College admissions is competitive,

Miami was my first choice school, despite the fact that people warned me against it. I wish I would have listened, however I was drawn in by the admissions department endless string of advertisments, videos, etc. showing academically motivated students. This turned out to be false advertising at its greatest. The school is nothing like that. Don't be fooled. I once read review after review trying to find the perfect school for me. I had read reviews just like this one, but decided that Miami was the right place for me. I just have to say this: IF YOU HAVE WORKED HARD FOR YOUR GRADES, AND WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE TO LEARN, DO NOT COME TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI. I TURNED DOWN VANDERBILT, USC, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. I REGRET IT MORE THAN I CAN SAY. THERE ARE SO MANY BETTER SCHOOLS YOU CAN CHOOSE, SO PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE.

I thought the classes at UM were pretty interesting, but they really don't expect a lot out of you. Classes are ridiculously easy and I felt like I was learning unimportant stuff. I was in the communications school. In the communications school, it seems like everyone acts like you are not supposed to be there and like you are constantly doing something wrong. They were really unhelpful, and I often had to go way out of my way just to have simple questions answered. The faculty, overall, weren't bad. They didn't really expect much of the students, which I didn't like. I felt the classes were way to easy. I also felt the faculty were often way more into their research than actually teaching classes.

When you visit the University of Miami, everyone is REALLY friendly when you first meet them. After about your second conversation with most people, you will find that pretty much everyone is REALLY superficial and cares about nothing more than going to South Beach (which if you're wondering, is REALLY overrated, and over all pretty unsafe. Very much filled with middle aged guys who like to hit on young girls). For being a school with an average entrance GPA of a 4.2, the student body (and I mean, EVERYONE) cares about nothing but partying. My roommate came back every night throwing up drunk at five AM, as did everyone else on our floor. When I stayed in one night to study, my RA asked me why I was being anti social and I didn't party as much as the other girls. I came to school to get an education, but UMiami is NOT a place you can focus on academics, not because of the professors really, because of the superficial, uncaring, relatively stupid actions of the student body. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. I REGRET IT MORE THAN I CAN SAY. THERE ARE SO MANY BETTER SCHOOLS YOU CAN CHOOSE, SO PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE.

Greek life is terrible. HAZING DOES HAPPEN. Sammy (the Frat) made the guys that rushed last year eat live gold fish. They say that UM has an absolute no hazing policy but that is absolutely, absolutely not true. Also, it is all based on who you know. Unless you have a friend in a certain frat or sorority, you are likely not to get in. Also, all the sororities have superficial steryotype. Like the Kappa Kappa Gammas are known as having the ugly girls, others were known for having the stupid blond girls, the rich stuck up girls (DG), etc. It was all very fake and not a welcoming environment. In terms of diversity, you can meet people from all around the world, but apart from that EVERYONE is the same. Every girl has the same shoes, shorts, bag, sweatshirt, hair style, personality, etc. A lot of times I felt I was walking through a crowd of clones. At first I liked it, because I felt like I fit in. But once I realized that there was literally no one that was different, I started to get bored and annoyed with the student body. There are a lot of foreign kids, but they all stick together. Those who are from China are often made fun of by UM students which I thought was very cruel. The campus tries to keep students safe by making you scan your Cane card at every turn, but I would still not walk alone there past 9 PM. There is some drug use that goes on here, but the more prevalent problem is the heavy, almost disgusting drinking that goes on all the time (not only on weekends, but every night). I think its fine to drink and have a good time, but when people are drinking so much they black out all the time, its no longer fun. Alchohal posioning is a regular occurance here. It's not the fun, typical college atmosphere. It's cut throat, all based on looks, and if you're not completely trashed before you go out, you likely will taking care of all your horribly drunk friends who are. As a girl, I must also mention that you nearly have to sell yourself to get into a lot of parties, etc. Everyone dresses like a slut, and is done up to the nines every time they go out and night. If you're not, you can be turned away, even from frat parties. Looks are all that matter here, so if you don't look good, you're not allowed to have a good time. You are literally stuck on campus, where nothing happens, unless you get a cab, which to south beach can cost up to $42. My dorm had bugs, though I knew people who had worse. A couple girls I knew switched rooms because of cocroches. Also, ALOT of people got sick because of the A/C being on full blast all the time. It is also way to easy to get a roommate switch. All it took was the signing of a form. People switched roommates multiple times during the year only so that they could room with whom ever they were friends with for that month. I couldn't believe it was allowed. My RA was also very unqualified. He was an overall nice guy, but often hit on a lot of the girls and would just be inappropriate. I didn't feel comfortable going to him for any problem since he had already picked out who on the floor he like and who on the floor he didn't.

The sterotypes that exist about Miami students are that they are rich, stuck up, and arrogant. It is also known as being a huge party school.

Miami is way too much of a party school for you to get a good education. This school does not care about academics, it only cares about south beach (a really seedy place if you ask me). Also, the students here were just awful. There is a lot of money here, and a lot of students who just don't care how many semesters they'll have to do to graduate because their parents will pay for all of it regardless. I also come from a very wealthy suburb of Chicago, so money has never been a big deal for me. However, I have never witnessed such irresponsibility as I did in nearly every UM student. Overall, the stereotypes are EXTREMELY ACCURATE.

DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL. I TRANSFERED OUT AFTER MY FRESHMAN YEAR BECAUSE I WAS ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE AND WAS LOOKING FOR A BETTER, MORE SERIOUS EDUCATION. THIS IS NOT A SCHOOL FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LEARN. IF YOU EARNED THE 4.2 GPA (THE AVERAGE FOR A FRESHMAN ENTERING UM) YOU HAVE WORKED HARD. DO NOT WASTE ALL YOUR HARD WORK ON GOING TO THIS SCHOOL. IT IS 100% NOT WORTH IT. THIS SCHOOL IS ALL ASCETICS AND NO SUBSTANCE. NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE BROCHURES LOOK OR HOW MUCH YOU ENJOY YOU'RE INITIAL VISIT, THIS SCHOOL DOES NOT LIVE UP TO ITS OWN ADMISSIONS STANDARDS. PLEASE, TAKE MY ADVICE. GO TO A BETTER SCHOOL. CHECK OUT USC, UNC, VANDERBILT, NORTHWESTERN. YOU WILL PROBABLY GET IN, AND YOU WILL BE MUCH BETTER FOR IT. I FEEL MIAMI IS VERY GUILTY OF FALSE ADVERTISING. THIS SCHOOL IS NOT WHAT ANYONE TOLD ME IT WOULD BE. I WAS VERY IMPRESSED AT EVERY INFORMATION SESSION, EVERY VISIT. HOWEVER, GOING TO UMIAMI WAS A HUGE MISTAKE AND I WISH I COULD TAKE IT BACK.