Help Making Decision

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

<p>hello! I had been admitted as an Early Action applicant and well i'm sure a lot of you have had debates with UF vs. UM. To be frank, I know a ton of students who attend UF (I had visited last year for a few days) and I also had visited UM. I do not know many who go to UMiami so my exposure to the school is not as much as it is to UF. I loved UF's campus, but i was there for a few days. As for the UM campus, I hardly remember it but it was on a bad weather day (cloudy a little rain). Can anyone help me out with the whole process? I've been at square one for almost a month and need to make a decision soon.</p>

<p>Some questions i have are-
How are the crowds (I've heard that it is very stuck up, but I don't know how valid that is)?
Is the fact that the professors get to know you that big of an advantage (in learning)?
How's the community? (is it very competitive or more of a laid back vibe)?
Does the diversity enrich the experience?
last but not least,
does the cost for the school justify it's attendance?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot guys :]</p>

2

<p>How are the crowds (I’ve heard that it is very stuck up, but I don’t know how valid that is)?
-UM is a very diverse group of students while UF isn’t (and yes, some groups have a very stuck up attitude)</p>

<p>Is the fact that the professors get to know you that big of an advantage (in learning)?
-That is for you to decide. Are you the type of student who engages and forms ties with your teachers or sits back and just listens</p>

<p>How’s the community? (is it very competitive or more of a laid back vibe)?
-I would say they are both work hard play hard atmospheres.</p>

<p>Does the diversity enrich the experience?
-Once again, entirely up to you. Do you find diversity important to you?</p>

<p>Does the cost for the school justify it’s attendance?

  • Personally, I do not believe so. I decided to pay the big bucks over a scholarship because I didn’t see myself being as happy at the school with the lower cost. Then again, the lower costing school did not have the majors/programs I was interested in. It’s all about what you make of your experience but you just need to go with your gut. Maybe visit UM again and see what you think?</p>
3

<p>How are the crowds (I’ve heard that it is very stuck up, but I don’t know how valid that is)? Yes, it is a valid concern. While not everyone is stuck up, there is a sizable population at UM that is.</p>

<p>Is the fact that the professors get to know you that big of an advantage (in learning)?
Yes, that is an advantage, small class sizes are a plus at UM.</p>

<p>How’s the community? (is it very competitive or more of a laid back vibe)? I think the school tends to attrack a more competitive population.</p>

<p>Does the diversity enrich the experience? Yes, it is nice to have the opportunity to meet fellow students from all over the country and the world.</p>

<p>does the cost for the school justify it’s attendance? In my opinion, no, it does not. I would choose UF over UM. UF has the higher ranking, a great reputation and while maybe not as much of a geographic diversity, will surely have more of an economic diversity than UM.</p>

4

<p>Crowds are very, very varied. You can find every type of person. This has also been discussed extensively in this forum, so if you want more detail just do a search. UF will be far more homogeneous.</p>

<p>Yes. For me, getting to know my professors is one of the best parts of the learning experience. If you ever plan to apply to graduate school or professional school (med/law), this is obviously invaluable, but it can also work in your favor when seeking employment. Plus it’s just fun to be able to pick the brains of such intelligent people.</p>

<p>It depends on what school you’re in. In the Biology program, most of the classes are weighted, so there is some degree of competitiveness. Still, there is a generally laid back atmosphere - we’re in Miami!</p>

<p>And, yes. I personally value diversity a ton. UM has an incredibly diverse population, so diverse that it even allows non-minority students to apply for certain minority military scholarships (awesome, right?) But, as far as the experience is concerned, I feel it’s good to get to know people who are unlike oneself in socioeconomic status and culture.</p>

<p>As for cost, I think that depends. I would have to say that, to me, even if I were to not have any scholarships, it would. For other people, that might depend. UM is a unique school in that it is both small, but has an extremely large array of programs, clubs, and resources available to it. Still, this depends entirely on your economic situation, whether your got any scholarships from UM, whether or not you’ll have any outside scholarships, what you intend to major in, and what your plans for the future are.</p>

<p>The UM vs. UF situation has been discussed almost as much as the variance of crowds question in the forum, so taking a poke around might help you to make your decision. Good luck, and hope to see you at the U next year.</p>

