Hello everyone. I just found out I received the Singer Scholarship and Foote Fellowship at the University of Miami. I’m very torn between this offer and my acceptance to Georgetown. The money isn’t a huge deal; I know my parents have my entire tuition laid aside already. I’ve visited Miami but I haven’t visited Georgetown yet. Literally any input on either of these schools would be super helpful! At Miami, I’m concerned about several points. I don’t want to go to a school where the social scene is dominated by Greek life. I’m worried I’ll be attending a less prestigious university or I may not get as good of an education. I also don’t want to feel alienated at Miami for being smart (which I definitely feel at my high school now). At Georgetown, I’m worried about the lack of freedom in class selection. I’m also worried about falling into obscurity at Georgetown. I consider myself a leader of my high school and the entire administration knows me by name. I don’t know if I’m ready to feel like “just another student.” Once again any input is valuable. If I said something inaccurate, please feel free to tell me. Thanks!
What are your goals (or potential goals) and potential majors?
So the thing to remember is you’re comparing two very excellent universities. While Georgetown is generally recognized as an elite university, the University of Miami is also an excellent place with great students and a great education. The students there are above-average; 2/3 of them were in the top 10% of their high school class and they tend to score way above average on the SAT. I don’t think you will feel alienated for being smart, as the vast majority of your classmates will also be very smart.
It looks like Greek participation at Miami is about 16-17%. The party scene probably isn’t dominated by Greek life; they do have a reputation for being a party school, but it is in Miami. You probably don’t have to party if you don’t want to!
Whether you are a leader is going to be based upon your ambition moreso than anything. I would imagine that there will be far more competition for SGA and similar leadership positions at Georgetown than UMIami; still, it’s always more difficult to stand out in college than in high school. There, you are among the smartest; in college, you might be one of many very intelligent students. But feeling like “just another student” is actually pretty nice in that environment. You WANT to be surrounded by a lot of other very smart students!
If your parents are willing and able to pay for Georgetown with no trouble, then I think this is really going to be about a fit choice. I don’t think that my personal opinion should count for much because we are two very different people. But if I were making this choice, and I knew that my parents could comfortably pay for my tuition because they had the whole thing saved already, I think I might lean towards Georgetown. But, if your parents offer that tuition money for you to use after college - let’s say, as a down payment on a house, or to pay for a graduate degree - that changes the calculus and I would totally go to UMiami then.
You really can’t go wrong!
@PurpleTitan I’m interested in Finance, although if I go to Miami I will definitely double major in Finance and Business Law. I will most likely end up going for my MBA or a law degree. I’m interested in working on Wall Street (not worried about connections, I already have familial connections) although to be honest, I’m not exactly sure that’s what I want to do.
@juillet thank you for the insight!
Hmm. Unless your family actually owns a firm, not sure how much help connections are. For someone “unhooked” interested in the Street for whom money isn’t a big deal, I’d definitely recommend G’Town (clear Street target).
But for you, a Street target may not be a big deal and money seems not to be a big deal, so go with fit.
Georgetown is a big “target” for finance firms (and UM isn’t), so if your parents have enough money to send you to Georgetown, that’s what I’d pick.
Have you visited, done an overnight?
@MYOS1634 i’ll be going to the GAAP weekend April 17th and 18th
Enjoy your time there, and report back here with your impressions! 