Our daughter is accepted at Miami Farmer. She is deciding between MIami, Madison and Virginia Tech.
Her three criteria are business program, campus/community and spirit/sports enthusiasm. Each school seems to have 2 of three boxes checked. Obviously Miami has a beautiful campus and a great business program. Madison checks off on sports and business, VT on sports and campus.
Can anyone help us understand the school spirit of Miami? What gets the kids excited and what do they rally around? Do they tailgate for football games? She has seen how much this sort of thing brings bigger schools together during college and after. We want to make sure we have a better understanding of this aspect of Miami as it wins on every other dimension.
@appzilla - Great question and one I would love to hear. My son was accepted into Miami and we attended a Make it Miami day in March. The campus is beautiful and I have heard great things about the business school (my son is not a business major). While there, they happened to be having a home hockey game. I was able to purchase tickets and attend with my son. There was a rowdy student section of a couple hundred but the arena was not sold out, which was a bit of a disappointment. I have no idea how the attendance and spirit is at the basketball and football games.
You say that Madison (assuming U of Wisconsin)has two of 3 boxes checked and the one it did not have was campus. My son absolutely loved Madison, his favorite campus by far. It has been recognized one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. Have you visited?
@jpc763 Yes, UW Madison is a very cool place many people love, but it is a different sort of campus. For our daughter a more traditional quads and open space campus is more her idea of a perfect college experience.
Thank you for the information on the hockey game you attended. Hopefully we can hear from others about football and basketball etc.
@appzilla - OK, Great that you visited and hopefully we will get some answers. My son wants to be in the Marching Band and the Pep Band where he ends up. Hopefully there is a lot of spirit at Miami, because I really liked the school.
I hope so too. Miami is such a great school. By the way, UW Madison is an amazing school as well. For our daughter 16,000 undergrads might be plenty versus a larger population at Madison.
@Appzilla well, admittedly, there’s nothing quite like a Virginia Tech football game. I81 is practically shut down both ways with traffic for every home game.
But, lets check off your three as it relates to Miami v VT.
As far as education, Miami ranks #2 (behind Princeton) for best teaching. (not as in education major, as I originally thought). Best teaching means professors who actually teach using methods in which students actually learn. You can’t go wrong with Farmer. It’s got a great reputation.
Forbes ranks Miami #1 best college campus. When we were there on a Thursday night, it looked pretty awesome to us. Kids were playing broomball intramural sports at the ice rink, were working out at that awesome rec center, and hanging out in downtown Oxford. The Bagel & Deli alone is worth the price of OOS tuition.
Sports… ok. VT wins best football spirit. But I won’t concede better campus.
@Materof2 - Thanks for the video link. Band was great, but it was hard not to notice the almost empty stands across the field. This was a Homecoming game. Is attendance at games really that sparse?
@jpc763 - My son is a sophomore engineering student at Miami. 2016 homecoming came in the middle of a long losing streak for the team. They lost their first six game, ouch. But they are turning it around, they won their next six and qualified for a bowl game for the first time in six years. In the bowl game they lost by just one to the SEC’s Mississippi State.
This will be Coach Martin’s fourth year with Miami and they are expected to do very will in 2017, contending for a conference championship. That said, Miami will never be Wisconsin or Virginia Tech for football, but it should be fun in 2017. My son is looking forward to it.
Overall, attendance at Miami sporting events is anemic due to poor performance across football, basketball, and hockey over the past handful of years; but hopefully will improve with the resurgence of the football team. With the exception of hockey, Miami plays in a mid-major conference (MAC) and plays large conference teams on a limited basis only. Most students will not get excited about a basketball game against Kent State, especially the large oos contingent which has barely heard of the predominantly OH and MI-based MAC schools. If you are expecting big, festive tailgates and 40K fans in the seats, you will typically be disappointed. If a dedicated student/alumni sports fanbase is a requirement for your college experience, Miami may not be for you. That said, the typical Miami student is athletic, and intramural/club sports are very popular.
Just got back from a Midwest Tour of Miami of Ohio and is my D is interested in Virginia Tech as well She absolutely loved Miami. The campus was absolutely gorgeous and the school had an amazing feel to it. We spoke to a few of the students at the Farmer school of business and everything they had to say was very impressive. It is definitely at the top of her list.
My concerns for Miami are:
1 -lack of entertainment or things to do in the general area. Going to school for 4 years, the smaller town can get very old fairly fast.
2- Lack of Sport Spirit or not being part of something bigger can also be an issue. Combine with point number point number, would make me wonder.
3- Lots of cars driving through the school. We witnesses a girl getting hit by a car while crossing the street on her way to class. I had mentioned this to my daughter as we were doing the tour. Sure enough it happened right in front of our eyes later on that afternoon. This is a major concern.
I do believe the education would be second to none when compare to similar schools.
Virginia Tech is on her list but we have not visit. Their business school rates very well and the campus is known to be gorgeous Blacksburg offers more than Oxford. However, Cincinnati is within a short driving distance. I like the idea of Big Sports for the simple fact that it does bring the school together. Nothing like experiencing a great Saturday afternoon with 30K of of your own peers…She is interested in a few other schools. What is nice about these college visits is that it gives you an idea and a perspective of what is like. We visited both Indiana and Ohio State and as impressive as these schools are, she thought they were way too large and very impersonal . This is where Miami truly has the edge. Ultimately, the overall cost of attendance will play a big factor in our decision.
My daughter just decided on Miami. We are very happy. It ended up being a very close call with Virginia Tech which was spectacular. But, Miami - Farmer was hard to top. In the end, the quality of the business school, the commitment of teachers to students and the fact that literally everyone we have talked to has loved it convinced her.