Anonymous wrote:
I am from Ohio. The colleges have completely changed from the mid 1990s to now. Miami in the 1980s-1990s was at the top, hard to get into, the #1 public college in Ohio. Now, Ohio State is #1, the University of Cincinnati #2. Miami's acceptance rate is over 80 percent.

This is true. My sister and her husband both went there in the 1980's and the early 1990's. At the time it was the best public in Ohio. It wasn't close. My sister's kids went to Ohio State. Her observation from living in Ohio is that Miami alums send their kids to Ohio State. And Ohio State alums send their kids to Miami.

What is hurting Miami is the rural/small town location and lack of big-time sports. It is like a smaller (both town and college) Indiana.

Huge merit for weighted GPAs.

My son was accepted this year. His GPA when he applied was 3.0 with no honors/AP courses.

It’s interesting the reaction we’ve gotten to his acceptance. My parents both grew up in OH and I have cousins and friends who attended in the 1990s (and have been successful career-wise). My parents of course think it’s a great school because they’re not up on current college rankings and would be super excited if he goes there. I have heard the undergraduate teaching is strong, even as the rankings have fallen.

I’m a little worried about lack of diversity because we are OOS in NJ and DS’s school district is extremely diverse. He’s white but virtually all his friends are not. But that’s a concern with other schools besides Miami.

We’re planning to visit in the spring and see. Like others, Miami seems to me a bit like JMU (DS was deferred there) but JMU is driving distance and better weather.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in an affluent suburb of metro Detroit similar to Bethesda. High performing kids and parents have the means to pay for college. Our area sends a lot of kids to Miami of Ohio and from what I've seen its kids who definitely aren't getting into Michigan instate. Some got into MSU and some even rejected from there. Seems to be a big party school. Everyone we know loves it but definitely based on high school academics/performance not the top kids.

You don’t need to say “Miami of Ohio.” Its name is Miami University. It existed when Florida belonged to Spain.

We’re not in the 19th Century. When people hear “Miami,” they think of Miami, Florida. So when referring to Miami University, it is necessary to say “Miami of Ohio.”

Spent a few days on campus for a sports thing a few years ago. It’s a nice campus. There is not much going on in the town itself, but there are some stores and places to eat — it’s fine, just relatively small and I’m not sure what else there is to do around there. Overall though it was a nice campus, people were friendly, and it’s not all that hard to get to/from for visits etc.

Anonymous wrote:I'm in an affluent suburb of metro Detroit similar to Bethesda. High performing kids and parents have the means to pay for college. Our area sends a lot of kids to Miami of Ohio and from what I've seen its kids who definitely aren't getting into Michigan instate. Some got into MSU and some even rejected from there. Seems to be a big party school. Everyone we know loves it but definitely based on high school academics/performance not the top kids.

You don’t need to say “Miami of Ohio.” Its name is Miami University. It existed when Florida belonged to Spain.

I'm in an affluent suburb of metro Detroit similar to Bethesda. High performing kids and parents have the means to pay for college. Our area sends a lot of kids to Miami of Ohio and from what I've seen its kids who definitely aren't getting into Michigan instate. Some got into MSU and some even rejected from there. Seems to be a big party school. Everyone we know loves it but definitely based on high school academics/performance not the top kids.

I'm not in the DMV area, but live within a few hours of Miami OH. The reputation here is of affluent white kids, heavily Greek, lots of partying (work hard/play hard). Good outcomes job-wise, good law school placement and strong merit aid. One of my DD's friends is a freshman, from a high income family but the kid got a full ride scholarship and she seems to be enjoying it. DD's best friend visited and said nope- he wants a more diverse campus with less focus on fraternities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin went in the 90's. She found the only Jewish guy in Ohio there and brought him back to NY and married him. We like him a lot. Neither of them became anything worth bragging about, career-wise.

I mean, Miami has produced MacArthur Fellows, best-selling authors and White House Chiefs of Staff, a Super Bowl winning quarterback, several US Senators, a Speaker of the House and a United States President in addition to a slew of CEOs.

The current Governor of Ohio is also a Miami grad.

No disrespect to Miami, it's a fine school with great Alumni.

I am from Ohio. The colleges have completely changed from the mid 1990s to now. Miami in the 1980s-1990s was at the top, hard to get into, the #1 public college in Ohio. Now, Ohio State is #1, the University of Cincinnati #2. Miami's acceptance rate is over 80 percent.

My daughter toured in 2024. We wanted her to love it (close to family, good merit aid), but she hated it. There is little or no diversity there. The campus is in the middle of nowhere, and the tour kept reinforcing the "middle of the cornfield" stuff.

Many kids from NOVA have no desire to go to Ohio- it's COLD, and the political climate is very MAGA. (Some people like this, but for many, this is not a huge selling point for many NOVA kids.)

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in an affluent suburb in Chicago and Miami of Ohio was a trendy school of my classmates to apply to that didn't get into UIUC, which was rolling admissions at the time.

I remember it being a "public ivy," famous for the Miami Triad (founder of 3 of the most popular fraternities and one of the oldest Greek systems in the country.)

One friend almost went there, but ended up choosing Kenyon instead. Another went to U. of Wisconsin.

Anyways, kind of surprised that GMU is now ranked higher than Miami (117 v. 136). Even UMBC is ranked higher at 127. Even my local commuter school growing up, Illinois-Chicago, is ranked higher at 84.

Wow, things have changed.

Anyone who couldn't get into Illinois more than 10-15 years ago isn't very smart.

The party houses all have really fun names. The kids seem very cornfed Midwest. Oxford is darling.

Anonymous wrote:My cousin went in the 90's. She found the only Jewish guy in Ohio there and brought him back to NY and married him. We like him a lot. Neither of them became anything worth bragging about, career-wise.

I mean, Miami has produced MacArthur Fellows, best-selling authors and White House Chiefs of Staff, a Super Bowl winning quarterback, several US Senators, a Speaker of the House and a United States President in addition to a slew of CEOs.

The state has poured money into TOS over the past 25 years and Miami has been left behind as a lower tier school.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in an affluent suburb in Chicago and Miami of Ohio was a trendy school of my classmates to apply to that didn't get into UIUC, which was rolling admissions at the time.

I remember it being a "public ivy," famous for the Miami Triad (founder of 3 of the most popular fraternities and one of the oldest Greek systems in the country.)

One friend almost went there, but ended up choosing Kenyon instead. Another went to U. of Wisconsin.

Anyways, kind of surprised that GMU is now ranked higher than Miami (117 v. 136). Even UMBC is ranked higher at 127. Even my local commuter school growing up, Illinois-Chicago, is ranked higher at 84.

Wow, things have changed.

Academically, Miami has fallen quite far and shows no sign of slowing its descent.

I grew up in an affluent suburb in Chicago and Miami of Ohio was a trendy school of my classmates to apply to that didn't get into UIUC, which was rolling admissions at the time.

I remember it being a "public ivy," famous for the Miami Triad (founder of 3 of the most popular fraternities and one of the oldest Greek systems in the country.)

One friend almost went there, but ended up choosing Kenyon instead. Another went to U. of Wisconsin.

Anyways, kind of surprised that GMU is now ranked higher than Miami (117 v. 136). Even UMBC is ranked higher at 127. Even my local commuter school growing up, Illinois-Chicago, is ranked higher at 84.

Wow, things have changed.