<p>I will be applying to both Auburn and Alabama for Fall 2011 from Massachusetts. I am interested in learning which school does a better job of integrating/assimilating out-of-state students, particularly students from northern states. Im not interested in a debate over who has the best football team, USN&WR ranking, honors program, law/medical school admissions rate, dorms, food, etc. </p>
<p>I do want to know about school culture for OOS students and which school would be a better fit for a kid from the north who would likely be coming to the school not knowing a single person.</p>
<p>I can only speak from a limited perspective, as my son didn’t apply to UA and he’ll just be a freshman in August. We’re from Michigan originally and now live in suburban Atlanta. Between Clemson, UGA and Auburn, there was absolutely no comparison! Auburn has been first class in giving really helpful information on anything having to do with transitioning to college life for both my son and for us. They’re all into their football, but with Auburn it didn’t seem like that was their focus. It has felt like it’s about our son and his succeeding both academically, but spiritually and socially, too. (and I don’t mean Greek stuff)
Everyone said Auburn feels more like a family and there’s something you just feel on campus that we didn’t feel at UGA or Clemson. They’ve acted so much more concerned/interested in our son rather than their reputation. I have felt, as his mom, that S is much more than just a speck in their student population. Also, anything I’ve ever needed they have been really friendly and quick/immediate with response.
Even the 2 day orientation program offers a separate parent orientation at the same time which my husband and I are both looking forward to.</p>
<p>feedback: I couldn’t have said it better. I can’t speak for UA as we never looked at it, but as far as Auburn is concerned my opinion is this same.</p>
<p>Auburn had approximately 43% new students out of state during Fall 2009 ( <a href=“https://oira.auburn.edu/factbook/enrollment/newstudents/newstu.aspx[/url]”>https://oira.auburn.edu/factbook/enrollment/newstudents/newstu.aspx</a>)
My daughter will attend this Fall 2010 from metro Atlanta There’s a Facebook group called Class of Auburn 2014 which has over 1300 members. Many, many students from the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northern states. Review the Wall plus the Discussions page. Believe it or not, many of the metro Atlanta Auburn students have parents who hailed originally north of Georgia and Alabama. Myself, I’m from the DC area.
For the Alabama perspective, mom2collegekids has awesome input. I believe she has 2 sons attending Alabama.
As a parent, I would want my child to have complete information to decide on the college which is best for him/her. Best wishes on your search process.
By the way, the weather at Auburn and in Tuscaloosa sure beats most Northern states.</p>
<p>You think Mass. is a northern state with bad weather, try Minnesota. We visited many many schools both locally and nationally. Auburn stood out for their welcoming attitude and making our daughter feel wanted. After my wife, daughter and I visited the campus all of us came away very impressed. I can’t speak for Bama, but it would be hard to top Auburn.</p>
<p>This is not necessarily along the lines of assimilating, but wanted to share that a good friend of ours, from Louisiana, just finished his second year of mechanical engineering at Auburn.</p>
<p>He wrote us that he just arrived in Kansas City to do his summer internship. He is being put up in a suite style hotel and will be paid 14 bucks an hour.</p>
<p>I think this is just awesome, that Auburn can place kids in internships outside of the south.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Bama. I hope they also do this, since my son will attend there instead, but I thought this would be encouraging to 00S students to hear this little tidbit.</p>
<p>Good luck on your college search.</p>
<p>If you qualify for the Presidential Scholarship, be sure to visit Auburn on a Presidential Scholar Day. It was a really great event and gave us an excellent visit in one day’s time.</p>
<p>My son just finished his freshman year at Auburn, and we are from MA. He also looked at Clemson, but Auburn seemed so much more friendly on our 2 visits. Also, location wise, Auburn feels so much less remote than Clemson. He loved his year. He roomed with 4 guys in the Village. Only 1 was from Alabama. While the school has lots of southern charm, he did not feel out of place at Auburn. There are lots of kids from out of state, so he didn’t feel like an outsider. It has been such a great fit for him. When he first mentioned he wanted to look at Auburn, we scratched our heads and couldn’t figure out what the attraction was. However, a year later, we can’t picture him at another campus.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing that, bluemath!!! BTW, was your son in Talon Hall? If so, do you know why they’ve moved the honors dorm to Aubie? It looks like it’s twice the size, which is cool. (better location, too)</p>
