It’s beginning to look a lot like…

...Winter! Well, for some Midwestern folks, maybe not so much. Our weather lately has been pretty fantastic. Not too cold, not too hot. Just today our high is 43 F with rain. That’s right, it's raining, not snowing. A huge reason why I love and voluntarily moved to the Midwest is due to the beautiful seasons, my favorite being fall and second favorite being winter (due to the snow of course). Snow is something that I’m very much looking forward to seeing this winter, but since we currently do not have snow in Oxford, going to hockey games makes it a lot better! This past Friday & Saturday, our No. 7 ranked hockey team played against the No. 9 team Michigan at our Goggin Ice Arena. Kudos to them for playing an outstanding game and winning 2-0 Friday and 2-1 Saturday. For highlights of the game please visit http://muredhawks.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/mioh-m-hockey-body.html.

Also playing this weekend was our women’s basketball team, 2008 MAC Tournament Champs! These women not only played a great game, but also had an outstanding victory against IPFW (Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne) 73-57. Go RedHawks! For highlights of that game you can visit http://muredhawks.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mioh-w-baskbl-body.html.

Saturday, as well, we had 32 high school juniors and seniors on campus. These students were here as part of the Multicultural Leadership Program-Summer Leadership Institute (MLPSLI) “Reunion.” MLPSLI is an intensive residential, pre-college program during which academic, leadership, and career-choice activities are explored through collaborative work with our corporate and other educational development partners.

***These are some of our MLPSLI students during their "Application 101: session and "How to understand your Financial Aid" presentation as well as a picture of the women's basketball game we attended.

MLPSLI participants must meet the following criteria:

• Student from an underrepresented population or who has a commitment toward promoting a deeper understanding of and appreciation for cultural diversity
• Completion of the high school junior or sophomore year (preference will be given to current juniors)
• Completion of a challenging high school or college preparatory curriculum (AP, Honors, IB, post-secondary courses etc.)
• Leadership talent demonstrated in both school and community activities
• Good academic standing, most successful applicants have a minimum 3.1 cumulative GPA; however, students who have less than a 3.1 cumulative GPA but rank in the top 20 percent of their graduating class are encouraged to apply.

If you are interested in participating in the program for this summer, applications will be available sometime in early 2009 or visit our website at www.muohio.edu/mlpsli.

I hope everyone has a outstanding Thanksgiving this Thursday, and if you go out shopping this Friday for Black Friday, be safe. I definitely know firsthand how crazy it might get! Let me know what you’re doing. I will be here in town eating a feast with my partner and his family.

Turkey time!

I know Thanksgiving isn’t until next week, but I’ve already had my fill of turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, green bean casserole, rolls and apple cider. This past Monday evening, the Miami University Student Ambassadors, or MUSA, held their annual MUSA Thanksgiving dinner. I am the staff advisor for MUSA so I get to work closely with these dynamic students, and also I can enjoy the perks like fun dinners such as Thanksgiving! The MUSA Thanksgiving is a time for all of us to eat great food (prepared by all the members), relax, have fun and catch up with each other before everybody goes home for Thanksgiving break.

MUSA is a volunteer student organization that works very closely with the Office of Admission. The MUSA members are here to greet you when you walk through the Admission doors for your campus visit. Kate Mathers, the MUSA President, may email you. On some visit days you might get to eat lunch in a dining hall with a MUSA student. A MUSA member will chat with you if you’ve arrived early for your visit and you’ve got time to kill. And the members are easy to spot—they all wear the MUSA black polo and have MUSA nametags. So if you are on campus for a visit and you see one of these students, you’re in for a treat! These ambassadors are a great resource and are happy to answer your questions or give you their perspective on what it’s like to be a student at Miami. Here is the MUSA website if, you’re interested: http://musa.mugroups.org/ .

You can email MUSA at any time if you have questions about student life at Miami or if you want to try and talk with someone that’s from your hometown area. Their email address is musa@muohio.edu . What better way to get a feel for our campus than to talk with students who are living through the Miami Experience right now?! Email them today. Their inbox is waiting. :)

Why Miami?

We hear it all: Miami of Ohio, the University of Miami of Ohio, the University of Ohio at Miami. “Can I come by for a tour while I am visiting grandma in Boca Raton?” “Can I send my application to the Ohio campus of University of Miami for admission to the Coral Gables campus?” “Why are YOU Miami?”

The last one we hear the most. To begin the answer we quote noted historian and President Emeritus of Miami University, Philip Shriver, “Though the Miami name also belongs to a university in southeastern Florida, it belonged first to a small college on the American frontier." Miami University was chartered on February 17, 1809, by the Ohio legislature who chose the name Miami University for the second university in Ohio (Ohio University in Athens was founded in 1804). We were named for the Miami Indian Tribe that inhabited the area now known as the Miami Valley Region of Ohio. We also have two Miami Rivers (the Great and Little), Miamitown, Miami County, New Miami, and Miamisburg in this part of Ohio. We are in Oxford, Ohio, a town named for one of the world’s most famous college towns, Oxford, England. There was a university here before the town!

