A visit to the University of Alabama - CBH and Honors College

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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Hello All,

Our family made a road-trip from Austin to Tuscaloosa this last weekend to tour the University of Alabama with our son who is a high stats / NMF kid.

Our son is interested in both Chemical Engineering and Alabama’s Computer Based Honors Program. The university was kind enough to create a custom tour for our family, truly world class treatment!

The road-trip itself was fun, seeing parts of the country we hadn’t yet seen. Leaving at 8am (stopping by Rudy’s for breakfast tacos first), we arrived around 8pm. It rained a lot and all of I-20 seemed to be under construction. :wink:

Thursday Night
We strolled into downtown Tuscaloosa looking for a quick bite. Thanks to everyone for the restaurant recommendations. We ended up at Glory Bound Gyros, which was tasty. The meat-eaters had a great time with the gyros and my gluten-free wife had some hummus and a great Greek salad. Downtown Tuscaloosa is pretty modern, and has a good mix of shops and restaurants. The new Embassy Suites looks impressive, but their room rates can be incredibly high.

We rented a 2 bedroom / 2 bath condo for 2 nights from @mom2collegekids for a good rate. It was well furnished and only 5 minutes from the university. If you are looking for an affordable solution for a family of 4, I highly recommend her rental.

Friday Morning
We got up and made a quick breakfast. The condo was super-quiet and everyone slept in, exhausted from the long road-trip the day before. So it was great that the university scheduled our first appointment for 9:45am, whew!

9:45am - we pull up to the parking area behind Nott’s Hall, there are two parking spaces marked “Client Parking”, so we grabbed one as instructed. (If we had parked incorrectly and had received a parking ticket, the Honor’s College said they would waive it. So no stress!) We met briefly with Ms. Dendy (recently married, congrats!) who went over our agenda and asked if we needed anything. She was very gracious and set us all at ease. She handed us off to Matt, who is part of the Capstone Men and Women.

10am - Personal tour of the school with Matt. Driving around in a golf cart has to be the best way to tour a school ever! Matt, was a wonderful host, pointing out the university’s many landmarks, passing along important moments in its famous history and stopping off at the awesome Rec center. Besides being a Capstone Man, Matt is also a CBH’er (I noticed no one called the Computer Based Honors Program “CBHP”, instead, everyone just said “CBH”). We finished the tour with 3 minutes to spare, so Matt took us to the CBH lab for a quick look around. If you aren’t aware of the CBHP, you should look into it (http://honors.ua.edu/computer-based-honors-program/). Matt was charming, funny and informative, and his tour was a great way to start the day.

11am - we joined a larger group of students and spent some time with Mr. Hall of the Honors College. He went over the various honor programs and admission to the university in general. Afterwards, we talked a little about the National Scholars Program. The most interesting aspect of the Honors College is it is stat based. If you have 28 ACT or a 1250 SAT and a GPA of 3.5 you are in. That is pretty great if you ask me, relatively little hassle for some major benefits (such as priority registration!).

Noon – We headed off to the Lakeside Dining Hall to meet with Samantha. Not only is she a CBH’er but a Chemical Engineering student as well, exactly what our son hopes to do at Alabama! Samantha was articulate and welcoming, describing her experiences and academic journey at Alabama. Turns out she was just awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Fun fact: from 2007 to 2015, UA is No. 1 in the United States for Goldwater Scholars, with 25. Harvard is second, with 23. This informal lunch was an important part of the tour, our son Austin could really see himself at Alabama, researching and studying with exceptional students like Samantha. Alabama couldn’t have picked a better student representative to engage with my son.

1pm – With Samantha leading the way, we toured the Ridgecrest South Honors Residential Community. If you haven’t heard, these rooms feature a common room & kitchenette with 4 individual rooms and 2 shared bathrooms. My son was pretty impressed. We also learned if you registered soon enough, like on October 1st, you can pick the exact room you want! We also learned that the outer 2 rooms of the 4, rooms - rooms A & D - have slightly more space. Additionally, the second floor is prized because it has both a laundry and a full kitchen. Just make sure you don’t choose a room that shares a wall with the laundry as it can be noisy. Also, choosing a room that faces the inner courtyard can be noisy. Feels almost silly to mention, but the laundry is pretty cool, each machine is networked so you can tell from your laptop if any washers / driers are open and you can pay electronically, so no need to carry around quarters. After our tour was complete, we said our good byes to Samantha.

