Hi all! My daughter has her heart 100% set on the University of Miami! So much so she doesn’t even want to look at any other schools. We live in NJ now but I lived in Miami through my entire 20’s and since she is mini me; I ABSOLUTELY SUPPORT her choice! My concern is the competitive acceptance rate. She fits the bill and is a “perfect match” (Princeton review) with her GPA, PSAT, many AP’s, leadership roles in clubs, varsity sports, and many years of a all kinds of community service; yet, I see others that also have ALL these things too but are not getting in these days. To make matters worse, she is a junior and the trend seems to be getting even more competitive with time. Is there some way to convey to the University, as a Junior, that there is such a passionate interest?
She should attend the Summer Scholars Program at University of Miami after her Junior year. It’s a three-week program in July. My son attended this year then applied ED to increase his chances. Like your daughter, it’s the only school he wants to attend.
The biggest problem with “dream schools” isn’t getting rejected. It’s actually getting accepted. There are two factors at play. Selectivity and affordability. As you are probably aware, the tuition is very expensive. If you have to co-sign private loans in order to pay tuition, then you simply can’t afford it. High debt is a sure setup for career failure. NEVER rely on the generosity of a financial aid department at any private school. Their incentive is to be cheap. It’s very common for students to get screwed by financial aid at the last minute, and end up spending their first semester at community college 
It happens every year like clockwork. If she TOTALLY has her heart set on Miami, you’ll want to keep some good affordable safety school options there.
If you see others with her profile getting rejected then she isn’t a perfect match. What leads you to believe interest makes a difference?
Part of your job is to insist that she find at least one safety, and ideally a couple of matches she’d be happy to attend and you can afford. This was not optional for my kids. You need to make it not optional for her. There are hundreds of other colleges she can consider. Certainly you can support her to apply early if you find it affordable. But you need to insist on reviewing and visiting more schools, and don’t join in the “dream school” thinking and discussion.
I echo the commenters saying to make sure your D has 2-3 safeties and 3-5 matches (and by definition there are no ‘perfect’ matches, in the guaranteed/high degree of certainty admission sense).
The U does consider demonstrated interest when making admissions decisions (https://www.pira.miami.edu/_assets/pdf/Documents/CDS1718.pdf), so your D should do as many of the typical ‘demonstrating interest’ activities as she can: sign-up for the email list, visit campus, attend a local admissions presentation, attend high school admissions presentation, etc.
I’d recommend that your D give up the idea of having one dream school and work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (run the net price calculator for each school) and that she would be happy to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two schools and then don’t get in.
In terms of expressing interest, nothing says the school is her top choice more than applying ED. Other that that I don’t think you need to go too crazy – UMaimi rates demonstrated interest as “considered” but not as “important” or “very important” (see section C) https://www.pira.miami.edu/_assets/pdf/Documents/CDS1718.pdf She can join the mailing list, go to any local presentation etc.
I’m so sorry people are being negative under this post. I think your daughter having a dream school is absolutely amazing, because it makes her work extra hard for it. UM is very competitive and selective, they don’t care much about if it’s your dream school, but if you have the grades and personality to fit in the school. All of the showing up to presentations or tour campuses do not matter to the admissions office, I promise you that. I’ve lived in Miami my whole life and everybody here knows it. I recommend her to have a very strong essay and if you know anyone who is an alumni and close to her, or at least knows her well enough to write a letter of recommendation. I was denied by my dream school my freshman year, Harvard, and I understood that it was a super selective school and that it was okay if I didn’t get accepted, because it probably meant that wasn’t for me as of now. Now I’m working extra hard to apply for law school and hopefully I will get accepted this time.
If money is an issue, it all depends on what she is studying. If she’s planning to go to law school or medical school, or any of those big money making paths. Then UM is a great school, because the alumni association is so strong and helpful for the future. If you qualify for full financial aid and are in a good academic standing, you would probably be left paying around 20k or even less if applied to other scholarships per year. That’s not so bad for a private school, and I didn’t grow up rich but my parents always taught me to not worry about the money I put into my education because I will be making much more in the future after law school.
I hope your daughter continues pursuing her dream and she becomes a cane, she will love it down here. Good luck to the both of you!
I am siding with the voice of reason not with the student poster above. As a parent that had been through this twice, make a list of reaches, matches and safeties. Having one school is not responsible parenting. Yes, have her go for it but also be realistic. My daughter really wanted to go to Emerson for her BFA and got accepted but didn’t get one of the 10 scholarships that would of made it affordable for us. She was heart broken but had excellent choices as her back ups. So been there, done that. Every year students on this forum don’t get into their “dream” schools and are devastated. It’s the parents responsibility to help these young adults set realistic expectations. Being out of state is going to be harder to get in. Support your daughter but don’t add fuel to the fire either. Trust me it’s a tough line to hold. My son is out of state at that other U of M school, (Michigan), where my wife went to. Merit came in and loving it. But he had solid other choices also.
I think it is great that she found a place she wants to be and work hard for it. During our process, our school used Naviance. It was a very good indicator of how our students faired with the application process with particular school. However, we have tried to temper our process with realism. We used some of the chance calculators mentioned on CC (which were pretty accurate). Showed ours their chances on admittance. We just made sure that they understood if they didn’t get in to their top choice they would have good alternatives. Look at the Common Data Set to see how much demonstrated interest is viewed. Good Luck!
Sometimes when a student is accepted at and enrols at her dream school there is disappointment once they realize that the school is not the perfect fit that they dreamed it was.
Being an out of state applicant at the[]_[] won’t make being admitted more difficult. It’s a private university!
Actually, most of the people we have at UM are from out of state. Lots of people come from up north, running away from the cold. I think her having her heart set to attend UM is awesome, but as her mom, if the worst case scenario were to be that she was not accepted, you just need to be there for her and she will soon get over it. We all have been rejected somewhere at least once in our life. Life goes on even if your dream school doesn’t accept you, but I love to see a parent supporting their kid about going to a school, specially out of state and far from home. I wish I would’ve had that blessing from my parents hahaha.
No one is saying don’t apply. What people are saying is to ask the kid to expand their list so they have other affordable options. Having choices in the spring is good.
I get it, and I’m not disagreeing with any of you. Your advice is very responsible and very truthful, but she never spoke about the financial situation. Perhaps it’s not an issue to them. But you did say to not jump on the “dream school thinking” and I think that is kind of messed up because she probably made this thread hoping to hear all types of positive feedback and everyone is shoving bills down her throat @intparent
@UMspringT… When the mother puts that her daughter doesn’t even want to apply to other schools etc since this is her dream school that just screams red flag. We would be disingenuous if we didn’t at least warn the parent /student. A lot of us have been there done that and seen kids hurt or families mortgaging their lives with loans that they will never be able to pay back. Lots of people are very unrealistic when it comes to college choices and costs. You can read the multitude of threads on CC about it.
It’s pretty simple parenting… Kids should have attainable choices /backups that they and their parents can afford. If that fits your “dream” school description then all the better.
I like your response, thank you for clarifying! @Knowsstuff
FWIW this poster hasn’t been back since starting this thread on 10/11
That is possible. But CC is not an echo chamber for people seeking confirmation of a decision or plan they have already made. Most parents and many students on CC will give honest opinions and feedback, even if it is not what the OP was hoping for.
Which I completely understand, and agree, but never did she mention finances and that’s all that’s been mentioned here…