Oh, Ohio

Who names a school in Ohio "Miami"? No, seriously, who does that?

For all my qualms about the name of the place, Miami (OH) turned out to be one of the most beautiful schools I've seen thus far in the country. Similar to Carleton, which I talked about in my first post, Miami was pretty far out there. Nestled between a couple of major interstates (neither of which run anywhere near to the town of Oxford, where the university is), Miami was truly a diamond campus in the heart of the Midwest. I really didn't have much idea of what to expect at the school. One of my cousins attended, majoring in business. He was the preppy sort, but also played club soccer there, so I decided it couldn't be THAT bad. What originally was just a pass-through turned into an unexpected pleasure of a school.

We rolled into town at about sunset, which was lovely. It had been raining for a half hour or so on the way in, so I was kind of in a bad mood. I mean, let's be honest here, we were driving to some college I knew virtually nothing about, in the middle of what I surmised to be a rural town. It was anything but. Oxford reminded me of a pleasant New England oceanside town, complete with cobblestone streets and old churches built into small plazas. The admissions lady was friendly, although there was a large fraternity gathering with members coming from all over the U.S. for a weekend retreat of sorts. Speaking of which, there were a large number of fairly interesting sorority and fraternity houses, somewhat removed from the center of campus. They were nowhere near as elaborate or fancy-looking as the ones on the U of I campus, but the admissions lady informed us that Greek life is popular with around 30% of the student body. The quad was great, as you can see in the picture above. It was so cool during the evening, but evoked an air of immense excitement and anticipation for the bulk of students to arrive back from summer break.

I also really liked the athletic facilites present. From what I could tell, there was two large rec centers on campus, and one unbelievably nice football field. I guess something I've always looked forward to in the college experience is being able to go watch a big football team play. One that is D1. While Miami is D1, they're typically a weaker team. But that didn't keep me from being impressed with their field. It was like something out of a classic movie, Remember the Titans.  Nestled in a valley, Yager Stadium reminded me more of an intimate high school football field, where I have so many soccer playing memories. It was quiet, yet you could picture it bustling with activity on gamedays. Imagine the picture at the right, but with all the trees in the background color brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow, or better yet, covered in snow.

While the campus absolutely fascinated me, I was curious about the academics. The ACT range is 26-30, but is expected to rise to 27-31 this year. So Miami is by no means a second-rate university. Students know how to both work hard and have fun. Pictures on the virtual tour show students having fun playing football in the quad, listening to lectures, and throwing snow at each other. And that certainly seemed to be the atmosphere when I was there too. Students were all too willing to talk about the university in a positive light. All the labs seemed relatively up to date and well-equipped, which is something that I, who am looking to major in biology, found especially nice.

And every students' biggest concern, food, was rectified. We ate in downtown Oxford, a VERY easy walk from the heart of campus. I have to say, in comparison to some somewhat nice other small towns, Oxford was lovely. Cobblestone streets, colonial houses, and lots of red brick storefronts, all which fit in with the surrounding collegiate buildings.

Overall, Miami offered lots for a school of it's size in the Midwest. I forgot to mention, earlier, that you can also automatically get a $5, 000- $10, 000 scholarship depending on your ACT/SAT score and your GPA. I really loved the campus, the relaxing, yet professional vibe of the school, and the allure of many good times to come.

Under the Arm, Pitt

The University of Pittsburgh. Nestled in a valley, in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, outside the booming steel and iron-forged city of Pittsburgh. I decided to visit because my uncle, my mom's brother did his grad school there. Additionally, Pitt is excellent for premed, as it is next to a whopping 7 major hospitals. the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is ranked 9th in the country, behind such as UPenn (Pedleman), and Harvard (Barnes Jewish).

It took us forever to navigate our way across the bustling city of Pittsburgh, past Heinz field, where the Steelers (and Pitt football) play, through the metropolitan area, which looks both modern and reminiscent of the industrial revolution, which brought prosperity to the city. Pitt has an upper and lower campus, and, unlike some other universities, these titles mean exactly what they mean. The lower campus, home to most undergrad programs and dormitories, is located at the base of the hill, in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, while the upper campus, which has varsity athletic facilities, and some med school buildings, is located on the top of the hill. Right down the street is Carnegie Mellon University, and the two schools collaborate on any number of projects. Our tour guide mentioned that some Pitt professors hold adjunct professorships at Carnegie Mellon and vice versa. Some notable collaborations include the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse at the Phipps Conservatory. Both schools also have access to the Carnegie Library, Carnegie Museum of Art & History, and the Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, which  dominates the lower part of the Oakland neighborhood, close to the Allegheny River.

Pitt is home to two buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, but the most famous, and perhaps the most well-known landmark on the UPitt campus is the Cathedral of Learning (Common Room pictured above).The 42-story, Late Gothic Revival style building was constructed in the early 1930's (first class was held in it during 1931), after being commissioned in 1921 by Chancellor John Bowman. The Cathedral has over 2,000 rooms for study, making it the largest educational building in the Western Hemisphere, although most of these rooms are used for offices. The basement through 40th floors are used for educational purposes, while the remaining floors house mechanical and electrical equipment and additional offices. After big football wins and others such events, golden lights shine upon the upper portion of the Cathedral, known as "victory lights." Inside, I was stunned by the Common room, which reaches two stories up in the center and is used for quiet studying. No supports are used on the concrete arches. The room itself was entirely paid for by Andrew Mellon.

To the left is a view of Pitt's campus from the top of the Cathedral. Pittsburgh's campus was pretty walkable, from what I could tell. Something that I've learned to look for on a quality campus is new construction, which signifies life and industry. There was plenty of it on the Pitt campus.

The dorms, too, impressed me. We went to the ones called Litchfield Towers (seen at right), which were supposedly some of the smaller ones on campus. Not only were the rooms gigantic, but they had singles! For those of you juniors that have no idea how incredible that is, I hope you have some wisdom imparted on you before this time of year next year. Additionally, the dorm had just undergone a fresh paint job, which supposedly happens every year. The dorms had 3 eateries underneath, plus two smallish exercise rooms on the ground floor. The only thing I disliked about them were the communal bathrooms. But hey, that's college for you.

Overall, I marveled at Pitt's urban feel, proximity to great medical facilities, and central location in the East, close to New York City, and not too far to drive to Boston, etc. Additionally, I was impressed by the dorms, unique frat life (all of which are located in high rise apartments), and welcoming atmosphere. For people looking for good money at a midsized, respected research university, I'd definitely recommend UPitt.