In 1809, Florida was still a colony of Spain; it became a state in 1845. The village that grew into the city of Miami was chartered in the mid 1840s and incorporated as a city in 1896. Local citizens founded a private university, the University of Miami, in 1926, fifteen years after Miami University’s Centennial celebration. We share a name, but are two independent and separate institutions, although the current President of the University of Miami, Donna Shalala, is an alumna of The Western College for Women. Western College was a private woman’s college that was also located in Oxford, Ohio. It merged with Miami University in the early 1970s. Today the Western Campus is one of the most beautiful and historic parts of Miami University, and you will find it on the eastern edge of campus! WHY WESTERN? That’s a story for another blog!

Synchronized Skating

I’m not too far removed from the college or graduate school life of a student, and, today, I maintain many of the characteristics that I did when I was a student (AKA I am cheap!). I know what it is like to have every dime you make go toward tuition, leaving very little money for entertainment. Therefore, I love to look for fun events at low cost or even better…FREE! Miami is great with offering events at low cost to students (often free) and the following website provides an overview of events going on this year: http://events.muohio.edu/?sid=7&cid=76&view=calendar&day=today

However, this blog posting isn’t about campus events, rather it is about one of my new favorite sports teams, Miami’s Synchronized Skating Team. Since elevating from a club sports team to varsity status in 1996, our teams have dominated the rink! The collegiate team has won 10 National Titles, the Senior Team has won the U.S. National Championship twice (1999 & 2006), and in 2007 they were the first U.S. team to medal at the World championships bringing home the silver!

This past weekend all three teams; Junior, Senior, and Collegiate; took the ice at the Goggin Ice Center for the “Parents Weekend Exhibition.” After watching the teams perform some of their upcoming programs all I can say is, “WOW.” They are a must see! Best of all, it was free! In case you missed them this past weekend, check out the link for the team’s full upcoming schedule: www.muredhawks.com.

Go Hawks!!!

Brian

Hey!

Are any of you taking a standardized test soon? Standardized tests are one of many factors we look at as we review applications, so you should really try to do your best on these tests. I’m sure sitting through the exam on a Saturday morning is exactly your idea of fun, right? There is an SAT date coming up in a couple of weeks (December 6) and the next ACT date is December 13.

Did you know that we will mix and match scores for the SAT? So, if you’ve taken the SAT two times and the first test date had your best Math score and the second date had your best Critical Reading score, we will add those two together to form a new high score for you. It’s the opposite for the ACT---we use only your highest composite score for the ACT.

We will also use only your highest score, so we’ll throw out your lowest test scores. That being said, there is no harm in taking a test multiple times! Even if you have had two or three or four (or more!) test scores sent to us, we will give you the benefit of the doubt by only using the highest score.

So study up, get lots of rest and don’t forget your calculator as you head into the testing location in a few weeks!

Get a feel for College!

Happy Wednesday!

This past weekend was a busy one for the Office of Admission. We hosted Bridges: A Program for Excellence which was an opportunity for high-achieving, underrepresented students to come experience the Miami life for a couple of days. Students from all over Ohio were able to spend the night in the residence halls, eat in the dining halls, and experience what college at Miami is like in the classroom as well. We also have a summer program for underrepresented students called the Multicultural Leadership Program Summer Leadership Institute. It’s a week long program that gives you a taste of college life. There are some great scholarship opportunities with both of these programs if you are accepted and attend. Be sure to check these out if you want to see what Miami has to offer!

By the way, any of you planning to attend CollegeWeekLive today or tomorrow? Come chat online with current students and admission counselors from 3pm-10pm EST at www.collegeweeklive.com! We’d love to chat with you!

Applying tips...

Greetings!

I write to you today from beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida! I’m at a Marketing Conference right now and am not complaining about being surrounded by palm trees! By the way, I personally think Snow White was the best costume for Halloween in our office—even if she did get arrested by the “fashion police”.

Back in Oxford, our office is certainly buzzing right now. With our Early Decision deadline this past weekend and our Early Action deadline not too far away (December 1), we’ve been receiving tub after tub of postal mail. If you are a high school senior and you are still thinking about applying, check out our application at www.muohio.edu/apply. We are a member of the Common Application, which makes applying to colleges a little easier on your part. You just need to fill out your account with the CommonApp, and you can send it to over 360 colleges! Just remember that we have a supplement to fill out in addition.

One of my favorite parts of reading college applications is the essay (part of the CommonApp). This is where you get to let yourself shine and help us get to know you better. Take some time with your essay. Write about something that matters to you, or something that has helped shape who you are—something we can’t necessarily know from looking at your high school transcript. Just make sure you proofread!

Applying to colleges can be a stressful process, but we’re here to help you along the way. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks for stopping by our blog today!
Until next time,
Meredith

Halloween

Hello!

Now that the kids in the community have had their fun (see the previous blog written by Chrissy) it’s now time for us “Adults” to join in on the festivities! If you were one of the many visitors that walked though the Office of Admission on Friday, you were probably TREATED to an unexpected surprise of seeing many staff members partaking in the opportunity to dress up in our favorite Halloween costumes. We even held a contest but we won’t find out the results until Wednesday. I personally feel the Jolly Green Giant was the most creative! Do you agree with me? If not who do you think should win? Check out the pictures from the day and feel free to comment on this blog to give us your vote.

Speaking of voting... If you are eligible to vote this year, I hope you get out to the polls on Tuesday, November 4, 2008!

Brian