@JerseyParents It cuts both ways. You are right that some will get too emotionally attached to an earlier offer to consider Miami by the time they finally get the offer. But…a lot of people have what marketing folks like to call “shiny new toy syndrome” where Miami will actually benefit from being last EA to show their hand.
@EDHDAD I think more will be biased against Miami for this decision. Causing unnecessary stress and not having an appropriate amount of transparency will turn a lot of prospective students off to the school. Students will have more time to research schools they’ve already gotten into and will be appreciate the schools that actually weren’t EA in name only
@Kd6410 Trust me, when you get the acceptance envelope, your frustration regarding the wait time will dissolve. lol it’s actually a unique tactic. Although it’s nothing new for um. You knew what you were getting into when you applied.
I’m not going to hold a grudge against Miami for the long wait time(my being an adult won’t let that happen), but we have already planned trips to visit a few of the schools that gave my son affordable offers via EA. Our “travel budget” for visiting schools in terms of both time and money will probably be spent by the time Miami makes its EA decisions. So their merit aid offer better be awesome or we won’t bother with yet another trip across the US.
@strafed No, it really won’t. Especially since Miami isn’t my dream school and it’s kids like me who they’re going to loose. I really had no desire to go to Michigan State which is my saftey school. But they sent me my acceptance after 8 weeks. At first it was a “that’s kinda cool” feeling but over time I’ve totally fallen in love with them. I respect their efficiency and since getting accepted I’ve had time to learn about the school. Whether it’s true or not, I feel like they care about me and I’m not just another number. Same situation with Tulane whose EA decisions came out a month early. I have incredible respect for them for doing things in a timely and efficient manner. And they were 100% transparent throughout the whole thing, documenting their steps on the admissions blog. UM (and UT for that matter) both have dropped from being top choice schools. I knew UM’s decision date was Late January but I didn’t know that once I applied, they would never contact me again. And that they’d refuse to say the decision date, and that they would not address any changes.
@EDHDAD why would you apply to a school that says you hear back Late January then hold them responsible for “delaying your travel plans” when it’s still January?
@Kd6410 To each his own. “never contact you again.” You like those spammy emails colleges give you? Haha I took schools off that spammed my inbox. “refuse to say the decision date” They’ve said Late January from the start.
@strafed Because it’s not in our top few choices and we have heard back from those already. If it were a top choice for us we would wait on the others. If we had already heard back from a Miami with a decent offer we probably would have included it in the trips we have planned already. Make sense?
@EDHDAD ok, so the date doesn’t have much of an impact on you.
on the bright side we aren’t usc. usc has no ed or ea- all applicants hear by april 1
@strafed Don’t get me wrong, we are interested to hear back from Miami. My point was that if we had heard back already with a decent offer we are interested enough to have included it in our tours. Maybe it is the best choice and we won’t ever know because unless we get a great offer from them at the end of January or early February we won’t book a trip.
What @kd6410 said about UM never contacting us after we applied is a fact… I don’t like spammy emails Bc it makes colleges look desperate. But if I got a “Happy Birthday” email or a “Happy Holidays” email or emails about my department of interest (Com, Broadcast) that goes a longgg way and it makes me feel more connected to the school. At this point it looks like we’re just another number within the 30,000 students that apply. UM once was my dream but not so much anymore. If there’s no sense of belonging, does it make sense to commit to that college in the long run? Food for thought. @strafed
Well, I certainly hope Miami has TONS of top-tier candidates they believe to be already in the bag, if they feel they can drag a lot of other awesome students along. It’s like a business they treats customers only so-so - hope they have an overload of loyal ones if they think they can take so many others for granted.
