Does anyone know anything about Miami University?

[Dmmetler]

(The one in Ohio). DD spent quite awhile talking to their admissions rep at a college fair, and they actually have her cognitive science major available, as well as an animal science program. Merit aid looks like it may make it reasonable.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MysteryJen]

Dd2 was recruited there (decided not to take the OV). From what we could tell and she gathered from all her phone calls- great school across the board, and definitely seemed to attract some hard-working, bright kids. We know a couple of girls there and they report loving the school (not just the team).

That's all I know. 😂

[Kassia]

On 4/13/2019 at 10:08 AM, dmmetler said:

(The one in Ohio). DD spent quite awhile talking to their admissions rep at a college fair, and they actually have her cognitive science major available, as well as an animal science program. Merit aid looks like it may make it reasonable.  

 

Is cognitive science available as an undergraduate major?

We've been considering Miami but my dd is wary of it because of the party/preppy reputation.

 

[Guest]

It’s listed as an undergrad major, under the psych department.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

tl;dr - I think Miami is a nice school and I encouraged my kids to apply there.  I think the party reputation is a bit overblown.

We have several family members who attended in the 1980s-1990s.  We considered it a solid option in the likely admission range, and both of our older kids applied and were accepted.  I like their merit aid scholarships that are tied to test scores and gpa.  These have higher award amounts for out of state students.  Both of my kids received enough to bring tuition down below the level of in-state rates (as out of state applicants).  

All three of the people who attended still speak fondly of their time at Miami.  They were in vastly different majors, from humanities, to social sciences, to hard science.  Two went directly into PhD programs, then to post-doc work and into working professionally in their field (not as academics).  

The campus is a lovely one, about 45-90 minutes outside Cincinnati (depending on what part of town you're trying to get to.  I think Cincinnati is a great city, with sports, food, festivals, art museums, Broadway shows, historical sites, and an extensive parks system (Hamilton County Parks).   For transportation, Miami would be about equidistant between the Cincinnati and Dayton airports.  Cincinnati probably has more flights.

I know that Miami has a reputation as a party school.  That always surprises me, because the three people I know who attended are not party people.  Two did Alpha Phi Omega, which is a fraternity, but one that I think is actually a true service fraternity.  To my knowledge it does not have a residence associated with it.  Miami has about 20k students, so I think it's possible to find lots of party goers, but also lots who aren't.  (Having said that around 25% of students are in a Greek fraternity.  I would have discouraged my kids from pledging a traditional fraternity there - or at any campus.)

Back in the day, it was hard to have permission to have a car on campus.  I don't know what the current situation it.  That could make it feel more remote.

 

Edited April 15, 2019 by Sebastian (a lady)

[Mom2boys]

On 4/13/2019 at 10:08 AM, dmmetler said:

(The one in Ohio). DD spent quite awhile talking to their admissions rep at a college fair, and they actually have her cognitive science major available, as well as an animal science program. Merit aid looks like it may make it reasonable.  

Miami is where I got my bachelor's degree. What would you like to know? It is the quintessential red brick college campus/town. A fair amount of the social life, though not all, revolves around the Greek system. It is no more of a party school than anywhere else. 

I didn't go Greek and neither did my friends. We had plenty to do socially and a great four years. They have a campus in Luxembourg where some students study for a semester. I was in Alpha Phi Omega - the large service group Sebastian mentioned - and it was a really fun group at the time. Not sure what it is like today. I was also an RA. 

[Mom2boys]

18 hours ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

tl;dr - I think Miami is a nice school and I encouraged my kids to apply there.  I think the party reputation is a bit overblown.

We have several family members who attended in the 1980s-1990s.  We considered it a solid option in the likely admission range, and both of our older kids applied and were accepted.  I like their merit aid scholarships that are tied to test scores and gpa.  These have higher award amounts for out of state students.  Both of my kids received enough to bring tuition down below the level of in-state rates (as out of state applicants).  

All three of the people who attended still speak fondly of their time at Miami.  They were in vastly different majors, from humanities, to social sciences, to hard science.  Two went directly into PhD programs, then to post-doc work and into working professionally in their field (not as academics).  

The campus is a lovely one, about 45-90 minutes outside Cincinnati (depending on what part of town you're trying to get to.  I think Cincinnati is a great city, with sports, food, festivals, art museums, Broadway shows, historical sites, and an extensive parks system (Hamilton County Parks).   For transportation, Miami would be about equidistant between the Cincinnati and Dayton airports.  Cincinnati probably has more flights.

