PROFILE: MIAMI UNIVERSITY OF OHIO, OXFORD OH

This is one of a series of U.S. college and university profiles for 2011-12 and it will be continually updated as new information becomes available to prospective students and their families as well as the author. Statistics provided for this profile have been provided from a variety of sources, most notably the U.S. Department of Education and the school itself. Any use or reproduction of this profile without the expressed permission of the author is prohibited.

Founded in 1809, Miami University is the tenth-oldest public university in the United States and the second-oldest in Ohio (after Ohio University). A popular t-shirt in the university’s bookstore reads that: Miami Was a University When Florida Belonged to Spain. While Miami of Ohio and the University of Miami are both popular options for very good-to-excellent students, the university in Florida is 106 years younger.

Miami can reasonably be called the University of Nicknames. It is known as the Mother of Fraternities. Four “alpha” chapters of national Greek letter social organizations were founded at Miami, as was one national sorority. About one-third of the student body belongs to these organizations, a large percentage for any college, public or private.

Miami is also known as the Cradle of Coaches, a nickname the university has copyrighted. Miami may be the only U.S. university that has produced football coaches who have won national championships in college football, NFL championships in the pre-Super Bowl era as well as Super Bowl winners. John Harbaugh (Class of 1984) is Miami’s most recent football success story, recently coaching the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens into a conference championship. However, Harbaugh has not yet been formally inducted into the Cradle Outside of football the most successful Miami sports graduate has been baseball Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston, who led the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers to four World Series titles (1955, 1959, 1963 and 1965).

Noted Miami alumni outside of sports include Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States, Congressman Paul Ryan (R. Wisconsin), current chairman of the Budget Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D. Washington) among many others.

Miami has also been called the Yale of the Midwest though this was at an earlier time in its history. As late as 1839, Miami had the fourth-largest student body of any university in the country after Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth. The university’s first buildings, including Stoddard and Elliott, which still house students today, were supposedly copies of Yale’s architectural styles.

A less flattering nickname read on student review sites such as Campus Discovery, Unigo and Students Review as well as the campus paper is “J. Crew U.” This is meant to comment upon a lack of racial diversity within the student body. The class that entered in 2011, according to the university’s office of Institutional Research, was 4.5 percent African American, just over 2 percent Asian and slightly less than 3 percent Hispanic/Latino. This was also confirmed in comparison with similar schools using College Results Online, a database managed by the Education Trust, a non-partisan, non-profit education policy organization based in Oakland California and Washington D.C. Less than seven percent of Miami’s student body was comprised of members of

underrepresented minority groups in 2009, compared with around 11 percent at the University of Connecticut and the University of Delaware, both of which have student bodies of similar size that also aggressively seek out-of-state students, as Miami does. Miami also has a smaller percentage of underrepresented minorities than the flagship schools in the states that send the most students: Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

But Miami is also unique for a large university in that the academic focus is on the undergraduate while the school considers itself to be a national research institution, the same as flagship schools like Ohio State. Miami has no law school or medical school though both have long been a part of schools such as Cornell, Syracuse or the University of Connecticut, all of which have undergraduate student bodies of similar size. For another comparison, another similarly-sized school, the University of Delaware, which has no law school or medical school, grants doctorates in 43 fields. Binghamton University (NY), also similar, grants doctorates in 37 major fields. Miami grants doctorates in 12.

The most similar school to Miami, James Madison University (VA), markets itself as a regional university and, as a result, ranks first in its class among schools in the South in the U.S. News guide. Miami and James Madison are identical in so many ways: student body size and diversity and academic focus. James Madison grants doctoral degrees in only seven fields. Both graduate over two-thirds of their freshmen within four years; over 80 percent finish within six. Neither has a law school or medical school. Several comparisons between these two schools are strikingly close on College Results Online. If Miami was to be reclassified as a Midwest Regional University by U.S. News instead of a National Research University, it would tie for first (with Butler University) in terms of freshman retention and rank first in terms of average six-year graduation rate. However, Miami would have a higher student-faculty ratio, have a smaller percentage of classes with less than 20 students and a larger percentage of classes with more than 50 students.

While U.S. News ranked Miami third among publicly supported universities for undergraduate instruction, the same source ranked the school 90th overall among all research universities public and private, tied with Binghamton. But both schools have been labeled as “Public Ivies” by college admissions professionals since 1985. However, the U.S. News rankings place a greater emphasis on endowments and faculty productivity, which are likely to be higher at schools that grant doctoral degrees and give tenured professors more time to do research. Miami is ranked lower for sticking to a focus on undergraduates. This is a contradiction in a publication that is targeted to prospective college freshmen and their parents.

