Observations of a Freshman

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Miami - Florida
1

<p>hey all, I'm a freshman here and im in my 2nd week of school. For those of you who are curious as to what the experience is like, here's what I've seen in the first 2 weeks:</p>

<p>Food: Dining Court food is surprisingly good for the first week. But after a few weeks, it's gonna get bland. The Hurricane Food Court is okay, the Wendy's chicken sandwiches are only 99 cents each. But all in all, its good for college food. You can get pizzas, roast beef, wraps, coffee, hot chocolate, cakes, etc...</p>

<p>Girls: For the guys out there, yes, the girls are amazingly hot as compared to most other colleges. However, I'm a bit unsure of their personalities though, as they seem to be mainly focused on the physical rather than the emotional. Hookups are common and fast (there was a guy and a girl screwin around in our shower stall the 2nd day of school). But the personalities of the girls are more maintenence-orientated then what you've been used to in high school.</p>

<p>Guys: I really wouldn't be able to tell you about whether of not the guys are good looking or not. I wouldn't know lol. But from most girls' point of view, there are lots of hot guys here.</p>

<p>Quiet Floors: Quiet Floors are not really that quiet. The Foote Fellows that were automatically placed on quiet floors never wanted to be on quiet floors in the first place so quiet floors are just as rowdy, perhaps even more than non-quiet floors.</p>

<p>Social: Most people are really out-going. We left our doors open every day since school started. Random people from different floors would pop in and introduce themselves. It's really not that hard to make friends.</p>

<p>Weather: Hot, humid, sunny. It is humid as hell in the morning and then it rains in the afternoon (EVERY DAY). This is probably due to the time of season, so I hope it gets better later on. We had temperatures up in the 90s and absolutely no ocean breeze. </p>

<p>Dorms: I have to warn you. My first impression (of an undecorated dorm room) was: "This is a jail cell." I've heard some parents complaining on moving day that they just wasted their money. Half of the people are on scholarships so it probably wouldn't matter much to them. But the walls are not smooth, there are pipes running through the walls, and the closet "doors" do not close. There are holes and cracks in the ceilings. There are holes in the walls. You can hear the music of people playin music upstairs. There are definently NOT enough outlets. Wireless usually does not work in dorms (they're not supposed to anyways.) </p>

<p>Internet Access: Wireless + Ethernet + Dialup) Wireless is really slow. Ethernet is medium-fast. You have to sign in everytime u connect your laptop to the internet (for 12 hours).</p>

<p>If there's anything I missed, just ask.</p>

2

<p>are you going to have to evacuate? my d loves U Miami, but I don't like all the hurricane stuff going on
what is your major? she's into marine bio
really appreciated your observations, keep it coming!
thx</p>

3

<p>They supposedly have the food taken care of. The dining hall is open until 2PM today which means we won't be having dinner. Those who were smart to stock up 2 days before will be the more fortunate ones i guess. Last night we had floor meetings with our RAs. Apparently, the ceiling will leak and the doors leading to the outside will occasionally fly open. Good thing I brought TONS of plastic bags for covering lol. The buildings are sturdy and concrete. The floors will be slippery during the hurricane as water will come in. Power will likely be out, there will be no hot showers. Toilets will still work. The RA told us that they had to patch up some walls and other parts of the building due to the hurricanes last year. So, whether they did a good job of patching up or not, I guess we will have to find out :-)</p>

<p>There are no mandatory evacuations for DORMS. However, the Apartments on the Campus are being evacuated. </p>

<p>About my major: I'm trying to double major in Computer Science and Business (trying to work it out with my advisor). Its great your daughter is marine bio - umiami is great for that.</p>

4

<p>so where r u from? you sound pretty calm about it all...
my d is a hs senior and I'm not sure about considering UMiami or not...
I do appreciate the inside info, I had no idea what it would be like there, never experienced a hurricane before (earthquakes, yes!)
stay safe and keep us posted if possible...
thx</p>

5

<p>What did you do on the weekend? Is there a lot of stuff going on, on campus?</p>

6

<p>Earnesto appears like it will be just a prolonged rain strom. It is only a tropical depression right now, may be downgraded to a trop strom, and we will dodge the bullet on this one. </p>