I know that Miami has a reputation as a party school.  That always surprises me, because the three people I know who attended are not party people.  Two did Alpha Phi Omega, which is a fraternity, but one that I think is actually a true service fraternity.  To my knowledge it does not have a residence associated with it.  Miami has about 20k students, so I think it's possible to find lots of party goers, but also lots who aren't.  (Having said that around 25% of students are in a Greek fraternity.  I would have discouraged my kids from pledging a traditional fraternity there - or at any campus.)

Back in the day, it was hard to have permission to have a car on campus.  I don't know what the current situation it.  That could make it feel more remote.

 

I was in Alpha Phi Omega during the same time period as your family members. I probably knew them. Small world!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

3 hours ago, Mom2boys said:

I was in Alpha Phi Omega during the same time period as your family members. I probably knew them. Small world!

Was my characterization of the group correct?  I don't think of it in the same category as other frats (even though most frats seem to advertise themselves as being about service).

[MamaSprout]

My slightly geeky childhood friend went there and loved it. She didn't do a sorority, and seemed to have a full college experience. OTOH, my valedictorian cousin went, dubbed it "green hell" and transferred out after her first year. So I guess definitely different strokes...  

[Guest]

On 4/16/2019 at 3:34 PM, Sebastian (a lady) said:

Was my characterization of the group correct?  I don't think of it in the same category as other frats (even though most frats seem to advertise themselves as being about service).

I am an APO life member (albeit not at Miami), and APO has some significant differences-basically, it’s what happened when Boy Scouts aged out and wanted to continue scouting, and created an organization (Girls were admitted in the 1960’s). APO chapters cannot have houses, and are usually recognized as an organization, not a fraternity-you can be in Panhellenic, IFC, or Pan-Hellenic and be in APO as well. 

[livetoread]

Dd applied and was accepted there for next year. She also did their summer scholars last summer in genetic engineering and liked that. Ultimately she has decided to go to UC, partly because their engineering school is stronger, and partly because she got a lot of negative feedback from others about Miami being a rich, white, entitled, party school. Whether it’s a fair assessment or not, it turned her off. 

My impressions are it’s a beautiful campus, and they are trying hard to shake that rich white image with major diversity pushes, but I don’t know how successful they’ve been. Their sciences are very good with a solid number of med school acceptances. Business school is also very good but tends to be where the entitled reputation comes from. You can’t have a car for two years and it is far enough from Cincinnati and Dayton that students tend to stay around campus and party. When you do have a car, you have to park it way far out usually.

I know an lgbti person there who liked the academics, but didn’t like the students much. Everyone can find their tribe at a school that size though. They do an awesome Make It Miami admitted students day which almost swayed her with the whole romantic college experience thing, but after a couple of days she shook it off and stuck with UC.

Editing to add, OSU has become the most attractive and competitive public university now, while Miami used to be it. OSU is excellent in the sciences, and its psychology department is great, too. Dd got accepted there, too, but liked UC’s engineering program better. 

Edited April 29, 2019 by livetoread

[Toocrazy!!]

I graduated from there years ago, and I'll say I'm in the minority of people who didn't love it. When I went there it was an extension of some private high schools, cliques clearly in place. Greek life was a dominant part of the social scene. The town is small and you are stuck there for the most part. The car rule was in place when I was there, not sure if that is still the case. There is one main street with restaurants and shopping, but the University is the hub of all you will do. That said, I ended finding my people, but my personality didn't lend itself to that type of school. I felt like an outsider that moved into a new high school instead of part of a new college experience. 

 

[livetoread]

I will add that when we went for admitted student’s day, we spotted an AA student sitting by himself in the cafeteria, so of course I made a beeline for him and sat there figuring I might get a different perspective. He was patient but noncommittal with my questions about his experience, but when my daughter said she heard the students can be kind of stuck up and clique-ish, he grinned and nodded vigorously. He was a football recruit, and it made me wonder why he was sitting by himself. Didn’t want to read too much into it as there could have been many reasons, but it still made me go hmmm. 

Also, FWIW, it has the nickname J Crew U. In some ways I think the stereotype might be somewhat outdated, but I’ve heard from some really great kids that they struggled to find their people with some transferring.

[cintinative]

I have lived in Cincinnati my whole life. One reason I didn't look at Miami back in the early 90s was because it had too heavy of sorority involvement (I ended up at a school with less than 15%) and that a lot of my high school peers went there (and that was a reason to avoid it--LOL). Too many cliques at my school and I was not going to follow them to college. Back then it was the preppy school. We were all dressing in grunge at my more expensive private school and they were wearing nice sweaters and pearls. 

I don't know anyone that has gone there recently. Those that I meet that have gone there say 10 years ago approach me the way that is described upthread. 

Small town Ohio is not all so bad. My advice to the OP is to make sure the campus is a good fit for your daughter (aside of on paper).