University of Miami with Merit money vs. UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Miami is not a no name school. That's utterly effing ridiculous. Everyone has heard of the University of Miami.

In Miami, yes.

umm, everywhere. I am a European and I heard of it.

I am a European with an Ivy education. Fully aware of UVA since I was a teen. Literally never heard of U of Miami until this thread, and I am living in DC, almost 50.

That's weird. I have been fully aware of both since my early twenties. I have two Ivy League degrees.

PP who is 50 and unaware of the University of Miami must have lived under a rock since 8th grade. Miami won 5 NCAA football championships between 1983 and 2001 and produced several well known NFL quarterbacks (Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testerverde, Steve Walsh). Not being aware of Miami makes you 1 in a million.

Not being aware of u of Miami football makes you smart - so UVa it is.

[Anonymous]

I would not let the possibility of helping pay for grad school be a factor in this decision. Way too speculative. I do not understand parents’ concern on this forum about paying for their kids’ grad school. Sure, if you can afford to help, help a little. But there seems to be so much emphasis on parents trying to save on undergrad so they can help pay for grad. In my book paying for undergrad is a parent’s responsibility; paying for grad school is my kids’ responsibility. Time to grow upand have some skin in the game. A certain amount of loans are fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miami is not a no name school. That's utterly effing ridiculous. Everyone has heard of the University of Miami.

umm, everywhere. I am a European and I heard of it.

I am a European with an Ivy education. Fully aware of UVA since I was a teen. Literally never heard of U of Miami until this thread, and I am living in DC, almost 50.

You have zero credibility. Or you are a total idiot. You pick. Really, by stating you’ve never heard of a top 50 college before DCUM, then you’re just making that up or seriously out of touch.
Here’s some trivia for you. UM’s most recent past president of 15 years had been Clinton’s Secretary of HHS for almost a decade and awarded the Presidential Medal of a Freedom by Bush#2. The current president is a native Spanish-speaking Mexican, former Dean and prof at Harvard’s School of Public Health. Probably the most recognized alum is Dwayne TheRock Johnson, the world’s highest paid actor 2016. Recently, the campus was forced to evacuate and close for 3 weeks due to damage from hurricane Irma (fact of note because the campus survived unscathed CAT 5 Andrew that blew through Southern Florida in 1992).
Even if you close your eyes and ears anytime college sports news comes on (for multiple national championships over 30 years), have you ever watched the news or read a newspaper or seen People magazine or seen a popular movie? Nothing here rings a bell?

The UVA v UM choice aside, to say you’ve never heard of one of these schools is ridiculous. At least it’s not something to brag about or to take as something worth weighing in your UVA/UM decision. All it proves is that one pp’s ignorance.

[Anonymous]

OP, I anticipate being in a similar situation to you for my kids. If you look at admitted student profiles across schools in the top 60, say, they are not that different. In fact, I’m shocked at how high they are, with average unweighted GPA’s for the middle 50% at 3.7 to 3.9 and SATs in the 1250-1450 range. But the fact is, those numbers are so high because of grade and test inflation. There really is a difference in how a class is run based on how smart the kids taking the class are, so if I thought smarter kids were at UVA compared to Miami (on the whole of course, not as to a particular kid), and my kid didn’t get a full ride to Miami, that’s worth the extra money to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miami is not a no name school. That's utterly effing ridiculous. Everyone has heard of the University of Miami.

In Miami, yes.

umm, everywhere. I am a European and I heard of it.

I'm European, have lived in DC for 20 years and had heard more about UM than UVA. I thought I already posted that my DH and his 4 brothers all went to UM. My good friend also went there for grad school. I had hear of UM before I met my DH. It's all over tv and pretty high in rankings. I got to be death and/or blind not to have heard of UM. I've heard UM so many times that I even got to find out there is MU in Oxford, OH - not to confuse the 2. And since when do we Europeans brag about not knowing or having heard of something. Not a good thing. You can say you have heard, but don't know much about it.
All 5 brothers are employed in IT and engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miami is not a no name school. That's utterly effing ridiculous. Everyone has heard of the University of Miami.

umm, everywhere. I am a European and I heard of it.

I am a European with an Ivy education. Fully aware of UVA since I was a teen. Literally never heard of U of Miami until this thread, and I am living in DC, almost 50.

You have zero credibility. Or you are a total idiot. You pick. Really, by stating you’ve never heard of a top 50 college before DCUM, then you’re just making that up or seriously out of touch.
Here’s some trivia for you. UM’s most recent past president of 15 years had been Clinton’s Secretary of HHS for almost a decade and awarded the Presidential Medal of a Freedom by Bush#2. The current president is a native Spanish-speaking Mexican, former Dean and prof at Harvard’s School of Public Health. Probably the most recognized alum is Dwayne TheRock Johnson, the world’s highest paid actor 2016. Recently, the campus was forced to evacuate and close for 3 weeks due to damage from hurricane Irma (fact of note because the campus survived unscathed CAT 5 Andrew that blew through Southern Florida in 1992).
Even if you close your eyes and ears anytime college sports news comes on (for multiple national championships over 30 years), have you ever watched the news or read a newspaper or seen People magazine or seen a popular movie? Nothing here rings a bell?

