<p>Well, as someone else mentioned, its the TYPE of partying. Clubbing sucks, I’ve seen so many shady things happened to my clubbing friends and what not and it seems like everyone just wants to go to South Beach. I love house parties, the bars are fun, it’s just that superficial, designer label club scene I am sick of. And I grew up in Miami, live there…and most of the population does choose to party at the clubs constantly. Also, keeping up with image is so not my thing…I don’t know I don’t think Miami would be the greatest fit for me.</p>
<p>Vacation,</p>
<p>To be honest, I think you are looking for reasons not to go to UM…that is fine. However, as other students and parents have alluded to, this everyone parties in the clubs argument isn’t really valid with 9,900 undergrads from all 50 states and around the world. SoBe would sink with that many partiers :-)</p>
<p>:( I guess. I just really don’t want to go to UM but that’s probably where I’ll end up. My brother goes there and he said almost everyone just wants to party at sobe.</p>
<p>Why will you go there when you don’t want to?</p>
<p>Are your parents insisting on it? If that is the case, I feel your pain.</p>
<p>I live up the road in Broward County and attended UM in the early 80’s. I stayed in South Fl. and have seen lots of Hispanic (which I am) parents do CRAZY things. It’s a cultural thing- they feel that kids should stay home with their family. In Miami-Dade county, there have been cases of kids being accepted to Ivies and having to fight mom and dad in order to go away to college.</p>
<p>Many of our parents (mine included, back in the day) feel that American families are almost too eager to send their kids away. My own kids are either away or will go away.</p>
<p>I left home and took out loans to pay for the dorm. I didn’t think my dad would ever talk to me again. He did. </p>
<p>Also, if you live in So. Fl. and went to high school here you have witnessed the designer-label wearing crowd first-hand. At UM you will meet a variety of people if you live in the dorms. If you go there, you can broaden your horizons by staying away from the locals who live at home and you can meet kids from all over the country.</p>
<p>What you said is very helpful. I will explain.</p>
<p>Here is the deal:
I do know what you mean with Hispanic families keeping families very close. I’m not Hispanic, however, I’m totally American. The thing is, my parents sent my brother and I to a really pricey private school, so the plan was that they would spend money on high school and then we would get a free college career. While that makes sense, I really, really, REALLY do not want to go to UM. My brother goes there and dislikes it, he lives at home and everything and while he has friends and gets out and stuff, I really do not want to stay home because I feel like I would miss out on the typical college experience. Plus I have never really been that fond of Miami. And it isn’t just wanting to get away, I simply do not like UM. It’s a great school if you want to be a marine biologist or engineer, but I love writing and history. I’m applying to all other Florida state schools, and I guess the school I really want to go to is FSU. My dad says if I want to go somewhere else for school, fine, but I’m not getting a penny out of him. So I might end up taking out student loans, in which case that would case a lot of fighting in my household, but I really just think I would be thoroughly unhappy at UM. And once again, growing up in Miami my whole life really shows me how the people are down here, and it’s not my cup of tea. Since they are paying it is sort of their decision. But tuition for Florida schools is so cheap, and I would get off for bright futures so I don’t think it would be too much of a bad debt in my future.</p>
<p>InvolvedmomFL, your situation sounds so much like mine with the taking out loans and silent father thing. We’ll see what happens. I might not even be accepted to Miami.</p>
<p>Vacation,</p>
<p>I know what you mean about So. Fl. I am originally from NY, and while I wouldn’t go back there, there are days I’d rather not be here. </p>
<p>My D is in Tally, and really enjoys it. She does not want to come back here after college is over. It sounds like you really want to get away from this area and experience something else. You can get that in Tallahassee without leaving the state.</p>
<p>Realistically, you can take out loans for the dorms/meal plan, work at a PT job, and use your Bright Futures for tuition. My D is in a sorority (which has a variety of girls- partiers and non) and lives in a house, which also has a staff- including cooks. That is not a very expensive way to live at all. Paying loans later will be the only downside, but you will gain much from your experience.</p>
<p>Another way to look at it is if you go to UM (tuition-free) you can always assume debt later in grad/med/law school and go somewhere totally different.</p>
<p>In the end, don’t go to UM for your parents. These are your college years.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Great point. I would end up only really having to pay for room and board so it is not even like I’m taking out huge loans. If I got a job I could probably pay for most of it myself. </p>
<p>We’ll see what happens. My mother is very reasonable, and if she understands that I simply have no interest in UM then it could probably work out.</p>
<p>As a recent transfer from the University of Miami, I would like to say that the University of Miami is not the long, drawn out party school that others and national rankings such as “Playboy” make it out to be. It is available to those who can afford it, but partying does not occur on campus, so I wouldn’t call it a “party school”. Miami serves as a good balance between hard work and fun, and many of the students like the smaller, country club setting. However, I’ve lived in South Florida for the past eighteen and a half years of my life and in a similar affluent, country club setting, so it is not the right place for me at this time in my life as I would like to test out a different part of society. However, all of my friends from up north love it as it’s a great spot, I mean to be able to say that you go to school where millions vacation, what could be better for those who were brought up in rustic towns up North. My friends like to have a good time, but are very focused on their academics the same time, but they are not huge into partying as I am, so it must be said that there are plenty of those who are not going out every Thursday to Saturday, spending mommy and daddy’s money out on the town. </p>
<p>For me and for others, Miami serves as a great institution where you can get a taste of everything; smaller academic environments, diverse group of students (NOT FINANCIALLY), and amazing athletics program. And many individuals go here to get high GPAs and transfer out to their first choice schools that they turned down in result of low scholarships or were just flat out denied. I know many students including myself who transfer after 1st or 2nd year to schools like NYU, Vanderbilt Duke, Georgetown, Northwestern, Emory, WashU, Columbia, UVA, UNC (such as myself) and many other of the nation’s top and private universities. </p>
<p>All in all, it’s a great place if you do not care for larger, frat parties and are more of a clubber and have bills to spend, only care about football in terms of athletics, and value small, one-on-one learning modules. </p>
<p>If you are not overwhelmed by larger environment and want the true college experience with top sports and school spirit, true college campus, environment, and college town, and a large Greek life, then I’d recommend UF for Florida residents, if you can get in, but I believe UM is starting to get harder, so if you can get into UM, then UF should be on your list.</p>