Miami’s efficacy, the difference between the predicted six-year graduation rate, based on a formula developed by U.S. News that considers the socioeconomic background of the freshman class and the actual graduation rate is +6. The predicted graduation rate was pegged at 74 percent for the class that entered in 2004 though 80 percent graduate within six years. By comparison, Ohio State’s predicted graduation rate was pegged at 70 percent while the actual rate was 78 percent. Both Miami’s and Ohio State’s efficacies are above average for large state universities.

Competition

Miami appeals to the very good as well as the excellent student. From 2006 through 2011 the median ACT score has been 26, equal to a range between 1170 and 1200 on the Math and Critical Reading sections of the SAT. Eighty percent of admitted students take the ACT, while the percentage of students who submitted SAT scores had declined from 70 percent in 2006 to 39 percent in 2011. Median SATs have actually declined by 16 points from 1185 to 1169. In 2006 47 percent of the freshmen who took the SATs scored over 600 on the Critical Reading section of the test. By 2011 this was down to 40 percent.

In 2011 Miami accepted 74 percent of its applicants who wanted to study at the Oxford campus; the university has satellite branches in nearby Hamilton and Middletown. This was down from more than 80 percent in 2008. About 1,300 students were offered a place on the waiting list. Only 34 were offered admission to the main campus. However, Miami can offer in-state residents the option of beginning their college education one the satellite branches at a lower price then allow them to be reassigned to the main campus after they are admitted to their major. This year, however, Miami did not need to accept deposits after May 1 from students who will be entering as freshmen in the fall of 2012, according to Meredith Smith, the university’s Associate Director of Admissions.

Miami’s yield rates have been consistently below 30 percent since 2007. Within Ohio one reason for this might be costs. The University of Cincinnati, for example, charges around $2,000 less for in-state tuition and fees and offers discounts to students in select majors who come from select Indiana and Kentucky counties. Ohio State charges in-state residents around $2,300 less than Miami and offers generous scholarships as well. Miami has pursued out-of-state students more aggressively than these institutions. Today, more than half (54 percent) of the student body, including international students, comes from outside Ohio.

Miami posts some other interesting admissions trends on its Web site. From 2006 through 2011, the percentage of admitted students who ranked in the top ten percent of their class dropped from 36 to 31 percent. The number of high school valedictorians dipped from 90 to 71. However, the percentage of students who arrived at Miami with advanced placement credits rose from 32 to 43 percent. The students may not necessarily be statistically better, but they have supposedly entered better prepared for college-level work.

Another trend is that interest in the business school and the engineering school has grown almost entirely at the expense of interest in the College of Arts and Science; students appear to be more serious about the pre-professional programs. However, half of the incoming freshmen in 2011 opted to take a 100 level foreign language course, up from only 15 percent. This may signify that students are more interested in learning a new language.

One consideration for applicants interested in entering Miami in the fall of 2013. Ohio State will be moving to the Common Application for the first time, joining Miami as only

the second Ohio public institution to use it. This decision will likely increase interest in both schools, and help to make them both more selective.

Completion

Miami’s freshman retention rates have remained consistently between 88 and 89 percent over the past six years. The graduation rates have remained consistent as well; nearly two-thirds of those who enter Miami finish on time. Only five national research universities have a better four-year graduation rate: Virginia, William and Mary, UNC-Chapel Hill. Michigan and UC-Berkeley. In addition, between 80 and 83 percent of Miami’s freshmen classes entering from 2001 through 2005 completed their degrees within six years. This too, is better than most leading public universities.

The graduation rates are quite impressive considering that Miami admits very good students who might not gain admission to schools such as the five mentioned previously Below are the SAT ranges for these schools for the 25th and 75th percentiles of the freshman class, taken from each school’s 2011-12 Common Data Set.

School SAT/ACT 25th and 75th Percentile Critical Reading and Math

Miami University of Ohio 1090-1300

University of Virginia 1240-1460

College of William and Mary 1240-1450

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

1200-1400

University of Michigan 1250-1450

University of California-Berkeley 1250-1490

About a quarter of Miami’s entering freshmen scored 1300 or above. These students would have ranked around the middle of the applicant pool at these five other schools, if they were accepted. Among these schools only Michigan admitted more than 40 percent of all applicants last year.

Costs

Miami will charge Ohio residents approximately $12,600 in tuition and fees in 2012-13. Out-of-state students will be assessed around $28,600. Both figures are high for state-supported universities. The university also adopted a set of nearly 50 new fees and fines, and raising the cost of nearly 80 fees and fines while decreasing or eliminating 24 others. Room and board charges are also on the high end for state schools. Starting at just under $11,000 for 2012-13, these charges are among the highest in the country. In

addition students are charged an additional $50 per credit for courses taken in the business, engineering and fine arts schools.

