Our son has been admitted as a Presidential Scholar to UA and the engineering school. Took the web tour. The campus looks awesome. We plan to visit the campus soon and the Honors college.
Had some questions (although some were) on the school that I don’t think I saw addressed after a quick search, so I thought I would ask here.
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How is the school for minorities? My son is a little nervous about that, since it seems to be a predominantly white in terms of demographics. Could he face issues on campus or in Tuscaloosa?
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Is anybody here concerned about the debt level of the University to fund all the new construction and extensive scholarships given to OOS students? I saw this article and it has me a little worried about what could happen to the school’s brand. After all graduates will have the name of the school on their resume forever.
http://www.cw.ua.edu/article/2015/04/ua-board-of-trustees-expansion-efforts-are-ineffective-unsustainable
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How is engineering recruitment at the school? Any placement data available?
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Son is definitely interested in graduate school. He wants to go to a prestigious engineering grad school (think top 10). Will that be possible if he does well at Alabama, or will being from an undergraduate engineering program that is not highly ranked create issues for him. Does the school supply any stats about grad admissions of graduates?
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He also has admits to a few prestigious private schools (Duke, Vanderbilt, Rice). No aid and we don’t qualify for need based aid. Looks awfully expensive, but these are all very prestigious. What’s your advice on prestige for undergraduate? specially as related to question 4. Take on debt because chances are better to get into a top 10 grad engineering program? I know we can save a lot of money going to Alabama, so this is a really important question for us right now.
Thank in advance for all your suggestions and views
“1) How is the school for minorities? My son is a little nervous about that, since it seems to be a predominantly white in terms of demographics. Could he face issues on campus or in Tuscaloosa?”
Just curious, is he equally concerned about Duke and Vandy?
Why does your son want a MS in engineering?
Regarding prestige of a program, there is no benefit in the working world (see my post on Tours discussion). So why have debt when you graduate? All ABET programs are good and the extra cost is not worth it.
Don’t worry about the debt at UA. The school will always have name recognition and besides after your first position no one cares where you went to UG.
Have you looked at minority enrollment at Duke, Vandy and compared it to Alabama? Also a simple google search on the issue and the university does produce some stories that are definitely of concern.
Of course that by itself doesn’t mean anything. There are a lot of factors in play. That is why you ask questions.
CollegeAngst: Hope you will visit the campus soon! The beauty of the campus itself very impressive, as is the overall general, over-the-top genuine friendliness of the place…staff, faculty, students. (You may have run across this fact elsewhere…but a lot of the money for campus improvements and scholarships comes from the amazing, incredible football program. Roll Tide!)
@CyclonesGrad: Thank you. That is what I am hoping 
@amy9998 Thank you!! Yeah, looking forward to it. The Honors college person who spoke was very nice, friendly and patient. Thanks for the answer on the debt. I was asking because I am seeing a lot of articles on schools going on a building binge and then having huge issues. Cooper Union for example comes to mind. I think there was even a TV program about it.
Cooper Union doesn’t have a football team bringing in $50M in profits a year.
OP - What to you mean by “minorities?”
African Americans are the largest minority group on campus, at 12%. In general, everyone gets along with everyone else, and UA is a very diverse campus with many types of students and interests. On CC, you will find parents of Jewish, Asian and other ‘minority’ kids who will tell you their students have not had any issues with their race or religion on campus. UA is just like any other school, but I do see that on CC, UA is pretty much singled out for these kind of questions. It’s not the 1960s anymore and George Wallace is dead.
I just looked at College Navigator.gov data (not sure of year of data collection)
Duke: 10% of students AA
Vanderbilt: 8% of students AA
UA: 11% of students AA
The US 2010 census had ~12% of America’s population as “Black and/or other race”.
So, ‘black’ demographics, yes, all of these schools are pretty similar in terms of ‘black’ enrollment.
But, things differ significantly when you look at ‘white’.
Duke: 48% of students ‘white’
Vanderbilt: 58% of students ‘white’
UA: 77% of students ‘white’
This may be what OP is asking about.
I will let a few more chime in about OP’s questions specifically, but in my opinion, ANY student with motivation and ability can achieve great things at UA and go anywhere they want afterwards. I have written about how to do this many times (go to class, keep a stellar GPA, get involved on campus, know your professors, etc.).
