<p>Miami is expensive anyway you slice it. More so for out of state residents like myself. It is hard to justify spending 2-3x as much money for a university than you could if you stayed in state. That being said, I dislike any all state colleges as many of you readers may well know. It is however hard to pass up saving $20,000+ dollars per semester. For this reason I've been mulling over some possibilities if I choose to attend the University of Miami. What I have thought about is this, that I spend the first semester going to a state school. I drive there three or so times a week and take some intro humanities classes: history, English, ect. Not only would I be saving a bundle of cash but also be able to "test drive college" and get well adjusted to what is expected of me. My concern though is when I go to apply to medical or law school down the road; I'm unsure how Miami would calculate my gpa if I got a 3.75 or a 4.0 from the local state school (3 As and a B or 4 As in the classes I took) and how the top med or law schools would view that gpa and assess me. As mentioned above, I wouldn't be taking any classes that might be required for post under-grad such as science or math courses. Just some ones that I find interesting.</p>
<p>Anybody???</p>
<p>Hey bigworld! Lucky for you I am somewhat an expert on this topic haha. We’re you deferred to spring semester at UM? If not, I don’t think you can accept UMs offer and defer yourself to spring semester, you’d have to start in the fall. No doubt that it is a lot of money and that ofcourze is something to consider. Are there any outside scholarships you can apply for? UM has a great source Miami.edu/scholarships/ that’s shows you all the scholarships you may be eligible for and can apply to (and will count at UM). I can’t say I know how law schools work but I am pretty such it is less strict than med schools. Definitely don’t take any science classes at the state school because med schools want to see those classes at your school. The classes you take at the state school will be factored into your AMCAS GPA just like UM classes. They will not take an average of your UM GPA and state school GPA, they will calculate one GPA as if you took all classes at the same school. Typically if you are a pre-med (sounds like your unsure though) you do not want to defer taking those science classes because you need chem 1, 2, orgo 1, 2, physics, bio, cal 1, cal 2 or stats, and then recommended classes like biochemistry, genetics, human anatomy etc. all by our junior year so it’s usually smart to start off your first semester getting chem 1 out of the way. once again, are you sure you can even do this state to UM transfer wiiut having to deny your acceptance to UM and applying again? And to be honest, there so many great activities and binds to make that first semester such as the orientation, welcome party at the schools presidents house, etc. if you really feel you’d be in a great debt that will haunt you for the rest of your life, only taking off one semester might it help significantly. Anther thing you can do is take classes over summer at a local college (you an do this while still being a UM student) so maybe you can graduate early and save money that way. Feel free to ask any questions I hope this helped a bit,</p>
<p>Hey, hey Mango15 glad to see you. I always appreciate your well thought out, detailed, and thoughtful responses to my endless questions. Most likely I’ll begin 2nd semester. I was accepted to first semester. But I asked for permission from the office of admission to begin 2nd semester for some personal reasons. Alas, I didnt get any scholarships and don’t qualify for financial aid. I’m trying to get other outside scholarships but does Miami have grade based ones ONCE you get there? As in maintain a certain GPA for a year and you get X amount of money? Anyway, thanks again for the great advice. Really appreciate all the advice and the info you’ve given me.</p>