Miami attempts to offset tuition and fees by offering merit-based scholarships to students with grades and test scores that place them in the upper half of the freshman class. In-state and out-of-state students may receive between $2,000 to as much as full tuition for each of four years. Students with SAT scores, Math and Critical Reading as low as 1170 or ACT scores as low as 26 (1170 to 1200) qualify for these merit awards which are renewable for all four years. By comparison, Ohio State requires a minimum combined SAT score of 1260 or an ACT of 28 for its smallest merit scholarship, the Trustee Scholarship, currently valued at $1,800 per year. Ohio University offers smaller scholarships ranging from $500 to full-tuition, though the university also charges more than $2,000 less for in-state tuition and charges out-of-state students around $10,000 less than Miami does. Non-residents who score as low as 1130 on the SAT or 25 (1130 to 1160) on the ACT are also eligible to receive Trustee awards as large as $6,000 per year. Such an award would bring their tuition and fees below $13,000.

Below is a cost comparison between Miami and other publicly supported universities to attract an out-of-state student with a 3.7 GPA in a rigorous academic program and SAT scores of around 1220 or an ACT score of 27, using tuition information provided online by the schools. An additional $900 has been added at the high end of the Miami range to allow for students who take up to three courses in the business program and others that charge the additional $50 per credit. It can be seen that Miami’s scholarship represents a discount that has made the university quite competitive against Midwestern state schools where their students could have gained admission to the incoming freshman class, though Cincinnati and Ohio University would have been lower cost options for the students who also liked those schools.

School Name 2012-13 Out of State Tuition and Fees

2012-13 Out of State Tuition and Fees Less Scholarships

Miami University of Ohio $28,631 to $29,531 $20,631 to $25,531

Ohio University $18,834 $12,834 to $17,584

University of Wisconsin-Madison $26,630 to $28,030 $26,630 to $28,030

Indiana University $31,483 to $33,944 $27,483 to $29,944

Ohio State University $25,450 $25,450

University of Cincinnati $25,816 to $26,824 $20,816 to $21,824

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

$29,102 to $34,022 $27,102 to $32,022

Another way to compare costs, at least for Ohio residents, is to compare Average Net Prices, total costs less scholarships and grants, for students and families in the higher income brackets. College Navigator, developed and managed by the U.S. Department of Education, provides this information for as late as the 2010-11 academic year. Below are the comparisons between Miami (for in-state students only) and several Ohio public and

private schools. It can be seen that Miami is slightly more expensive than Ohio University or Ohio State, and that some of the private schools are also willing to compete to attract students from middle and upper-middle income families.

School Average Net PriceFamilies with Incomes

Between $75,000 and $110,0002010-11

Average Net PriceFamilies with Incomes over

$110,0002010-11

Miami University of Ohio (In-state only)

$24,771 $26,237

Ohio State University-main campus (in-state)

$22,615 $23,516

Ohio University-main campus (in-state)

$21,512 $21,928

University of Cincinnati-main campus (in-state)

$23,069 $23,286

Case Western Reserve University

$28,926 $33,922

University of Dayton $25,218 $27,428

John Carroll University $22,389 $25,333

Xavier University $29,056 $29,610

College of Wooster $22,493 $28,666

Denison University $39,014 N/A

Ohio Wesleyan University $26,695 $29,634

Another measure of costs is the debt-to-credentials ratio. Developed by Education Sector, a non-partisan, non-profit organization based in Washington D.C., this ratio represents that average amount graduates borrow to complete their degree. The lower the base tuition and fees, the higher the percentage of students who graduate on time time, or the more generous the school’s financial aid program, the lower the ratio will be. Below is a comparison between Miami and other Ohio public and private schools for 2008-09, the last year data was available

School Debt-to-Credentials Ratio 2008-09

Miami University of Ohio $18,442

Ohio State University-Columbus $19,777

University of Cincinnati $27,143

School Debt-to-Credentials Ratio 2008-09

Ohio University $26,222

Case Western Reserve University

$19,266

University of Dayton $18,362

John Carroll University $26,513

Denison University $14,238

Ohio Wesleyan University $22,381

It can be seen from this table that while Miami graduates carried less debt than graduates of the other Ohio state schools on this list, they carried more debt than graduates of the liberal arts colleges and about the same amount of debt as graduates of the University of Dayton, a private national research university. In short students who are interested in a liberal arts education in Ohio might want to look at the private schools, presuming they can get in. Cincinnati students also take advantage of the cooperative education program--the university was a pioneer in this area--which add time to the completion of a degree, but also provides valuable work experience.

