<p>So my school has been to NHSMUN, BOSMUN, FIMUN, and this year we want to go somewhere new. We're thinking of MUNUC at U of Chicago and Duke or Vandy, and I was wondering if those are good or if there are any other good ones people would recommend</p>
<p>PMUNC is a well put together conference and has a wide array of small and large committees. However, there's not much to do in princeton, NJ outside of the conference.</p>
<p>RUMUN otherwise known as Rutgers Model UN. I've been to 3 conferences, and they're all incredibly well-run. There's also a lot of stuff to do in downtown New Brunswick. The committees are also not too big. I believe the biggest is a little over a hundred people while as conferences like NHSMUN have 300 at least right? RUMUN is supposedly the best model conference in the US, but that's just personal prejudice I guess :)</p>
<p>DS2 went to NAIMUN at Georgetown and thought it was quite well done.</p>
<p>thanks! .</p>
<p>Ivy League Model United Nations (ILMUNC) at Upenn is one of the best i think.</p>
<p>Along the same lines, has anyone here ever participated in Harvard Model Congress? I just signed up through my school this year.</p>
<p>What about international MUN conferences?</p>
<p>IMUN in NYC was a huge disappointment. Not the best organization, not the most involved people, and SLOW distribution of any sort of document.</p>
<p>What about The Hague International Model United Nations?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>funny how I see this thread was moved so i click on it and of course there's something for me to help on. I went to HMC in 2006. I had a great time. Honestly, like almost everything, you get what you put into it. I was in the West Wing program (one of the more selective programs and more involved) and met great people and did a bunch of stuff like lobbying, preparing a court case on prisoner abuse in front of mock supreme court of actual Harvard students (talk about being intimidated and nervous!) and just had a great time in general. Be ready to dance though! The dance event is crazy. All of sudden after a full day of HMC stuff, the place turns into a hs school dance-like atmosphere.</p>
<p>I went to HMC Europe in 2005 (in Paris that year) - it was great. HMCE is a lot smaller than HMC, but definetly still a Harvard-calliber conference. My school was the only North American school there, the others were mostly European schools and International schools from the Middle East. I was on the G8 - our directors were great and the committee was a good size, although my friends who sat in the actual Congress said it was good too. My little brother is going to the 2008 conference - I think it's in Athens this time around.</p>
<p>As far as "international" MUN conferences - you should all consider going to SSUNS, which is in Montreal and run by McGill. For me it wasn't international as I'm from Canada, but there's always a good representation of US students there. I went to SSUNS three times, and it's probably the best conference I've been to. It's very well organized considering the size of the conference (I think they're at 1200+ delegates now). They have all the standard committees plus some great historical and future scenarios - like the '82 soviet politburo or meech lake 2010 (imagine quebec actually voting to separate from canada...!). The press corps is also very well run, if you like that aspect of MUN conferences. I think that a good press corps only add to the experience. </p>
<p>The worst conference I've been to, as far as ones to avoid, was my uni's conference last year (UBCMUN in Vancouver - open to uni and hs students). It's a bit on the small side, which is okay, but I had two major problems with it: 1) the press corps was unorganized and the way they handled the conference-wide crisis made it all incredibly unrealistic and almost stupid (interrupting debates to bring in unrelated and unrealistic issues), and 2) it was the first conference I went to were the majority of delegates got to use laptops, and not just in unmoderated debate to work on resolutions or fact check - I hated it because the delegates in my committee would be looking up their policies 2 minutes before a speech and then read off the screen! So much for preparation! Also, the US delegate, who was sitting near me and should have been a very important player, was on facebook the entire time. AAAHH. I'm hoping to be on the secretariat in the next few years... maybe shake things up a bit and crack down on the people who are way too laptop-dependant. The best sessions I've been in have definetly been the ones that have a laptop ban (to avoid pre-written resolutions).</p>
<p>The one hosted by my school all the way down here in India is niiiiiice! Note that in India MUN's are hosted by schools, not colleges.</p>
<p>I can't vouch for international MUNs, but here's my review of all the MUNs my school has been to:</p>
<p>-MUNUC - everyone loves this conference. We tend to find it to be a little easier than some of the other conferences (many awards, etc), but it also has a good share of more advanced-level committees. Also, the schedule leaves ample free time for socializing/exploring, and Chicago's a fun place. However, as a heads up, you won't actually see the campus. Also, idk where you're from, but Chicago in February = freezing. Last year, it was 12 degrees (in fahrenheit) for most of the trip.</p>
<p>-Brown MUN - people's views on it varied. The students and chairs are generally pretty knowledgable about their topic--but the chairs are TERRIBLE at parliamentary procedure. They don't follow it at all, and passing around resolutions and the like tends to be delayed. The area around Brown is fun for hanging out in between committee sessions, but you may get hotel accomodations that are pretty far away and thus waste a little bit of your free time walking up and down hills to the campus.</p>
<p>-Rutgers MUN - again, varied views. I personally think the debate level was pretty high and the conference ran pretty smoothly. However, some people complained about their chairs not being well-acquainted with the topic, etc. The area has a lot of restaurants and such that make free time enjoyable. You won't see the campus itself.</p>
<p>-Harvard MUN - quite possibly one of the most difficult MUNs in the country. The committees are tough, especially the application/selective ones, but they're also pretty stimulating. The conference runs pretty smoothly, and you will get to see Harvard one day during the conference. Area is nice if not extraordinary. Downside: students are allowed to use laptops, so kids from the fancy-schmancy private schools often dominate committee for that reason alone.</p>
<p>Our MUN team is split up into two different teams and we alternate conferences each year. Last year, our team went to the MUN conference down in University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign; our other team did the MUN University of Chicago conference at the Palmer house. </p>
<p>So this year, my teams doing MUNUC. The entire conference is held at a hotel I believe. But, I've also heard the committees are massive in size for MUNUC, which means participating is a bit hard to do. I personally loved the conference down at UIUC -- the committee chairs were sooooo down to earth and funny, and because it's a smaller conference, EVERYONE has a chance to speak. But it's certainly not as competitive.</p>
<p>Davis MUN was okay, although it was the weekend after AP exams and everyone was exhausted. People ditched committee sessions to go to the nearby movie theater or the underground bowling alley. And other kids did some mischief in each others' rooms during the night. As an officer of MUN, it was very chaotic and stressful. But the committee sessions were a bit boring and we didn't even get through both topics because our chair kept accepting people's half-hearted requests for unmoderated caucus.</p>
<p>Stanford MUN was pretty cool. Very organized, and they didn't unnecessarily pull Head Delegates out of session just to ask how we were doing. -_-</p>
<p>I think that IASAS MUN was/is good...</p>
<p>The only one our school goes to is the regional: AMUN</p>
<p>Do most teams only go to one conference per year? I made our school's team but let early and sort of missed the gist of the whole thing. All I heard was New York, New York, New York- do teams spend the whole year preparing for one conference, or are their multiple conferences dispersed throughout the year?</p>
<p>I fail to see the point of a "Model UN Conference" . </p>
<p>Just sounds like a waste of time to me IMO.</p>
<p>I gusse that's just me....though.</p>