I’m from Illinois and I can’t decide between these two great schools. I am pursuing a degree in biology with aspirations to go into dental school later, but I also like to have a good time and go out. I’ve visited both campuses and I liked SMU’s campus better, but I feel like Miami is better academically. I also plan on rushing for either school I choose and SMU’s greek life looks amazing, but downtown Miami seems equally amazing. I appreciate any feedback or recommendations anybody has. Thank you in advance:).
Both are expensive and may not give sufficient financial aid. Can your family afford the cost of attendance at these two unis? Have you run the Net Price Calculators for them?
@dadof1 I have and while I did get some money from SMU, my family can afford both schools. It’s really up to just up to deciding which school I like more.
They are in totally different locations. If you are going to utilize being close to the beach, then go to Miami. If you don’t care about the beach, then go to SMU. Miami and Dallas are both big cities, but have different amenities.
I am an SMU grad (from many years ago) and studied biomedical engineering - so I took many pre-med classes. All of my friends that were pre-med or pre-dental are now all successfully practicing surgeons/doctors/dentists and it seems like they are all representing their specialties at conferences all over the place. It has been a long time since I was a student there but I was just visiting campus for my daughter and felt like many things were still the same. I don’t know a thing about Miami so I can’t comment on that. But, if you want Greek life, SMU sure has that … and then some. One thing that stands out the most about my pre-med education was the access to the professors and that my largest science class (chemistry) was probably close to 50 students and most were much much smaller. But, while in that ‘largest’ science class … I went through the trauma of losing a very close almost-sister friend back home and was having trouble keeping up with my coursework. I wrote a short note to each of my professors just to let them know what was going on. One day during the chemistry lab, my chemistry teacher pulled me out of the classroom to the hallway and just wanted to check up on me, express his condolences, and make sure I knew to let him know if I needed extra time or help. I’m sure stuff like that happens frequently at any school, etc. but it showed me that the faculty was focused on students.
Did you like the labs better at Miami? The nearby hospitals, etc. for internship opportunities in Miami? I agree, they are two totally different types of cities - and weather.
I found the labs at Miami to be about equal as well as the internship opportunities, maybe even more in Miami because UM is about the only school in the city. However, I do prefer the smaller size at SMU and again the greek life definitely sounds like something I wanna be a part of. I’m having great difficulty deciding, every day I feel like I go back and forth.
Thank you for the feedback I really appreciate it.