Best and worst about University of Miami

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Miami - Florida
1

<p>I published this post about a year ago (in response to another person’s question),but I thought it would be useful to new applicants. It deals with what I consider the best and worst parts of attending University of Miami. I hope that you find it helpful.</p>

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<p>As for the worst things, I would say price. Also, they have some strong programs and some that aren’t as strong. Each school has its strengths.</p>

<p>As to the best, here is a copy of what I wrote a year ago. I hope it helps:</p>

<p>Look, no one will sell you on Miami. You need to check it out for yourself. Certainly, if you are asking is it academically better than Harvard or Yale, the answer for most programs would be that it isn’t ranked higher than those schools. However, in my opinion, I would recommend Miami over schools like Syracuse, Northeastern, Boston University, and a number of others for the following reasons:</p>

<li><p>WEATHER: Miami has fabulous weather. It is really hard to beat it. It also has some of the most unbelievably good looking people that you will see.</p></li>
<li><p>Miami has fabulous connection with the city of Miami and with Florida jobs in general. If you are looking for a job, internship or coop in Miami, Miami alumni are very involved and very strong.</p></li>
<li><p>To me, one of the most important benefits of Miami is that it has some very strong programs and a LOT of choices. If you check out their majors, they rival in quantity and quality that of a big state university without being nearly as large or impersonal as a big state university. Thus, you get all the advantages found in a big school combined with the advantages of a small-mid size school. The student teacher ratio is also very good. I should note that you also have a plethora of choices for duel degree programs as well. </p></li>
<li><p>Graduates of their undergrad program do have a leg up for admission into their graduate and professional schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Miami has a very good endowment that allows for great campus maintenance and facilities. Also, you can expect its endowment to grow rapidly being in Miami with all the older “wealthy” folks.</p></li>
<li><p>School spirit is very strong at Miami. With their top ranked football team and good basketball team, they generate a lot of school spirit.</p></li>
<li><p>Miami gives out lots of merit aid to top applicants in addition to substantial need based aid. Try getting merit aid from schools like Brown or Carnegie Mellon.</p></li>
<li><p>Miami has a lot of professionals who are currently doing well in their field teaching courses. This provides a very useful, practical education. This is not as true with some other large or mid size universities.</p></li>
<li><p>Since Miami has some strong sports teams, their athletic facilities such as gyms, pools etc. are very good.</p></li>
<li><p>Miami gets a lot of research money from the state and federal government, which provides for good labs and scientific equipment.</p></li>
<li><p>Miami has fabulous diversity in both students and faculty. Since Miami is the gateway to central and south America, you get a great variety of students, which adds a lot of their education.</p></li>
<li><p>Many kids come to Florida, especially to Miami Beach, for their vacation. Here you are living right near there.</p></li>
<li><p>The city of Miami is one of the most vibrant, fun cities around. It is chuck full of culture with symphonies, museums, shows, top notch sports teams and much more. It is one of the best cities, in my opinion, to attend school. If you combine this with fantastic weather, It is an unbeatable place when compared to many other school locations.</p></li>
<li><p>It is one of the schools noted in the book, “The best 361 college rankings.”</p></li>
<li><p>It is rated in one of the best 140 schools in the southeast as rated by Princeton Review.</p></li>
<li><p>Not being a state school, you won’t usually see problems with budget cuts.This will be a BIG DEAL in the future. As you probably know, state schools are getting less money due to budget cuts. This results in larger classes, less choices for courses and course times and, in some cases, program cancellations. Private schools that are “in-demand” do not normally have these problems.</p></li>
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2

<p>What do you perceive as the weak and strong programs?</p>

3

<p>I haven't been to Miami in 30 years; thus, I really don't know. I do know that their law school and medical school is excellent, as is their accounting program.</p>

4

<p>What do you think about their architecture program?</p>

5

<p>Maybe some of the experienced parents would come back to this forum and tell us about what programs at UMiami are good.</p>

<p>I understand that marine science and neuroscience are both very strong...</p>

<p>And of course music and communications.</p>

6

<p>Architecture has a very good reputation. I'm a first year student in the arch school if you have any questions.</p>

7

<p>Business. Dean Kahn came from Wharton; she is taking a good program and turning into a great program!</p>

8

<p>To be frank, if you go to the University of Miami ANY program you choose will be a strong program. They have one on one at the frost school of music, the Dean from WHARTON and have just recruited an entire committe of professors (50) from Duke. There is not one weak department at the school and they have countless opportunities of research and internship. Not only that, they have connections to all the different sports teams such as the Heat and Dolphins so it is not uncommon for students to be working for them. There is something for everyone at Miami no matter what you choose to study.</p>

9

<p>miami has an incredibly strong architecture program...i'm not in it but i have two close friends, one a Singer scholar and Foote Fellow who chose Miami over Ivy Leagues for architecture, and one a native of Germany who chose Miami for its architecture program</p>

10

<p>How is UMiami Engineering? I know UMiami is a good school overall, but is there engineering as good as some of the other schools. I don't really hear much about this department, so I was just wondering, because UMiami is a place I am strongly considering.</p>

11

<p>OK so I got in already, but I declared my major as economics, which of course would mean I'd enter the College of Arts and Sciences or whatever it's called...how difficult would it be for me switch my major over to Business Administration and enter the business school? Could I do this before the start of the year? During the year?</p>

12

<p>My s is majoring in Physics. We live in Miami. Which is a better choice U of Florida or UM?? $$ about equal. UM was very generous, and UF is free for us in-staters...</p>

13

<p>Both programs are pretty similar.. its about where he wants to live. He can live in the big city or he can live in a small college town. I was personally not impressed with UF at all.</p>

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<p>I think you can start out in Business while majoring in Econ. It is easier to switch into Arts & Sciences than to switch out of it.</p>

15

<p>Im not sure if anybody can elaborate on this but I will be majoring in Chemistry. I heard UM has a great chem program. Is this true? and I was also accepted to Wake Forest for the same major...does anybody know about the vigor of their science programs?</p>

16

<p>how is the pre-med and neuroscience program at umiami? Is it easy to dual degree??</p>

17

<p>How is the pre-dent program there? I'm thinking of majoring in BIO while taking dental requirement courses, but I'm not sure if you're saying that it's good on Biology overall or solely on "General" Biology.</p>

18

<p>Ok, there has to be something BAD about UM, cough it up, lol!</p>

<p>E: Besides price</p>

19

<p>One bad thing that I hear a lot about is the quality of the kids who go there. I hope the "stuck up/rich kid" stereotype does not actually live up to its reputation.</p>

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<p>UM has a lot of great things about it, but IMHO it does have some negatives. That "stuck up kid" reputation does apply for the most part. A lot of the student body are full of themselves. You definitely can find some more laid back people but it will take more of an effort. It does get clique-y after freshman year. I don't think the students are as friendly as at some other schools.
Also due to it's proximity to so many places to go, the student body heads off campus on the weekends and the weekend begins Thursday night. Coconut Grove and South Beach are frequent destinations and I would say it lives up to the party school reputation. If this is not your cup of tea, then I think you're at the wrong school.</p>