<p>This is the only thing holding me back from enrolling at UM.
Does the school live up the reputation of spoiled rich kids?</p>
<p>There absolutely is a certain percentage of your stereotypical East Coast well-to-do crowd. But <em>most</em> UM students are just regular, maybe even on the nerdy side. For some reason on our visit, we didn't see any obvious "rich kids". From what I've been told by a mom of a boy and a girl at UM, the girls are more aware of the people with money crowd. Been told by a couple of non-rich UM boys that it's no big deal at all.</p>
<p>OTOH, we have looked at several private schools this year that are similar to UM academics wise, and they ALL have a segment of "rich kids". Some more than others. I don't think UM is out of the ordinary. It goes with the territory of being a higher end private school. If you go to a typical state school or a middle of the pack small lib arts college, you'll get a more typical "local" state student.</p>
<p>I'll second what dumbdad says. My S is a senior at UM. When we first visited we were struck by the number of sports cars and BMW 5s in the commuter lot. </p>
<p>Deserved or not, school pick up stereotypes. Ask anyone about USC (Southern Cal) and before long someone will bring up the fact that it's in a "dicey" area. It's irrelevant that crime stats are low or that other schools are in similar type areas but don't have the same reputation (Columbia and Penn come to mind). People convince themselves that the reputation is truth.</p>
<p>College is what you make it. My son is a Marine Sciences/Biology Double Major. He has traveled much of the Caribbean and South America on UM research projects. The percentage of rich-snooty or poor-down-to-earth students are irrelevant to his daily life on campus. He found his set of friends, (some rich, some not), and his niche at Miami. His experience has been spectacular.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Vinceh</p>
<p>My D has been accepted and has the same double major. We are going down to visit the campus in two weeks.</p>
<p>Can you tell me some impressions of the program. Was he easily able to do research from the start or did he have to wait until his junior/senior year?</p>
<p>SVMMom, I sent you a PM that goes into detail about my son's experiences (all good).</p>
<p>I am a Miami resident and a lifelong Cane as my parents both attended the university. I love the people at UM and have not been overwhelmed by snooty rich kids. Don't get me wrong, they are there, but it isn't suffocating. I will be attending there in the fall and am not rich and don't think of myself as snooty. I am on scholarship because there is no way I could have paid the tuition myself and I will be driving to campus everyday in my 1997 GMC Safari (They don't even make them anymore).</p>
<p>It's true that there are A LOT of rich kids at UM (let's face it, you have to be rich to go to UM not on scholarship/aid) and you'll notice it when you're walking through the parking lot, but other than that it's not a big deal. Most of my friends here are wealthier than I am, but it's not like they rub it in my face or we go shopping and they spend thousands of dollars while I buy a $10 shirt or they're going to expensive clubs every weekend and leave me home alone to do nothing. You'll find your friends just like you will anywhere else. I have a friend who goes to TCU, which has a reputation for also being rich and snobby, and she told me that one of the sororities actually asks girls during recruitment what their fathers do for a living. That does not go on here as far as I know. So bottom line, there are a lot of rich kids, but there are also a lot that are only at UM cause they received a scholarship and are taking out their own loans to pay for it. I drive to campus everyday in my 1994 Honda and I am not treated any differently than the person who pulls up next to me in their 2009 BMW.</p>
<p>why is it such a problem for anybody to be around rich people? some of the nicest people i've met here are extremely rich.</p>