so it's like a couch too and I thought that was like the coolest thing ever. :) Also, they are always improving things and it seems like theres always a big project going on, when I was there they were putting a new building up for the architecture department and it was going really fast, its probably near completion by now (took maybe 4 mos total). But most of their construction is in the summer so as not to be a disturbance.</p>
<p>2) The people were incredibly nice and laid-back. Every student or faculty member I talked to seemed perfectly happy and stress-free (this was a big plus for me at least since I come from an uptight competitive highschool). Even the people who were studying didn't seem to mind it because of the atmosphere they were in. Most teachers are never too busy to help the students and included in the tuition is 2 hours per week of tutoring with any faculty member. The class sizes were small and discussion-, not lecture- oriented.</p>
<p>3) For sports-crazy people, such as myself, there seemed to be every sport I could think of and a great multi-level wellness center which has a membership included in the tuition. The football team, as you must know, is Div. I and there is huge school spirit when it comes to their games. Although the games are not played on campus, the university rents out the metro for those afternoons for the students only so that they can ride for free and see the game. Other than sports, there seemed to be always something to do on campus (even as I visited at the beginning of the summer session). </p>
<p>4) The architecture program was absolutely brilliant. The faculty was so knowledgeable and helpful. Their program is a 5 rather than a 4+2 and usually that means you're locked into it for life. But, Miami arranges the first semester to plunge you into the studio so that you'll find out right away whether you like it or not, and every course you take can we worked into the general program so that in the event you don't like it, you haven't lost that semester. Most 3rd through 5th year students get internships that can count toward IDP years, which is great because you can become a registered architect in as little as 6yrs total rather than 9yrs. And finally, each entering student gets 24 hour key access to a studio.</p>
<p>And of course, Miami is an awesome city, there's so much to do and there's never a dull moment. I found it prettier than Boston and I also liked to visit the suburbs - Coconut Grove was my favorite place of all.</p>
<p>So, I hope this was helpful to you, and as you can tell I love talking about the school so if you have any other questions or anything, ask away! Good Luck with your future visits, I hope you have enough time to "see it all" at UM :)
-JCRO</p>
<p>Nice description Jrco, but just a little correction. The Wellness Center is not included with tuition. There is a fee of 118.00 per semester for use of the wellness center. </p>
<p>A2Wolves...I know your dealing with financial aid stuff now, so here is the breakdown of the tuition, fees, etc. I'm taking this directly off my bill....</p>
<p>Fall 2005 Semester billing
FL STATE TAX - MEAL PLAN 54.24<br>
FALL 14 MEAL PLAN 1,705.76<br>
FALL DOUBLE ROOM 2,612.00<br>
ATHLETIC FEE 24.50<br>
ACTIVITY FEE 99.50<br>
WELLNESS CENTER FEE 118.00<br>
AS FALL UNDERGRADUATE TUITION 14,510.00 </p>
<p>Books are running about 400 -500 semester. </p>
<p>Good luck to both of you!</p>
<p>Jcro - I have no first hand knowledge, but one of the kids my S met when we visited (and we also did a visit of several days) was an architecture student. From what S reported, he worked hard and opted to live in Eaton (near the architecture building) but he also played on the Club Lacrosse team and spent time on the weekend with my S and a bunch of friends. I did not get the impression that he worked 24/7 but he was clearly focused and took his school work seriously, going to bed early one of the days because he had to be up early to work on a project.</p>
<p>My S also sees the wellness center as "free" but indeed we do pay for it! We were told on our tour that kids can get free tutoring but my impression was that it was with another student, not a prof.</p>
<p>You might want to see my visit description, posted in February on the Parents Forum. I will find the link and start a new one here for kids considering UM.</p>