Make It Miami tours bring prospective students to campus

Spring semester at Miami University not only brings warmer weather, but also trains of bright red bags. As the university begins accepting students for the upcoming school year, Make It Miami tours swarm campus with admitted students deciding whether Miami is the college for them.

Make It Miami is a program offered to accepted applicants who want to tour the campus and speak to faculty and students at various open houses. Beginning at 8 a.m., prospective students and families can check in to start their full day of panel meetings, divisional information sessions and free time to explore.

Lindsey Holden, director of strategic recruitment in the office of admissions, has helped oversee the tours since she began working at Miami 11 years ago. She said the program stemmed from a growing need for larger-scale events in admissions.

Holden said that although application numbers have risen in recent years, prospective students and families now seek more information from college admissions because of the steeper prices and higher commitment levels compared to previous years.

“We’ve gotten around 38,000 applications this year,” Holden said, “so it allows us to really connect with those people as more than just applications.”

Holden said these admission events help parents and students understand that Miami can still fit the needs of each student, even as first-year classes grow in numbers.

“Things like Make It Miami allow us to really give students and families that full picture of, here’s how we’re going to support you academically, [and] this is how we’re going to support you emotionally and socially,” Holden said.

Regan Baumeister, a senior at Placer High School, traveled thousands of miles from Auburn, California, to visit Miami. After researching top pre-med programs nationwide and seeing Miami listed, she applied and was accepted.

Though Baumeister and her mother had battled flight cancellations and delays, she was delighted to be on campus.

“Even though we’ve been up since 5 a.m. yesterday, I’ve loved the tour so far,” Baumeister said. “It’s so pretty here.”

Make It Miami days work differently than regular tours. There are special shifts student guides sign up for, rather than the normally assigned times.

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Kaiya Bundy, a sophomore kinesiology major, has been a tour guide since 2023. Make It Miami tours are more special for her because the connection to potential students feels deeper than typical tours.

Bundy, a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, can recall memories of past tours, during which she connected with alumni who traveled with their children to visit.

“I had an ADPi hat on and she was like, ‘I was in ADPi,’” Bundy said. “It’s a really cool, interesting thing to see how you’re connected to some part of the school here in its past.”

Bundy has enjoyed the opportunity to connect with prospective students.

“Going around campus with all the potential freshmen is always really exciting, “ Bundy said. “They’re the future of Miami.”

westonce@miamioh.edu