FIU, Florida's most selective university (Miami, Lakeland: transferring to, school, live)

[cuba libre]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

Ok, let me explain what I meant. The number of students doesn't make you a "big school" in higher education. Big schools are those who bring in tons of grant and research dollars. They have also cornered the market in their field etc. Example, look at the number of students U.M. has and compare that to Nova. Do the same for North Western, Columbia, NYU etc. the "bigger schools" have less students per degree program. That is done on purpose in order to give a better level of education to their students (more one on one etc.). Also helps with the prestige factor. There are tier 4 private schools right now that are now trying to pursue the same tactic. The problem is though, they depend so heavily on student enrollment as opposed to those "bigger schools" that rely very little on student tuition to pay their bills. The "bigger schools" have HUGE endowments, huge donations, huge amounts of grant/research money so they can afford to be more selective. This is especially true at the graduate level. You might have a graduate degree program at NYU for example that only brings in 10 applicants per year (on purpose) as opposed to say FAU or Nova or FIU which would have triple that number. I work in high education so i know to well how this works. As I said FIU can't compare.

I have said earlier that South Florida's local billionaires and local millionaires are the stingiest of the Forbes 500. Grants and endowments come in big lump sums from wealthy individuals/trusts, and endowment is something FIU desperately lacks because of our local billionaires' money whording habits.

A buddy of mine goes to University of Chicago, and their school of business was just given $300 million from an alumni who will have tax write offs for the rest of his life. Why can't Huizenga, the Carnival Guy, and Jorge "slime merchant" Perez *wink wink* part with some of their vast fortunes? They employ and make money off of half of South Florida, why cant they give back to the nearest public university that helped them make their billions?

To answer your question, FIU is being shafted because it was built in what was to become a tax haven. Even though Miami has more retired and tangible wealth than half of America, FIU has to rely on Tallahassee for crumbs.

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

If you rank UM right after UF, then I have to respectfully disagree with your whole line of thinking. UM has some well known graduate level disciplines, like Marine Biology, Medicine, and Law to name the top 3. FIU is a Florida 'space school' and cranks out a vast number of non-glorious nerds in its Engineering and Computer Science departments, both in under and post graduate levels. Also, FIU's international business school was ranked top 10 in the country a couple years ago. International business is probably the most useful degree one could have in the 21st century. (my $0.02)

Saying UF is an apple and FIU is an orange is not a good comparison. ALL Florida state schools produce UNDERGRADUATES of relatively similar esteem.

haha. The problem with that logic is UF is ranked higher in Law and Medicine. I'm sure you can convince yourself of anything. Why don't you try posting this on one of the national boards. That would be amusing.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

I have said earlier that South Florida's local billionaires and local millionaires are the stingiest of the Forbes 500. Grants and endowments come in big lump sums from wealthy individuals/trusts, and endowment is something FIU desperately lacks because of our local billionaires' money whording habits.

A buddy of mine goes to University of Chicago, and their school of business was just given $300 million from an alumni who will have tax write offs for the rest of his life. Why can't Huizenga, the Carnival Guy, and Jorge "slime merchant" Perez *wink wink* part with some of their vast fortunes? They employ and make money off of half of South Florida, why cant they give back to the nearest public university that helped them make their billions?

To answer your question, FIU is being shafted because it was built in what was to become a tax haven. Even though Miami has more retired and tangible wealth than half of America, FIU has to rely on Tallahassee for crumbs.

This was a great post except for the grants part. Those (grants) come from companies and governments. Let’s say you want to do research on how kids respond to water colors on a Sunday. The Miami Computer League (fictitious company) may say hey, this is something we would like to fund and it correlates well with our services. They will then give the people doing the research X amount of grant money for their research. Then the researchers take a certain amount of the money and the rest goes to the university to (administer) the grant. Also, Huizenga does give money, to Nova Southeastern.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Mcsmith0210

Whats the point in saying its run and attended by minorities- this argument is flawed because of the fact that there are historically black colleges and univerisites with a high ranking- such as Howard University. Those schools are exclusive to minorities. Minority status and who runs the school have no bearing on it. Check the facts before you call people elitist.

To the point that it doesnt matter where you get a degree- thats a fair point. As long as you have a degree- youre ahead of the game.

Secondly- east coast snobs? Last time I checked this is the East Coast too.

Howard or other historically Black colleges are not exclusive to just Blacks or other minorities. My sister went to Howard and there are White students there too. Actually, many of them are state schools. So, there are at least a few Whites at most, if not, all of them. West Virginia St., a HBCU is now 85% White in fact. So that is not true.

[kevinkagy]

FIU now has more students than FSU, albeit just barely, but FIU is bigger.

FSU- 39,136
FIU- 39,146

Regardless of what US News ranks FIU as a whole, a lot of their individual programs are really good and are highly ranked. For example, the law school is ranked 3rd tier, which is really good for a law school that's not even a decade old. The business school is consistently ranked amongst the best in the nation. US News ranks the Graduate Business School #11 in the country. The School of Architecture has a lot of successful graduates across the country, and is well-respected in the architecture community. The hospitality program is also highly ranked and has its own campus in Tainjin, China.

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

Howard or other historically Black colleges are not exclusive to just Blacks or other minorities. My sister went to Howard and there are White students there too. Actually, many of them are state schools. So, there are at least a few Whites at most, if not, all of them. West Virginia St., a HBCU is now 85% White in fact. So that is not true.

Very true. If (non-blacks/whites) people were only smarter and put race aside, they'd realize that they can apply for minority scholarships and grants to HBCU's. Some smart people get to go for free to HBCUs because by definition they are a minority in the school population. Check it out. I also have a (white) friend who went to Howard and enjoyed his experience there.

[secund2nun]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

FIU has the best CPA program in the state (toughest curriculum + highest Florida CPA Exam passage rate), but there is no glory in being an accountant so hey, what does it matter if nobody notices??? It's only FIU in Sweetwater!

Name recognition is one thing FIU's law school lacks, but FIU has just as much legitimacy and legal infrastructure as the law programs at UF or FSU in terms of curriculum/standards/accredation. That can't be disputed.

And saying "yea but..." regarding FIU's bar passage rate just sounds spiteful/vengeful. FIU's law school is such a positive addition to the South Florida community that scratching at its legitimacy tooth and nail like you are just sounds counterproductive from a local (Miami) standpoint.

Sorry buddy, but USF has by far the best accounting program in the state.
In fact, USF consistently has the top CPA pass rates of all public colleges in the country. In a 10 year study from 94-04, USF was ranked NUMBER ONE in cpa pass rates, topping colleges like UCLA, U of Wisconsin etc.

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by secund2nun

Sorry buddy, but USF has by far the best accounting program in the state.
In fact, USF consistently has the top CPA pass rates of all public colleges in the country. In a 10 year study from 94-04, USF was ranked NUMBER ONE in cpa pass rates, topping colleges like UCLA, U of Wisconsin etc.

How do you convince yourself of this? UF is a top 20 program in the nation.

[cuba libre]

The snobbery on this thread has reached fever pitch... and none of it seems to be coming from FIU supporters!

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

The snobbery on this thread has reached fever pitch... and none of it seems to be coming from FIU supporters!

Please exclude me from this post . I have not made any snotty remarks about FIU. I think I actually defended it from where I stand. I have nothing against FIU. I think my points were not biased.