<p>In the interests of keeping the dialogue going concerning Miami, just wanted to share our son’s perspective (and ours) concerning MU.</p>
<p>Our son is entering Senior year, and began his college search in earnest in the Spring of this year. We visited Case, Miami, Washington University in St. Louis, Carnegie Mellon, and had planned to visit Lehigh this fall. He also visited Bowling Green, but more incidentally. All of these are realistic for our son, with WUSTL perhaps a reach and BGSU definitely a safety. Besides visiting, he also spoke with professors and students, current and past, at each place, and looked at the online information available. As his parents, we did our own investigating, just to provide a “sanity check” on whatever he decided. One important point is that we told our son that he was to pick his colleges based upon his interests and comfort level, without cost as a factor. </p>
<p>He has decided that Miami is #1 on his list, and is applying ED. Here are the reasons (in no particular order):</p>
<li> Campus and facilities – breathtaking, in scope, aesthetics and condition</li>
<li> Breadth of offerings – he is battling between a science based curriculum (engineering or physics) and a humanities based path (international relations/intelligence analysis), and sees great breadth and depth in both areas.</li>
<li>Instrumental Music – MU has a great instrumental program, for both majors and non-majors.</li>
<li>People – everyone we have spoken with has been extremely nice and helpful, and are genuinely enthused about the university.</li>
<li>Atmosphere – We were all a little concerned about the size, as he really wants to avoid a big college. MU however, is a reasonably large college with a small college atmosphere. The physical layout, the residential communities, etc. make for a very intimate atmosphere, and class sizes equal those of colleges with 1/3 of the enrollment. In contrast, he found Case to be a small college with a large college atmosphere.</li>
<li> Honors offerings – he is applying for the various honors programs, and likes the unique opportunities that these provide.</li>
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<p>While some of the other colleges on his list have perhaps more “name value” in the current climate, none offer the full spectrum of experience that our son found with MU. In terms of “preppiness”, I think that is overblown. Our son is a golf shirt/khaki kind of kid anyway, but the kids we know who go there are down to earth, and with a campus population the size of MU, you can find whatever you want to find. </p>
<p>Just thought these might be food for a thread.</p>