I’m not sure I understand all of the animosity towards UM when this is school that most of you seem to really want to attend. UM has been very clear and transparent on their website all along that decisions would be released at the end of January. It is not their fault that people started speculating from January 1 if the acceptances would be released that day, or the next day, or the next day… . Being upset that they don’t release EA decisions until much later than some other colleges also doesn’t make sense when you were aware of when they would be released. Just because you think it should be different doesn’t make it wrong that UM sends EA acceptances late January. It would be wrong if UM said their acceptances would be rolling or early January and you still haven’t heard. Possibly changing it to the beginning of February is frustrating, but if everyone wasn’t so frustrated because they had psyched themselves up think the acceptance were being released in early January, then one more week would not seem so terrible. if you were waiting to compare UM’s package to other packages you have received and are now annoyed that you had to wait so long, again how is that their fault when they stated when acceptances would be released? As for losing students from attending because they waited until the deadline they stated to release acceptances just means that UM was not the first choice for those students. A student who wants UM first would wait until the date the school said that acceptances be released and then if accepted would attend because it was their first choice.
@strafed dreamchaser hit it right on the head. I don’t care for spammy emails but communication every once and a while shows they at least care. For example, NYU sent me a couple of information packets about the program I applied for. Tulane sent me an email about their new business building and their BA/Master’s program. GWU sent me information about the Women’s Leadership Program. Nothing from UM ever.
By this point they know the date the results are coming out. Them refusing to say it is silly and serves no purpose.
No one in this EA forum has ever stated that they thought UM would release their results on Jan 1st. No one is mad that they are different from other EA schools. We are ALL aware that they specifically said “late January” we dont hate UM, because its a amazing school academically and physically. We just hate their inconsistency and slyness. @jbtcat They moved it to “early February” without notifying us or even sending a email blast. Like what me and @kd6410 have been saying, there’s a lack of communication and personal connection between UM and their prospective students. Due to this, it can potentially hurt them in return.
I am currently a Parent of a Sophomore at the university of Miami. I remember my child waiting to hear just like you but he was accepted and couldn’t be happier there. He is in the business school and is having A wonderful experience there! It’s great to be a Miami hurricane! Go Canes!! Good luck to all of you and hope you get what you were hoping for.
@dreamchaser2k18 I agree they could be more transparent and I agree they don’t send many emails, however if either of those effect your decision on UM then perhaps it wasn’t the right fit anyway
@strafed “if either of those effect your decision on UM then perhaps it wasn’t the right fit anyway” It’s not about affecting my decision, it’s about UM working to better establish communication and a workable connection with prospective students. I’ve been obsessed with UM since I was in 9th grade, and I’ve followed UM vloggers and influencers, i’ve been keeping up with the school ever since the beginning of HS. If they could show the same about of interest and chemistry it would help solidify the commitments of students come May 1st. Either way, I gonna ride it out until I get my results.
I think that if someone is not happy with the amount a school communicates that is a good indication of whether it is a good fit for the student because it indicates what is important to the student and what is not important to the school. It is not good or bad or wrong or right. It’s a personal decision. If a student wants a college environment where the administration is very communicative (and there are a lot of good reasons for wanting that) and you find out that a school you were very interested in does not provide that type of communication, it is a good reason for not choosing that school. You may still choose that school because of other factors, but at least you are now aware that their communication is not great.
D1 applied EA last year to Miami. Between the time the application was submitted and when decisions were released, there was virtually no contact. I especially remember how loosey-goosey the notifications were for decisions and scholarship weekends. The communications paled in comparison to the other universities where she applied and was accepted.
Fast forward a year and I will still agree that there isn’t a lot of information that comes from the university to me as a parent. It all goes to my daughter. It’s not the kind of university that holds your hand and guides you along each step of the way. They tell you only what you need to know as you need to know it. However, when Hurricane Irma shut down the campus for weeks last fall, the []_[] did an outstanding job of communicating with the parents. If you are looking for a university that will send you brochures, a t-shirt, and lots of e-mails, then the University of Miami is definitely NOT it.
Several days ago I made an attempt at levity by saying that the group ought to find something else to fight about other than what day miami would release decisions. Looks like everyone has taken me up on the offer by fighting over whether or not to be upset that decisions have not been released. Classic CC.