<p>I notice there are not many posts on this forum. My son is interested in Miami, and I'd like t hear how people like it, especially the Farmer School. he's direct admit to Kelley and has already received a scholarship at IU, so that's another great option. Can anyone provide insight to Farmer? he will get between 1/2 and full tuition there.
Thanks</p>
<p>Our son is a freshman at Miami and got the full tuition (OOS) scholarship. His decision came down to Miami v. U of Illinois (Urbana/Champaign) - it was an easy choice in his case, but to be fair that’s also because Miami has a special program he wanted and they made it worth our while. Nonetheless, it was the culture, the feel of the place, that really sold us. I can’t speak to Farmer v Kelley in terms of undergrad B school, but what I can tell you is that our experience (he went as a computer science major with a focus on game design) so far has been very positive. Miami is all about the quality of the undergrad education. Period.
Both of my parents went to IU and I grew up knowing and visiting - and liking - that campus. It’s beautiful, but then so is Miami. The difference is the level of care that your child will get from the faculty at Miami. At IU, even boosters will admit it’s easy to get lost. At Miami, especially for kids who are on that scholarship track, they take care of them. My son has four(!) advisors; honors, general academic (living in the dorm!), a major advisor, and a minor advisor. He’s not the type to be especially pro-active in seeking help but Miami makes sure - at least from his experience - that it happens. There is a reason that MU gets ranked by USNWR every year as around #3 in “Undergraduate Teaching” - after Dartmouth and Princeton - it’s what they do, undergrad teaching in general and Farmer in particular. Farmer is what you hear about a lot during the parent/prospective student events, it’s definitely part of Miami’s brand identity.
My impression (no one has said this overtly) is that the school basically says to faculty, well, research and publishing are nice and everything, but your job is to teach, to be in the classroom. There are exceptions at every school but from what we can tell the typical Miami professor is engaged with their students, the class sizes are nearly all small (25 or less), and they are very approachable. I don’t know about the honors program at IU; I’m sure they get some special treatment/access, but I can’t see how it could be as pervasive as what they get at Miami. Culturally it has seemed to us to really be more like a liberal arts college that happens to be a state university. Between my wife and I, our son would have been a legacy applicant at Georgetown, U of Virginia, Northwestern and the U of Chicago - and our NMS son didn’t apply to any of them and we are (cliche but true) thrilled with Miami, we really feel like we got lucky and couldn’t have asked for better for him.
Of course, as they say, “your mileage may vary” but that’s been our experience so far.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your thoughts.</p>
<p>Our daughter is a senior in the FSB and has loved her entire experience at Miami. She has been active in the Business Consulting club since her freshman year and feels like that has provided her with a lot of practical experience. She will be leaving next month for her second study abroad program. And most importantly to her mom and me, she had an internship last Summer that led to the job she will start after graduation. The personal experience that a Miami undergrad gets is second to none.</p>