<p>Ok, I’m still deciding between BU and UMiami, and I’m concerned that by the time I end up choosing BU it will be pretty late and all the crappy houses will remain (not that i know anything about the housing at BU) for me. I"m actually going to visit Boston/Miami during April 18 to 22, do you guys think that it’s a bad time for me to visit?</p>
<p>The Housing concern goes to both schools btw.</p>
<p>tom1030, My son has also narrowed his choice down to either BU (CGS) or UMiami (College of Communications). He visited both schools before applying and did a two week summer program at BU. At the moment, I think that he is leaning towards BU, but he’s planning to visit both schools again before making a final decision. </p>
<p>I’ll be curious to see what you decide. Your post indicates that BU has the advantage right now - any particular reason(s)?</p>
<p>haha funny, my final choice was also between BU and UM. however, my situation is slightly different since i live in miami. my ultimate goal when applying to colleges was to go OOS so i could get away from things that are familiar to me, which is a big part of the reason why i chose BU in the end, although it of course wasn’t the only reason.
another main reason i chose BU over UM is because BU’s campus is very urban and i loooveeee the city. i live in the suburbs of miami and every time i have a chance to go to downtown miami or south beach i am in love. i’ve been to UM’s campus a few times, which is traditional, and although it is very pretty, it just doesn’t feel like the right school for me. of course if i went to UM i would be a commuter so i wouldn’t have to worry about housing.
i also got into BU and UM for communications and both schools have great communications programs and boston and miami have great opportunities for communications students so in that area i think there is not much of a difference. i’m sure one’s communications school is better than the other but i’m not really sure which.
overall the reason i chose BU over UM is because it’s far away, the campus is very urban, boston is an amazing city with so much to do (who knows i may fall in love and choose to live there for the rest of my life! haha), and BU is of course an amazing school.</p>
<p>oh and another thing, i guess you could say boston is a college town because of the large amount of colleges in the city, and miami is not like that at all. the only colleges i know of that are in miami are UM, FIU, miami-dade, nova southeastern (which i didn’t even know existed until about a year ago, although it’s coming up in the rankings), and that’s pretty much it. if you go to the mall on a friday or saturday night, it’s mostly high school students running around. also the driving is horrible, it is one of the worst places to drive in the country. lol i’m not trying to talk anyone out of going to UM but it’s just some things to keep in mind if you plan on driving or exploring the city.
but south beach is beautiful, bayside is beautiful although bayside is just basically hard rock cafe and a mall, and there are certainly benefits in going to UM and living in miami, like the beach! haha. also once you get used to driving here, getting around miami is not hard at all since the city is set up on a grid system so after some practice, getting an unkown address is easy to find since you’ll know which street to take and what avenue the house or building lies on.
there’s also a lot to do. in north miami there’s Oleta state park, where there’s a beach, you can go mountain biking, kayaking, and many other things.
anyway i think you should also talk to someone who lives in boston so they can tell you the positive and negative things about boston as a city so you can make your decision. good luck!</p>
<p>In most of the parts of Boston / Cambridge you’ll be in, young people are in such numbers that old people stand out the way a young person in a retirement community in Florida does. </p>
<p>The only pity for students is that few of them are around in the summer when the city is wonderful - and empty - the weather is great and there are tons of things to do.</p>
<p>Basically bitesizeemma explained one of the reasons why I’m leaning towards BU:
It’s a city inhabited mostly by colleges. This is a quality that I’ve never seen before, and I think that it would be an excellent location for me to begin my professional studies. My sister is currently studying at BU, and I fell in love with Boston when I went to visit her. The place is loaded with things to do, and seems to have a perfect balance between a studying and entertaining environment. Plus, I’m going to pursue a dental school for graduate college and am going to complete pre-dental courses during my undergraduate years. Since BU is one of the few dental schools in the nation, I find it pretty advantageous for me to be able to visit the dental facilities/clinics early.</p>
<p>On the other hand Miami seems to have a better biology program (since it’s their strongest one) and lots of people (alumni and current students there) say that Miami is a great place to live. The University is slowly rising its standards and its overall quality, which is why the USNews Rankings are so deceptive. The downside though is that it has a reputation for being a big party school and I believe that it might interfere with my studies (Dental schools look mostly for GPA rather than anything else). I’ve never been to Miami before, but the weather is much like Brazil, which is the place I’ve been living my entire life. I want to change that and move to the northeast, where it’s cold and completely different from anything I’ve experienced.</p>
<p>if you’re looking for change and a new environment, as well as a great school, then you might as well go to BU since it’s your best option. UM is a party school i guess, but so is BU. maybe not as big, but from what i’ve read on these threads it still has its share of parties. i think you’re going to be distracted no matter what school you go to, but it’s up to you to focus on your studies.</p>