Hi Everyone!

I am Natalie Pensyl, the newest blogger for the Office of Admission at Miami University. I recently graduated from Miami with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and History. I am currently in the process of applying to graduate schools, but in the interim, I am interning in the admission office. Though most of my duties are not counselor related (I don't read the applications), I assist the office anyway I can (which usually means a lot of filing).

I had a fantastic time during my three and a half years at Miami. I was able to pick from the over 300 student organizations offered. During my time as a student, I played an intramural sport (broomball), helped in community service projects, became involved in Greek Life and was able to interact with hundreds of perspective and incoming students through MUSA (Miami University Student Ambassadors). There are limitless opportunities for students, and an organization for any interest.

I was an out-0f-state student, graduating from high school in South Bend, Indiana. I still like to visit there, but Miami and Oxford have become my true home. Besides the beautiful campus, the small-town feel of Oxford makes Saturday afternoon walks around historic uptown absolutely wonderful. I honestly cannot say enough positive things about my experience at Miami and am happier than words can express that I can continue to live in Oxford post-graduation while helping at the Office of Admission.

If you ever have any questions about being a student here, just let me know! I love to talk about Miami!

Majors?

Where are you going to college? What are you going to major in? A few years ago I remember being asked these questions over and over again. Believe it or not, I remember what it was like to be a senior and trying to line my ducks in a row to make everyone, including myself, happy with the choice of college and, almost more importantly, the career that I was going to have for the rest of my life. It is a lot to ask of high school seniors to know exactly what they want to do for a career four or five years down the road!

However, as someone who once provided career counseling to many college students, let me provide you with a little advice. At this time, it is okay to be undecided about a career and even a major. It is great to start thinking of these topics, but the truth is you do not need be 100% committed to a major before coming to Miami. In fact we want you to explore and develop multiple areas of interest while you are a Miami student. We have many programs and offices in place that will allow you to do this type of exploring.

For starters, we have an excellent Career Exploration and Testing Center www.muohio.edu/saf/scs which will help you discover majors and careers that center on your interest, skills, and values. We also have a program called the Exploring Majors Fair, which provides a centralized opportunity for students to ask questions and learn about a variety of majors at one event. For current Miami students this event is actually coming up soon: February 10, 2009. More information about the Exploring Majors Fair can be found at www.cas.muohio.edu/advising/majorsfair.html. It is important for you to know that Miami University offers Bachelors degrees in over 100 different fields of study www.muohio.edu/admission/majorsminors! So whether you know exactly want you want to do or perhaps you have multiple interests and need time and guidance to explore these interests, Miami University is committed to help you throughout this process. I’m interested in hearing from some of you about your areas of interest. If you would like to share majors, careers, or other interests, please leave me a comment at the bottom of this blog. Until next time!

Brian

New Business building

Hi!

A new year always brings lots of new things. This year, Miami will be opening something big on campus. And it’s very exciting!

The entire Miami community is anxiously awaiting the completion of the new home for the Farmer School of Business. We have watched for over a year as the construction site has blossomed from simple concrete slabs to a beautiful structure that follows our campus’ theme of Georgian-style architecture. The building is slated to be finished this summer and open for classes at the start of school in August.
Roger L. Jenkins, Dean of the Farmer School of Business, realizes this new state of the art facility will be a tremendous addition to the students, as he states, “. . . we will be able to offer our undergraduates the kind of experience that is most often found at the graduate level.” According to the Farmer School of Business website, one of the highlights of the building will be the Chaifetz Trading Center, which will enhance the real-world learning of undergraduate and graduate students by allowing them to participate in simulated financial market activity as an integrated part of their finance curriculum. Simulated transactions will be based upon real-time electronic feeds from Bloomberg and Reuters on dozens of dual-monitor computer stations. The high-tech, 1,800-square-foot facility, will feature a “pit” surrounded by glass walls for viewing, scrolling stock market tickers and projection screens. Cool!
The building will also feature a café so students can grab a tasty snack or cup of joe as they head down the hall to class. Pretty impressive, if you ask me!

You can monitor the progress of the building from the website. Be sure to check out the pictures—it’s fun to imagine what the finished product will look like!

http://www.fsb.muohio.edu/new-building

Until next time…

Welcome Back…

Today we are welcoming back our staff who have been either gone to visit their families or spent the holidays here in southwest Ohio! Our students actually get an additional week and will be back on campus sometime this weekend to begin their first day of the spring semester next Monday.

We are currently wrapping up evaluating the Early Action applications. We review each and every application individually and consider several variables before making a final decision. This is why it takes us a bit to go over a student’s application. For more information on this please take a look at:

http://www.miami.muohio.edu/admission/review.cfm.

A big question that I get from students is what to do while their application is in review. The answer to this is simply to wait and hear back from us. Because all the materials we needed have been submitted to us, there really isn’t anything additional a student can do until after a decision has been made.

Another question students are always asking is how to obtain additional monies to help finance their education, whether this would be through Miami University directly or outside resources. Our Office of Student Financial Assistance has wonderful resources that students are able to use in order to help with the process. The following link will take you directly to the site where you are able to find information on our specific scholarships that are available but, if you look in the tool bar to the left, information on outside scholarships and search strategies are available for you to use.

http://www.units.muohio.edu/sfa/scholar/index.htm

Not only did we recently ring the New Year and are celebrating our bicentennial but the 2009-2010 FAFSA is now available for those students who are going to be attending a university in the 2009-2010 school year. You can complete this online at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. Miami’s federal school code is 003077. Our priority deadline to file the FAFSA for new first-year students is February 15, 2009. Keep in mind that the first step in the financial aid process is completing the FAFSA.

By completing it by our priority deadline, you are applying for all need-based financial aid which includes grants, scholarships, loans, and federal work-study.
I hope this information helps a bit while you are waiting to hear back from us, and do not hesitate to contact us for any additional questions!

2009 is here!

Happy New Year! Is it hard for anyone else to believe that 2008 is over and 2009 is already here? What are some of your New Year’s Resolutions?

2009 is a very special year for Miami—one that as a university community have been excited about for many years--it is our bicentennial! That’s right, Miami University is turning 200 this year. You may have seen our bicentennial logo that was created by one of our very own students. In February, we will celebrate with our Charter Day Ball, commemorating when Miami signed its charter in 1809.

Below is a website that has all the happenings of our celebration for this special year.
www.muohio.edu/bicentennial

Well, I’m headed off to the beach (I’m still on winter vacation and am spending it in Florida with my family). I hope you all are enjoying a safe and fun break!

Best,Meredith