I am thinking about studying applied biology, environmental studies or environmental science. I visited Miami in Oxford Ohio and really liked it. The variety of majors in fields I am interested in is nice, I like the distance from my home, I love the size of the campus and focus on undergraduate teaching, the college town feel, and the sports energy.
I am concerned about the partying aspect of things. When I visited, there were lots of students drinking early in the day on a Saturday and Greek life seemed to prevail. I also noticed that the university regularly makes the top 20 party universities list.
I don’t mind if others are partying but I don’t drink or smoke and want to be able to find other people like me and other activities in the evenings and weekends. Do I need to look elsewhere or is this possible at Miami? Thanks!
No you don’t and that will be prevalent on many campuses. Lots of highly ranked schools make those lists. That’s the beauty - there are enough people and interests that everyone can find their people.
There may be reasons the school isn’t for you. My daughter, for example, did not like the isolation. And your concern is legitimate. But I suspect that unless you are at a religious or very conservative or small institution, even one without greek life, there will be some level of partying, sometimes to the extreme.
My daughter just graduated from Miami. Although it has a very preppy, Greek reputation and there are a lot of students that do fit that mold, you can definitely find your people. My daughter is the complete opposite of Greek and preppy (think purple hair and doc martens) – she made great friends and got a great education without ever setting foot in a frat party or attending one of the huge porch day-drinking gatherings you may have seen around town. There’s plenty of stuff to do on campus and she hung out with a more nerdy crowd (mostly folks from the marching band and/or the research lab she worked in), so their idea of fun was movie and board game nights and trivia nights at local bars. Miami is big enough that you can definitely find people that share your interests and don’t want to party all the time. FWIW, my daughter had a great experience there and has no regrets about choosing it.