<p>I am an international student who currently attends school here in the states. I have been accepted to those three schools, and I cannot make up my mind!</p>
<p>I got accepted to arts & science college of all three, and I do not know what my major is going to be. I would like to party a bit on weekends, but I want the academic to be my priority. Social scenes are important to me, and diversity and openmindedness are a must!
I don't think location matters much to me, but I know that I won't have a car during my 4 years of college. And reputation is kinda important as well--</p>
<p>those are my criteria, and I hope someone can help me decide :)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance, and good luck with your college decisions!</p>
<p>I can only tell you about Miami and Syracuse because I went to Syracuse and my son went to Miami. You get a similar population at both that tend to be on the self centered and cliquey side, but Miami has the nice weather and lots more to do. Syracuse can be depressing since most of the days are grey and snowy and there is not much to do in the surrounding area. I transferred out, but then so did my son. He liked UM but after 2 1/2 years wanted a more down to earth population of students and the chance to try something different.</p>
<p>thanks for the reply! so does that mean people at miami are not very down to earth? i know it's very hard to generalize but are many people at miami stuck up?</p>
<p>I'm going to Miami next year and I was there today. I'm not stuck up and am not rich by any means (I will be going to UM on scholarship). That is a perception that many people buy into just because a few rich stuck up people annoy them. The tuition is high, thus people who can pay or those on scholarship attend UM. You will get a few stuck up people, but that is no different than any other school.</p>
<p>Yes, I would say that many people at UM are stuck up. There are also many that aren't but you might have to look a little harder to find them. It is not a school that attracts a very down to earth population.</p>
<p>I think Miami is stronger than Syracuse in the Arts & Sciences. Syracuse is probably stronger in it's public policy, information sciences and visual arts schools. I don't know much about UIUC, but it will be quite different form the other two since it's a large public school. I think it is stronger in the sciences and engineering? For Arts & Sciences I would go Miami and btw many strong students are attracted to Miami partially by it's terrific merit scholarships. A large proportion of the student body is on merit scholarship or need based scholarship, so they aren't the type to be snobby.</p>
<p>^^^^I completely agree with post number 6 by researchmaven. I want to add one more thing: Kids from many schools go to Miami on vacation due to its great climate and wonderful things to do. Univeristy of Miami is actually there all year round.Syracuse is cold! In fact, as one kid noted, "imagine how cold you think Syracuse is and subtract 25 degrees." </p>
<p>In addition, Miami gets some top athletes for sports,which makes attending their games much more fun than that of syracuse. Lets face it, if you are an athlete, especially a football athlete, where would you want to practice and play: warm Miami or freezing Syracuse?</p>
<p>Morover,because of the great weather and because Florida has no income tax, Professors prefer to teach at Miami over Syracuse. Thus, Miami gets some very top people in many fields.</p>
<p>However, there are some majors at Syracuse that are top notch and, in my opinion, better than that of Miami.These are most visual arts majors, Public Policy, and any major in the Newhouse School of Public Commications,which deals with many aspects of Journalism including photo journalism and graphic arts for newspapers.</p>
<p>For majors other than Visual Arts, Public Policy and for majors in the Newhouse School of Public Communication, I would pick Miami hands down for all other majors.Trust me on this.</p>
<p>Finally, I should note that I don't know anything about UIUC. Thus, I have made no comment about them.</p>
<p>Good points, taxguy. The one thing I will take exception to are the statements regarding the Newhouse school. I didn't mention it in my post, although it is top-notch, because I think Miami's Communications school is also terrific, the broadcasting equipment is cutting-edge, program is well-structured and Miami provides great possibilities for internships during the school year rather than just during the summer. So on that major, I'd call Syracuse and Miami a tie (although the Syracuse Newhouse name is more well-known in the NE), but I don't think that is the OP's area of interest anyway.</p>
<p>The reason that I didn't mention Miami's communication program is that I know nothing about it. It might be terrific,but it doesn't have the same reputation yet as Newhouse. I think over time that will change, however. As I said, where do you think professors want to be: at Syracuse which is freezing and has bad schools and high taxes in NY or in Miami that is warm and no income taxes? It isn't a hard decision that I as a professor would take more than 2 seconds to consider especially if research facilities are similar.</p>
<p>Miami is very diverse, but with East Coast & Latin flavors. Go there if you want a very diverse student body.</p>
<p>U of I is a very good school, with predominantly Illinois kids. People in each region of the US are different, of course. Midwesterners tend to be a bit more down to earth and "real", less "urban", and maybe more skeptical of new ideas and trends. As opposed to the coasts for example. The upper midwest even more so than Illinois. There is a reason that Peoria, Illinois has been a traditional test-market for products. It's mainstream America.</p>
<p>Champaign-Urbana is a great college town, dominated (in a good way) by the large U. Plenty of partying available. Outside of town, it's rural farm country. You would not need a car in Champaign. (Or Miami.) I think you can take a train to/from Chicago and O'Hare if necessary.</p>
<p>As far as reputation, I think all three are regional. People in Illinois don't have a clue about U of Miami beyond sports. They all think it is a public U. OTOH, U of I has a strong rep in the midwest. I imagine in the east, Miami would have a good rep and U of I would be just another Big Ten school out there in flyover country.</p>
<p>All three are great schools. You're doing a good thing by comparing the "intangibles".</p>
<p>thanks a lot everyone for the inputs! I really appreciate it! Also, I am visiting these schools over my spring break, so I hope that'll help me make up my mind :)
Thanks again!</p>