UM or BU

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Miami - Florida
1

<p>I have been accepted to both BU and UM. I'm not sure what school to go to. I'm so confused. I know most people are going to tell me to visit BU first, because I have yet to visit BU. But my confusion stems from something else. I will be studying pre-med, btw. </p>

<p>UM is basically free for me. My dad works for the graduate school at UM and is an associate doctor there as well so it's basically free for me. I absolutely love the campus - it's so happy, positive and beautiful. I love the school spirit. I'm from Miami so I think I would live on campus in order to force myself to meet new people and have more of a college experience.</p>

<p>On the other hand however, I do want the experience of living in a new city. There will be new people and a new culture. I will be able to explore a new city. I will undergo the fear of being freshmeat in a city that is unknown to me with people I have nevet met. I will not have the comfort of my family so close to me. </p>

<p>I'm really thinking about the long-run though. UM is ranked 47 while BU is ranked 56, so UM is obviously a better school right? </p>

<p>I'm also most interest in studying abroad. Both have study abroad programs. To me, it's more important to study abroad than to live in Boston or another city. Plus, NYC has always been my dream city so would I have a better chance of transferring coming from UM or BU?</p>

2

<p>In terms of the rankings, the difference is negligible, so I don’t recommend you decide between the schools on that measure alone. Normally I would say UM beats BU 10x over. But since you’re from Miami, the situation changes a little, and it comes down to what you desire more: a diversification of your experience, or the life that you know already know is great.</p>

<p>I would pick the diversification. At least for a year. :slight_smile: Miami is a very unique city, and I think it will be good to see what other places are like.</p>

<p>All the same, UM is awesome. So you really can’t make a wrong choice here. Experience something brand new, or experience one of the best places in the country.</p>

3

<p>Well, Alex Rodriguez trains at UM in the winter, so you should probably just go there :)</p>

<p>But in all seriousness, if you’re gonna be in debt from BU and can go to Miami for free, go to Miami. Live on campus to get the “real” college experience. Getting to go to a school as good and as expensive as Miami for free is freaking amazing and you’re really lucky you have that opportunity.</p>

<p>BTW, this isn’t biased cause I went to UM. If your dad taught at BU instead, I’d be suggesting you go there.</p>

4

<p>Both schools are great and you will likely be happy at both.</p>

<p>That said, financially, UM is the better choice, even if your parent will pay for Bu and leave you debt free. Why have them spend all that money if they don’t have to. The money will come in handy for grad school.</p>

5

<p>Funny, I only applied to two schools out of High School…UM and BU.</p>

<p>I was going to go to BU until their financial aid package came a month after their acceptance letter…needless to say I went to UM.</p>

<p>BU is a very expensive school, and they are tight on their financial aid. Their price was almost double what UM offered me. It was rather shocking.</p>

<p>BU is a very urban campus. Boston is a great city, but pretty crowded. Much different from living in Miami. If you like baseball, Fenway Park is basically on the backside of BU’s campus.</p>

<p>Both are great schools, it just depends if you want to go away for college, and if you want to spend (large amounts of) money on college.</p>

6

<p>Thank you for your responses! They were all great and I appreciate them all. Money is not a big issue for my parents but I do understand how lucky I am to be able to go to a great school for free. </p>

<p>The importance of living in a different city versus staying home is what really gets me confused. I don’t know how imporant an experience of being away for college is.</p>

7

<p>I guess you really need to hear from some more students who had a similar choice and chose to make UM their home - both those whose parents live in a northern city home and those that live in southern Florida. I work with a guy whose daughter decided to attend our local university - she lives in the dorms and rarely travels the 8 miles to her family home, even on weekends. She is familiar with the territory, is used to the weather and has an easy trip on school breaks. But, she did give up the new city experience. </p>

<p>I went to school about 3 hours away, so I felt detached and had fun exploriing my new city, but was close enough to home to make commuting easier when I wanted to visit or for breaks.</p>

<p>Being from upstate NY, I’m jealous of y’all who call Miami home. And, while you might have fun with winter up here the first year, it gets real old real quick. Of course, you might say the same about your warm and sunny days too!!!</p>

<p>But, I’m an old parent - you really want some more youngsters to comment on this choice. Have you posted your dilemma on the BU boards too? You might find someone who went there from Florida and can share thoughts with you.
~Zinc</p>

8

<p>I am from NY and made the decision to pass up schools in NYC and Boston as well as a top Southern school to come to Miami. Yes, like you, I valued the experience of going away from home. And yes, it makes you grow up knowing that you can’t run home to mom and dad or to your friends, that if anything happens, you have to fix it on your own. I had my fair share of health problems this year, and being 1,200 miles from home is tough to deal with but it part of growing up.</p>

<p>Both schools are great, but the chance to experience a new city and culture should not be taken lightly. However, remember, undergrad is only 4 years–you have your whole life to explore the world…!</p>

9

<p>that’s so weird, i’m also trying to decide between BU and Umiami :confused:
i’m from new york and i lived in boston for a summer, so i want to go to miami to, like you, experience something new (plus i love it there), and it is also significantly less expensive than BU. But on the other hand, I don’t want to be that far away from home and BU is only a train ride as apposed to a plane from miami. i’m basically having some of the same problems as you but reversed!
if i were you, i’d def choose miami. it seems more advantageous for you financially and you are already familiar with the area and close to home and your family. also you have plenty of time later in life, maybe during med-school, to live in a big city and have diverse experiences (and i also think Boston’s extremely overrated hahha)</p>

10

<p>We live near a major university (< 5 miles). The students who go from our high school to that University (often for free) choose, individually, whether to go home frequently, or only on ‘breaks.’ They experience living in a new city, meet new people and a new culture - college is nothing like high school. They explore the city as a young adult, rather than a child. They undergo “the fear of being freshmeat.”</p>

<p>From what we see and hear, they feel as if they have ‘gone away’ to college.</p>

<p>If the price difference between UM and BU were less substantial, it would be a different conversation. You are talking about a lot of money - probably $150-$200,000. Chances are, you have little to no experience with what that sum of money means (my kids don’t). </p>

<p>You need to talk with your parents to see what - if anything - you will gain by going to UM. </p>

<p>If you go to UM, will your parents let you use the savings towards grad school, summer travel, a downpayment on a house (or a house!) after you’ve graduated, or a nest egg if you cannot find immediate employment?</p>

<p>If so - </p>

<p>Imagine yourself at UM. You have X amount in the bank and you budget out how much you can use to travel abroad each summer without worrying about whether or not you can get funding thru the school, without worrying about asking your parents to dig into their checkbook. Perhaps you use some of it to live and work in Boston one summer, NYC another, and Vienna for the third. You go off to Peru one summer as a volunteer. Your laptop dies and you buy a replacement, with the bells and whistles. And you still graduate with plenty left for grad school, or a downpayment on a HOUSE.</p>

<p>Then picture yourself at BU, thinking about how you will pay for grad school, and a house, and what if you don’t find a job immediately, and how your friends are backpacking thru Europe but you don’t have the funds to join them… you can’t join the other kids for travel on breaks, you are back home each summer to keep finances in check. You want to do a research project in Berlin, but you missed the deadline for the funding application. Boston is notoriously expensive, but you feel pinched for funds each week.</p>

<p>Which feels better?</p>

11

<p>Excellent post mtpaper…just excellent!</p>

12

<p>i chose UM :)</p>

13

<p>Congrats!!</p>

<p>You already know what a great school Miami is, now you get to experience it as a Cane!</p>