<p>So I just found out that I was accepted into the University of Miami, which was my other top choice school. I have come to the ultimate decision that I will either attend University of Alabama or Miami. I have already visited Alabama and loved it! I will go down to Miami some time in March. I was just wondering if anyone could give their opinions on the situation and share things that they may like or dislike about either school (campus, classes, housing, dining, nightlife, etc...). This thread will probably be posted under both schools.</p>
<p>I think maybe it would be more productive for you to tell us what YOU are looking for in a school. That way we can see if your idea of a great fit for you, matches with Miami.</p>
<p>Read through some of the old threads also. There is a lot of discussion already on the merits and drawbacks of Miami.</p>
<p>Biology (Premed) Major
warm weather
good distance from home (Chicago)
good overall academics
several study abroad programs
strong school traditions
easy to make friends
warm, inviting welcome
good surrounding area
plenty of things to do
not feeling like i’m just a number</p>
<p>i think that quite sums it up!</p>
<p>As promised, 2smart, I’ll give you some insights on Miami from a geographical standpoint.</p>
<p>Remember, I graduated 30 years ago, so I don’t know how transportation and such is nowadays, but the campus is still located in the same place and the City of Miami is still in the same place, so I can help you out with those.</p>
<p>Coral Gables is not in the City of Miami. It is a suburb of Miami. You will fly in to Miami Airport, most likely, then will have to cab it to campus. The school may now offer a shuttle service.</p>
<p>The beach was not easy to get to if you did not have a car. Back in my day, there was only the bus system, which was terrible. I used to have to take three buses to get to Crandon Park, the nearest public beach, but now there is a light rail, so public transportation may have improved.</p>
<p>There is no football stadium on campus. I only attended football games after I joined a sorority and had friends with cars. I do not believe there is a football stadium on campus now, although the football program is a lot better now than it was when I attended.</p>
<p>There is a baseball stadium near campus, and Miami usually has an awesome baseball team, so if you like baseball, it’s a great place to see a game.</p>
<p>I lived my entire time in the freshman high rise dorms, double room with community bathroom. My dorm window looked out onto Lake Oceola. This was the best thing about the campus, that lake. I was on the tenth floor, so could see the fish swimming deep in the lake and could see the herons nesting in the trees. It was a great experience for the nature lover like me. I took ornithology and wetlands ecology and marine science and got to study in the Everglades and travel throughout South Florida for field trips in both swampland and the Keys. </p>
<p>The temperature never went lower than 67 degrees. I actually was on campus during two hurricanes, where we were fine in our dorms. The cafeteria sent up cold cuts and sandwich makings. We may have lost power. I remember us all hanging out in the hallway. But as long as you didn’t go out in the hurricane force winds, you were fine. You’re not near a large body of water, so there wasn’t flooding on campus.</p>
<p>As I said, I attended 30 years ago. Tuition was much cheaper, even comparatively speaking, back then, although my final year, there was a dramatic increase in tuition. The student body changed that year, as more affluent kids dressed in designer clothers arrived that fall semester. </p>
<p>As for Greek life, there were fraternity houses on the edge of campus, and sororities had meeting rooms in a classroom building. I doubt that there are sorority houses now, though I could be wrong. If so, they would have had to have been built after my time. I don’t remember any black fraternities or sororities on campus. Greek was not big there when I was there.</p>
<p>Back in my day, extremely diverse campus. Lots of people from South America and the Middle East. I had many friends from Venezuela, Brazil, Jamaica, Haiti, and had many math and science courses with students from Libya and other Middle Eastern countries. I worked in the cafeteria, which also employed a large number of local Hispanics and African Americans. There were a large number of New York/New Jersey students, but I had many friends from Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, other midwestern states, who were drawn there for the Marine Science program. </p>
<p>Because I was a science major and had to work to pay tuition, I can’t say too much for the nightlife, other than the great on campus entertainment, which included free movies, plays, free concerts, both small and big name acts, and the great pool on campus, for daytime activity, but I was there before South Beach and all the stars came to Miami. There was a good bit of crime in the city when I was there, but I felt safe and insulated being on campus. But again, this was 30 years ago and I don’t know how the surrounding area is nowadays.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. Good luck on your college decision!</p>
<p>A girl in my sorority is from Alabama. She went to Miami for a year, then transferred to Alabama and HATED it. She wound up coming back to Miami after a semester. I’ve never been to Alabama so I can only relay what she said about the school.</p>
<p>Basically, it seems as though Bama is your typical huge, southern, public school. Classes are huge, and almost everyone is from Alabama or at least the Deep South. She loves our sorority here, but hated it at Alabama. Our Miami chapter has about 110 girls, where the Alabama one has almost 300. And you pretty much have to be Greek at Bama. She’s from Alabama and her whole family went to UAB, but after being in Miami for a year, she felt extremely left out at Bama. Being from Chicago, you may feel very left out. Miami has tons of kids from the Chicago area, and the north in general. Even though it’s technically located in the South, it is very much a northern school.</p>
<p>This probably sounds biased towards Miami (that’s because I go there and I love it haha), but that’s just my second-hand account of what Alabam is like. Like I said before, I’ve never been there, so take what I said with that in mind.</p>
<p>Well, after visiting University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, I enjoyed it. I didn’t feel out of place or anything but that may be because I visit the South often. Most of my family lives down there (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana). My main concern was that I would miss some of the amenities that a large city has to offer. Miami appealed to me because it was in a suburb but still close to a metropolitan area and was near the ocean which is a large selling point since Chicago is right on Lake Michigan. Tuscaloosa does have a lot to offer though, I’ve seen much worst areas in the Deep South. Alabama just falls short of Miami.</p>
<p>MiamiCane2010:
As a current student, how has your experience been so far? What year are you? Is it worth the large price tag? Do you have family nearby, if not was it hard to transition? What are some of your favorite school traditions?</p>
<p>2smart, you have to pop over to the bad dorms thread and see rob’s pictures of his view from his dorm room. Absolutely gorgeous.</p>
<p>I’m a senior and I absolutely love this school. Whether or not it’s worth the price I don’t know yet because I haven’t actually started paying for it haha. But I’m going to be paying off loans til I’m 80. Whatever, I’ve had a great time and I wouldn’t have traded my college experience for anything.
I do have family up in Fort Lauderdale, but I pretty much never see them. The transition was fine, I mean I guess it would be the same as if I went away to any other school. I’m from New York, so it’s not like I had to transition into a city or anything (it was actually more of the opposite - only one train???).
I love how UM is in a city, but not really. I love the closed campus (we don’t have to wait at lights while walking to class, there aren’t streets and cars everywhere). The best thing about UM is that it has everything a large school has to offer without being a large school. We have pretty much every major and a large athletic program (although not quite as large as big state schools), but you never feel like a number here. I have one class that has 60 students but that’s because it’s a silly 100-level general science class. Every semester I have classes with 8-12 students, an average class I would say has about 30, and there are a few large lectures. And when I say large I mean like 150 students, not 500 like you’d find at some state schools.
As far as traditions I just love going to football and baseball games. Football isn’t as crazy here as it probably is at UAB, but we still tailgate and the games are still a great time. There’s a lot of _ pride and everything on campus is Orange and Green.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>