Are there nerdy students at UM? Trying to find kids like me. On the UM class of 22 group on FB there is only one type of student (which is not me) posting, although that could be due to demographics of FB users.
I’m the type of kid that would love to explore miami, party every now and then, but not drink. I like to have fun, but nothing dangerous if that makes sense?
Also, engineering major.
I am sure there are. It’s a big enough school for all types. If my son ends up attending, he skews to the “nerdy” side and does not drink. He’s not on FB, either, LOL.
My D is a freshman there and there are all types of kids – yes, kids who like to party and go out, but also lots of science kids, band kids, theater kids, it’s a great diverse population!
Awesome, so glad to know!! There are about 300 girls to 1 boy posting on the FB group, and the girls all fit the UM stereotype which is fine, but worried me, because I am certainly not it. What is your son’s major, out of curiosity? other schools he’s looking at? @vistajay
@jbtcat that’s great to hear!!! When I visited campus, I saw that some of the girls are still really catty/stuck in the high school “meanness” and were obsessed with “fitting in”, which made me nervous, because I thought that college is when the drama starts to stop, and people appreciate individuality. What has your daughter seen from that aspect?
@human354 I’m surprised that you were able to see that just from visiting but that has not been my D’s experience. My D does dance on the dance team so she had the advantage of making friends that way very quickly but the dance team works with the band and so she has met lots of band kids who are different than her but who are very happy there. I’m sure there are some cliques (as I imagine there would be in any school) but she has found everyone to be very friendly. There are tons of clubs and activities for kids to get involved in so there seems to be something for everyone. (And I know what you’re saying about the FB pages – it seems that boys do not interact nearly as much as girls do! LOL)
@jbcat22 okay, thank you!! And I ended up visiting this kid who goes to UM who is an alumni from my high school, and the girls I met and talked to who were this kid’s friends were REALLY immature (they tried to exclude me from conversation, were really fake, etc) so I was just hoping that I got a bad first impression of the kids, or saw a bad sample of the overall population. How is the dance team for a girl with only basic experience in dance? I was never a competitive dancer, but have always been interested in joining a dance team at a college-- fun, friends, and exercise 
@human354 sorry you had that experience, that stinks! I don’t think though that is the general population at Miami (at least, I hope it isn’t!). The 2 dance teams (the Hurricanettes and the Sunsations) are actually quite competitive to get on and you usually need to be a pretty experienced dancer. However, there are a number of dance clubs on campus where you can definitely participate and get the fun, friends and exercise you are looking for!
@jbtcat okay, thank you for your help!! Do you remember by any chance what time the RD decisions were released?
@human354 my D applied EA so I don’t know when RD were released. Hang in there!
@human354 , my son is applying for a BM in vocal performance at Frost. He is admitted to UM but waiting to hear from Frost still. He is also considering FSU, Furman, UNC, Loyola-NO and USCal.
I also got admitted to UM2022! I was worried about the same thing, because everyone says the same thing about UM that its just a huge party school and now I’m starting to worry myself.
@human354 I applied to the UM for biomedical engineering as a transfer and still waiting for an answer. I’m also just like you and very nerdy. I enjoy being social but not drinking. Im still trying to figure out if I would fit in at the U as well
@human354, wheeley18, kayleechem : Yes, there are nerdy students at U of Miami. Just look at the freshman student profile, where the average freshman unweighted GPA is 3.7, the midrange ACT is 33 (those are nerd scores). My son is a nerd, STEM major and enjoys socializing but not drugs/vaping/drinking and he’s having a total blast at UM as a transfer student. He also loves traveling and doing things so he can hop on the Metro for additional fun. There are a ton of clubs on campus too. He rarely uses his FB account—I think there are certain types who use FB more often, usually not the nerds, perhaps more Greeks. He didn’t go Greek (you don’t need to for a social life). Students are very friendly and happy at UM and they are engaged. I am amazed at the amount of fun things that happen on campus all the time. The admin sponsors fun campus activities a lot. For the holidays, there was ornament-making (photo w/a friend), teddy bear stuffing, the Republican presidential debate was there in early 2017, Iron Chef came to their dining hall, Drake made a video (#1 song in the country) on campus recently, so there are some campus shots (he also filmed at a high school): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpVfcZ0ZcFM , there are fireworks, football games are free, there is tons of school spirit (buy an orange shirt now), there is so much fun there, yet his professors are great and he is learning a lot. They also have a good pre-med program at UM. Maybe people consider UM a “party school” because students have so much fun and are interested in keeping active. But you don’t have to be a social butterfly, binge drink and vape to have fun at UM. It’s a fantastic place!
@human354 : You posted, “How is the dance team for a girl with only basic experience in dance? I was never a competitive dancer, but have always been interested in joining a dance team at a college-- fun, friends, and exercise” You might be barking up the wrong tree. I am not familiar with their dance team, but I’m guessing that most who are on any dance team at college have a lot of prior experience and take it seriously. Maybe there is a club that would fill your interest. And the stuck-up girls you refer to may be sorority girls. But Greek doesn’t rule the UM campus.
Look at the freshman class profile: https://admissions.miami.edu/undergraduate/application-process/class-profile/freshman-class-profile/index.html The average unweighted GPA is 3.7, average mid-range ACT score is 33. Those are nerd scores! The students are intelligent at UM. My son is a STEM major and absolutely loves it at UM—he enjoys socializing but not binge drinking/vaping/drugs. The admin always sponsors fun activities on campus. And there is the Metro if you want to go to Miami. Early last year, there was the Republican presidential debate, this year, Drake filmed part of his video at UM (#1 song in the nation, “God’s Plan”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpVfcZ0ZcFM, A.Rod and JLo are often at sports events, Iron Chef was in the dining halls, fireworks on campus, free football games (that even my non-sports son enjoys occasionally because there is so much school spirit), there are activities on campus often, there are a lot of clubs. Our tour guide (wearing a turban) said it was like living in Paradise. And my son feels the same—he says it’s like living a dream. The students are friendly, happy, sociable, and you can see it. There are many campuses that have students who are just doing school, don’t look happy.
I think UM has a party reputation because the students are engaged and want to do fun things, doesn’t mean the fun things are binge drinking/drugs/sex. Perhaps that’s in the Greek system, but there’s a lot offered at UM and the city of Miami. Some college campuses have nothing in their surroundings so kids default to partying—this is not the case at UM. He has awesome professors and is enjoying his classes.
I think the FB page may be skewed more towards sorority girls and partiers. I find that even with my friends, the people who post the most on FB are usually the partiers.
@iSezzzz thank you so much for your response! My D is also a freshman at Miami and it makes me crazy when people still reference it as a “party” school since that is basically its reputation from the 1980s but I never know how to put the current culture at Miami into words – you did it perfectly!
Wow, my posting didn’t show up last night so I posted again, and now they’re both posted! Ah well, goes to show that I feel strongly about it, enough to take another 30m to post again!
@jbtcat Thank you for your appreciation! Yes, someone asked, “Isn’t that a party school?” recently and it made me cringe. My son transferred to UM just this fall. He had been at a large, public university with bored students, boring town, and was miserable—the full merit scholarship wasn’t worth it. The freshman profile of the school was much lower so the students were on a different wavelength than him and people partied for fun. We are paying full tuition at UM but he’s having a blast. I see your dance team reply, it’s what I was thinking too
@iSezzzz I’m so happy to hear that your son is enjoying it!