Crunch time - my son is deciding between these two schools. We welcome any input pro/con.
We live in Arizona so both schools are out of state S plans to study business and will graduate with AP and IB credits: 3.72 UW/4.6 W, 34 ACT, top 5%. S is looking for a top academic program as well as a strong sports atmosphere and social life, he plans to rush a fraternity. S is likely to go to graduate school.
Miami: S has $26k presidential scholarship, renewable for 4 years with maintained 3.0. Visited with business advising group, noted direct admit into business school with immersion starting freshman year, study abroad options, and international flavor of the school. Coral Gables neighborhood nice, proximity to Miami, and weather seems a plus. Smaller class sizes and what seemed like personal attention from faculty and staff a plus. Business School has a 4 1/2 year dual Bachelor and Master degree in accounting program if he ends up loving accounting, and flexibility with adding additional majors and/or minors. Mom is concerned about “party school” reputation, although we didn’t get that feel while on campus; and a lesser-ranked business program (will this inhibit recruiting?).
Penn State: DS visited, loved the traditional-looking campus, school pride evident in the students, and sport facilities. Did not get to tour or presentations, ie. dorm, administrators, or discussion of the program/schedule. State College a college town. Admitted to a Smeal College of Business major, higher ranked than Miami, and highly touted alumni network. Mom is concerned about large class sizes, getting lost in the crowd, cold weather and having to apply to Smeal (after freshman year?). S says the cold won’t bother him, change of seasons interesting. Big brother will be living in Pittsburgh so “close by,” which may factor into his decision.
After scholarship, Penn State is at least $10k/year more than Miami.
All comments welcome – he loved both and is getting ready to flip a coin!! Thank you.
My D is a junior at Miami, double major in Finance and Marketing. She LOVES the U and could not be happier there… Most of her classes are small and she never feels lost in the crowd. We had visited Penn State and she loved it there too, if she had not gotten accepted to Miami she may have ended up there. But she says she would have had a hard time dealing with the weather especially with the size of the campus. Although Miami is not the traditional college town she loves being able to easily get to downtown Miami and South Beach. She is very active in Greek life too. Two advantages of Miami that you may not have thought of - Miami is much easier to get to, you can fly into Miami airport 15 min from campus or Ft. Lauderdale, about 45 min away. You also mentioned recruiting - I would think there would be more internship opportunities in Miami because it’s a large city. My D had a paid internship this semester at a wealth management company in downtown Miami. And she is staying in Miami this summer for another internship in her field of Finance. She is not interested in Accounting but I know the big 4 firms recruit on campus as she has friends in accounting. It’s going to be a tough decision because all friends who go to Penn State love it there also. Miami is a big party school and Penn State is too. But it’s all about balance and it sounds like your son is very bright and will figure that balance out. Good luck, I think he will just have to go with his gut feeling.
Don’t get caught up in rankings, though Miami is up to 31 on the Bloomberg rankings, they really don’t matter. Wharton is 16 on those, so I wouldn’t buy into them too much. Both are seriously great schools.
Thanks to both of you for your responses. Update: my son just committed to the University of Miami! The tipping points were the flexibility of the curriculum, the use of his AP credits to fulfill cognate requirements, and the ability to double-major within the business school. We are very excited to be a Cane family!