I’m going to be graduating high school soon and am pretty sure I want to come to Miami. What would you tell me as an alum or fan to persuade me that Miami is the place to be?
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It’s what I always wanted for the college experience. A true college town, beautiful, great size. The academics are great and still getting tons of publicity. I am not sure what you want to major in, but Miami has a weird number of CEOs at HUGE companies across the country. The Miami network is large and connected.
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I’m looking to major in sports management.
Your internships/jobs are as important, if not more than your classes. Your job prospects will mostly rely on the internships. I recommend thinking about what you’d like to focus on (game ops, NIL, marketing, etc.) and then start making a list of where you’d like to look (Miami, Reds, Bengals, FC) and start reaching out for a summer job.
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A smaller school athletic department like Miami can offer you opportunities for meaningful, hands on work experiences while you are enrolled right away. At a larger department like OSU you might have to pay your dues until you are a junior/senior to get those same opportunities. The summer jobs and pro team internships are going to be highly competitive. Having a stronger resume with meaningful work experiences is an advantage.
Connections are also important, the phrase it’s who you know not what you know has weight in sports.
The Sport Leadership and Management department does a good job of helping connect students with teams and opportuntities.
I’d also suggest maybe majoring in something like analytics or another major that is heavily intertwined with sports, and leveraging your internships or student jobs within athletic departments or sports teams to build your resume. Good thing though, is that your first year is largely Gen Eds anyways, so it’ll give you some time to plan and reflect on your education/professional goals
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My wife is in charge of hiring 15-20 summer internships in the ticketing department for the Cincinnati Open (formerly Western & Southern Open) tennis tournament each August. There are a variety of internship options, and she generally gets several kids from Miami every year.
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Our son ( now 37 ) was a SLAM major. In his classes were grandsons of famous sports Legends ( and 2 cradle of coaches icons) named McVay,Parseghian,and Shula. All these families were huge successes in sports and could have sent their grandkids anyplace. They sent them to Miami. They have all been successful including a Super Bowl win by McVay. Our son is running his own sports agency and doing very well. ( we’re not famous,BTW). Case closed.
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I would tell you to seek out current or recently graduated Miami students and talk to them. My daughter just finished her first semester freshman year at Miami.
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My graduate degree is in Sports Management; I’m now 18 years into a military career and working IT on the civilian side…Good on your son for using his degree.
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A great guy once said, “All roads don’t lead to Oxford. To get here, you have to want to get here. But once you’re here, you never want to leave.” 100% agree.
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I think I’m going to apply for a student management position on the football team and make connections through the coaching staff and other EQ guys.
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Thank you!
I am not that familiar with the SLAM department, but I can safely say that Dr. Melissa Chase (Chair) is highly respected on campus. Dr. Robin Vealey and Dr. Robert Weinberg (SLAM faculty) are outstanding scholars. SLAM is investing in sports analytics (my FSB course is actually part of their MSc in Sports Analytics curriculum), but my understanding is that their major strength currently is in the communication and media aspects (I might be wrong, though). I hope that helps. I can connect you with Dr. Melissa Chase in case you want to ask any questions related to SLA programs.
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Thank you for your service.
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Visit the campus and ask as many questions as you need. Compare what you hear to other schools you visit. But remember, you’re 18 and you are allowed to change your mind as you progress thru school.
Don’t focus solely on what you think you’re going to major in. Statistically, there’s a 1 in 3 chance that you change majors. Pick the school that has the best overall breadth of quality and reputation along with someplace where you fit in culturally.
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This!!!
I entered Miami thinking I wanted to be a Marketing major, and I didn’t want to be like childhood nextdoor neighbor that spent 8-9 years at Miami changing her major before she, maybe, got a Bachelors. From nearly the beginning of sophmore year, I enjoyed my accounting classes more, but I wasn’t going to change my major and I had decided on a mass communications thematic sequence. I wasn’t changing my mind. Anyhow, I graduated with many more accounting classes than most people. Went to work in accounting and wasn’t being promoted because I didn’t have the accounting major. Went back and got it 9 years later.
I volunteered with my church youth kids for years - definitely have a general idea when you enter college but wait to make up your mind until you have started taking classes in the subject.
Speaking of accounting…I was an accounting major…UNTIL I took cost accounting. That was enough. Quickly changed to Finance (and a minor in Journalism) and everything worked out nicely.
I could be mistaken but I thought I took cost and intermediate accounting at the same time. Cost was a bear. Tax accounting was very enjoyable.
Finally, back in 1980, Econ 485 (Money And Banking) was a prerequisite to graduate and often it was taken your last or next-to-last semester. Many students feared this class more than any other, along with the professor (Hutchinson). It ended up as one of may favorite classes. So interesting and so informative.
Dr. Phillip Shriver went off to Yale as a freshman thinking he was going to be a Chemistry major. He had a very lackluster Freshman Chem instructor, but a dynamic and thought-provoking History teacher. The rest, as they say. IS history. Changing one’s mind can be a very good thing for many and varied reasons.
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