@CollegeAgnst - I’ll take a shot at what I can…
1 - No real life input as DS (current senior) is not a minority. However, I can definitely tell you he has plenty of minority friends and research partners. Is it possible there “could” be problems? Anything is possible, anywhere, not just UA. From what I have heard from others the likelihood would be remote.
2 - Not overly concerned about the debt level. Yes, a lot of dollars have been spent over the last number of years but that was planned going into the rebuilding program that started many years ago. I don’t believe this is an issue to worry much about.
3 - Don’t know much about engineering recruitment as DS and most friends are going for higher degrees, I think some others will likely weigh in on this one. So I will go onto …
4 - Not sure about stats, I assume some are out there. However, I can weigh in on DS and a number of his friend in engineering and “Will that be possible if he does well at Alabama”. The short answer is yes, it will be possible. The harder answer is that it will depend entirely on your son. DS is a ChemE major and has been accepted to multiple MSTP programs (Google it). And a handful of his friends are currently deciding between a number of VERY highly rated graduate programs across the country. (some Engineering some Sciences) Bottom line is that UA wont hold him back, the question is will he be willing to put in the work (classroom, research, and extra curricular) to put himself in the position to be a candidate at those schools. Being a URM may help to get your paperwork looked at, but that type of program gets a large number of qualified applicants who have put in the capital to position themselves for these programs. If he isn’t willing to do that, then the name of his undergrad school wont help one bit.
5 - With the expectation of graduate school I would say that no, taking on debt for your undergrad is not a good idea. DS decided against some of the schools you listed and some higher rated than that because he knew going into grad school debt free would help his overall quality of life. Like I said in 4, UA wont hold him back so the added prestige of a “better name” undergrad wont make much of a difference. An additional $100K - $200K debt for him (or you) to assume will.
@collegeangst I am an engineer and Director level in Product Development. I am in Semi-Truck Development and was in Construction/Ag Equipment Development.
If I thought prestige was even mildly important, I would not have both my twins, son and daughter, go to UA for engineering. Since I think that prestige is a SMALL factor, I actually encouraged them to go to UA because having NO debt is much more important. I went to ISU and graduated with $10K in debt in 1982 (about $30K now) so I know the importance.
So obviously I am doing exactly what I am saying. BTW, we live in IL and I did not even have my kids apply to UIUC because the IS cost is nowhere close to appropriate.
@CollegeAngst
Sounds like my son’s situation. Well, except for the minorities question. Alabama is very much on our radar due to cost and the big scholarship.
If I were you I would contact one or more of the African-American Student organizations, talk to some students, and ask them about their perspective. I would think you would get better feedback from them than from a bunch of white parents on CC. Some orgs are:
African American Graduate Student Association (AAGSA)
African Students Association (ASA)
Afro American Gospel Choir (AAGC)
Oh wait, we have not established if you are AA. But I am sure you can find the appropriate student group if you are not.
I would not think Alabama would be worse for minorities than other colleges, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable for you to ask the question.
@aeromom: Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. You hit the nail right on the head!! As an out of state person, I don’t have a lot of knowledge about Alabama. I know what I read, sometimes what I see on the news etc. Then of course there is history.
Is it fair on the school or the state? Probably not, but as a parent you want to make sure you are looking at the best interest of your child but at the same time you want to ask people who have actual experience, not somebody similar to me or others who may not know much about the school. That is why I asked the race related question.
@NoVADad99 : I understand, that is why we will be visiting. To get a first hand experience. I am glad Jewish and Asian kids are doing fine at UA. Good to hear that.
@collegeangst We are also Jewish and I have no issue sending my kids. Regardless of the movie “Mississippi Burning” 
Everyone - Please do not get all over me. Just adding levity because I think people still think of the south from that era. We all need to understand this is 2016!!!
is there no problem that an angry Gene Hackman CAN’T solve? look what he did for Hickory High.
@MemphisGuy Thanks for that detailed reply! Very much appreciated, specially your answer to question 4 which I found really informative
@Wien2NC : We are not AA, but that is a great idea. Will need to do that
@CollegeAngst
oops. sorry about that.
the resident expert on UA and their Engineering program seems to be:
@mom2collegekids
if you PM her or if she joins this thread, she will give you a LOT of helpful info. her son I think did ChemEngr and she can give you very helpful feedback