I got accepted into Miami U and received an invite to the Presidential Fellows Program Scholarship Showcase in February. I went to their “Red Brick Roadshow” the other day and was rather unimpressed. I’m interested in Statistics and Data Science, so I also applied into the M&S Scholars program (which I’m assuming I’m going to be admitted to based on my invite to the Showcase?). I’ve so far received admission to Northeastern Honors, UMass Amherst Honors, and UVM Honors. I’m awaiting decisions from Ivies, UCLA/B, CMU, and others. Is it worth it to continue looking into Miami U? I can understand alumni defending them strongly, but when I talked to my guidance counselor, he had never heard of them, which was a red flag to me. Any advice would be great, thanks!
I can’t help but thinking the answer is similar to the parable of the two travelers
My best piece of advice to you would be to just keep your options open. It sounds like you really have a lot going for you, and of course know that you don’t have to fully invest in one school over the other. Whether you attend the event for Miami U or not really is up to you, but I think I’d just weigh in all factors including the scholarship benefits that come with attending, the campus, and whether you TRULY would go to the school at the end of the day. I almost feel as if you’re probably more set on the other schools you’ve gotten into and applied to, some of which obviously offer better academics. If your gut tells you it isn’t worth going to the event, don’t go. You’ve got so many great options to choose from, so congrats!!
The fact that your GC has never heard of Miami University is a huge red flag. You might be better off navigating your college search without input from your GC moving forward.
Sure Miami of Ohio is “any good”. It’s better than good. It’s well known (despite your GC). Plenty of students go on to do tremendous things.
If your question is it better than UVM honors or the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. Your current choices. If they were all the same price, I would be UMass then UVM and then Miami of Ohio from an academic standpoint. For lifestyle it would be UVM.
If you receive an acceptance to UCLA and Cal they are considered more elite academically than UM/Amherst or UVM.
And if prices are not equal then you need to factor that in as well.
If you’d like to compare Miami to other schools based upon indications of the academic preparation of incoming students, then Miami, 139th nationally in the analysis below, does compare favorably to schools such as UMass (189th) and UVM (225th).
https://amp.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9
Like becoming POTUS (Harrison) or Speaker of the House (Ryan) or Governor (DeWine)
If you prefer football your list would be:
Bo Schembechler, Ben Roethlisberger and Paul Brown
Agree with @merc81 As I said Miami of Ohio is a really good school. The ranking above is good. And usnwr has UMass at 70 and Miami at 97 or so. And for public unis. UMass is tied at 26 and Miami of Ohio is 42. So pick your poison. All are good.
Since you talking about honors college, it’s whole different ballgame. I would bet my last nickel the commonwealth honors students are off the charts prepared for college. That’s your group.
Add Super Bowl Coach Sean McVay to the above “football” list!
My son started at Miami in 2015. He is from Arizona and his roommate in the honors dorm is from Virginia. My son majored in bioengineering (ME minor) and his roommate majored in business. Now both are graduating in May. My son has been admitted to graduate programs at both UCSD and Georgia Tech (tied for second in US News’ rankings of graduate engineering). His roommate is heading to Wall Street in investment banking. So yes, Miami is a very good university that has prepared them well for life after college. So despite your GC not having heard of Miami, top graduate schools and Wall Street investment bankers seem to hold a Miami degree in high regard. And, both students loved their time in Oxford.
Thanks! It’s good to hear that their other programs (other than econ/business, that is) are also reputable. I’m not too interested in what football players they’ve put out, but knowing that successful engineers come out of Miami is really helpful.
Right now it’s my daughter’s favorite school, and she got into schools that are higher ranked and better known.The more we have researched Miami and talked to tons of people and read various reviews we found that this is one pretty great school on many levels. My one and only concern is that being from the east coast I know my D will have to explain to everyone that it’s “the one in OH, not FL”. Otherwise, the outcomes look great. Farmer grads get into good grad schools and get jobs in the Northeast if that’s what they want. The campus is a lovely or lovelier than many of the private schools we’ve seen. The size is great, not too big and not too small. It bothers me that lots of people in my city have never heard of it, but if that’s where my decides she wants to go then I will have to get over that.
@citymama9 your post makes me laugh, because I know that all too well. you’ll get over that easily enough, but your D will be going through that explanation for the rest of her life. I went to Washington University. Back then, a lot less known (at least here in the east), so I’d get someone saying GW, how do you like DC…nope…or wow, you went out to Washington state…nope… Now our older D goes to Grinnell College and everyone usually hears it as Cornell and then that requires further explanation. Now our younger D is looking at Miami (OH). We could wind up with 3 of us to go to schools in the midwest that all frequently require explanation.
We are looking forward to seeing the campus in another 2 weeks. I don’t know if it’s going to move up the list, but based on the facts that it does meet the profile of the school she wants very well and the lower net cost, hopefully she does give it a fair shot.
@lexluthor5 Now your post made me laugh. The solution is to move to the midwest after graduating, and for my husband and I to move to OH if that 's where she goes so we never have to explain ourselves. As for Washington Univ you have to add St. Louis to it. That’s the only way:)
What I get when I tell people I went to UT-Austin is, “Oh, you’re an Aggie?” OMG, no!!! 
How can a guidance counselor, with any experience, have not have heard of Miami University?