<p>Ok, I've asked similar questions previously, but I'm hoping my son will make a decision in the next week or so, and looking for any last minute thoughts/advice.
He has been accepted direct admit to all 3 business schools, and invited to honors at IU. We are hoping for Miami honors invite next week, but it's not likely. Scholarships at IU and Miami. IU would be twice as much as Miami. Miami would be cheaper than UMD also, and we are in state for Maryland. We visited all three, and he liked them all. He liked Miami a little more than IU, and we were at Miami on a freezing cold day when there were inches of snow on the ground. The first day he didn't like IU much, but he warmed up to it the second day, and he liked the dorm there. He's thinking IU is too expensive, so not really considering it any longer. I did pay a housing deposit at IU, just in case. He has no official criteria for how he's going to pick. He's thinking he will major in finance, but he's not sure. He doesn't know where he wants to wind up when he's done. I think they are all really good options for him. I'm slightly inclined to suggest he take the huge Miami scholarship, because he could switch to UMD if he hates it. But I'm not sure what the transfer policy is for the Smith school, so it might not be as easy as I think. Anything I may be missing that I should be suggesting to him? Thanks</p>
<p>I think you’re going to hear the same things we already told you. If Miami seems to be his too choice, go for it. It is not a personal favorite of mine, but you have heard lots of positives from others. I woukd go with IU, but I’m not you or your son.</p>
<p>Hi again! Have you checked to see if he needs to keep a certain GPA to keep the scholarships that he has been offered? That could be important. </p>
<p>As far as him being able to transfer back to UMD–check in to that carefully. How many applications for transfers does Smith get each year/how many do they admit/ what is the academic profile of the admitted students? Also check to see if the transfer are from community colleges rather than four-year institutions. Do they have different standards for students transferring in from different on-campus majors than from outside? One thing he will need to realize is that if he wants to transfer because he is unhappy, he will certainly need top grades–so he has to make sure that any possible unhappiness does not undermine his academic performance.</p>
<p>You want to make sure you are examining the data that may end up being relevant to your son. Check out the UMD common data set; you can google for it.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son for having so many good choices! He really can’t go wrong with any of them.</p>
<p>I met with a guy today who went to Miami undergrad, got his MBA at IU and now works for IU. He loved his time at Miami. I told him about your thread and asked him about the job placement, recruiting etc between the two schools. He just laughed. </p>
<p>That’s great. How much is he chipping in for the tuition differential? </p>
<p>(I think you’ve more than adequately made your point that you dislike Miami. Move on.) </p>
<p>I’m actually trying to learn more about it and he made some good points, but there really is no comparison to IU.</p>
<p>I can’t remember what I said before so pardon me if what I say this time is identical - although maybe I will end up adding more info. (It’s so much harder to search old posts now!) My son was admitted to Smith as a freshman, had a great experience there, and got two job offers and was in the process of completing final interviewing for a third when he decided to take one of the offers he had. So, he is graduating in May and is employed. He (and I) couldn’t possibly ask for anything more than a great school experience and a job at the end of it all! He was admitted to IU but decided not to go there because he didn’t like it when he saw it; I never saw it so can’t comment on specifics. (I feel like he thought it was too big - but I can’t imagine it’s much different in size than UMD, so it may have just been one of those “you either feel it or you don’t” things.) He did not apply to Miami U. because here in our district, the school is not viewed as well as the other two, based on who can get in there versus the other schools. Obviously I can only speak for our district. </p>
<p>I do have one more piece of info to add: you need a certain GPA to get into Smith if you haven’t been admitted as a freshman. I can’t remember what that GPA is - should be easy to find on the website - but several of my son’s friends were not able to make it into Smith and had to choose other majors. </p>
<p>The only other business school my son seriously considered was the one at Penn State - but there was something about UMD (the university itself) that he really liked. However, I hear great things about Penn State’s job placement. Of course, that school is not in the running here.</p>
<p>In the end, I’m sure he will be happy with whatever he chooses, and if he isn’t, he can always transfer - with the caveat that he may not be able to transfer into another business school so you will want to check into the requirements for that.</p>
<p>Adding to RTR’s point about needing a certain GPA to transfer into a given program–realize that often the published minimum GPA is just the minimum GPA that will be considered; often it does not guarantee admission. If a program only has a given number of seats available, and too many apply…it’s just like college admissions again, very competitive. Some schools holistically choose among those who exceed the minimum published standards; some “score” the students and rank them and then take students in descending rank order until they have filled available slots.</p>
<p>These are things you need to research.</p>
<p>You also need to research whether the programs you think your son might want to transfer in to even take transfers from other schools–some take only intraschool transfers, or transfers from in-state community colleges only, etc.</p>
<p>OP here. I appreciate the responses so far. Im especially happy to hear about the two job offers while at Smith. </p>