Miami students also consider Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, among other privately-supported colleges and universities outside of Ohio. These two schools are also noted for attempting to meet close to 100 percent of their students’ demonstrated financial need. The debt-to-credentials ratios for these schools were $13,445 and $10,628 respectively, lower than Miami. This is noteworthy because Miami is trying to become a more national institution, which these schools already are. The larger scholarships are important for Miami to compete more directly against them.

Miami’s endowment was $403 million at the conclusion of the 2011 fiscal year, up 16 percent from fiscal year 2010, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers. The endowment was $11 million less than the University of Dayton’s. Miami’s endowment, while considerably lower than the larger Big Ten universities such as Ohio State as well as the University of Cincinnati, is larger than Ohio University’s. Ohio is also one of the few states with several well-endowed private institutions. For example, Denison’s endowment was in excess of $600 million while Case Western’s endowment was in excess of $1.7 billion.

Comforts

Miami takes unique approaches to student housing. For one, students are required to live in on-campus residence halls during their freshman and sophomore years. Aside from commuters and male freshmen who pledge fraternities during their second semester--Miami does not allow them to rush at the start of their college education--are exempt from living in the residence halls during the second year. Miami sororities occupy floors in the residence halls; they have common areas for relaxation and study. Sorority members will usually move off-campus after their sophomore year. While the sororities

do not own off-campus housing, spaces in rental homes in Oxford have been passed on from class to class.

Miami assigns students to housing by living-learning community. Twenty five learning communities are open to freshmen, more than most students will find at larger universities. Students choose their first two preferences, though the university may make assignments based on either intended major or academic interests. The sororities, student-created communities, a Second-Year Business community and the Scholar-Leader community are targeted towards sophomores. There is also a living-learning community for transfer students.

Most, but not all, of the living-learning communities are linked to credit-bearing academic courses. Explore Miami, designed to help new students become acquainted with the university and its resources, is the most popular living-learning community. In some cases faculty advisors to the learning communities live in the residence halls, a departure from practices at most other state universities.

Freshmen enter a lottery to choose a new housing assignment for their sophomore year. While those who wish to be in learning communities the following year choose their housing during lotteries in March, all others choose their housing in April.

While larger universities have built high-rise residence halls, Miami’s 30 residence halls, even the newest, are all low-rise. Based on the older Georgian architectural styles, the rooms are more spacious and have higher ceilings than those in more modern residence halls. All rooms are Wi-Fi enabled though only seven residence halls are air conditioned. Miami charges students an additional $300 to rent a wall air conditioning unit and an additional $100 to rent a refrigerator. These charges seem petty given the high fees for room and board. The university plans to open three new residence halls before the start of the 2014-15 school year, providing an additional 720 beds. This will give the university “swing space” to begin to close and renovate the older residence halls.

The university also offers apartments in a complex called Heritage Commons to upper-class students, though more students move off-campus after their sophomore year. The Oxford community offers rentals for as little as $1,750 per person per semester, though a rent of more than $2,000 is more likely; the larger the group in a house the less individual students will pay. One local tradition is that owners and/or occupants have named and designed logos for their houses. Homes for rent carry such names as: High Heels, Low Morals, Mustache Ride, Spring Fever and Bored of Education. The naming of these homes is a tradition that has carried on for more than three decades.

Community

Poet Robert Frost, upon seeing the Miami University campus, famously remarked it was "the most beautiful campus that ever there was." With exceptions such as the Goggin Recreation Center and the performing arts center, Miami has not strayed from the Georgian colonial architectural styles on a main campus date back to the early 1900’s. The Western campus, the site of a former women’s college, is on a lakefront and has an eclectic mix of architectural styles and green space. Students who live on this campus have the longest walks to classes, but they live in some of the more attractive residence halls. The campus also borders on Huesston Woods, an expansive state park.

Opportunities for serenity are more plentiful at Miami than on most state university campuses.

While there has been plenty of new construction--a new business school complex opened in 2009 and the new Armstrong student center will open next year--older buildings have been allowed to age gracefully. Miami lore mentions heated sidewalks near Stoddard and Elliott, the two oldest residence halls, but effect is caused by steam pipes between the two buildings. The Ides of March, a political drama starring George Clooney, was filmed here.

Miami, unlike other universities, conducts a Welcome Week for incoming freshmen and a Welcome Back Week for the sophomore class. Freshmen arrive three days earlier for their itinerary; some first-year and second-year programs overlap, offering helpful interactions for new students Convocation takes place for freshmen the day after move-in day. Like several schools, including Ohio State, Miami assigns incoming freshmen a class book and organizes discussion groups, seminars and lectures around it. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer was the book read by the freshmen who entered in the fall of 2011. A “mega-fair” introduces students to the wide array of organizations and community services projects during the last day of both weeks.