The UVA v UM choice aside, to say you’ve never heard of one of these schools is ridiculous. At least it’s not something to brag about or to take as something worth weighing in your UVA/UM decision. All it proves is that one pp’s ignorance.

+1
I am one of the Europeans above and I have also heard of schools such as university of Delaware, Rutgers, university of Vermont etc. most people at top schools have heard of all these schools. It has nothing to do with football - just he fact that these are big schools and eventually you come across a professor or appear or a class material that has some connection to them.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read all the posts, but I believe you have to apply to UVa's Comm school after Sophomore year and it is competitive. So, there might not be a guarantee of an Econ major there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I anticipate being in a similar situation to you for my kids. If you look at admitted student profiles across schools in the top 60, say, they are not that different. In fact, I’m shocked at how high they are, with average unweighted GPA’s for the middle 50% at 3.7 to 3.9 and SATs in the 1250-1450 range. But the fact is, those numbers are so high because of grade and test inflation. There really is a difference in how a class is run based on how smart the kids taking the class are, so if I thought smarter kids were at UVA compared to Miami (on the whole of course, not as to a particular kid), and my kid didn’t get a full ride to Miami, that’s worth the extra money to me.

Or, schools like UM work very hard to attract those very top students. How they do this? By offering top students generous merit $$ so they choose UM over a higher ranked college, which raises UM's ranking. It's working.

[Anonymous]

Really now? I've got no horse in this race as a UMD grad, but in terms of general quality and perceived quality, there is no comparison between the 2 schools. Since OP already said she can afford either. I say let the kid follow his dream and attend UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really now? I've got no horse in this race as a UMD grad, but in terms of general quality and perceived quality, there is no comparison between the 2 schools. Since OP already said she can afford either. I say let the kid follow his dream and attend UVA.

. . . . speaking from my very own perspective as a UMD grad, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miami is not a no name school. That's utterly effing ridiculous. Everyone has heard of the University of Miami.

In Miami, yes.

umm, everywhere. I am a European and I heard of it.

I am a European with an Ivy education. Fully aware of UVA since I was a teen. Literally never heard of U of Miami until this thread, and I am living in DC, almost 50.

Anyone who tells you UVA is internationally known is either a lair or not telling the truth.

Go look at College Confidential and read all the posts from international students who did not recently get in on Early Action or were deferred. Look at their stats. You clearly don't know what has been happening in the college and university world in the last ten years. OP, go with UVA if your son thinks he wants to go to grad school. he won't get into a good grad program from Miami.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. OOS for UVA is about $65,000. Going to Miami will cost us about $42,000 a year so over the difference is about 85,000 total over 4 years. This would pay for at least one year of professional graduate school. At this time law school or business school are possibilities but no one can ever predict what career tracks kids take and whether they end up at grad school or not. Undergrad major would not be in any STEM related subjects. More like English or Economics.

And DS is very grateful for the 529. We are the ones that told him he needed to make the decision based on what he finds to be the best fit and not only base it on an overall lower cost for us.
For all the snarky commentators, we're happy that he is looking at academic rigor and rankings of both schools to make his decision because otherwise no one would turn down the campus and lifestyle at Miami.

Easy one OP. Miami all the way. Save you $ for later.

I haven't read the entire thread, so forgive me if I missed something, but...

Going to Miami for $42K, per year, is hardly a bargain. All the Canes have done is jack up the sticker price of their tuition to make it look like they are giving you a "huge" scholarship. It's odd how otherwise intelligent people don't see through this blatant gimmick. Miami is notorious for being the place for rich kids who didn't get into an elite school but are too proud to go to XYZ State University, in-state, for a fraction of the cost.

If you are OOS, why is 65K *per year* for UVA even a consideration? Why not just go to a local decent state school for peanuts? It's astonishing to me that US News rankings so enthrall otherwise intelligent people that they are willing to spend $200,000+ when they could go to a good, but less prestigious, school for free.

[Anonymous]

^^ a UMD poster I’m guessing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ a UMD poster I’m guessing.

PP, here. I wouldn't pay $65K (or $42K) for UMD, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're seeing some good advice on this thread. Before your DS picks UM, please make 100% certain that the funding will continue, absolutely unreduced, all 4 years. Don't accept the UM funding offer if there is any risk at all that it won't be renewed.

I had friends that found their merit aid was reduced and loan amounts increased their 3rd year of American University (this was years ago).