Hurricanes - effecting decisions of applicants/students

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

<p>Maybe parents of students currently at Miami can help me with this.</p>

<p>I've already applied to Miami for Early Action (non-binding), but i'm almost certain that my parents won't let me attend because of the threat of Hurricanes and how the number and the strength of them has been increasing over the years.</p>

<p>I would like to go there, but share their concern. Hurricanes aren't fun to deal with, and can be disasterous. I've never experienced a hurricane in my life, and after seeing what they can do, i'm not sure I want to.</p>

<p>What can you guys tell me to help convince that hurricanes aren't that bad, specifically with how the university handles the situation? How have your s/d's dealt with the situation? What is their current mindset when dealing with the hurricanes?</p>

2

<p>I went to Miaim Law school many moons ago.Univ of Miami is NOT near any ocean or lake.Moreover, they aren't in a flood zone. Thus, there is little to zero chance of flooding,which is the major problem with Hurricanes.</p>

<p>Yes, you can have a tornado and high winds. However, you can have earthquakes in California, which are much more likely than being hit with a Tornada. In additin, Miami have safe places to go if there were a tornado.</p>

<p>Bottom line: I wouldn't worry about the weather there at all.</p>

3

<p>Well, we just got hit by wilma from around 2AM yeaterday to 2PM with the worst being around 6-7AM. Basically this is how it works in the freshman towers (I'm in Stanford Rosborough). About 3-4 days before the hurricane is expected to "land" on us every floor has a mandatory meeting with their RA. He'll tell you all the basic precautions (shut your shutters, move any electronics away from the windows just in case, don't open the stairwell doors as the rooms next to them will flood cause of rain, etc.). About 2 days before we get an email from a hurricane advisory group or something like that. The emails let us know if the unviersity will be open the following day. If you PM me I could give you a link to the actually email so you can show your parents.</p>

<p>What really sucked was that power went out from 6AM to about 8-9PM. We were all so bored but we foudn thigns to do (manhunt in the building, hide-n-seek, poker, go outside play frisbee, throw a football, etc.) At 6PM they gave out either P&B or ham and cheese sandwiches with a oatmeal cookies, poptarts, a bottle of water, more cookies, some granola bar, and some other things. They didnt' taste great but it got us through the day (dining hall was closed and since power was out nothing in anyone's fridge was cold). </p>

<p>Another thing, for katrina power went out for like 3 min. Yesterday the elevators still worked and it really wasn't THAT big a deal (every brought out their laptops and we watched DVDs at night after the 7PM hurricane curfew). </p>

<p>The "towers are made to withstand 300mph winds and survive a 150 year flood line. This is probably one of the safest places to be during a hurricane. I mean, for Katrina we had power when the rest of the city, hell even the holiday inn across ponce blvd, didn't have power." (exactly what my RA said).</p>

<p>Hurricanes are not that bad. If we're not on floor lockdown (happens when the elevators are shut down and they don't want you walking the 4ft long balconies in fear that something my happen in the 2 seconds it takes you to walk it, or if the opening of the stair doors posses a serious flooding problem), then all the girls and guys walk around and you make a lot of new friends. Yesterday I walked into a room that had 14 kids singing while some guy played an acoustic. It was awesome.</p>

<p>The best part (I guess) is that you usually get 2-3 days off from school while they clean up the campus. So all tests/quizzes are postponed (I heard for some classes they just skip them all together as to not bog down the schedule). </p>

<p>Like I said if you're parents want to see the email with all the things they send every student, PM me and I'll help you out.</p>

4

<p>A2Wolves...mag00 gave you a great account from a students perspective, perhaps I can help from a parents perspective. Our son has rode out 5 of them. (Francis,Jeanne,Katrina,Rita and Wilma). First let me say that you learn very quickly how to prepare when you get to Florida. A lot of the devestation you see, is flooding, and once again, while there may be some ponding of water, you won't see the total destruction flooding at UM. Secondly, UM takes their hurricane warning's very seriously. The RA's and DA's take classes prior to the semester starting, learning how to handle the situation. The school also keeps in great touch with us parents. Unlike the midwest, where tornados pop up quite often, a hurricane is easily monitored, and if a big one is heading there, there is always time to get out if one so desires. I felt good knowing son actually had more hurricane stong building around him during Jeanne than we did at the time. </p>

<p>If you'd like to PM me as well, I too would be glad to talk with your parents directly by e-mail. Or if their not comfortable doing that, have them check out the "Parent Connection" listings on the UMiami web site. They should be able to find other parents names and phone numbers, from Michigan who are willing to answer any questions or concerns they might have.</p>

5

<p>My S came from the Pacific NW and knew nothing of hurricanes. The school is very attentive as 1tcm noted, and the kids remain quite safe and comfortable. My S called last night and said he saw UM President Donna Shalala twice on the campus after the hurricane, walking around to check things out and to touch in with the students. He spoke with her both times.</p>

<p>At one point, my S considered flying home because classes were cancelled (other schools have snow days; UM has hurricane days!) but it would have been hard and expensive to get him home. I called the Student Affiars Office to see what it would be like if he stayed, and they assured me 1) many kids were staying, and 2) they were really safest staying there because the airport was a zoo and much of South Florida still had no power, so just getting to the airport would be a challenge.</p>

<p>Of all the safety issues a parent of a college kid sould be concerned about, hurricanes at the U of Miami should be low down on the list! I also will be happy to talk to/email your folks or any other nervous parents.</p>

6

<p>Man I regret not going home for Wilma though. I could been home for a week and 4 days!</p>