@lexluthor5 Yes - the student union was phenomenal, was not expecting it. We did not get to see the renovated dorm unfortunately.
VT = Virginia Tech for us. Same here for us regarding UVM - it was on the early list but was dropped.
@dcnatfan ok, makes sense on VT vs UVM. Hopefully, you have a good visit there and have multiple great options. If you want a few pics of the renovated Anderson dorm, pm me your email and Iāll send over. The first floor lounge was great and then there were smaller lounges on each floor. Not sure if we have a pictures of the rooms we saw though
@lexluthor5 I still think VT is too large for her (35,000) v. Miami (20,000) but we will see. We are also going to visit JMU (assuming she gets accepted, we should hear next week after being deferred EA) again on our way to VT. Plus we are also going back to Pitt and maybe UDel.
After yesterday my money is on Miami.
We attended a Make it Miami day in February. We both really wanted to love the school, but we both left not liking it at all. They are very generous in their merit aid which is why, as an OOS student, we could afford it, but we couldnāt get past how non-diverse the student body is, which is very important to my son. He wants to major in zoology, but all of the talks were focused on the business school and liberal arts. We couldnāt tour the biology building as it was under renovation. All in all, we were underwhelmed and left knowing that he would not make it Miami.
@shkaufman My daughter was accepted to Miami as a Zoology major, with great merit and is OOS. We plan on visiting the first week of April. I want her see Miami first hand so she can make an informed decision. We are from California so Miami is a little far, but the COA is great. I appreciate your review of Miami. What other schools is your son considering?
@01kids03 Hi! We are coming back from Make It Miami day today. My D was also accepted to the CEC. We left with more questions than answers!
We got that there seemed great access to professors and ability to double major and ungrad research.
It felt like we had a better feel off engineering colleges at other schools and that they appear more in google searches outside the universityās website.
Just curious to know what you and your son thought about Miami Engineering compared to other schools.
The COA makes it very affordable. (For reference D considering UMD, Pitt, UConn, BU, Syracuse. )
Thank you for your time!
@lexluthor just curious, what aspects did you like about the student union and dorms? I liked the architectural design, but I wasnāt a huge fan compared to other colleges, especially with the lack of restaurant options in the student union. The dorms seemed a little cramped too for the priceā¦but maybe we saw different dorms; I canāt remember the name of ours.
@SuperSenior19 Iām not sure what there was not to like about the Armstrong student union building. It was a beautiful building. The building is new and modern. The study room when you walked in looked like a nice room to just relax it and do some light studying. The meeting rooms were exceptional as well. 24 hour old style diner seemed nice and there were 4 or 5 other dining options in there. Perhaps itās all relative, we didnāt look at any larger universities that might have more in their student union. Binghamton had a ton of dining options in a nice student union building that they had I recall. But, with a mean plan, Iām not sure they student union dining options matter as much to the students.
We saw a couple of rooms in Anderson dorm. The rooms themselves were fairly standard, probably a bit nicer/larger? than most weāve seen. The halls were wide and there was a small lounge on the floor that we saw. Best of all though, is that on the main floor there was a huge lounge area that all looked redone recently. There was an area with a flat screen TV and chairs and a table and then another area with a kitchenette and tables with chairs around them. I think there was probably a pool or ping pong table in there as well. We certainly didnāt see any schools with such a nice lounge area for the students to hang out in. I have a couple of photos if you want to send me a way to send them to you.
They do charge around $1400/year more for the renovated dorms, but I donāt think you get to choose one over the other and they said they are over 90% done with the dorm renovations, so most of the class of 2023 will be in a renovated dorm, I guess.
The student union is really nice, but my son preferred the larger unions he saw at other colleges we visited. We didnāt think the dining options at Armstrong were very good, but others may disagree. Dorms were among the nicest that we toured, maybe not much larger than a typical dorm room, but much newer and with pretty hardwood/Pergo flooring. The overall campus design is very pretty and it certainly looks like what I think of when I imagine a college campus. Son got a very sizable scholarship from Miami and OSU, among other colleges, but heās decided OSU is an overall better fit for him.
I liked the dining hall we visited, but I was surprised at the lack of fast food type restaurants on/around campus ā maybe itās because Iām comparing it to a different type of school, but most of the others Iāve seen (large publics) have a Starbucks or a McDonaldās or something in their student union, plus a bookstore. I forgot about the diner though! I think Miamiās student union is more like a library than I was imagining and too āquiet,ā although I agree it was a very well-designed building.
Maybe we saw a non-renovated dorm then? There wasnāt anything wrong with it per se, and the lounge area was very spacious and nice ā but I personally thought the rooms were a tad small and lacked storage space. I also noticed that the rooms are all the ātraditional style,ā with the bathrooms down the hall; other schools we looked at had suite-style options, although of course at an additional price.