Approximately one-third of the student body belongs to the Greek letter societies, including those that are academic as well as social. The Miami Student, an excellent daily paper, connects everyone and there are more than 800 clubs and organizations to choose from. The learning community approach helps students get acquainted with others quickly though most will find their niches through the choice of activities on campus. The Miami University Student Foundation, an organization with an endowment of nearly half a million dollars, coordinates these events:

• Family Weekend Auction & Dinner - A Family Weekend event to raise money for the scholarship endowment.

• Homecoming House Decorating Contest - Off-Campus Houses, Fraternity Houses, and Residence Halls compete to be the most spirited during

• Triathlon-Open to the university and community, this is an extension of a bike marathon that ran for more than three decades.

• Senior Week - A week-long celebration for Seniors, including Senior Last Lecture and Senior Send-Off.

The university also hosts an Alumni Weekend in June where faculty members teach short classes. Alumni who live close also attend the major sports events.

Oxford has only 9,000 residents, exceptionally small for a town that serves a state university. Other college communities that host schools of similar size have between 25,000 (Storrs and Mansfield, Connecticut, home of the University of Connecticut) to over 145,000 (Syracuse, New York, home of Syracuse University) residents. The downtown is clean and well laid out. The retail mix has plenty of eating and drinking places for students and adults alike, more than one might expect in a town this small, but there is little else in the way of shopping options. There is one small movie theatre, the

Princess, as well as another that has been converted to a music club. Oxford is also more isolated than most university communities. One must drive nearly an hour through farmland from Interstate 70 to the Miami campus. Cincinnati and Dayton are less than an hour’s drive from campus. Hamilton, approximately 25 miles away, has the closest shopping mall. Student parking or campus is extremely limited and costs as much as $200 for the school year. The university has a network of campus buses, though one can walk from one end of the campus to another in less than half an hour.

Town and gown do try to get along. The university’s decision to require to live on campus for two years had a negative impact on the local rental market though it appears to have helped reduce the number of alcohol-related arrests and actions both on and off campus from 2009 to 2010, according to university’s Clery Report. During the first days of school the downtown business community will host a street fair. The police department also hosts a Hog Roast to welcome students.

Drug and liquor law violations are by far the major crimes committed on as well as near campus. According to the university’s Clery Report, drug-related arrests in the residence halls rose from 33 to 43 between 2008 and 2010. Arrests on campus rose from 39 to 55. Liquor-related arrests in the residence halls dropped from 37 to 13 during this period. Arrests on campus spiked from 83 to 122 between 2008 and 2009, then dropped to 80 in 2010. There were more than 540 disciplinary actions related to alcohol each year from 2008 through 2010. In addition the number of forcible sex offenses, while small, rose from 7 to 12 during this period.

Miami has built winning programs in men’s ice hockey and synchronized skating, where the university has won 8 titles. While the university has spawned an impressive number of successful college and professional football coaches, including six in the College Football Hall of Fame and three in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it is not currently known as a major football school. The RedHawks play in a 24,000 stadium, large enough to be considered for admission to the Big East, but too small for any of the other Bowl Championship series conferences. However, the RedHawks have a long-standing rivalry with the University of Cincinnati as well as a date to play Ohio State in Columbus in 2012. In addition, Miami’s student athletes graduate at a higher rate than the student body as a whole.

Curriculum

Over the past three years Miami has revised their summer orientation and student advising programs to enhance chances for student success. Academic advising has shifted from a group-based model to one where students meet with advisors individually. All students who begin their first semester with a GPA of 2.0 or lower are tracked and directed to meet with academic advisors. During the second semester the Dean of Students gets involved with students who are not making sufficient progress.

Students begin their academic experience with a 20 minute advising session during one of 16 summer orientation programs. Over 3,300 students participate in these programs during June and July, while International students participate in a separate program just before they arrive on campus in August. New for the upcoming school year will be a Resource Fair in which students and parents can engage more than 40 different campus

offices to address individual needs. Participants receive a map and are eligible for prizes from the offices they visit. Following orientation students and parents receive e-newsletters throughout the summer. Placement tests for math and foreign languages are done online leaving orientation strictly an informational program.

The curriculum is structured under the name The Miami Plan. The Miami Plan has three parts: Foundation Courses, a Thematic Sequence, and a Capstone Course.

Foundation courses cover 36 credits within five areas:

I. English Composition (6 hours)II. Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Science (12 hours)III. Cultures (6 hours) A. United States Cultures (3 hours) B. World Cultures (3 hours)IV. Natural Science (9 hours, must include 1 laboratory course) A. Biological Science (3 hours minimum) B. Physical Science (3 hours minimum)V. Mathematics, Formal Reasoning, Technology (3 hours)

The liberal arts core is similar to those offered by other top-performing public schools, with the possible exception of requirements in both biological and physical sciences.

