Miami University Early Decision and Early Action 2024

OOS
Farmer’s Direct Admit
34
3.98 unweighted. Tons of volunteer, varsity activities, leadership and even started a few clubs.
22k
On her initial acceptance via email it said honors, UASP, Presidential were still under consideration.
I am hoping that is still the case and it is a Farmer’s thing. Yes, major has a lot to do with FA. Have to say I am disappointed but I feel like we may not have all the information yet.
We have not received an invite to the open house. Do you think that would take all of the above off the table?

@jimmystew Congratulations on your award! Crossing fingers for the National Merit.

@skw1019 Congratulations to your daughter for the direct admit to FSB!

As to the PFP, based on my experience, if your daughter isn’t accepted into either UHP and/or UASP of choice, then I wouldn’t have hope she’d be invited to compete.

An invitation to the “Presidential Open House” is at President Crawford’s house… hence ‘Presidential.’ UHP and UASP kids are invited. Students don’t have to be competing for the PFP to be invited to the Presidential Open House.

Miami’s awards do seem to be trending lower this year. A local gal applied, and received the same merit your daughter did. With higher stats, and a deep resume’. Non-STEM kid. But then I look at the awards some of these STEM kids are getting, and would have thought theirs would be higher.

Congratulations to all accepted with merit!

I just received my preliminary merit offer of $24k/year. I am OOS (West Coast), with a moderate GPA, 1550 SAT. Intended major: Psychology, accepted into UHP, waiting for UASP and PFP results.

I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of aid but still need a little bit more to make attending Miami a viable choice. Do people know how much FA fluctuated by the final March release date?

@buckeyeinbama Thanks for the info you have been providing. Is your son in both the UHP and UASP? My son was accepted into UHP, but awaiting the UASP. He thinks he may have made a mistake when applying - he applied to a different Scholars program than his primary intended major because he intends to double major in two different areas. Wondering how beneficial the UASP is if also in UHP?

@inktopaper Yes, son is both UHP and UASP. Here are a few preliminary thoughts… and I say preliminary, because he’s been at Miami for just the one semester:

I was skeptical about UASP, and I’m still not certain, but I will say that the class son was pre-registered for last semester wasn’t a complete joke. The instructor wasn’t a professor, but a professional in the field, and at least had some teaching experience.

Additionally, son was given a mentor who’s currently working in the field, and isn’t doing what my son “thinks” he wants to do. Meaning, their interests don’t currently align, so that either may or may not be an issue if my son continues on this path. If he changes direction, then maybe this will work out, so I’m in ‘wait and see’ on this one.

Regarding UHP, this has already started to pay big dividends, and I’m extremely happy. The Honors course last semester ended up being quite good, and son said it “turned his brain inside out” from the get-go. It wasn’t hard for the sake of being hard, and it truly challenged him intellectually. He was exceptionally pleased with the professor, as well as the course content and in-class discussions.

On top of that, because son walked in the door as an academic sophomore, he applied to study abroad next semester. UHP lobbied heavily on his behalf, and so he’ll be in Luxembourg Spring term. He doesn’t know what his internship will be, but he knows he’ll have one. Again, UHP spoke with the director of the Lux program, and I know son is on their radar for a substantive internship. Apparently, the Lux director wants more UHP students to study abroad in Lux, and is going to actively work to put the UHP students in meaningful internships. Praying this is true.

Maybe none of this answers your question about UASP being worth it. But maybe we don’t have enough experience for me to respond well. Thus far, UHP is helping more immediately, whereas UASP may be more helpful down the road when it comes to networking and job hunting. We simply don’t know yet, but early indicators are pointing in this direction.

Did you read your son’s UASP essay? Did it make sense, and do you think he had a powerful narrative? Did he specifically mention that he’s going to double major? Also, has your son contacted the department head for that second major? It’s my understanding that a departmental committee determines which students are selected for their UASP. And I’ve also been told that same departmental committee determines how much the student receives for the scholarship.

@sfstressed Congratulations on receiving a merit scholarship! We’re OOS as well.

What you’ve received is just the merit scholarship/s offer, but if you also applied for financial aid, then that package is still pending.

Our financial aid package changed twice after the initial merit scholarship offer of $26,000.

The first package contained the original offer of merit scholarships, with the addition of a $3,500 subsidized loan (that we considered accepting) and a $2,000 unsubsidized loan (which we immediately knew we would decline).

The final revision we received in mid-April contained the same offer of loans, but the merit scholarship offer was vastly improved to $39,000. Note, however, the final merit scholarship offer was a direct reflection of son having competed for the PFP, though not selected.

@sfstressed

Correction and clarification:

Original merit scholarship offer was $24,000 RedHawk scholarship and $2,000 UASP scholarship, for a total of $26,000. These scholarships are renewable over 8 consecutive semesters with a 3.0 minimum GPA.

First financial aid package was $24,000 RedHawk scholarship, $2,000 UASP scholarship, $3,500 subsidized loan and $2,000 unsubsidized loan.

Final financial aid package was $39,000 RedHawk scholarship, $2,000 UASP scholarship, $3,500 subsidized loan and $2,000 unsubsidized loan.

I didn’t include the UASP portion in my last post regarding Miami’s final offer, and then decided to break it all down to be completely transparent. And to make sure I got it right, lol.

Hopefully this helps everyone.

