A public university located in the small town of
Oxford, Ohio, Miami University is a fairly large school that is often confused with
University of Miami (located near the Florida city). Its athletic teams are known as the Redhawks and play in the Mid-American Conference, or MAC. A very high proportion of the student body belongs to a fraternity or sorority, which is somewhat unusual amongst Midwestern universities.
Miami supporters like to claim that it's a
public ivy, and while there is a credited list of public ivies, it's fairly large and includes Ohio State University among dozens of others. Miami supporters also like to claim that Miami is the best public university in the state of Ohio; however, OSU is much better-known and consistently ranks above it in practically every
college ranking publication. Most people outside of academia or the state of Ohio consistently confuse this school with the one in Florida.
Despite the fact that Miami University is a public, i.e. comparatively cheap, university in a reasonably diverse state, its student body is unusually white and wealthy. Miami University is an above-average university, nobody can reasonably dispute this. However, its superiority complex is ridiculous; there's nothing wrong with being the
second-best public school in one of the most populated states in the country.
High School Senior 1: I'm pretty excited, I just got into Miami University!
High School Senior 2: Cool, I'm going to OSU in the fall.
HSS1: Dude, that sucks! I'll be going to a
public ivy whooo!!!!
HSS2: WTF does that mean?
HSS1: That means it's the best school outside of Yale, MIT, Stanford, and Duke,
dudebra!
HSS2: You realize that the ivy league is a sports conference; MIT, Stanford, and Duke are not in it, right?
HSS1: Look nerdbra, look at the college rankings! You're just jealous!
HSS2: I just looked up the
US News and World Report. OSU: 53. Miami: 77.
HSS1: Look nerdbra, you're just jealous that you won't get to party with my frat bros, bra!
HSS2: This is getting ridiculous. I'm gonna go study for my AP test.
HSS1: Nerd!!!!!