Miami University-Oxford Top Questions

Miami is home to a wide array of students, however diversity is still a problem. While there are students who represent every possible religion, race, creed, ethnicity, and class there is still a huge gap between their representations. The school is majority white, but each of the different "diversities" are incorporated into the Miami culture and have representation in the community. Students of all backgrounds interact, while there are cliques, those are banished in the bars and classrooms. Everyone is here to learn and network and that's hard to do if you ignore your peers.

What I've learnt about the students at Miami University is that they are people. The same people that you will find in all places around the world. There are some truly religious people and then the people who are almost "religious" about their lack of faith. There are people who have high expectations and those with low expectations. My point is that there will always be some small percentage of every walk of life gathered in the same community. What amazed me was the unexpected camaraderie. Students ban together to voice their opinions and make sure that every walk of life retains the right to exist. Our school has had some difficult situations in the few years I've been here. My freshman year there was an issue with the annual LGBT Drag Show, one of the bars uptown ( and off campus) decided they no longer wanted to host the show simply because it was drawing the wrong crowd. Students were outraged and appalled when this news came out and as a result the Drag Show (now situated in a new home) had by far the largest turnout in it's existence. As for a more recent update, even with the camaraderie, arguments and comments can fester until they reach a boiling point. Miami offers a Religion program and they were discussing the Westboro Baptist Church. The small class of students were lucky enough to have a professor book and interview off campus so that the class could have the opportunity to discuss their beliefs and essentially break down their "culture", which is a good definition of the religion program. Well several things were misconstrued and led to a much larger issue. Students didn't want Westboro on campus and decided to rally against their presense. The professor cancelled the interview and then Westboro decided to boycott against Miami University since their presense was unwanted. What came about was one of the largest rally's I've ever attended and such compassion between all students. The students orchestrated a white out to "white out" the hate and there was half the school standing in an enormous white blob circling a group of 5 Westboro Baptist Members.

Miami is often thought of as a rich kid school, but as a poor kid I can say that Miami student body is diverse culturally and socio-economically. The best student for Miami is one that wants to be challenged both intellectually and socially. Miami's students are great thinkers and often engage in conversation that involves more than just the latest trends. Clothing is often a big topic when talking about Miami. Yes, Miami has the JCrew and Vineyard vines but most days you find students walking to class in jeans and a t-shirt. An interesting part about Miami is that it is a public institution that pulls from many other states. Chicago is home to a lot of miami students as well as New York and Indiana. Politically Miami is more conservative than liberal within the student body, but I would tend to say that moderate is the best word to describe most Miami Students. I have commented on the diversity of Miami earlier but this can really be seen through the multiple groups on campus ranging from, Religious, cultural or LGBT.

Most people at Miami seem to have a good amount of money. I haven't met anyone yet who was really struggling financially. There are different classifications of people. Not everyone dresses up to class like rumors say about Miami! Some people do dress up every day, but some people also wear sweatpants every day. More people dress down every day than people who dress up. There are a few common clothing items that almost everyone owns and wears though. Miami is very diverse racially and religiously. There are so many different clubs for different backgrounds!

My first impressions of Miami was that it was completely lacking in diversity. While I eventually discovered that to be somewhat false, I would still say that diversity is a serious issue at Miami. Although they attempt to promote it on their website, one step on campus and you will realize the reality of the situation. About 1/3 of the campus is involved in Greek life, and most come from affluent backgrounds, which could make people of other socio-economic backgrounds feel uncomfortable. Most students from different backgrounds seem to not interact; the Greeks, athletes, musicians, artists, etc. all seem to stay within their own groups. Most people seem to be from Ohio, and it is always a rare and interesting occurrence to meet someone who is not!

There is a group of people from just about every part of the world and every culture/religion that you can think of, thanks to our extensive international school cooperation program (nearly 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of our students study abroad during their time here). Miami's student body is Caucasian in its majority, but it is not hard to find all types of people across our campus and town. Its quite special because there are very few, if any, racial incidents each year because we all generally get along well and bond through our commonality, rather than be divided by our differences. Miami's student body is also, in general, more affluent than other schools. Again there are people from all socioeconomic backgrounds here, but its more common to see students driving BMWs here that at other schools I've visited, but fortunately, most of the more fortunate students don't flaunt it and are have friends from all backgrounds. Miami leans slightly, to the left politically, but is still quite a bit more conservative than most colleges. Students are politically and socially aware, but are not usually divided by their personal beliefs.

MU is notorious for having misconceptions that only wealthy white students attend, but that isn't true at all. Every year, Miami increases the rate of foreign exchange students and every single financial class is represented at Miami. Since I've been at Miami, I have met more people of different races, religions, and sexual orientations than I ever have in my life; and it's great! I feel like I can relate to others on a more personal level and I have a greater understanding of cultures and beliefs that differ from my own.

Miami students are always on the go. Whether it is to class, meetings, work, library or home, there is always something going on. Students are career driven and extremely passionate about leadership involvement in student organizations. Students come from all over, but common areas are known as the '4 Cs': Cleveland, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati.

My classmates are like-minded, driven, engaging individuals that are continually striving to be better in all aspects of their education.

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