Jordan

The U of Miami was once known by the very clever nickname, "Sun Tan U". And probably for good reason; Miami is absolutely gorgeous, its sandy beaches and clear blue waters as vibrant and captivating as the wholly unique Hispanic-American culture that it has been home to for many years (which can be sampled in the university library’s extensive collection of Cuban heritage and music). Though the university was founded in 1925, it did not gain significant popularity until the late 80’s, when a series of incredibly successful football seasons put UM on the map. With trophies came many students whose interests in the University of Miami may not have been entirely academic; no doubt, the unmatched spirit the student body has and demonstrates often in supporting their school no matter the game or occasion exists to this day and is one of the many very fun parts of being a Hurricane. And so, as people began to see the Hurricanes’ unbridled spirit as a disposition toward beach-going and partying, the assumption that UM was a party school located right on the shores of a perfect beach where everyone went to class in swim trunks was born. But time has proven this stereotype untrue; the University of Miami is currently ranked among the top 40 colleges in the nation and best in the state of Florida, at number 38 by US News college rankings and is likely to continue the trend it has demonstrated in the past 10 years, rapidly climbing college rankings like no other school. Its professors are world class and the school offers an incredible variety of majors, undergraduate programs and its graduate programs are well-praised for good reason. Its student body is friendly, spirited like no other school, and eager to pursue academia in ways that continue to push the envelope in their respective fields. The school is no frigid Northeastern Ivy League, for sure; its students do live in Miami after all, and one of the perks of going to a great school like the University of Miami is that, when all the studying is done, you still live in Miami. Though one might end up with a very nice sun tan by the end of a semester, they won’t be students of Sun Tan U; they’ll be students of the University of Miami, one of the most progressive and respected schools in the United states of America.

The best thing about going to the University of Miami is the fact that you go to the University of Miami. As pretentious as it may sound, being a Hurricane is an experience like no other, and cannot be simply decided by one football game or a certain class. Some students may point to our spirit and the excitement our athletic programs generate; this is a good answer. Some students may talk about our incredible professors, small class sizes (52%, according to US News, of them classes with less than 20 students) and prestigious academics; also a good answer. Some may brag about our beautiful campus, location, and thirty minute commute via public transit to famous South Beach; also a good answer. Going to the University of Miami is an experience that is comprised of all the incredible things the university has to offer to its students; unique and interesting classes taught by respected, friendly and most of all well-educated professors only too happy to teach students. The awesome school pride that pervades every part of University life here, from dorm life, classes, football games and even, on some memorable occasions, bathrooms. The “just right” size of the school, where you will always be meeting new and diverse fellow students but feel at home and comfortable in a campus that takes maybe twenty minutes to walk across (not that you would need to, thanks to our school-sponsored, campus-exclusive) ‘round the clock bus service). There are far too many aspects of the Hurricane Experience that need to be just that; experienced. But rest assured that every aspect of UM excels in its field. Even the administration has proven itself incredibly helpful, friendly, and easy to work with, unlike some other unfortunate institutions whose administrations are marred with red tape and inefficiency. The administration is able to work with the “just right” size of the student body, which means every prospective student, and has no problem quickly scheduling one-on-one meetings with counselors, advisors, professors, deans, or whoever may be necessary. Things like recovering a lost UM ID card or sorting out a problem with one’s financial account are handled on a personal level in one of the university’s many offices with a friendly smile and remarkable speed that one would never expect of such a complex institution, but not unusual at all for the University of Miami. It’s not unusual either to see the friendly and incredible President Donna Shalala walking around campus to grab a coffee, meet with a professor, or just to chat with her students and get a real sense of what’s going on in her school; in fact, school-sponsored meetings with the administration to deal with problems or just to see if there are any are held on a regular basis. I don’t even live on campus, being a Miami native, and I have made use of the school’s useful on-campus clinic when I felt sick earlier in the year. As a student, my schedule seemed too busy to include a trip to my doctor, so the on-campus clinic was very convenient. I waited maybe a few minutes and was seen by a professional physician and quickly diagnosed with a common cold, all without the hassle (or cost) of having to see my own doctor. Speaking of my status as a commuter, the school does everything it can to include and account for all types of students; residents, commuters, transfers, and even the significant portion of the student body that hails from an entirely different country altogether. At the beginning of this semester, a change in the established parking system made finding parking nigh impossible after noon, a death sentence for a commuter, and within the first month of the semester the administration in charge of parking held a meeting with the commuter student body to see how to best address the problem. Changes were made to the parking system soon after, and parking has not been a problem since. Though this may not have much bearing on a resident student, it just goes to show how responsive and helpful UM’s administration is. Taking into account all these factors, it’s impossible to pinpoint one. The University of Miami is an experience that will define and change an entire lifetime.

