Visiting Miami

[broyle99]

For any of you that have the chance to visit the University of Miami please post and let me know what you thought.

[juliemccoy]

Pretty 1950's resort-style looking campus in a nice residential area very far South in Miami. The inside of the facilities isn't too impressive, but whatever-- it's a classroom, not an actual resort.  Close to a lot of dining, shopping, residences. Not overly impressed with my tour guide's maturity level or the perceived intelligence of some of the accepted students on LSD (not all, but some). Have spoken to a few current students and alumni-- they have had good experiences, and say that most profs are very accessible, diverse course offerings and clinics, good job opps, and you can get out of state if you distinguish yourself either with good grades or something like moot court/law review. There are some negatives, of course, but there could be worse schools. Seems like a happy place to study-- steeper grading curve that local employers are aware of (not sure what the cutoff is; then again; top 10/20/50% is still top of class, so in that respect GPA isn't as important).

[keelee]

Pretty 1950's resort-style looking campus in a nice residential area very far South in Miami.

Very far? The campus is less than fifteen minutes from downtown. It is not far at all. It is just outside the urban core.

[Soft Factors]

Downtown Miami (Biscayne/Brickell) is the middle of Dade County.  UM is 15 minutes south.  10 if you rip it.  About 20 minutes south of South Beach.  It is in what I call the last suburb before Miami starts to matter.  There is a succession of "villages" leading north to Coral Gables, which with Coconut Grove is the last.  South to North: Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami, Coral Gables / Coconut Grove, Downtown (Brickell/Biscayne) and South Beach.  Past South Beach is North Miami Beach, which is nice too.  Then you're into Broward County.   

Farther than Palmetto Bay is approaching 30 minutes south of UM and there's really nothing to see there, unless you go a lot farther and hit the Keys.

Miami is excellent.

EDIT My explanation only covers the coast (east).  You can go west as well, but Miami is known for the coastal areas.

[AspenLizzy]

Does anyone have any more info on the grading curve?  What is median, etc.
Thanks

[keelee]

Downtown Miami (Biscayne/Brickell) is the middle of Dade County.  UM is 15 minutes south.  10 if you rip it.  About 20 minutes south of South Beach.  It is in what I call the last suburb before Miami starts to matter.  There is a succession of "villages" leading north to Coral Gables, which with Coconut Grove is the last.  South to North: Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami, Coral Gables / Coconut Grove, Downtown (Brickell/Biscayne) and South Beach.  Past South Beach is North Miami Beach, which is nice too.  Then you're into Broward County.   

Good description, although you are forgetting most of northern Miami . Past South Beach is Midtown Miami Beach (aka Millionaire's Row), then Little Buenos Aires, Surfside, Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles Beach, Golden Beach, and then Broward. North Miami Beach is oddly named, because it has no beaches. North Miami Beach is entirely on the mainland. Past downtown on the mainland you have Omni, Little Haiti/Upper East Side, Miami Shores, North Miami Beach, and Aventura.

The moral of the story is that Coral Gables and UM are in a very central location. You can be in Miami's financial district from UM within ten minutes if there is no traffic.

[danielle83]

I went to visit Miami the last week of January.  I was really impressed with the campus, the buildings are nice, there are fountains and pools and a lot going on and its just really pretty there.  All the students I met there seemed really happy, although I talked to one girl who was on scholarship and said she was barely holding onto the GPA requirement.  This made me nervous, so I met with some administrative people and was assured that about 90% of students retain their scholarship despite the difficult grading curve.  The teachers I met with were awesome, really knowledgeable and personable and the class I sat in on seemed really interesting.  Coral Gables and Coconut Grove are really nice as are some other areas, it seemed like a good place to be for a few years.

[broyle99]

I did my UG there and will be at the admitted student's day at the end of March, so feel free to ask me any questions.

I've read elsewhere that big law is a competitive market for students outside of the top 10 percentile at UM.  That having been said, do you know anything about the Miami job market or employment opportunities in or outside of the Miami big law environment?

[gordian]

Miami is a vulgar city with a cultural and social atmosphere that has degraded rapidly in the past few years.  I've lived here for 24 years and I only applied to 1 school in the entire state.  In all fairness this is a resident's opinion, but take it for what it's worth.

[broyle99]

Miami is a vulgar city with a cultural and social atmosphere that has degraded rapidly in the past few years.  I've lived here for 24 years and I only applied to 1 school in the entire state.  In all fairness this is a resident's opinion, but take it for what it's worth.

If I might ask, where in Miami do you live and in what way has the cultural and social atmosphere suffered?