1 Like

wow! @buckeyeinbama, it sounds like UHP is paying off for your son! If I remember correctly, he’s a Political Science major and in the Law & Public Policy UASP?

It seems like I could potentially be in the same boat as your son, as I would enter Miami with 40-43 credit hours from AP classes, am thinking about graduating early, and would be a Political Science major in UHP and Law & Public Policy UASP if I attended. Thanks for all the insight on Miami!

@knk029 You’re correct! Son is L&PP. He’s a double in Diplomacy & Global Politics and Economics, with a minor in German. He maintains he can bang this all out in 3 years, though we have our doubts. Personally, we hope he takes the time and enjoys these next years.

Your AP credits could knock out a significant portion of the Miami Plan, which is what my son is doing. This is extremely helpful!

Consider applying to study abroad Spring semester of your freshman year, and make sure UHP backs you. You’ll be coming in without a GPA, so you’re going to need a strong recommendation. Go straight to the top.

Unless you get a better offer elsewhere, it’s hard to go wrong with Miami. Please keep me posted!

Just got back from vacation and a little disappointed son only got 22k merit He did get UHP and pending uasp and presidential fellows invitation. OOS so not enough at this point to make it affordable. 1500 SAT 4.3 weighted gpa. Comes from single parent household so a little short on ecs due to work and sports

I already posted my dd stats OOS 4.3 32 NOT a lot of APs, but lots of activities and leadership.

She got 20k and UHP and Scholars.

I was looking for more insight how the UHP and Scholars are chosen. Are they independent of each other? She is STEM so I have heard that has made a difference.

I am surprised about the amount of kids with better stats in my eyes. Super high test scores and lots of AP, IB etc who didn’t get either, or got one and not the other. Does anyone know more about the process?

She is hoping for Presidential interview. Do most presidentials have both UHP and Scholars? I think her stats are low for presidential, but I am slightly hopeful for maybe an interview since she got both UHP and scholars.

Anyone have any insight?

@Northamericadad – re: UHP and Scholars; my kiddo didn’t apply specifically for those. I’m assuming he needed to apply to get them? I was wondering about your question too.

@Northamericadad & @bgbg4us
Yea, I think my D only applied to Honors, not Scholars. Her letter makes no mention of Scholars, but she was accepted to Honors and is under review for PFP.

@buckeyeinbama Thanks for that info! Neither of his intended majors fit cleanly into one of the Scholars programs, so it makes sense if it is determined by their respective department committees. UHP would have been a deal breaker for him, so we are thankful for that acceptance and it sounds like there are amazing opportunities and support through it. Hoping to hear good news on the PFP and then we will schedule a visit.

@buckeyeinbama Thanks for the advice! So far Miami is my best offer, just waiting on a few reach schools, but I’m guessing that even if I get in they’ll be financially out of reach. Miami looks like a great match right now!

@Northamericadad @bgbg4us The UHP, UASP, and PFP all required the same essay. If I remember correctly, you just had to check the box for each one, I applied for all three. So far, I’ve been accepted to both UHP and the Law & Public Policy UASP, but still waiting on PFP. My admissions counselor said that we would be notified the week of January 13th about PFP. Fingers crossed!

My D19 is currently a freshman at Miami. One thing to think about with Miami’s merit awards this year is that the current freshman class is the largest Miami has ever had. Miami may be lowering the awards a little this year to keep from having such a large class again. No proof just a thought.

That being said D19 has really enjoyed her first semester at Miami. She came in with a lot of AP credits which should allow her to easily double major. Also being in the Honors Program helped a lot when it came to register for classes. Honors kids are early in the process.

Also remember the tuition is frozen for the 4 years the kids are going to school. That helps with planning.

I still haven’t received my decision. I completed my application by 8 Nov.
Why is there a delay in releasing my decision?

@9167Isha The deadline for early action 1 was Nov. 1 for a Dec. 15 notification. The deadline for early action 2 was Dec. 1 for a Feb. 1 notification. Based on your Nov. 8 submission, it looks like you missed the earlier deadline.

@Northamericadad

Yes, vast majority of students we met at last years’ PFP competition were accepted to UHP and UASP of choice. And a significant number of students had a DEEP resume’ like my son did.

So, if I had to guess about some of the lower stats kids getting accepted into UHP and UASP while we’re seeing higher stats kids still waiting on UASP acceptance, my guess is Miami is doing what other schools are doing/have done: taking the slightly lower stats kid who also has the deep resume’.

Miami, like a lot of schools, wants leaders. They want kids who are going to come in and make things happen. I know for a fact based on my son’s multiple conversations with the UHP director, that Miami wants Rhodes Scholars, etc. Kids who are focused exclusively on grades/scores aren’t going to cut it when competing for prizes, and Miami knows this.

I think Miami is upping their game based on what they saw at last years’ PFP competition. And they’re also tracking the students they didn’t select for the PFP, but gave them a pile of money. When my son showed up to talk with UHP about study abroad as a freshman, the Director had already talked to all of my son’s professors about how he was doing. (!)

I think this is the start of Miami being more selective about who gets the big bucks in merit, and accepted into their top programs. That means it’s going to take more than stats. And Miami is already on record as stating they need to protect their bottom line because of the number of students who graduate early.

My two cents… which is exactly what it’s worth.

1 Like