All students must take at least one Foundation course that presents a historical perspective. Students satisfy this requirement by taking an appropriately designated course in any Foundation area. The same course may meet both a Foundation area requirement and the historical perspective requirement. All students must also complete a First Year Seminar.

The Thematic Sequence is a series of three courses in an area outside of the student’s major. These courses can be used to add a skill or to explore a discipline outside of the school where s/he is enrolled. Students who declare a minor or second major do not need to complete a Thematic Sequence.

The Capstone Course may be an advanced course in a major, an independent research project, a team-based studio course, field work, or a student-designed course that is approved by faculty. Approximately 2,000 students work with faculty on funded research projects says Claire Wagner, the university’s Director of News and Public Information. Students may become involved with faculty research as early as the freshman year through the First Year Research Experience (FYRE) program.

Miami students must go through the course catalog carefully, for some courses will satisfy major and Miami Plan requirements--several majors have course requirements outside the major department. It is better to try to address multiple requirements, especially electives, through a single course, whenever possible. Academic advising is more important to help students through course planning--all Miami majors have templates that match required courses to desired completion dates--than it is at other state-supported schools.

While Miami has earned high rankings in the mass media publications such as Kiplinger’s, U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review, these rankings are perhaps more significant:

• n BusinessWeek magazine's latest ranking of undergraduate business programs, Miami's Farmer School of Business appears among the nation's top 5%, ranking 8th among public universities and colleges.

• Miami's Interior Design program is ranked 9th in the nation, according to the 2009 edition of "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools" published by DesignIntelligence magazine. This annual report is considered the definitive school ranking as determined by design firms that hire recent college graduates.

• Miami seniors applying to law schools for the 2009–2010 school year were accepted at a rate of 92%, compared to a national average of 77%.

• The medical school acceptance rate for Miami students is 61%, compared to 45% nationally. The figure rises to 86% for Miami students who are able to maintain a 3.4 overall GPA, 3.4 science GPA, and score no less than 8 on any section of the MCAT.

• in 2011 Miami's undergraduate program in accountancy was ranked 17th in the nation, respectively, by Public Accounting Report.

• Miami is among a select group of universities in the nation that have produced a Rhodes Scholar, a Truman Scholar, and a Goldwater Scholar in the same academic year.

Miami offers both a University Honors program as well as honors offerings in each major. The Business Honors program, for example, in addition to academics, offers exposure to outside speakers as well as a mentorship program with faculty and upperclass students. However, the Miami Plan and academic advising programs help to assure that no student is “cheated” for not being in an honors program. This is possible because Miami is smaller than most flagship state universities and few faculty have doctoral students to supervise or conduct recitation sections for them. Currently, nearly three-quarters of the courses that are available to first-year students are taught by full-time faculty, says Meredith Smith, Associate Director of Admissions.

Outside of Honors programs Miami offers several other interesting opportunities. For example, students in the School of Education, Health and Society may take advantage of field experiences in the classroom during their first or second year before they take on a student teaching assignment. They also have the option of taking student teaching assignments abroad in Europe, Belize, China, and Australia. The School of Engineering and Applied Science directs a three-year Leadership Institute, a certificate program select students complete in addition to their major. This program, which includes a personalized leadership development plan, is run in partnership with Lockheed Martin. The School of Fine Arts offers an Arts Management program for Fine Arts and Business majors that includes an internship. The program runs an internship and career fair in March not only to place students into internship assignments, but also to help them find full-time positions.

Miami is one of the few universities that owns and operates a campus in Europe, the Dollbois Center, located in Luxembourg. Over 40 percent of Miami students study abroad over the course of a break, semester or school year before they graduate.

The university also runs several unique programs in other U.S. cities and regions including an Urban Semester in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Chicago. An Urban Teaching Cohort program, which includes placements in Chicago and Cincinnati, offers education students the opportunity to tutor in urban schools or spend weekends in an inner city neighborhood working with community leaders on volunteer projects before they begin student teaching. A semester-long Inside Washington program in the nation’s capital is open to students for the fall, spring and summer and exposes them to various actors in the political process. An integrated community development and urban design program in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhein neighborhood allows architecture majors to gain Intern Development Credits, an essential requirement for becoming a licensed architect. This year the university launched an Interactive Media Studies program in California’s Silicon Valley. Ten students in liberal arts and pre-professional majors moved to San Francisco during the Spring 2012 semester; each was placed in a start-up company with between five and 300 employees. To date Miami is the only U.S. university that has launched such an undergraduate program.