<p>feedback: I read one post (can’t remember from who) that Auburn has over 120 NMF’s this coming year and with last year’s 60+ NMF’s I am going to assume that they had to move the honors dorm to a larger building to accommodate everyone. Presidential scholars might move out after freshmen year because off-campus housing might be cheaper, but NMF have a housing scholarship as part of their package and they have to stay on campus to receive it. Therefore, Auburn probably has more upperclassmen staying on campus than years before. </p>
<p>Anyway, this is my take on it, although I don’t know for certain. We are going to Auburn’s first Camp War Eagle next week and I will ask and report my findings the following week.</p>
<p>We will be there as well, Proud_mom! It stands to reason in tough financial times that more students would take a serious look at scholarship opportunities, and that seems to be the case at Auburn. Aubie looks a little closer to dining and classrooms, so the Honors kids seem to have benefited in the trade.</p>
<p>My son loved living in the Village. Pretty amazing for freshman. He and his roommates would have loved to stay another year. Unfortunately, Aubie hall will become the new honors dorm, so he lost his spot in the village. After having a single bedroom, with a living room and kitchen, it was difficult to settle for a traditional dorm room in another area of campus. Plus he and his other 3 roommates got on great, so they didn’t want to split up, so they are headed to one of the off campus apartments. With that said, so many of the “off-campus” apartments are walking distance to campus. You will love the village!</p>
<p>No…he is a heritage scholar and was offered admission to the honors college. However, since his scholarship is dependent on GPA, he didn’t want to take harder classes with the potential of losing his scholarship if his GPA went below 3.0.</p>
<p>We just got back from the first Camp War Eagle and feel even better about D’s choice of Auburn. We’re from CA, and found everyone really helpful and kind. The only problem D had was trying to figure out how to fit all of the exciting opportunities into one schedule. She had signed up for the Honors Symposium and also a learning community prior to her arrival at CWE, and had 13 units in her schedule before she even saw an advisor. She had to pull out of both in order to get all of her classes as recommended by her college advisor, but she is completely thrilled with all the kids she met. Here in CA, many of our public universities are cutting back course schedules so much that no one can get all of the classes they need. At Auburn, D got a beautiful schedule that works around her other activities. They seemed really committed to helping kids get out in four years, and the whole experience was really positive. It is really all about fit, and we came home congratulating ourselves for finding someplace that really is a great fit for my happy, athletic daughter.</p>
<p>Is there any presence of Hispanic students on campus? I understand that Auburn has one of the best National Hispanic Merit packages. Is it drawing top Hispanic students from OOS?</p>
<p>I didn’t see many hispanic students just by looking around CWE, but D was NHRP and felt quite at home. The Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs had a booth at one of the sessions, and I think all students can find their place at such a large campus. We looked at Arizona, ASU, and Nebraska before D fell in love with Auburn. If your child is a sports buff as well as a scholar, Auburn would be an excellent fit.</p>
<p>We also just returned from CWE at Auburn and like sherigmom, all of us loved the camp and continued to love the school. I also have to agree that there were so many choices for classes that my daughter had to drop out of the Honor’s Symposium to keep on course with her major, but she was fortunately able to continue her Learning Community and get all of the classes she needed, although she is hoping to reschedule her Calculus class for an earlier time, but if she is unable it is okay. In the end she scheduled 14 hours and she might add another 1 or 2 hour class later this summer. For those of you who will be attending CWE later on this summer you will find it a great and very informative experience.</p>
<p>One thing you should know: there isn’t a planned tour of the Village during CWE, but we easily scheduled one after it was over. Tours are at 2:00 pm M-F, if I remember correctly, so if your last day of CWE is a Sunday, you might want to tour before hand.</p>