In my previous blog I wrote about doing your homework and thinking about your future when coming for a college visit. Once again, I would like to take a spin off of The Enquirer’s article “Maximize your Visit,” but this time focus on talking to current students and snooping around on your own.
Talk to current students.
When you come to visit Miami University, utilize the greatest resource you have access to…students! Talk to as many students as you can when you are on campus to find out more information about the University. This could help you visualize yourself here at Miami and see if Miami is a good fit for you. During the school year, we have students greeting and speaking to families before our information session begins. These students are all part of our Miami University Student Ambassador organization. They have a love for Miami and enjoy sharing their experience and expertise with you. So don’t just smile and say hello to them, ask them questions. Go beyond asking what they are majoring in; ask them why they chose Miami. Ask them what their average day looks like. Likewise, utilize the student tour guide. Of course they will take you throughout the University showing you the grounds, but there are plenty of opportunities to ask them questions and to find out their stories. Finally, something you can do to learn more about Miami’s students even before you attend a visit is to read up on the Summer Student blog: http://miamiublogdaysofsummer.blogspot.com.
Snoop around on your own.
Am I really suggesting that you snoop around on your own when you visit Miami? Yes, I am! However, I suggest having a plan of action before you go off and start exploring. For starters, know what you want to see and what is going to help you make the decision of which school is right for you. For instance; if you love sports and plan on working out or playing on a club sports team or on an intramural league, then check out the athletic and recreational facilities. I know that sounds like common sense, but we have limited time on a campus tour and can’t possibly show you everything. Therefore, it is important for you to make the most of your visit; if you didn’t see something that you were hoping or expecting to see then ask and we will be happy to point you in the right direction and provide you additional information. I also recommend paying close attention on your tour or as you walk around Miami’s campus. As you walk by classrooms or offices, pay attention to signs, literature, and other brochures. Read what’s posted on the doors of professors’ offices to see what type of work or research they’re doing. Pick up a copy of The Miami Student, Miami’s student newspaper, to see what the issues are on campus. Pay attention to the posters and advertisements for events happening on campus. Grab a meal or a snack while you’re on campus. Find a class in session and stand in the hallway and listen for a few minutes to how the professors and students are interacting. All of these things will give you an even closer feel for what it’s like to be a Miami student.
I hope these ideas help maximize your time. I also encourage you to check out our visit website: www.muohio.edu/visit to learn more about scheduling a visit at Miami.
Until next time,
Brian
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
It's an Oxford Summer!
What happens in small-town Oxford in the middle of July?
You may have seen some statistics floating around about the proportion of Miami students to Oxford residents: roughly 16,500 Miami students heavily outnumber the 8,500 permanent residents! So what’s it like in Oxford when most students are home with their families for the summer, gaining work experience through individual internships, or taking advantage of fabulous programs like the Urban Leadership Internship Program? Well, it’s busier than you might think!
In this week alone, Miami hosted the Ohio Swimming Junior Olympic Championships and the 2009 USA Swimming Speedo Champions Series. That’s over 1500 top swimmers not only from Ohio, but across the country utilizing our state of the art facilities! Not only do we have top-notch swimmers gathering here in Oxford, but The Miami University Skating team is currently hosting on week-long sessions for up-and-coming figure skaters from across the nation.
The Ohio Department of Education, Miami’s Summer Honors Institute, and B the Change U Wish 2 C invited twenty-five gifted sophomore and junior high school students from Ohio to explore civic engagement on Miami’s campus. On Friday, the students will complete a two-week curriculum exploring the theoretical side of service, and what it means to be engaged in community service work using an interdisciplinary approach.
Roughly 80 students entering their senior year of high school are currently participating in the Junior Scholars Program. These students are taking college-level courses and gaining university credit before even graduating from high school! Not only that, but these participants are guaranteed admission to Miami University after they complete their high school curriculum.