Miami reports a student-faculty ratio of 17 to 1. By comparison, the ratio at Ohio State is a larger 19 to 1. This is calculated by counting all of the full-time faculty and a third of those who are part-time. Miami reports an average class size of 31 students, while Ohio State reports 29. But these numbers do not reflect a higher level of attention from the faculty than students receive at a larger school, but they also do not consider the percentage of undergraduate versus graduate students at the school. For comparison, at Miami graduate students represent 15 percent of the student population, or fewer than 3,000 students while they represent 19 percent of the student population, more than 10,000 students total, at Ohio State.

Miami students gave their faculty an average rating of 3.31 on a scale of 1 to 4 on RateMyProfessors.com. By comparison, Ohio State students gave their faculty an average rating of 3.46 while Ohio University students gave their faculty an average rating of 3.27. For further comparison, ratings for other schools are below.

School Name RateMyProfessors.comRating

University of Dayton 3.35

University of Cincinnati 3.23

Indiana University-Main Campus 3.22

Penn State-University Park 2.98

Denison University 3.38

Case Western Reserve University

3.13

School Name RateMyProfessors.comRating

Xavier University 3.46

College of Wooster 3.55

Ohio Wesleyan University 3.50

It can be seen from those table that students at the liberal arts colleges on this list: Denison, the College of Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan gave their faculty higher ratings than Miami students gave their faculty. This, plus the debt-to-credentials ratio information previously given in the Cost section, could lead students who are more interested in a liberal arts education to consider these schools over a much larger university such as Miami. However, those who are more interested in a pre-professional program are more likely to hold Miami in higher regard. The liberal arts colleges do not offer many of those majors.

Connections

Miami has more than 200,000 living alumni. Over 81,000 live in Ohio. Outside of Ohio, Miami has sizable contingents of alumni in Chicago (over 10,000), Washington D.C. (nearly 4,700), New England (over 4,000), New York/Northern New Jersey (just under 3,700), Colorado (over 3,000), Pittsburgh (nearly 3,000) and Atlanta (over 2,900).

The alumni association has 44 regional chapters, seven in Ohio alone. There are also 24 affiliated groups including members of Greek letter societies, athletic teams and Miami Mergers, married couples or children of married couples who are Miami alumni. Former First Lady Barbara Bush is a child of a Miami Merger.

The Miami LinkedIn network has nearly 21,000 members, larger than several universities that have more alumni including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The Miami network is about the same size as Ohio State’s Buckeye Network. The Farmer School of Business has its own LinkedIn network with nearly 6,000 members. Miami’s Facebook page has more than 16,000 “likes.” The university’s alumni association is a due-charging organization that offers online services similar to those provided by flagship state schools.

According to the information the university submitted to U.S. News, Miami has an alumni giving rate of 16 percent, slightly higher than Ohio State’s (15 percent) and higher than it is for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (13 percent) and the University of Michigan (15 percent). This is impressive considering that the Big Ten schools have the advantage of fielding higher-profile athletic teams that alumni may watch on national television from where ever they reside. However, Miami’s alumni giving rate is slightly lower than Case Western’s (18 percent) and the University of Dayton’s (also 18 percent).

Miami has centralized career development services, All students go to one office regardless of their major. At Ohio State, as one example, individual schools have their own career centers. Unique to Miami, students may take a graded two-credit course, Career Development for the College Student, during the freshman or sophomore year

though career development is integrated into learning communities as well. The course, which is more focused on undergraduates who have not decided on a major covers three areas: Getting to Know Yourself (assessment of personality traits and possible strengths), Exploring Majors, and Exploring Career Opportunities. Career counselors also handle referrals from academic advisors. Counselors are assigned to be liaisons with the different schools.

Miami attracted over 200 employers to its Fall Career Fair and over 150 to the spring event. While several employers participated in both, these totals are exceptionally high for a school that has a smaller student body and more isolated located than most larger flagship state universities. The university also hosts a Teacher Job Fair; most recently it drew 30 school districts. The career center has added a new Employer Relations officer to expand the university’s visibility with employers.

A total of 350 unique employers conducted 575 different interactions with students through interviews and events, said April Robles, assistant director of career services. The number of posted jobs rose from approximately 1,850 in 2009-10 to nearly 3,600 in 2010-11. While part of this can be attributed to a better economy, Robles says that part of the growth in jobs can be attributed to the stronger liaison relationships with the schools. Employers seeking Miami students largely come from Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Chicago though the number of St. Louis area employers increased as well. Miami also ranks sixth among medium-sized universities for the number of volunteers it has sent to the Peace Corps.

