Now that it is February, I expect students to soon start hearing if they are finalists weekend invitees, reserve pool, or not candidates. Has anyone heard any news one way or the other?
I called today. I asked “have all of the Randall Research candidates been notified?” and she said none have been notified. She said they planned/hoped to send them out on Monday or Tuesday.
I wonder though, if a student hasn’t had any contact from the Randall program is it pretty safe to assume they’re not being considered? I believe I read (from candidates’ posts) that Fellows was doing phone interviews and I’d assume the process would be similar for Randall. Anyone know?
Thank you, StrGzrMaryland, for the info! We knew it would be by email, but glad to know it hasn’t happened yet.
RRS hosted the University of Alabama System Honors Research Conference (UASHRC) today. Mrs. Batson and other students (including myself) have been incredibly busy preparing for and hosting this event. Notifications should come Monday or Tuesday, as others have noted. 
I just got an email inviting me to the finalist weekend! I also received an email yesterday saying they planned to notify everyone by 5pm on Monday.
I just received an email notifing me as an alternate.
My son was just notified as an alternate too!
DS is Joining you all in alternate land…
Hmm, is everyone either a finalist or an alternate?
My nephew received notice he is a finalist.
@ScN2018 No, many students get rejected. There is most likely a correlation between high stat students and users of CC
Any finalists can message me, and we can start a group chat for RRS 2018. I was admitted last year to the program but deferred to take a gap year. I also sadly won’t be able to make finalist weekend this year.
My nephew just received an acceptance by email. Letter to follow soon.
@chariotsOfFire When you deferred rrsp for gap year, did you have to reapply the next year? Not sure why there is disappointment at missing finalist weekend, other than the camaraderie. But then you have 4 years to catch up, right?
I did not have to reapply for RRSP, but according to Dr. Sharpe and Ms. Batson, they take gap year deferment on a case by case basis. I emailed them asking if my acceptance could be deferred, and they emailed me a while later saying it could. If I recall correctly, she said the last time someone took a gap year in the program was 6 years ago. It makes sense then that it’s on a case by case basis.
And yes. I’ve been talking to some of the other students for over a year now, and I’ve never met any of them in real life. As an out-of-state student with no connections in the South, developing a sense of community is a priority.
@yugefamily Are you considering taking a gap year?
@chariotsOfFire I’m just looking at options. Thanks for sharing your experience. I tried to PM you, but couldn’t. Do you mind sharing thoughts about your gap year experience? Pros/cons. Do PM me if you can!
That’s strange that you couldn’t message me. I’m not that familiar with CC myself, so I have no clue how to fix that.
Regarding a gap year, I was actually planning on making a separate thread about taking a gap year at Alabama, but I’ll give my brief thoughts here. Deferring my admission and scholarships at Alabama certainly was and continues to be a process. I won’t lie. I’ve had to send 40-50 emails and arrange numerous phone calls in order to work everything out. When compared to the European process of taking a gap year (literally just a checkbox next to your intended first semester), it’s a lot of hoops to jump through. However, don’t let the emails and phone calls be a reason NOT to take a gap year. When compared to an entire year of time, a few emails and phone calls is nothing.
The administrators and clerical staff at Alabama have all been very helpful. Staffers have gone out of their way to help settle issues. The difficulty arises due to the infrequency of gap years. Alabama simply doesn’t get many people interested in gap years, so they don’t have a streamlined process yet. European colleges, on the other hand, deal with large amounts of gap year students each year, so the process is figured out.
Here are the specifics of my experience:
Admission - To start the deferral process, you request a two-semester deferral and email a one-page letter explaining why you’re taking a gap year. I only had to pay the application fee once. My initial application was simply duplicated for the next year by an admissions staffer. Other than some weird vestiges of my first application (according to some pages on myBama, I attended Alabama last year), this process was smooth and simple.
UA Scholarships - My Alabama scholarships stayed mostly the same. I was most worried about my scholarships since they were a large reason I chose Alabama, so I asked the scholarship staff multiple times in writing how my scholarships would change. Megan Payne and Lacie Nolin probably got annoyed with me. The answer was
"Your scholarship package is still exactly what was mailed to you this past March and will not change even though you are taking a gap year. You fall under the 2017-2018 awarding category and will stay that way. "
That ended up being mostly true. Since I received the NMF scholarships and the engineering scholarships, the stackability changes this year were scary, but ultimately did not affect me. I was still offered both just like those in the 2017-2018 awarding category were. The discrepancy came from the NMF technology scholarship. In October I got an email saying
“I wanted to make you aware of a slight change in your scholarship offer. We are awarding you a $2000 book scholarship for four years ($250 per semester) in place of the $1000 technology stipend originally offered.”
I’m fine with an increased amount, but the fact that the scholarship award changed at all was unnerving. The explanation given was
“This is the only change to your original award. The remaining portions of your scholarship package are intact as previously notified. We simply do not offer the Technology Stipend any longer.” "
The year deferral worked fine for me, but I worry if a student is offered a large tuition scholarship that’s no longer offered after her gap year, that her tuition scholarship may be revoked. I don’t think Alabama would do this, but I think Alabama needs to implement a concrete gap year process to avoid discrepancies and uncertainties like this.
Housing Application - This was easy. The housing deposit can be refunded, and your application can be withdrawn easily through myBama. My roommate finder page is odd still. It lists potential roommates from both last year and this year.
Special Programs - Like I said earlier in this thread, Dr. Sharpe and Mrs. Batson simply rolled my admission to RRSP over to the next year. STEM Path to MBA was similar. I emailed Rob Morgan about my situation, and he took care of everything.
Outside Scholarships - The bigger the scholarship organization is, the better I’ve found their deferral process to be. For national scholarships, I only had to email the coordinator and explain my situation. For local scholarships, it was a struggle. Two local scholarships tried to revoke my award after my initial phone call, but once I explained the concept of a gap year and what I’d be doing, they said everything would be fine.
The process of taking a gap year is work, but if you’re set on taking a gap year, it’s completely worth it. Let me repeat how much I appreciate the Alabama staff. They’re professional, kind, and helpful. If you’re considering taking a gap year, don’t let the deferment process scare you.
I hope this helps.
@chariotsOfFire Thanks for the detailed info. and being a trailblazer of sorts. A new thread would certainly help other kids with their decision.