As you might imagine, Oxford is a bustling town even when the majority of undergraduate students are continuing their college adventures in exciting and different ways! To learn more about what current Miami students do with their summers, visit our summer student blog or visit www.muohio.edu/summer.
You may have seen some statistics floating around about the proportion of Miami students to Oxford residents: roughly 16,500 Miami students heavily outnumber the 8,500 permanent residents! So what’s it like in Oxford when most students are home with their families for the summer, gaining work experience through individual internships, or taking advantage of fabulous programs like the Urban Leadership Internship Program? Well, it’s busier than you might think!
In this week alone, Miami hosted the Ohio Swimming Junior Olympic Championships and the 2009 USA Swimming Speedo Champions Series. That’s over 1500 top swimmers not only from Ohio, but across the country utilizing our state of the art facilities! Not only do we have top-notch swimmers gathering here in Oxford, but The Miami University Skating team is currently hosting on week-long sessions for up-and-coming figure skaters from across the nation.
The Ohio Department of Education, Miami’s Summer Honors Institute, and B the Change U Wish 2 C invited twenty-five gifted sophomore and junior high school students from Ohio to explore civic engagement on Miami’s campus. On Friday, the students will complete a two-week curriculum exploring the theoretical side of service, and what it means to be engaged in community service work using an interdisciplinary approach.
Roughly 80 students entering their senior year of high school are currently participating in the Junior Scholars Program. These students are taking college-level courses and gaining university credit before even graduating from high school! Not only that, but these participants are guaranteed admission to Miami University after they complete their high school curriculum.
As you might imagine, Oxford is a bustling town even when the majority of undergraduate students are continuing their college adventures in exciting and different ways! To learn more about what current Miami students do with their summers, visit our summer student blog or visit www.muohio.edu/summer.
Monday, July 20, 2009
One of the best...
Happy Monday!
Two of Miami University’s finest, Officer Keith Hibbard and Ero, who is a 7 Year old German Shepherd, recently received the USPCA’s Explosive Detector Dog Certification and placed second in the United States Police Canine Association competition. This makes Ero one of the best bomb dogs in the state!
The competition was held in Marion early June where all canines had to go through an intensive odor recognition test, which must properly identify 31 possible explosives that are in four separate classes. Ero is able to identify these explosives by sitting and pointing with his nose.
Ero, who came to the university from Germany and was teamed up with Officer Hibbard in 2007 after doing explosive training for 10 weeks. Even though Ero works directly with the Miami University Police Department, he has worked at the recent NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) convention in Cincinnati and at the Great American Ballpark a couple of years back when President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch. “We feel very proud and fortunate to have one of the best explosive detection dogs in the tri-state and a handler like Officer Hibbard who is so dedicated to his community and out K-9 program,” said Captain Jason Willis who oversees Miami’s K-9 program during an interview. Officer Hibbard adds, “Whenever we’re not working, he’s a family dog, but when I put his collar on him, he knows it’s time to go to work.”
The Miami University police department is composed of 29 sworn police officers commissioned by the State of Ohio, 6 communication specialists and 5 civilian support staff. The police headquarters is located in the Police Services Center on campus and they maintain two substations inside of the King Library and Yager Stadium.
The quotes and part of this article was provided by the News and Public Information Office at Miami University. For the complete story please visit http://www.miami.muohio.edu/news/article/view/11987.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Campus Visit: Part 1
Greetings readers!
In this past weekend’s edition of Cincinnati’s newspaper, The Enquirer, there was a really interesting article about ways for prospective college students to “Maximize Your College Visit.” For today’s blog, I wanted to take a spinoff of the article and add a few of my own pieces of advice for making the most of your college visits:
Do your homework before you visit.
I completely agree that doing your own research about the college is very important. Look for ways to compare each of the colleges you are looking at, but also look for additional opportunities and resources the college provides. For example: Did you know that almost 40% of Miami students have studied abroad? Every year over 1,500 Miami students participate in a global experience! As you discover some of these unique opportunities, make sure you ask about them during your college visit. As admission counselors, we don’t know everything, but we are willing to find the answers or help make necessary connections for you.