2pm – We got the opportunity to meet with Dr. John Weist, Associate Dean for Research with the College of Engineering. What an incredible man. Dr. Weist immediately established a great rapport with our son (who really really wants to do research starting freshman year). Dr. Weist covered all the many research opportunities at the school, including the robotic team’s recent win, designing an autonomous robot for Mars. We also discussed study abroad for engineering students, there are two options right now, engineering classes in both Denmark and Austria. Dr. Weist went over our son’s interests and how Alabama could provide opportunities for each one. The last item covered by Dr. Weist was Alabama’s innovative STEM to MBA Program (http://manderson.culverhouse.ua.edu/academics/departments/mba_program/stem_path_to_the_mba). I thought I knew about all the “cool” programs the university had to offer, but I had somehow missed it. Basically, you take 1.5 credit hours of business classes each semester and the fifth year you take all business classes, and after the 5 years you have both your undergraduate degree and an MBA! The STEM to MBA Program started in 2012, so they are just about graduate their first cohort. Apparently, students are successfully completing this course along with a Chemical Engineering degree, so my son was excited about applying to this program too. Being able to sit down, one on one, with Dr. Weist shows how much value the university places on pursuing high stat kids.

3pm – We left Dr. Weist and met up with a group of students to hear about Chemical Engineering from Dr. Christopher Brazel, the interim head of the department. Dr. Brazel covered the program in-depth and touched on admissions. He then took the time to talk to each student about their interests and plans and he shared his perspective on how each student could best utilize the many opportunities in the Chemical Engineering department. Like Dr. Weist, Dr. Brazel covered the study abroad programs. I really appreciated how Dr. Brazel took the time to discuss how each student’s interest could be a career in Chemical Engineering. After briefly touching upon graduate studies, our time was up.

(end of Part I)

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(Part II)

4pm – We left the group and met up with Samantha and her fellow CBH student, Andrew, for a tour of their lab. This was the icing on an already delicious cake! Both undergraduates took us to their lab where they have been doing research into cancer stem cells. They nonchalantly discussed bioreactors and their efforts to isolate and grow stems cells. This is amazing work and it is so hard to believe that is being done by undergrads. This really hammered home that the research opportunities at Alabama aren’t just a false promise, they really happen and they are pretty awesome.

Next, we left their lab and headed off to Nott’s Hall. As we walked, Andrew happened to mention that he was an Austin local, and that he attended a high school in our son’s school district!!! I don’t how the University of Alabama did it, but they managed to arrange for my son to meet a CBH’er (check), who is studying Chemical Engineering (check), who is doing amazing research (check) and just happens to come from our hometown (check!!!). By this time, my son was all smiles, feeling the love. Andrew shared his journey to Alabama and how his older brother is a CBH’er too. What a small world!
We ended our day back the CBH Lab where we toured the 3D printers and the rest of the equipment, you can tell the CBH program is well backed by the university (the lab features free printing for the CBH students, a huge boon if you are a poor student!). We met a few more CBH students, all well-spoken and interesting. Each had a pretty great research story to tell. We talked clubs and intermural sports (soccer FTW!) By this point, my son had found a peer group he felt at home with, and program that he really wants to be a part of.

5pm – we left campus stunned by the day. The University of Alabama is a beautiful campus, full of opportunity, possessing a wonderful faculty and amazing students. The Chemical Engineering and Computer Based Honors Program would both be wonderful places for my son to develop to his fullest potential.

6pm – after driving around downtown to see the surrounding area, all pretty normal college town feel, we stopped by Mugshots for dinner (the CBH students had recommend it, I had wanted to go to the slightly more upscale Epiphany, but I’ll have to wait ‘til next visit). Mugshots had great burgers and an attentive staff.

7pm – we retired to our rental and watched the Women’s World Cup on @mom2collegekids enormous 60" TV. Ending a great day and a wonderful visit to an amazing school.

Next Day – took the coastal route home, 2 hours longer but the stop in New Orleans was worth it. 

If you have any questions, please hit me up, I’d be happy to help. CC has been a huge resource for me over the years, so I hope this helps payback some of that debt.

What started out an investigational trip turn into a serious reordering of my son’s college applications. Now we have to focus our energy on applying to the highly competitive CBHP. Wish us luck! The University of Alabama and the CBHP are truly world class, and I highly recommend you visit and see if they might be a good fit for your student.

One note: we unable to meet with either Dr. Sharpe, or Ms. Batson, but they were universally beloved by all the CBH students. We hope to have an opportunity to chat with them in the future!

Please pardon my grammar and spelling, it is late and I’m tired, but I really wanted to post this for you all.

Cheers,
psy

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A wonderful recap! Thanks so much for sharing!

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Thank you so much!

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@psywar
What a wonderful description! My ds just finished his freshman yr in CBH and he honestly believes that he could not have asked for any better undergrad experience. He loves it. The love for the program is authentic bc the opportunities and the fellow CBHers are really just that amazing. Good luck to your ds!

