Where's the Diversity???

Introduction
Miami is a wonderful school with a number of challenging programs that focus on expanding what you learn as a student to a diverse array of real-world applications. Students that do not work hard, students who plan on partying most of the time really should not attend this school. It's definitely not the place for them.

Campus Life and Social Life
Social life here has a lot to offer. Uptown Oxford has five dance clubs and many, many bars open nearly every night of the week. Our hockey team is #1 in the nation. Our Football team was excellent when Ben Roethlisberger was here, and they're still good now (though they could stand some improvement). Our Men's Basketball team is a toss-up: some days are good, some days are bad. Though they did win the Mac East title a few years back. As for non-sports-life, with an enormous variety of clubs there should be something of interest for just about everyone here at Miami. Academics
The workload is extremely heavy for Science students, particularly those focusing on Microbiology/Zoology. However, all the stress is worth it, because you learn so much in-depth information in a short four years. Science students typically take many more courses than students in the other schools. If you plan on being a Science major, I don't recommend having a job outside of school, since this will definitely cut down on your much-needed study time.

No discussion of Miami academics would be complete without addressing the "Miami Plan" concept. It's the devil...haha. Basically, it is a set of courses originally chosen by students that are required of everyone at the school (Ed note: this is Miami's version of a Core Curriculum). The purpose of these courses is to give students a Liberal Arts education, which is a great idea because you get to learn about subjects you ordinarily wouldn't within whatever your major may be. The variety of classes offered under the Miami Plan is okay (still needs improvement since a lot of the classes are very boring and meet too frequently).

The worst part of Miami Plan is the workload given by the instructors, which is absolutely ridiculous. You would think you were double-majoring by the time you've finished some of them. Depending on the course, you can spend as much time studying for the course as your major courses and that makes no sense at all. Your major courses should be your main focus, as opposed to some required course threatening to fail you because it meets 5 times a week at 8am.

Most students also do not like the idea of having final exams at 7:30am during finals week- sometimes it's still dark outside.

Student Body
Miami has the major disadvantage of being what I call a "cookie-cutter" school. Every student looks exactly the same right down to the Abercrombie shirt, Ugg boots, and North Face jacket. Miami is gravely in need of diversity. Most students here need a reality check to realize the world does not just revolve around them. If Miami were a more diverse school, students here would become more open and appreciative of other cultures. Most of these students are from small towns in Ohio surrounded by people just like them. Many have literally never seen people of other races. To my knowledge, most of these students come from places like Cincinnati, Columbus, Dublin, and Cleveland and many never before heard of towns right in Ohio and Indiana. The kids come in sheltered, that's for sure.

In Closing...
Miami's educational value is off the charts and the food is great. On-campus housing is a little pricey, but suitable. But again, diversity needs a drastic overhaul.