Starting answering!Every single one of my professors knows my name. It probably helps that none of these professors teach me in any classes larger than about 30 students, and in some cases in numbers as small as 16 students. The University of Miami offers a wide variety of classes, both unique and established, traditional classes essential to earning a degree in a certain field. Often, however, in the latter classes professors here will throw their own unique spin on it. Most memorably, my professor who taught Development of Western Civilization, a seemingly standard history course, spiced things up by paying extra attention to the day-to-day gender and sexual relations of the ancient and not-so-ancient civilizations we studied, definitely expanding class’ perception of history and making for some very interesting lectures. These professors are all friendly and experts in their fields. At the end of my first semester I talked to an English professor of mine briefly after class about that, as a fellow English major, I was a bit concerned about how to support myself after college when pursuing a career in writing. Though, as a Freshman, I am a long way from graduating, my professor suggested we have an one-on-one meeting and was only too happy to give me information concerning important internships, summer and scholarship programs, career opportunities and other professionals in the literary field UM has in its employment. His help has led to me to work with the school’s literary journal, the Mangrove, and applications to summer internship and research opportunities for English majors I would have otherwise been entirely ignorant of. I am proud to be a part of UM’s English department, as our professors are intellectuals and very much active parts of the world’s literary community and Miami’s own burgeoning local literary scene. Just in my first semester alone the English department invited to the University as speakers three different local writers who wrote about the unique Hispanic-American culture of Miami I grew up in. Our department head, professor Shoulson, is infamous for his mind-bending lectures at the higher level English courses, likened by students who have the privilege to take them as “Inception, but with English”. Many of the professors here also teach unique classes not offered anywhere else. My first semester I was able to take a course dedicating to studying the Music Genome Project and the science behind music; why does it make us feel the way we do and how, and how music can be organized and correlated. One of the more interesting subjects studied in that class was the formula Pandora radio uses to sort its enormous music collection. Often the students of the class served as guinea pigs for the professors idea’s and experiments, and willingly to boot. The student body here, as befits a top 40 school, is definitely interested in learning and their education. Of course, certain students will only be interested in their certain fields; fellow English majors will find plenty of stimulating discussion with other English majors, but perhaps not students of the Business School, and vice versa. That said, interactions with the incredibly diverse student body will also further a prospective student’s education; of my two closest friends at the University, one is a business student whose conversations about the ethics of current economical dilemmas make up for my lack of attentiveness to current events. The other is a student of the Robert Frost music school, a classical violinist, and we have attended many of the free-for-student film festivals and music recitals, able to offer different views and engage one another over a shared experience. The school’s academic requirements all measure up to the academic prestige I have just described; they are not lax and will definitely push you, but they are never unfair, and there will always be someone to help you, be it a friend, a professor, or a free on-campus tutor provided by the University.