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Happy to hear this report. Roll Tide! Best of luck to your student.

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Our son is in Honors, EE, Class of 2018 and also The Stem Path To MBA class of 2019. Just finished his freshman year at Bama and loving it. Glad you had a fantastic visit. Roll Tide!

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^ You get it, psywar! Paying it back for others with such an informative, personal narrative is exactly what this CC forum is all about! I’m glad your family got to ‘feel the love’ that is UA and AL! :wink:

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psyware - ROLL TIDE!

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^psywar^ Your narrative could easily have been written by me from our experience last year. Our ds is starting classes this fall as a CBH’er, ChemE undergrad and STEM Path to MBA participant. We had the exact same feelings after our visits. Best of luck to your son in his decision and application to CBHP and hope our sons meet up at school!

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@psywar I am so thrilled to hear that you and your family, especially your son, enjoyed your trip to Alabama and CBH. I hope I get the chance to meet him at the Finalists’ Weekend.

It still makes me almost giddy with excitement to think of the first time I met CBHers and realized how incredible the research opportunities at UA are. Like your son, I knew that my first priority in college was to gain experience in research, and hopefully not just scut work. Alabama makes every effort to give motivated students the chance to accomplish all they’re capable of, and it sounds like you witnessed that on your visit.

Although I’m sure my friend Matt answered all the questions you have at the moment, please don’t hesitate to ask me if you have any questions about UA, the Honors College, or CBH in the future.

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Hi psywar-

I am so glad you enjoyed your visit, and I thank you for all the wonderful words about my daughter Samantha. She spoke very highly of your family as well.

Roll Tide!!

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@psywar Do you mind telling me who you set up your tour with? We made the trip down to visit the campus from Illinois and were very impressed. We are making a second trip down in October and I’d like a more in depth look at their great programs.

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Psywar: Glad to hear that you and your family loved your visit to Alabama. It is a wonderful school. My older son is a Bama grad who was in CBH. He spent three years working with an economics professor. His knowledge base was so strong that he landed a research job this summer for one of the UVA Law professors. CBH has produced some incredible talent. My son’s class included a Truman Scholar, two Holling Scholars (one is my son) and several Goldwaters. One of his best friends is earning her PhD in engineering at Stanford.

So do encourage your student to apply to CBH.

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@Gymrat97 we started with our local recruiter, Ms. Charlotte Williams (Charlotte.bama@ua.edu) who handles the greater Austin, TX area. You can find your rep here: http://gobama.ua.edu/staff/ We did provide a resume of our son’s stats, interests, etc. and his likely NMF status (a 228 PSAT in TX is pretty safe given historically ithe cutoff has never gone above 219). Oddly enough, our tour didn’t cover the NMF scholarship, we didn’t ask and I’m glad we spent the time with the actual students. Now that our son is very interested in attending, I’m wishing I had asked more $ questions. :wink:

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@psywar I am so excited to hear that your family had a great experience visiting The University of Alabama and that you were able to get a very personalized tour. As a mom of a CBH’er (grad), I can tell you that the CBH’ers do the most amazing research. You can tune in every year to watch the CBH student presentations live on the internet. I still do this.

However, just to let everyone else know…there are other research opportunities at UA, just in case a student doesn’t get accepted into the highly competitive CBH Program or does not apply in lieu of other opportunities. The Emerging Scholars is another research based program which is highly regarded. In addition, some students find research opportunities on their own by developing relationships with professors, who then become their mentors.

You can also feel free to ask your $$ questions here, many on this forum have students on scholarships, including NMF. @mom2collegekids is a great resource for finances as well, so fire away with those questions!!

Roll Tide!

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@robotbldmom @mom2collegekids The questions I have regarding the NMF scholarships (http://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/) are somewhat esoteric.

Basically, my son is very interested in combining CBH, Chemical Engineering, study abroad and the STEM Path to MBA Program. The thrust of my questions center around how to best combine / maximize the NMF 5 year scholarship given the above goals.

  1. Summer study abroad to Denmark is ~$6k extra (this is tuition and room / board, and does NOT include airfare), the NMF package provides $2k stipend, so are there any other sources of fund that my son could apply for to decrease this $4k deficit? If so, how hard is it to obtain additional scholarships (in general).
  2. The STEM Path to MBA Program (http://manderson.culverhouse.ua.edu/academics/departments/mba_program/stem_path_to_the_mba) requires summer studies and well as the 5th year dedicate to business studies. How hard it is to find monies to cover these additional summer sessions / distance learning sessions?