5

<p>I have received some scholarship to UM (16 grand) and whatever brightfutures, and a grant. Economic situation for myself isn’t horrible, I don’t have any siblings so the resources are their for me. I just don’t want to end up spending more at UM if UF offers the same kind of thing (if that makes sense). Although UM offers things that could mean a lot to me (an hour away from home and family), close class sizes, and the opportunities that can be found in Miami. I plan on going into Pre-Med (at the moment) but would Pre-Med at Miami give me a leg up?</p>

6

<p>Both schools have good pre-med programs. Do well at either and you’ll get into a good med school. I also have the $16k scholarship, in addition to a few outside scholarships (FRAG + some others) and it comes out to be about equal to what UF would’ve cost me. If the prices are similar between the two, then it all comes down to how you feel about each school. Honestly, from an academic perspective (which is what you care about for pre-med), I’ve heard the schools are practically identical. Both have high quality academics. The main differences, I would suppose, lie in the atmosphere, size, and location. Also, if you’re interested in research at all (good for applying to professional school :slight_smile: ), I know here at UM we have lots of research opportunities available. I don’t know how it is at UF, but this might be something to ask in their forum.</p>

7

<p>I know UF has a lot of research opportunities… Hmm this gets tougher and tougher.
How is the whole walking to class? Is it absurd? How about the extra curricular activities? I know I would like to join the Indian student association.</p>

8

<p>How are the crowds: You will find every type of person at Miami from down-to-earth to stuck-up. Since I don’t know what you define as stuck-up it’s hard to say “how” stuck-up any campus is.</p>

<p>Is the fact that the professors get to know you that big of an advantage? This is a huge advantage just as it’s a huge advantage to have your boss know you’re doing good work. Knowing your professors opens doors to more research opportunities as well as job and internship situations. A professor who knows you and your strengths and weaknesses can often direct you to opportunities that others may never know about.</p>

<p>How’s the community? My son has never spoken of any back-stabbing sabotage incidents. He was a Marine Sciences/Biology double major and if anything pointed out times when people were helping each other.</p>

<p>Does the diversity enrich the experience? Yes, different views like different flavors only enhance an experience.</p>

<p>does the cost for the school justify it’s attendance? What is the difference in your total annual cost? Is the difference $30K or $5K? At $30K per year then I’d say no, you aren’t going to learn/have a better experience at Miami that is worth $120,000 over 4 years. If the difference is $5K per year then I think it’s worth strongly considering a smaller environment.</p>

<p>How is the whole walking to class? What? Is that a joke? If it takes you 20 minutes to walk across campus at Miami it’s because you stopped and talked to a few friends along the way. Do you prefer the idea of needing a shuttle bus to get to your classes? Besides, the weather’s nice, take your time and check out the scenery.</p>

9

<p>Thanks Vinceh for the input, and yes i thought I’d throw in a little humor with the walking distance question (since i hear about 30 minute walks from some of my friends from UF).</p>

<p>As for the difference, there would be about a 11-13k difference between the two.</p>

10

<p>Glad that was a joke, lol. But, if your curious, it takes 1-10 minutes to get to class from the Freshman dorms, depending on where your classes are. The architecture and music schools are, literally, a one minute walk away… while the Biology building is like 10 minutes away (or 15 minutes if you’re really sleepy, lol).</p>

11

<p>“How are the crowds (I’ve heard that it is very stuck up, but I don’t know how valid that is)?”</p>

<p>I did a campus visit and I didn’t meet any stuck up people.</p>

<p>“Is the fact that the professors get to know you that big of an advantage (in learning)?”</p>

<p>The advantage is that you get to know your professors moreso than you would at UF. I know that in UF, a class of 700 students might only have 600 seats. So if you don’t get to class early, you’d have to walk back to your dorm to see the lecture on a screen.</p>

<p>“How’s the community? (is it very competitive or more of a laid back vibe)?”</p>

<p>Work Hard Party Harder.</p>

<p>“Does the diversity enrich the experience?”</p>

<p>Well, I enter next semester, but if youre looking for diversity Miami is the place. I know that in classes such as marketing, international students will explain how some marketing techniques that work in the US might not work there. UM prepares you to be a citizen of the world.</p>

<p>“does the cost for the school justify it’s attendance?”</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be able to answer that. Lets just say I think it does</p>

12

<p>Thanks guys!</p>

<p>Keep the input coming :]</p>

<p>Greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>How are the classes at UM (as in classes available) is there a lot of fun/open minded classes to take?</p>