Growing up as a Cuban-American in predominately Cuban-American Miami, I am happy to say I am no longer the majority at the University of Miami, as odd as that sentence may seem. In fact, I’d reckon there does not exist a majority in the student population of UM. UM’s student body is incredibly diverse, gathering bright, unique students from all over the globe, not just the United States of America, to bring something different to the University of Miami experience. I have made friends from different cities, states, countries, religions, incomes and creeds, all of them wonderful people. Perhaps the best statement that can be made in demonstration of UM’s diverse student body is a close friend I made while interviewing people for an article in the Hurricane, the student-run newspaper, a resident at UM. She is a Jewish girl from Philadelphia, who took a gap year after high school to live in Brazil where she learned fluent Portuguese and Spanish, and is now a Latin American Studies major. We bonded over a plate of my grandmother’s Cuban food leftovers I brought in Tupperware as lunch one day, me teaching her Cuban Spanish colloquialisms and her telling me about her time abroad. That is just one example of the kind of interesting people that can and will be met as a part of the University of Miami experience. Being the University of Miami, of course, there is a strong outspoken LGBT community on campus, much loved and supported by the rest of the student body. In fact, one of the most anticipated and hilarious events of the beginning of Fall Semester is the annual drag show put on by the local LGBT organization on campus. Politics, though not particularly prevalent on campus, do surface from time to time, particularly during Occupy Wall Street movement, whose Occupy Miami branch spent many loud days gathering supporters at the University of Miami. As might be expected of a private university, students are predominately liberal though there are both Young Republican and Young Democrat groups present on campus and open to anyone interested in joining. As far as I have noticed, students seem to come from very diverse economic backgrounds (I myself come from a Miami suburb middle-class one), though there is an undeniable presence of some very nice, expensive cars in the school parking lots. I have yet to see this ever affect student relations, however; if anything these differences only aid them. I first made conversation with and befriended a student from Dubai when I watched him park is 911 Porsche right next to my own car. It should also be noted UM supports 49 percent of full-time graduated with an average of 23, 552 dollars in scholarship money (according to US News), so monetary issues don’t often become an obstacle in applying to UM.

A big part of the University of Miami experience is what happens after class hours (and in some cases, before, for better or worse). Though we are in the process of ridding ourselves of our “Sun Tan U” reputation, it is undeniable Hurricanes love to party. We are, after all, the University of Miami, and I would wager no other student body has a better time in a better city for it. Popular weekend spots for students include Coconut Grove, where going there to drink or club is affectionately referred to as “Groving”, and all of South Beach; you have not seen a beautiful beach till you’ve seen South Beach lit up at night. All of these areas are easily accessible by public transit or on-campus Zip Car service, basically a sort of car rental service for students with driver’s licenses. I myself spent last weekend in the incredibly chic and cool Miami Art District, also known as the Design District of midtown, as part of the art festival Art Basel weekend, where local artists throw open doors to their galleries and homes (often the same places) for free viewing, local bands play very cheap or free shows, and local food trucks serve hot, delicious and gourmet meals along the streets. Even better, getting drunk was not even required to enjoy this; it was entirely optional, like in any one of the many events going in Miami students can enjoy for free. UM’ theater department is an excellent program that puts on excellent shows free for students, all of which I have attended and enjoyed so far. This semester our school premiered Studio 52, Tommy Tune’s new musical, and I was able to meet writer/director Nilo Cruz when UM’s theater premiered his play Night Train to Bolina. Athletic events and Homecoming as a Hurricane are like nothing you’ve ever been a part of before, with unrivaled school spirit. As for clubs and organizations, fraternities and sororities are present on-campus but not a vital part of University life unless a student wants it to be; US News estimates about 10 percent of the male and student body respectively go Greek, so to speak. The school offers a variety of clubs and organizations that was quite frankly overwhelming for me, who went to a small charter school in high school, but a joy to become a part of. Eventually I narrowed my list down to membership of the Hurricane, the school newspaper, Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society, the Racquetball Club, and perhaps most unique and fun, the school’s Muggle Quidditch team. I say team instead of club because Hurricanes take their sports seriously, broomsticks or not. Playing against other school’s Muggle Quidditch teams is an unlikely but welcome source of fun in my University Life. There is plenty to do as a Hurricane, not all of it involving alcohol, contrary to stereotyping. You’ll be wishing for more time, not more activities. And as for the student body and dating scene, I’ll say that we may have come a long way from the days of “Sun Tan U”, but our tans still look very, very nice on all of us, and leave it at that.