<p>Bama has done it again! We arrived with high expectations, and they sure delivered. I hope I can do them justice in my report! Oh, and before I get started, brief history of us. Husband and I brought our daughter and her two best friends over from Hawaii for this tour. D is interested in computer science, her two friends are interested in nursing and human nutrition. </p>
<p>First off, the weather was beautiful! Sunny skies, cool crisp air, the leaves changing colors. Really, really beautiful! </p>
<p>My husband and the three girls met up with Jami Gates at 9:00 at Nott Hall. This is the one part I missed, as I was just flying in that morning. Anyway, here they received their agendas for the day, with most of the day spent together, but they did separate at one point to visit their respective departments. </p>
<p>Our first tour guide, Lauren, met them there and then they headed off to tour the dorms. I met up with them at Ridgecrest South. As has been reported on here, the dorms are magnificent. This particular dorm has a basketball court outside, with little areas for cooking out. Inside it has a rec room with a pool table. Our tour guide was incredibly nice and very informative. She and the girls talked non-stop about everything from dorm choices, campus life, food, classes, and my daughter’s favorite question, “Do you see the football players on campus?” Which the answer was yes :)</p>
<p>Next up, the girls headed back to Nott Hall to sit in on an Honors Seminar, Southern Values, taught by Dr. Louise Cary. My husband and I headed to the Ferg so I could get some much needed caffeine! The Ferg is a great place for the students to hang out and socialize as well as study. The girls reported that they enjoyed the class discussion and really liked the professor.</p>
<p>Next up was our meeting with Dr. Witt. What an honor! We met with Dr. Witt, along with one other family, at the Rose Administration building. We had a great discussion about the tremendous growth at the university. There is a new building being finished about every 90 days. UA is growing in population and they’re building the infrastructure to support that growth. We learned that 40 percent of the students are from out of state! He went into great detail about many safety features on the campus, such as being able to call for a ride if it’s late and you don’t feel comfortable walking across campus alone, to a GPS emergency alert system that works with your phone. He informed us that the university has allotted $55 million for scholarships this year!</p>
<p>Next on the agenda was lunch at Lakeside Dining with one of the Honors Ambassadors, Kate. We had so much fun with her! She was so personable, easy to talk to, and once again very informative. Oh, and yes, she does see the football players on campus :)</p>
<p>At this point we split up. My daugher headed over to Shelby Hall to meet with Dr. Brown, associate professor of computer science, while the other two girls headed over to Doster Hall to meet with Dr. Niuh, assistant professor, human nutrition. My daughter had a great discussion with Dr. Brown. Okay, I have to admit, math and science is not my thing, so I’m not sure what they were talking about half the time, but I have a little cheat sheet here to help me out. He told her about the 100P program (loop). My D seemed very interested in this. Here’s a quote from the handout: “In the 100P program, students are freed from the classroom; students instead work on 100 concept- and research-related problems throughout their undergraduate careers.” Anyone who wants more info on this, let me know and I can provide it. Anyway, she also talked about double majoring, the scholars program, internships, etc. I was amazed at how much time everyone spent with us. We had such a tight schedule, we were usually the ones apologizing that we had to move on.</p>
<p>So next we meet back up again at Nott and Jami takes us via golf cart to the new Capstone College of Nursing. I could spend paragraphs telling you all the great things about this program! It’s very competitive to get into for one. Average GPA last term was a 3.8, but they have a 98 percent pass rate for their graduates (national average is 80 percent). The simulators they work on are just amazing! This facility is top notch. Anyone interested in nursing needs to take a tour!</p>
<p>Jami came back for us in her golf cart and then took us over to the rec center. Another great facility! They’ve got tons of fitness classes every day, everything from yoga to Zumba to kickboxking, which is taught by Jami :)</p>
<p>Now we head back to Nott for our info session on the Honors College. Jami was waiting for one more family to join us before she got started, so we were relaxing in the reception area, when Dr. Morgan (associate dean of the Honors College) came up and introduced herself to us. She invited us into her office and we spent the next hour chatting, laughing, learning more and more about what a great school we have chosen. It’s amazing to me that someone in Dr. Morgan’s position would spend so much quality time with us when we weren’t even on her schedule. I know my daughter will be in great hands next year when I drop her off at UA!!</p>
<p>Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Sorry if this was so long, but believe it or not there’s more! We met up with malanai’s son at the Ferg and went to dinner on The Strip. He was very patient with us when we couldn’t find the car. He and the girls talked non-stop while we wandered around aimlessly. So nice to know that they already have a friend there!</p>
<p>Finally, we came back on Saturday for a full day of tailgating and of course the game. Wow, that was an experience!! We were even on the Jumbo Tron!! </p>
<p>Can’t wait to head back for Bama Bound!! Aloha :)</p>
We did pack a variety of things, though. My husband’s aunt has been giving us weather updates. We’re prepared for anything!</p>