Think about the future.
When you are searching for colleges, don’t just look at the programs that are important to you now, look also at what may be important to you in the future. During our information sessions at Miami, we like to provide prospective students with ways that many Miami students have gained hands-on experience, developed professional contacts and relationships, and helped build their resumes. One way that Miami students do these things is by participating in research with faculty members. Although Miami has great graduate programs, our main focus is on undergraduate teaching. Therefore, research opportunities that are normally reserved for graduate students at other colleges and universities are actually offered to Miami’s undergraduate students. In fact, about 30% of Miami undergraduate students participate in research every year.
These are just a couple of my own pieces of advice for now. In a couple of weeks, I will write another spin off on the article, so stay tuned. In the mean time, you may want to get up to speed on The Enquirer’s article: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090709/EDIT03/907120302
Until next time,
Brian
In this past weekend’s edition of Cincinnati’s newspaper, The Enquirer, there was a really interesting article about ways for prospective college students to “Maximize Your College Visit.” For today’s blog, I wanted to take a spinoff of the article and add a few of my own pieces of advice for making the most of your college visits:
Do your homework before you visit.
I completely agree that doing your own research about the college is very important. Look for ways to compare each of the colleges you are looking at, but also look for additional opportunities and resources the college provides. For example: Did you know that almost 40% of Miami students have studied abroad? Every year over 1,500 Miami students participate in a global experience! As you discover some of these unique opportunities, make sure you ask about them during your college visit. As admission counselors, we don’t know everything, but we are willing to find the answers or help make necessary connections for you.
Think about the future.
When you are searching for colleges, don’t just look at the programs that are important to you now, look also at what may be important to you in the future. During our information sessions at Miami, we like to provide prospective students with ways that many Miami students have gained hands-on experience, developed professional contacts and relationships, and helped build their resumes. One way that Miami students do these things is by participating in research with faculty members. Although Miami has great graduate programs, our main focus is on undergraduate teaching. Therefore, research opportunities that are normally reserved for graduate students at other colleges and universities are actually offered to Miami’s undergraduate students. In fact, about 30% of Miami undergraduate students participate in research every year.
These are just a couple of my own pieces of advice for now. In a couple of weeks, I will write another spin off on the article, so stay tuned. In the mean time, you may want to get up to speed on The Enquirer’s article: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090709/EDIT03/907120302
Until next time,
Brian
Thursday, July 9, 2009
New Blogger Alert!
Good afternoon readers!
You may have noticed an unfamiliar name in the “Bloggers” list, thanks to me! My name is Mandy Hart and I am a new Admissions Counselor here at Miami University. I just graduated from Miami with my Master’s degree in College Student Personnel, during which time I worked here in the Office of Admission. Talk about an easy transition! Many of my friends from my home state of Florida thought that returning to Miami meant coming closer to home, but I love the original Miami and our community in Oxford, Ohio so much that I couldn’t stay away.
One of my favorite things about Oxford in the summer is our Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park, located right in the heart of Uptown Oxford. Oxford hosts live music every Thursday night in the summer months for local residents to enjoy free of charge. In fact, on July 16th and August 6th, the Office of Admission will be offering “Tours and Tunes” for prospective students to take a tour of campus and enjoy a concert in the park immediately after. Visit http://www.miami.muohio.edu/admission/tours_tunes/ to register!
Look forward to many more postings from me in the future!
Mandy
You may have noticed an unfamiliar name in the “Bloggers” list, thanks to me! My name is Mandy Hart and I am a new Admissions Counselor here at Miami University. I just graduated from Miami with my Master’s degree in College Student Personnel, during which time I worked here in the Office of Admission. Talk about an easy transition! Many of my friends from my home state of Florida thought that returning to Miami meant coming closer to home, but I love the original Miami and our community in Oxford, Ohio so much that I couldn’t stay away.
