SAT- 1240 (620-620)
unweighted gpa- 3.8
2 AP’s
5 honors
Competitive HS
National Honors Society
4 years baseball
Habitat for Humanity (100 hours)
Operation Smile (four years)
Stock Market Club (two years)
Bird watching Club (one year)
Copy-written Writer
Golf Caddie (3 years)
The Presidential Scholarships (with annual money up to $26k) are relatively easy for admitted students to get. I have read that up to 40% of admitted students receive merit money. They are awarded on a discretionary basis. Your SAT may be a bit low for admissions, though. However, my son got the top award and did not submit SAT scores when he applied, as he was an international applicant.
Somewhere in all the information that has been sent to D1 (incoming freshmen) over this past spring and summer, I saw that the ACT middle 50% for the UM class of 2021 was 30-33.
I was admitted into the Class of 2021 with a 27 ACT
@Cane615 what was your gpa? You have given my S hope!
Your GPA is good, however your SAT maybe too low to receive any scholarships and since UM is 60K a year, any scholarship would be helpful. I would recommend retaking the SAT, if you want the presidential scholarship, and maybe retaking it just to be safe, as admissions are becoming more and more competitive.
@Cane615 Did you receive any merit money from UM?
My GPA was 3.5-3.8 depending if it was unwighted or waited. I did not receive scholarship money. If any of you or your kids are dead set on UM as your number one choice than I encourage you to apply early decision, like I did, if you know you can afford it.
@cane615 thank you for your reply. Your stats are similar to my S. He has 3.5 UW (school doesn’t weight) and 1260 SAT. He want to apply ED. We can afford it but I am not sure if it makes sense. We are trying to find other schools he likes but in his mind nothing compares to UM!
^ Just my two cents worth as a UM parent. If your son does apply ED and is admitted, you run the risk of not receiving any merit aid at a school where less than 20% of the kids pay the full cost. UM is an okay school but frankly there is nothing to distinguish it academically from its peer schools. You could always apply EA and at least have the opportunities to compare offers from similar schools.
Every college is different and everyone has a different opinion of each school. If UM is your absolute, non-flexible, locked-in first choice then apply ED if you know you can afford it without aid. That’s obviously a big if. Many people especially marine biology people will find an opportunity like no other at UM, but certain peer institutions might be better for other people in their opinion. If your one of the latter, apply EA or RD.
This might be helpful to you. http://admissions.miami.edu/undergraduate/application-process/class-profile/freshman-class-profile/index.html
And from what I can tell the numbers go up just a little each year. I also saw in the while on campus last week that the acceptance rate for Class of 2021 was 36% of applicants and that they took twice as many ED applicants this year (consistent with a similar rise in the number of ED applicants). Sorry, no link for these last two facts.
Thanks for the info on ED. It will be a tough decision whether to apply ED or EA. My S has not found a school he prefers over UMiami.
“Many people especially marine biology people will find an opportunity like no other at UM, but certain peer institutions might be better for other people”
Good point. I would recommend for potential Miami applicants to check out the individual programs at Miami before applying ED as it may be able to find better and/or cheaper programs at your in-state universities.
Agreed that ED is a giant commitment (whether UM or elsewhere). My son did not apply ED anywhere. Just seemed like too big a decision to make without knowing all options. Unclear whether kid number 2 will do so. One other thing that I would point out is that I don’t actually think only 20% pay full tuition at Miami. I think the number is higher than that. I could certainly be wrong (no expertise claimed here), but I read this link http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1047 to say that 38.5% did not even apply for aid, and that of the 61.5% that did, 45.6 were found not to have need. By my math that means 1941 students in freshman class either did not seek aid or were found ineligible. Looks like 876 of that group received merit aid. Leaving 1065, i.e. 40%, receiving no aid of any type. Not sure if this makes the school more or less desirable. But the 20% number above just seemed low to me . . .
^ I need to dig out my
numbers but I had calculated that approximately 80% of undergraduates receive either merit aid or need-based aid. I asked my son about this and he thinks that that number sounds appropriate.
I believe the information used on collegedata.com is from the Common Data Set so it should be fairly accurate.
When do the most recent Common Data Sets get released? I think the last one I saw was for 16-17 so last year’s numbers aren’t in those figures. Also, they breakdown the ACT number with Composite/Math/English. They could look at those numbers individually as well as how they fit into the composite number. So, if you did well on those 2 areas, it could help. There are a couple of schools have indicated they look at the students applications with that in mind. I am sorry but I cannot say if UMiami is or is not one of them. Don’t forget to use your school’s naviance. It might help to see what students scored in your region to get in. Good Luck and best wishes!
hello, i am an international student too, could you inform me which scholarship he recieved or how much it was valued at??