<p>Im a student at Loyola University chicago, and I've decided I have had enough of being treated as an outsider. At my current school, everyone seems to know each other since kindergarden, where I came from Brazil to study here in America. I recently applied to Northwestern, and U miami and got accepted into both. Im sure you get TONS of questions such as "which should I go to..", but I have already made up my mind that another -20 winter will kill me. What I do want to ask however, is just overall, how students like Miami.</p>
<p>Please post, good things about Miami, bad things, (the kind of thing you realize after you study there....). Im a pre-med Neuroscience student, so if you know anything good about that please throw it in there.</p>
<p>What I am really asking is help me get a feel for the school, I want to know what its like living there, but not the typical "oh its wonderful, its sunny...", try the "food gets repetitive, people constantly gather at the beach, etc.."</p>
<p>Thanks for the help here, I just need the kick in the back to pick up my bags and leave chicago, convince me away!</p>
<p>Some people love UM and some don't. It's not for everyone. The academics are solid and they have some wonderful programs and to a certain extent they try and please, but it lacks a real personal, warm and welcoming feeling. Now that I have had some experience with a small state university, I realize the shortcomings of UM in that the individual services are lacking. It's hard to find real help for issues you might have. My son would have to bounce from dept. to dept. to try and get help on things like signing up for certain classes, declaring a major, parking tickets, parking issues, health issues.....they just weren't willing or able to help enough. It felt more like a giant system that wouldn't accomodate him.</p>
<p>The weekends start on Thursday and it's popular to go to Coconut Grove or South Beach. Fraternity parties are not as common because they mostly hold their own closed events. Going Greek is pretty popular and my son tried it but didn't love it - it's very time consuming and there were a lot of politics in his frat. </p>
<p>If you are looking for a down to earth, laid back environment, this isn't it. The people here are competitive and cliquey. Most students are very self centered. The girls are mostly gorgeous and the guys are also a nice looking bunch. If this description fits you then you will probably love it here. However, my son found a really nice group of friends. It took a while though and they all were not all that happy at UM either and talked of transferring but it was just easier to stay. My son eventually transferred out in his junior year. He liked UM to a certain extent and probably would have been fine staying like his friends but he didn't want his experience there to be his only taste of what undergrad life was like.</p>
<p>BTW, I just realized you would go for pre-med and that program is a very good one.</p>
<p>I hope we hear from some people who LOVE UM, too!</p>
<p>I'm starting pre-med with a major in neuroscience this fall at UM and i've heard various comments about it from people who already attend the school. They've told me the pre-med program there is very good and the neuroscience majors have a very high admissions rate to medical school although I was warned that the program is extremely competitive. As for the people, I've gone to campus many times and did the cane for a day program in which an upperclassmen of your major shows you the school and takes you along to their classes and from these experiences I loved UM. Everyone was very friendly and helpful, I don't think you'd feel like an outsider. If you're not into Greek life then that doesn't seem to be a major issue because I met a lot of people that were more into participating in different organizations than committing to a frat. or sorority. I hope a student that already attends the school can give you a better insight.</p>
<p>As you must know, UMiami has a significant Hispanic population, as well as an international one. You said you came here from Brazil, so you would probably feel like an insider at UMiami.</p>
<p>yea, I did come from brasil. Il explain though why I think that maybe, U miami is better for me. Coming from brasil, ive really, really learned how to Zone out these preppy, rich kids who like to show off, expecially since I attended the International school in Sao paulo, with all the diplomat kids. Social life, well, Im at a point in life that I know very well how to balance myself, not to mention that I dont care if people go out more then I do, I do what Makes ME confortable. the hispanic thing, yea, I really miss home and being in chicago reminds me of it everyday. The weather is bad, really bad, and I have not met another brasilian. I know U miami has some bad qualities, but I think they wont bother me, seeing that they are things ive already dealt with. I wanna thankyou guys for the comments, It really helped me reinforce some ideas. and in terms of debt, I got a close to full ride, so hopefully it wont weigh to much on my parents wallet. hehe.</p>
<p>I had a very good friend at UMiami with me who was from Brazil. Her brother came later as well. Although I graduated almost 30 years ago, I'm sure that there is still the very cosmopolitan school that it has always been. </p>
<p>I felt almost like a foreigner myself, having gone to Catholic school all my life, and being from New Orleans. There were lots of New Yorkers, Jewish, as well as Middle Easterners, Hispanics of all types, and even some midwesterners.</p>
<p>I made very good friends that I still keep in touch with, and even flew to their weddings when they got married.</p>
<p>Oh, the weather is gorgeous. I was even there during Hurricane Juan and David, and we were fine. Too old to experience Andrew, which was akin to Katrina.</p>
<p>One thing I do remember about my Brazilian friend, though, is that she never went home. I guess it was too costly. But I kind of got the impression she didn't want to be there anyway. </p>
<p>You'll miss being so close to Lake Michigan, but Lake Oceola on campus is gorgeous.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>