Paradise Found: U Miami Virtues
Beyond the palm trees, a picture-perfect lake, and the rare crocodile, we discovered an impressive academic experience.
Well past the massive luxury condo groves, the sky-high cranes dangling over a stupendous new convention center, and the relentless buzz of bridge-and-tunnel construction, we motored down a final stretch of bleached pavement through twin columns of stately palm trees into what surely was paradise.
Wait – what? Did we have the correct address? It was supposed to be the University of Miami, but this looked like a five-star resort, and the sign said we were in Coral Gables. If Google Maps said this was it, this had to be it. And it was. Wow. University of Miami. Who wouldn’t want to go to school here?
The weather wasn’t exactly perfect. It was slightly drizzly, and the temperature seemed locked in at a stubborn 68 degrees, but hey, it was a tropical wonderland, so no real complaints.
We hung a left into a huge parking garage as the admissions office instructed, only to find absolutely no parking. After circling eight floors to the roof, we located a spot, only to have the machine claim that parking wasn’t available.
Oh, well. Paradise lost. At least for the moment.
As it turned out, nobody had trouble finding the information session in the Schwartz Welcome Center. It was packed. Jenny, a psychology and criminology major and Miami native, gave us an energetic welcome to the “U,” as the locals call it, and was herself surprised by the turnout. “We usually only have about two people,” she marveled.
Maybe that explained the parking rigamarole.
Beyond the usual facts and figures (12,000 undergraduates from 102 countries and 49 states: get with it, Wyoming!), Jenny highlighted the small classroom size (11:1 student-teacher ratio), nine undergraduate schools and direct admission to whatever program you apply to.
U Miami currently sports an 18% admit rate based on some 58,000 applicants, 1360-1480 SAT or 30-34 ACT and a 3.89 GPA.
The centerpiece of UMiami’s academic experience is what it calls the “Cognates” program, which offers an imaginative approach to satisfying each student’s core curriculum organized along the humanities, STEM, and sociology.
Faculty-designed clusters of courses are organized around more than 100 interdisciplinary themes, such as “Sports & Society,” “Artificial Intelligence,” and “Ethics,” that are not confined to any one department but rather explore connections between them.
We were also pitched on the charms of living in one of UMiami’s Residential Colleges, where students of a certain major might share a floor, and the greater Coral Gables community, featuring shops, restaurants, Kennedy Park, Winwood Art District and Little Havana. Coconut Grove is also nearby.
After following Lily, our tour guide outside, we stopped near a large Banyan tree as she began her spiel about the university’s stellar academic advising. She was no more than a few sentences in when a young lady strutted by, pointed excitedly at Lily, and yelled, “That’s my best friend, right there!” It was a good laugh and instantly elevated the comfort level.
Over the next hour or so, Lily, a biochemistry major, walked us past the Science and Engineering buildings, the Herbert Business School, the Frost Music School, and the traditional liberal arts campus core. She regaled us with far more information than we can accommodate here, and the campus itself, given its arboretum-level landscape, is hard to capture in words. It’s just beautiful, and like none other.
The most memorable part of Lily’s presentation came when she dropped that she had access to five (5!) academic advisors and had been involved in research projects every year, beginning as a freshman. She said that wasn’t unusual at U Miami. Worth noting: It is unusual almost everywhere else.
Our tour concluded at UMiami’s piece de resistance, the 10-acre Lake Osceola, the campus’ visual epicenter, and home to the Donna Shalala Student Center, its social hub. The lake looks like it has always been there, even though it hasn’t, and is home to all kinds of birds and other wildlife.
One posted sign read: “No swimming,” and in case anyone was thinking about breaking the rules, another just below it warned: “Caution: Crocodiles and Snakes in the area.”
Well, now.
So, we just had to ask Lily if she had ever seen any such critters slithering around campus. Her tally: zero crocs, one snake. Such sightings are exceedingly rare. Mostly it’s just iguanas, turtles, ducks, egrets, herons, and, of course, the Ibis, the mighty white-winged, orange-beaked bird that is U Miami’s mascot, Sebastian.
Why an Ibis? It’s both the last bird to seek shelter before a hurricane, and the first to reappear afterwards.
As metaphors for wisdom and courage go, that’s a pretty good one.
Then it was back to the parking lot, five floors up and no ticket, fortunately. Just a real appreciation for the many amazing opportunities at the “U.”
