Nothing says “welcome to Miami” like overpriced, overcrowded and overhyped welcome week parties, right?
If you’re an incoming freshman, then you are no stranger to Miami’s dozens of welcome week and sylly (syllabus) week parties. You’re probably also aware that they charge upwards of $80 if those tickets aren’t snagged immediately. It’s hard to believe so many students fall prey to the smoke-and-mirrors act, but it’s true.
Welcome week events are overcharging incoming students for tickets to their events, and many are not worth the hype they are receiving. Marketed as the “can’t-miss” parties of the season, local clubs like Furia, Revenge and District sell students an idea of fun and freedom they’ll never forget. But, they often fall short of expectations and down $40-50.
According to Reddit user TripleFakie, several welcome week rager Instagram accounts have advertised parties before, offering different tiers of tickets to encourage buyers, only to then provide no real benefits to people who bought ‘premium’ tickets. TripleFakie stated they felt “taken advantage of,” “naive” and overall frustrated that they wasted $25 on a ticket they never even used.
And this is not a one-off experience.
Dozens of UM freshmen were left disappointed after their going-out experiences. While they made the best out of a non-ideal situation, the extensive lines, aggressive bouncers and extremely crowded spaces left them feeling like they had been ripped off.
Some partygoers returned home after waiting almost three hours in line and not being allowed entrance until well past 2 a.m. At that point, is there really any reason to go? By the time everyone is trailing back into their dorm room for that late-night Taco Bell, you’re still stuck behind Chad and Brad waiting to get your ID checked.
There were also a few students who mentioned that a very small crowd of freshmen were allowed entry almost immediately — the “influencers.” They noted seeing bouncers at the entrances of each of these parties or clubs asking certain partygoers how many followers they had on Instagram or TikTok. If they had a significant following, they were allowed to skip the entire line and walk in, and some even got in for free.
“Why should I have to pay $80 when all you apparently need is 8,000 followers?” shared an anonymous student who attended the welcome week festivities around Miami.
So, if you didn’t get a chance to grab a ticket for any of these parties, don’t feel left out. It turns out you didn’t miss much, and you’re richer than half the kids in your 8 a.m. Biology 101 class. For those of you who did happen to get in (at about 2 a.m.), was it really worth your first paycheck?