<p>I am an alum of Smith, so I'm very familiar with how good the program is. Going into application season, My son only wanted to apply to UMD, and that's where he was going as long as he got into Smith. But... He also had some other good choices. He has eliminated Pitt and IU/Kelley/honors, but he is still thinking about Miami Ohio and the Farmer school. When we visited it was freezing cold and snowy, but we both really liked it. It would be several thousand a year cheaper than CP, because he got a great scholarship. That will be somewhat offset by travel costs, but it's still a great deal. Anyone know much about this school or how it compares to UMD/Smith, or have related suggestions? To me they both seem like very good options, and he is waffling back and forth. </p>
<p>Businessweek ranks Miami’s B-school at #23 for undergrad, and Smith/Maryland at #39. I consider rankings to be dubious, but still this shows that Miami can give an outstanding business education.</p>
<p>Miami students are known to be fairly socially and politically conservative. (I live in Ohio, and do pay attention to such things) Definitely has a “preppy” aspect too. So, you might factor that in if it is important to you. Most students appear to love Miami, and overall the university is highly regarded for its undergraduate focus. It is undoubtedly the best undergraduate state university in Ohio.</p>
<p>I just saw this yesterday. <a href=“http://miamioh.edu/news/top-stories/2014/04/Bloomberg-FSB-8th.html”>http://miamioh.edu/news/top-stories/2014/04/Bloomberg-FSB-8th.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?;
<p>First…Bloomberg Business Week is not the be all and end all for rankings. Second…if you must give them creedence, then at least also look at the MBA programs which also indicate overall strength. Maryland is in the opt 25. Miami of Ohio isn’t listed at all. (maybe no MBA program?) Further Smith (Maryland) is totally on the upswing. If you want to look at a great biz school with the name Miami on it…take a look at U of Miami (Fla). Excellent biz school.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. This was a tough decision. My son decided on UMD yesterday. Miami has a great business program, and I am mourning the loss of his almost full tuition scholarship, but Maryland is a great school, and I totally support his decision. GO TERPS!!!</p>
<p>Great decision, 1214mom. My D will be a freshman next fall also. GO TERPS!!!</p>
<p>Mine too…go Terps!</p>
<p>mitchKreyben, I was told by a relatively authoritative source tha Miami Ohio’s business program is better than U Miami’s (Florida). I have no dog in the fight between those two, but Farmer really is a pretty good business school. </p>
<p>Many folks would disagree that Miami is the best undergrad state university in the state. Ohio State is higher ranked in USNWR and incoming freshman classes have higher test scores /gpa.</p>
<ol>
<li> It’s debatable. Good folks can disagree. My guess is U Miami is dinged a bit becuase the Dean of their biz school was recruited BACK to Wharton a couple of years ago. That said, the connections that U Miami’s biz school has, are simply huge. Not saying Miami of Oh. doesn’t have any…but U Miami’s got a who’s who of adjuncts, and advisory cncl etc. Likely due to Miami as a business link between north and south america.</li>
</ol>
<p>No doubt Ohio State is a great school, and quite frankly I don’t know that much about “the other Miami.”
It’s all good - they all have pros and cons. </p>
<p>Congrats to your son - I hope he will be happy at UMCP. For future reference, if this thread should get searched next year, the biggest difference between UMD/Smith and Ohio/Farmer is that UMCP is primarily a research school. In most objective rankings of research (e.g. <a href=“http://jindal.utdallas.edu/the-utd-top-100-business-school-research-rankings/northRankings#20092013”>http://jindal.utdallas.edu/the-utd-top-100-business-school-research-rankings/northRankings#20092013</a>) UMCP is top 10. Miami of Ohio is not ranked because it is not even playing the same game. </p>
<p>However, for an undergraduate, the experience at either school would be not wildly different. If anything, I suspect the interaction between core faculty and a typical undergraduate at Miami/Farmer would be greater than at Smith; the tenured Smith faculty do less teaching than those at Miami, because their job is primarily research. On the other hand, the opportunities for the top undergraduates at Smith, as at the rest of UMCP, are as good as anywhere. </p>