<p>Having lived in Central and South Florida for 40+ years, most of us never really faced evacuations and strom prep for most of that time. There was Andrew in 1992, and before and after that, nothing memorable until 2004. We could easily go another 20-30 yrs without another major FL hurricane. (Altho the hurricane gurus do feel this is the start of a rather active 20-30 years.) After the last few years, getting ready for Earnesto was very matter of fact, without the prior anxiety of years past. Hurricane days seem similar now to snow days, that's all.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for posting your experience so far. What dorm are you in? I have a son in RT. Keep the observations coming!</p>

8

<p>Don't worry, the kids do get food via boxed lunches that are distibuted in the dorms.:) UM is very organized in regards to these storms and takes excellent precautions and care of the students. The kids really are very safe in the dorms, especially the towers. The U has a storm alert link on their main webpage that is updated several times a day. There is also a hotline that parents can call for info.</p>

<p>Wecan-UM has an incredible Marine Science program. Don't let the threat of hurricanes stop you from exploring it further.</p>

9

<p>I'm writing this as the storm is whooshing over lol. The gust is going a bit crazy outside but it's still pretty calm. People are having a party upstairs (right above me - I could hear people screaming and music playing.) Power's not out yet. During lunch today, they passed out boxes that contains an apple, Pop-Tarts, various oat/Granola bars, and crackers. I'm glad I stocked up on frozen dinners because the Food Courts closed early today. Some kids on my floor ordered Pizza (it would suck to be the delivery guy.) </p>

<p>Those of you who have sons/daughters here, don't worry, the conditions outside right now are not too bad. I don't even think it's raining right now, just some heavy gusts.</p>

10

<p>SoCal18: Last weekend was our first weekend of the school year. I went with a couple of friends and went onto random floors and met people. We played football out on the intramural fields (right next to dorms). We had a CANEfestival where it was like a "club/sports fair." You could go check out various clubs/organizations/sports you can join. Other than that, the groups on campus don't really do much of advertising. You have to go seek them out yourselves. When I walked around campus, I saw people doing many activities, but none of them were Freshman. Our weekends so far pretty much consist of studying, hanging out, and meeting new people.</p>

<p>So far, I haven't seen so many activities for Freshman.</p>

11

<p>They are scheduling specific times for lunch/dinner in the dining hall for each floor......... the storm was really pathetic, actually less rain than we had last week! There are some strong wind gusts but I guess having lived in Florida the last 6yrs, it wasn't anything unusual.... I looked out of the window and there isn't any damage at least that I can see... I can kick myself for parking all the way over in the Mahoney Pearson Parking Garage, my little bug would have been totally fine in this parking lot and I gave up an amazing parking spot! Oh well!</p>

12

<p>so how is the party scene?</p>

13

<p>i'm interested in majoring in business...how is it? i know that most of the girls are really into maintaining a good appearance, and im not usually like that/like people like that, but are they at least nice?</p>

14

<p>I would probably visit the campus before attending...</p>

15

<p>heycap354: to answer your question, most of the girls here are nice (most of the ones I know) but there are just as many who are drama-queens, arrogant, etc... Although I do have to say the ones who wear excessive/obsessive makeup really p.iss me off. But, all in all, I have to say most are pretty easy-going and its really easy to make friends with them.</p>

<p>I'm not sure about the business school. I don't know many people who are in the business school (literally everyone on my floor is pre-med). I'm sorry I can't give you more insight on business.</p>

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<p>jck456: Party Scene? I have to say, man, the partys are pretty sweet. There have been many parties at the student apartments and I have been to some of them. A couple of them were busted by cops and we all pretty much took off when they came. Because of this, alcohol is not hard to obtain for freshman. You know, this is a party school after all.</p>

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<p>For those of you wandering about the Rich-Kid reputation of UM: Yes, it's true. On a typical day I have to walk through various student parking lots and I have to say 3-4 of 5 cars are either a BMW, Mercedes, or an Infiniti. Occasionally you would see parents coming to visit and, yes, most of them are driving Lexus' and Benz's.</p>

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