Most Miami students graduate with some prior experience before accepting a full-time position or going on to graduate or professional school. According to the university’s 2011 exit survey, more than half of the graduating class participated in a co-op or internship experience. Around 40 percent participated in field work, research in the community or practicum experiences. More than 80 percent of the graduates surveyed also held a job while a student; around two-thirds worked on campus. This helps to refute the “J. Crew U” stereotype; it shows that the students are not “spoiled. It also helps to illustrate that Miami students are serious and motivated towards preparing for work or further education.

Conclusion

Miami has much of what parents and students would like to see in a state university: a beautiful campus, a well-developed introduction for new students through orientation and residence life and solid academics focused on undergraduate education. Miami faculty and administrators have built several networks through academic programs that take students outside of the campus and give them hands-on work experience and/or leadership opportunities. Few university communities in the U.S. have more respect for their school’s history.

While the sticker price is high for a state university, Miami attempts to extend discounts down to the middle of its admitted pool, something rarely done at a public institution. In-state and out-of-state students get a good value for their money when comparing Miami to more selective public and private schools that have undergraduate student bodies of similar size such as Cornell, Syracuse, the University of Connecticut, the University of Delaware, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia.

Students who are serious about such schools should add Miami on their list. It offers all those schools do, and sometimes more, for less.

However, the student body, while very bright, is less racially and ethnically diverse than Ohio State and other leading state schools, while the campus is more isolated. Oxford is a small, pleasant college town, though it is not connected to the nearest major cities: Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis or Louisville, by bus or any other form of mass transit. Other quality institutions of similar size offer better access to mass transit, sometimes at a discount. This is especially important for a school that has limited parking options on campus.

In addition, Miami is not a spectator sports-oriented school like several others of similar size such as UConn, North Carolina or Virginia. Pride and loyalty among alumni are more likely to be based on academic experiences and past extracurricular activities. Miami does not come together as a large community the way that more sports-oriented schools do, but the academic, social and residence life environment combine to foster strong small communities.

Since Miami has become a more national university, it will also need to become a more diverse one, not only to continue to attract very good-to-excellent students, but also to attract a larger mix of employers from across the country. Miami students deserve access to the same job opportunities as graduates of other top-performing public and private universities. They work equally hard to earn it.

REPORT CARD: Miami University of Ohio

Costs: B+ 16 pointsPlusesGenerous scholarships for students who are in the upper half of the freshman classPrice competitive with other academically rigorous state universities such as the University of Virginia and the University of North-Carolina-Chapel Hill, with or without the scholarshipsMinusesIn-state and out of state tuition charges are high for students who do not qualify for scholarshipsDifferentiated pricing--an additional $50 per credit--for students in select programs, including the business schoolComforts: APlusesOlder residence hall rooms are more spacious than newer designs at most schoolsPlenty of housing available for freshmen and sophomoresLearning communities plentiful. Make a large school feel smaller. And they’re taken into the second year for some students.Most learning communities carry academic creditQuality of dining hall praised on student review sitesBuilding program will add beds, allow for swing space to renovate older residence hallsMinusesRoom and board charges start at over $11,000, exceptionally high for a state university, and go up from there$300 extra charge for university-installed air conditioning boxes, $100 for refrigerator seem petty in light of high residence hall costsCommunity: B+ 16 pointsPlusesMajor events are student-initiated and managed, as opposed to being run by the university administration; this gives students sense of “ownership” as well as leadership opportunitiesVery attractive campus where older buildings have aged exceptionally well. Grounds are immaculately kept.Strong respect for the history of the universityModern arts and recreation centers. New student center under constructionDowntown Oxford has plenty of eating and drinking places for students and parents, too.Well developed first-year and second-year orientation programs

Student foundation runs major events, raises funds for student scholarshipsMinusesAside from a small movie theatre and eating and drinking places there is little to do in the downtown.Though Miami has a history as the Cradle of Coaches, it is not really a spectator sports school.Not a very diverse campus by race or ethnicityNo mass transit options to larger cities or shopping centersCurriculum: A 20 pointsPlusesMiami Plan has been long lasting and is well-structuredMore focus on undergraduates than at most medium and large state schoolsInnovative programs in all of the schools within the universitySound orientation and academic advising practicesHonors options in the university and the major departmentsInteresting selection of practical applications courses as well as study abroad programsMinusesNon-science orientated students will not avoid a lab science courseInnovative experiential learning programs and study abroad programs may have their own extra chargesConnections: A 20 pointsPlusesLarge LinkedIn network relative to other large state-supported schoolsCareer development efforts attract large number of employers considering the schools medium size and isolated locationGraded two-credit career development courseLarge alumni base not only in Ohio’s major cities but also the Chicago metro areaSurprisingly large contingents of alumni in Washington D.C., Colorado, Pittsburgh and New England regions, among others MinusesAlumni association is a dues-based organizationTOTAL SCORE: 92 points