<p>Also, anyone in any interesting clubs?</p>

13

<p>I’m in a few clubs… The Volunteer LINK, a volunteer organization on campus; Solutions Interdisciplinary Forum, where we talk about stuff over lunch on Fridays with a few other students and professors, and a little bit with the Community Garden. There are lots of other clubs, too, like scuba club, stem cell research club, the marine mammal stranding team, and One in a Million. The SLC, which coordinates all volunteer organizations, seems to have at least 30 registered organizations. There are tons. If you want info on specific orgs, just ask. We do have a ton of cultural organizations, too… basically one for every nationality that exists on campus.</p>

<p>And I think all my classes are fun… but i’m a bit geeky, lol.</p>

14

<p>That’s all good! Have you heard of any quirky/exciting sounding classes? </p>

<p>Since the school itself costs a lot of money, is it a lot of money to join these clubs?</p>

15

<p>The entire course listing for the school is online:</p>

<p><a href=“Sign In”>Sign In;

16

<p>Right now I’m in an english class called "About **<strong><em>"… we’re examining whether or not academic writing is, in fact, </em></strong> (as highschoolers always stereotype it). In this case, we use ******** to mean overly verbose or wordy writing. (And the course name is About Bullsh.t… although, due to language concerns, it was actually shortened to “About BS” in the catalog) It’s quite a quirky course, and it fulfills my english requirement. Some courses have quirky teachers, which make the courses themselves quirky… in most departments professors have to stick to a certain amount of set curriculum, but beyond that they can vary it with their interests. So, in my BIO 150 class, we also looked at biology of aging and some biology of mind, even though it wasn’t technically in the curriculum. There are some really cool courses, I recommend checking out that list which SVMMom gave you.</p>

<p>The clubs that I’m in are free… some clubs, like scuba club, have a membership fee (really steep… $50 I think)… but that’s totally worth it, because you get scuba equipment ridiculously cheap. Sororities and Fraternities have memberships fees. I don’t think any of them are tooooo high, though, and if they are they’re definitely worth it because of what you get out of it. Any specific clubs you wanted to inquire about? Because I can easily get you the info on their fees, etc. There’s also a database of studorgs, though it’s not often used. The link is here: [COSO</a> Groups - Powered by CollegiateLink](<a href=“http://um.collegiatelink.net/Community?action=getOrgBrowse&searchType=Contains&searchValue=&searchField=orgName&orderByField=name&sortOrder=0&firstResult=0&maxResults=25]COSO”>http://um.collegiatelink.net/Community?action=getOrgBrowse&searchType=Contains&searchValue=&searchField=orgName&orderByField=name&sortOrder=0&firstResult=0&maxResults=25)</p>

<p>Some might have their fees published online, others might not. According to the database, there are 265 registered orgs! It doesn’t surprise me, I guess, it’s just a big number! :)</p>

17

<p>Sounds fun actually and thanks for the resources guys!</p>

<p>How are the professors themselves? Do they know what they are talking about or is it more of a “sit down and listen” kind of vibe? I understand that the class sizes make things much more different but it was just a thought. Is it easy to get help? </p>

<p>Also, what kind of unique events have happened on campus? Like I’ve heard that there was lighted tents one time?</p>

18

<p>The professors definitely know what they are talking about, but I think this will be the case wherever you go. If you want help, all professors have set office hours where you can come in and get one-on-one assistance. Additionally, the University offers free tutoring in most introductory courses.</p>

<p>I’m not sure what you mean by lighted tents… but, as you can see in SVMMom’s other post, CGIU is coming here in just a few weeks. Homecoming is pretty amazing, and CNL sponsors various activities. They recently had a fake ice skating rink along with other fun things one night out in front of the UC. Several times every semester there are community service days, such as Ghandi Day of Service and FunDay, where a large portion of the campus comes together and helps support the Miami community.</p>

<p>Maybe by the lighted tents, you mean the tents they set up out in front of Richter during exams. Yes, they have those. There’re lots of things that go on, constantly. Check out Canes Calendar for info on recent events (a google search should bring it right up).</p>

19

<p>Right! i had visited the campus today, it was really nice.</p>

<p>I have a question regarding financial aid, if you receive a grant, does that grant apply all 4 years of your attendance to the university?</p>

20

<p>mangoman23, yes, that applied automatically for the 1st two years at UM. Then for the last 2 years you have to keep your grades up to keep the grants. </p>

<p>Do international students easily integrate into UM? Or does that depend?</p>

<p>Also, does anyone here know if the Business Department is challenging? I got accepted into the Entrepreneurial Studies major, now weighing it against Babson.</p>