One of my favorite things about Oxford in the summer is our Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park, located right in the heart of Uptown Oxford. Oxford hosts live music every Thursday night in the summer months for local residents to enjoy free of charge. In fact, on July 16th and August 6th, the Office of Admission will be offering “Tours and Tunes” for prospective students to take a tour of campus and enjoy a concert in the park immediately after. Visit http://www.miami.muohio.edu/admission/tours_tunes/ to register!
Look forward to many more postings from me in the future!
Mandy
Monday, July 6, 2009
Taylor Mali at Miami!
A poet and a teacher, Taylor Mali is considered to be the most successful poetry slam strategist of all time, having won the National Poetry Slam competition a record four times. Mali spent nine years in the classroom and has performed and lectured all over the world. This summer, Mali's book of poetry, "What Learning Leaves" has been chosen as the reading requirement for incoming students. Mali will also be speaking to our students during Convocation on August 21, 2009. To find out more information about Taylor Mali and to see some of his past performances, please go to our Facebook group "Taylor Mali at Miami" at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53471972103&ref=ts
Summer 2009
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!
This past week, we had 115 rising high school seniors from all over the nation participate in the 2009 Multicultural Leadership Program-Summer Leadership Institute (MLPSLI). This was an intensive residential, pre-college program during which academic, leadership, and career-choice activities were explored through collaborative work with our corporate and other educational development partners. Throughout the four days, MLPSLI participants interacted with current Miami University students, faculty, and staff as well as professional corporate representatives.
The students attended short seminar classes during the four days in Fine Arts, Business, Engineering, Pre-Law, Pre-Med or Education. They also attended Admission 101 sessions to help them prepare for the upcoming admission process.
It was great assisting with the coordination of this program and getting to know the participants beginning with their applications. The most memorable part of the program for me had to be the talent show. We had 17 students participate from singing and dancing to Tae Kwon Do. It was rewarding to see how much talent these students have beyond their academic achievements!
This was just one of the many experiences available in the summer for high school students. For more information you can visit www.muohio.edu/summer.
This past week, we had 115 rising high school seniors from all over the nation participate in the 2009 Multicultural Leadership Program-Summer Leadership Institute (MLPSLI). This was an intensive residential, pre-college program during which academic, leadership, and career-choice activities were explored through collaborative work with our corporate and other educational development partners. Throughout the four days, MLPSLI participants interacted with current Miami University students, faculty, and staff as well as professional corporate representatives.
The students attended short seminar classes during the four days in Fine Arts, Business, Engineering, Pre-Law, Pre-Med or Education. They also attended Admission 101 sessions to help them prepare for the upcoming admission process.
It was great assisting with the coordination of this program and getting to know the participants beginning with their applications. The most memorable part of the program for me had to be the talent show. We had 17 students participate from singing and dancing to Tae Kwon Do. It was rewarding to see how much talent these students have beyond their academic achievements!
This was just one of the many experiences available in the summer for high school students. For more information you can visit www.muohio.edu/summer.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Independence Day!
Hello!
Anyone excited for the holiday weekend? The Fourth of July holds some great traditions—barbeques, parades, and fireworks! This Saturday, you can catch one of Miami’s graduates, Steven Reineke (Class of 1993), conducting The New York Pops in the nationwide telecast of the 2009 Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC at 9 p.m. The entertainment also will be simulcast in radio on 1010 WINS.
Steven is currently the associate conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and will become The New York Pops director-designate and conductor in October. Just another example of where Miami can take you in life!
Enjoy the music and have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!
Anyone excited for the holiday weekend? The Fourth of July holds some great traditions—barbeques, parades, and fireworks! This Saturday, you can catch one of Miami’s graduates, Steven Reineke (Class of 1993), conducting The New York Pops in the nationwide telecast of the 2009 Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC at 9 p.m. The entertainment also will be simulcast in radio on 1010 WINS.
Steven is currently the associate conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and will become The New York Pops director-designate and conductor in October. Just another example of where Miami can take you in life!
Enjoy the music and have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!
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