While the University of Alabama NMF package is extremely generous, one of the best aspects of OU’s similar NMF package is that they cover all summer sessions for the 5 years, allowing for multiple studies abroad, or summer sessions for getting ahead with studies. Since our son wants to do so much, I was wondering how easy it is to obtain additional monies? (Assuming a student is excelling and puts in the extra effort to apply for and interview for additional scholarships.) While we will help pay, all the extra sessions could add up quickly…

Thank you for any advice or perspectives,
psy

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One suggestion is to look at information here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1734637-using-scholarship-vs-self-pay-for-summer.html#latest on how you can use the scholarship to directly cover the costs… though that will knock one semester off the usable time frame.

Take a look at AP credits- your son may have enough of the prereqs in place to finish one or two semesters before he even starts. Another option to at least save costs (and speed up completion) is Early College http://uaearlycollege.ua.edu/

I’m sure others will have more, less obvious, options.

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@psywar My roommate applied for an extra scholarship through the Study Abroad office to cover the costs of her summer program in France. From what I know, between the one-time NMF stipend and that the costs were covered and then some.

I second the above poster about AP credit. Perhaps some of the business classes could be taken earlier or he could finish his undergrad in 3 years. This is very common–I just finished my first year but I discovered that I could graduate as early as next semester if I wanted to only finish up my math major. With APs, the 5 years of scholarship (plus the possibilities of additional scholarships through CBH, the Study abroad office, etc.) and a bit of creativity nearly anything is possible.

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Okay @psywar, I will try to answer some of your questions but remember that the “new” scholarships for 2016-2017 have not yet posted and I just doubled checked the scholarship page for updates a few moments ago. So, if you look at that page, you will see the current level of scholarship $$'s based on 2015-2016. That page should be updating soon. But bear in mind that changes have occurred in the past years for certain scholarships, including NMF.

I will try to address the “how to” get any additional funding $$ question.
Outside Scholarships: Make SURE that your student applies for all outside scholarship money he is eligible for. Most HS Guidance offices put up a list or a packet of scholarships that HS Seniors are eligible for. Have him apply to as many scholarships as possible. UA does not penalize you for outside scholarship money by reducing their scholarship dollars, you can stack all scholarships. You will be surprised at how many types of scholarships are available and all those smaller dollar amounts really add up.

Extra Stipends: We have been told by students and parents alike, that CBH “sometimes” does give an extra stipend to students selected for this program (you can look up some recent posts discussing this). The amounts can vary and may come with restrictions.

UFE which is another competitive program at UA, also gives stipends to select students.

There are some departmental scholarships available which may be reserved for students with financial need or for students who do not receive any of the larger scholarships amounts. Other departmental scholarships may be competitive.

If your student does do research, there are some competitive scholarships available. The ones I know of are nomination based and judged by a committee of professors.

There are National Scholarships programs (undergrad) that many UA students compete in, earning them honorable mentions or money/internship opportunities.

Just remember that All these “extra” scholarships are highly competitive and may require all or some of the following items: long (often involved) applications, updated resumes, essays, current writing samples, and letters of recommendation (multiple). These opportunities also require that the student does his/her research to stay abreast of what is available. These opportunities/scholarships are out there but they do not simply fall into the student’s lap.

Personally, I think that this is one of the best ways to get extra money, summer employment. Many students can and do work the summer prior to college and any available college summers to earn their spending money. It is even possible to have an on campus job during the school year or summer breaks. These jobs would not be work study related. Just remember, that the summers when study abroad is taking place, your student will probably not be able to work.

Now onto scholarships: Others can better explain the NMF corporate component of the scholarship, I have seen it written about but I do not know the exact details.
However, here are the “current” basics of the NMF Scholarship as copied from UA"s Scholarship page.
National Merit or Achievement Finalist Package
:black_medium_small_square:Value of tuition for up to five years or 10 semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate studies
:black_medium_small_square:One year of on-campus housing at regular room rate* (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
:black_medium_small_square:A $3,500 per year Merit/Achievement Scholarship stipend for four years. A student must maintain at least a 3.3 GPA to continue receiving this scholarship stipend. If a corporate-sponsored scholarship from the National Merit Corporation is received, the total value cannot exceed $3,500. (For example, if you receive a corporate-sponsored scholarship of $2,000 per year, UA will contribute $1,500 per year to reach the total stipend amount of $3,500.)
:black_medium_small_square:One-time allowance of $2,000 for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
:black_medium_small_square:iPad

It seems to me that that you will need to make a side by side comparison between UA and any other college contenders, to see the exact monetary comparison.
UA’s scholarship could also be applied to summer semesters. However, it is generally agreed that this is not the best value for a semester’s worth of scholarship dollars.