Honestly, I thought the dorms and food were perfectly sufficient, but they didnāt stand out to me. Obviously thereās way more to the school than that, but it was sort of a downside for me since room and board is 15k at Miami and I felt other schools provided much more for less. Again, though, itās all relative, so maybe my expectations were too high.
I think the lack of fast food restaurants lends itself to the beauty of a small town. There are actually 2 Starbucks on campusāone by the bookstore and 1 in another hall. We walked by them both. I think they have fast food options off campus. It looks like there is enough variety on campus that you donāt need the fast food options.
@aeg203 The two students that they had at the tour of CEC for computer science were pretty informative. They made suggestions for which classes to take with certain test scores on AP tests. For example, if you get a 5 (possibly even a 4) it counts for their intro to computer science course and object oriented programming. They said to retake the object oriented programming. You probably saw the new labs as we didāthey explained the programming languages they are working with. We ended up going to the Presidential Reception at the end of the dayāwe caught the last 1/2 hour or so. A lot of people were leaving so we had a chance to talk to Prof. Kirk one on one. We asked about co-ops and internships. He said that they encourage themāthat most kids prefer to stay on campus during the 4 years and will do them during the summer or between semesters. We asked if the scholarships are for 4 years or semester based. He was not sure, but we recently got an updated letter saying the scholarships are for Fall/Spring next year and for 6 additional semesters. The GPA required to maintain them is 3.0.
My son loved the fact that encourage major/minor or major/major combinations. He is a little crazy and wants to do that. I personally liked the feedback about the hands on faculty. I have not gotten that feeling with any of the other schools we visited.
He still has not made his decisionāthat will likely be at the end of the month, but I am thinking he is leaning towards Miami. He really loved it. The updated scholarship also helps! Good luck with your decision!
Thank you! Very helpful info
Bergen County, NJ going to Make it Miami day this weekend. Son is deciding between Miami, Elon, and Auburn. Very different schools, I know.
See you there. We will be there.
We were there on yesterday on 4/8. Nice program. D19 confirmed her acceptance.
Wanted to let people know that are going to the Make it Miami day on Good Friday that they are expecting a large group more than normal.
@3boys4m3 Iāve lived in Alabama for 20 years (Ohio transplant), my S19 was accepted to Auburn and he committed to Miami. Unless your son is majoring in either Engineering or Architecture, there isnāt a real āreasonā to go to Auburn, unless he just wants better weather. (lol)
Itās important your son understands that the majority of kids who attend Auburn are in-state (60%), which isnāt necessarily a bad thing, but Auburn students go home a LOT. With one exceptionā¦
Auburn on football Saturday is a special place; my husband is an Auburn alum and we routinely attend games. SEC football Saturdays are truly unlike anything your son will ever experience; theyāre a blast and highly recommended, but not a reason to go to a school. Virtually everyone stays on campus on football Saturdays, and many studentās families are on campus as well because theyāre tailgating.
Greek life at Auburn is huge, but more for women than for men, so your son wonāt notice a difference between Auburn and Miami in this regard.
Your son will find that kids who go to Auburn are welcoming. Southern hospitality is real, but hopefully your son understands southern culture. That can be quite a shock for some. Southern hospitality and southern culture are two very different things, and should not be confused. Generally speaking, if your son goes home for the weekend with a friend (hospitality), heās going to be hunting on Saturday and in church on Sunday (culture). God, guns, and family: if your son doesnāt identify with that, then I would approach with caution.
The Auburn alumni network is strong for kids who remain in Alabama in particular, and the Southeast in general. Miami has a broader alumni network.
Miami has a much higher 4-year graduation rate than Auburn. 67% vs. 49%, respectively.
Itās also important to note that Auburn doesnāt have a housing requirement, and a full 80% live off-campus. Auburnās dorms leave a lot to be desired. Miamiās dorms are much nicer, and my son prefers the residential college feel. 55% at Miami live off-campus, but that housing is closer to the core of campus than youāll find at Auburn.
This turned into a bit of compare and contrast, and isnāt meant to be negative. Hopefully you find it helpful. Stats are from collegedata.com.
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buckeyeinbama, Your response had a lot of useful information. Thank you.
Son will most likely go to Miami but still has not committed.
The dorm we toured at Miami was just okay so I was glad to hear that you liked Miamiās dorms. How many of the dorms have you seen?
I appreciate the time you took to post.
While this thread is still going, does anyone have any idea what happened to @dcnatfan ? He/she seems to have been banned here. I was curious what the decision was for them as weāve had an overlapping search.
@3boys4m3 Weāve been up several times for visits, and the one visit was specifically to tour residence halls. Weāve been in Stonebridge, Beechwood and Hillcrest on the western part of campus, and weāve also been in Presidents, Flowers and Withrow on the north end. So 6 total.
Quite a number of Miamiās dorms have undergone extensive renovation. Which dorm did you tour? Anything in particular that you found alarming?
We toured Morris. While there was nothing alarming it seemed and smelled old. We did notice one of the dorms being renovated. Definitely not a deal breaker but a renovated would be a nice perk.