University of Miami Top Questions

There are people who really care about their grades and are responsible and study a lot, and do well/moderately well. And there are those that party all the time and do minimal to no work.

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.

You will spend 3 to 6 times more money to go to UM only to get the same quality of education at an in-state university. The lower quality education is a result of two main factors. 1. The University of Miami is blindly 'US News National Ranking' driven and will do anything academically to make the school "the ivy league school of the south". UM will do anything to satisfy the academic average standards set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS); if the average is too high SACS is known to question the accreditation status of the university in question (UM almost lost it's status a few years back because students were "obtaining high grades too easily"). **You can view University of Miami's approach to accreditation here: http://www.miami.edu/index.php/office_of_accreditation_and_assessment_oaa/) 2. Professors are here for both research and education, not one or the other. Consequentially, professors are generally focus more on either research or education; usually more focus is given to research and education becomes a lecture read from power point and multiple-choice exams.

You will spend 3 to 6 times more money to go to UM only to get the same quality of education at an in-state university. The lower quality education is a result of two main factors. 1. The University of Miami is blindly 'US News National Ranking' driven and will do anything academically to make the school "the ivy league school of the south". UM will do anything to satisfy the academic average standards set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS); if the average is too high SACS is known to question the accreditation status of the university in question (UM almost lost it's status a few years back because students were "obtaining high grades too easily"). 2. Professors are here for both research and education, not one or the other. Consequentially, professors are generally focus more on either research or education; usually more focus is given to research and education becomes a lecture read from power point and multiple-choice exams.

Anyone who has ever asked me about UM knows that I can go on for hours about how awesome my classes are. In fact, it's often the first thing I tell people. I'm a too-ambitious-for-my-own-good triple major studying English Lit, French and Journalism. None of my classes have more than 50 students, and most have way fewer. Every single one of my professors know my name and so far, all of them have made an effort to learn everyone's names. What's more, professors are amazing about office hours. They're always willing to help with papers or concepts that you don't understand. They go above and beyond their call, often meeting when they don't have scheduled office hours because if their hours don't work with your schedule. Not all students participate in class, but many do. I happen to be one of them, and the greatest part about classes here has been how much professors encourage us to speak up. We get treated like our ideas matter, and that is invaluable when we're learning how to function outside of the classroom. Students aren't generally competitive (well, except for pre-meds, but that's true wherever you go), but they do work hard. During finals week, you can't find a seat in the library (which is open 24 hours!) because everyone is hitting the books. And because we can take classes in all nine of our school, you can get a little taste of everything. The pre-professional classes, the learning-for-the-sake-of-learning classes, the lecture halls and the 10-person-classes. They're all there, just waiting for you to take advantage of them. All it takes it a little initiative. And if you're the kind of person who needs a bit of a push from others to work or to find the right track, UM might not be for you. We've got too many students for everyone to be getting personal attention. If you want that individual, one-on-one contact with a professor or adviser, you have to make it happen. But in my experience, once you do, they're extremely willing to help.

As a music business major I get to experience both the School of Music and School of Business every day. Many of my favorite classes have become so because of a good professor. A bad professor will usually ruin a class, no matter how engaging the content is. In my experience I will enjoy about 60{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of my professors, 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} will be neutral, and 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} I'll dislike. The nice thing about both the music and business schools is that most of the classes are small, and therefore most all of my professors know me on a first name basis. This makes it easy and comfortable to email them questions, or even sometimes play gigs with the music school professors. Some classes are always going to be rough, it is school, but I mostly feel like I've been taught well and professionally.

As a music business major I get to experience both the School of Music and School of Business every day. Many of my favorite classes have become so because of a good professor. A bad professor will usually ruin a class, no matter how engaging the content is. In my experience I will enjoy about 60{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of my professors, 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} will be neutral, and 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} I'll dislike. The nice thing about both the music and business schools is that most of the classes are small, and therefore most all of my professors know me on a first name basis. This makes it easy and comfortable to email them questions, or even sometimes play gigs with the music school professors. Some classes are always going to be rough, it is school, but I mostly feel like I've been taught well and professionally.

I am an Ecosystem Science & Policy and Anthropology major. From working on two smaller degrees, the classes tend to be smaller allowing teachers to really get to know you and help you out. However, in the big general education courses like Religion 101, if you go up to the teacher they will definitely help you out. How much studying you have to do really depends on the course; classes that are more science-based tend to be more difficult while the humanities tend to be easier. However, teachers really tend to make or break the class. Multiple students use websites like RateMyProfessor.com during class registration times.

Usually it depends on the college within UM that you are in. The business school students are known as the "slackers" because most if not all the classes are curved to a "B" average. The engineering school however is probably the toughest. Most of the students i know as friends usually only study a couple nights before a test and cram the material and still do well enough to get an "A".

I love the fact that teachers give you one on one attention and try to help you as much as they can. The classes aren’t big and so there is a lot of class participation. Students take their work pretty serious, and the professors are definitely world class. There is a lot of variety in terms of classes to pick from as well. There is also a lot of help offered for example the Academic Resource Center, The Math Building, and a Writing Center, there is basically help offered for everything if you need it. My major is Journalism and English. The communications program here is wonderful, there are so many opportunities. The academic requirements are a bit high but its all supposed to push you to do your best.