AUBURN vs ALABAMA

College Search & Selection
21

<p>Thanks @ucbalumnus‌! I know for Auburn I’d get automatic full tuition, plus a $1000 tech stipend, and $2000 yearly for the Hispanic Scholars scholarship. Likewise, that still leaves a lot uncovered, so I’m hoping that by getting my ACT up to a 34 (I’m hopefully not wrong in thinking that’s doable), I’d receive an Elite scholarship. There’s also departmental scholarships, but I haven’t really looked at them. </p>

<p>I’ve looked at the automatic thread before, but never really gleaned much from it. The UAH scholarship would be great if I could get the ACT/SAT scores, but I’m not super interested in UAH. Still, there is a lot to look from, from both these colleges, and obviously quite a few others.</p>

22

<p>@vamominvabeach‌ oh yes! you reminded me of a big feature I loved about Auburn - the Jules Collins museum. I’m especially impressed that it is also accredited - I think something like 6% of museums in the country are accredited? Hoping to see it on my tour next week.</p>

23

<p>If you have a 0 EFC, then be sure to run the NPCs on both schools’ calculators. have you done so? </p>

<p>I am concerned that you wont get enough aid at either school.</p>

<p>with your stats and URM status, you really need to apply to some schools that meet need.</p>

<p>neither Bama nor Auburn are safeties for you because of your 0 EFC status. </p>

24

<p>Seriously, just apply to both. Keep an open mind, set up some tours, and then go visit. Preferably, you’ll visit both campuses around the same time and under similar conditions (comparing one school in October to the other in February probably isn’t the best idea) and then just see how you feel. The costs and opportunities available to you at each school will likely tip your preference, but you won’t know until you have some hard numbers and specifics laid out before you.</p>

<p>I’ve never visited Auburn, but the students I’ve known of from my area (tri-state suburban Philadelphia) who’ve gone there went to study engineering for the most part. I can tell you, subjectively, that both my son (who’s planning to study engineering but has a strong passion for the arts) and I (a former humanities major) preferred Alabama’s overall feel and offerings to Penn State, which has more of a preprofessional feel. (Penn State also has a higher-ranked engineering program, but he didn’t care.) You may or may not notice a similar difference between Auburn and Alabama.</p>

<p>My son also was choosing between these two large flagships and several LACs. You really need to give each school thorough consideration so you feel good about your final decision and never need to look back with regrets.</p>

<p>With your financial situation, maybe check out Rhodes and Agnes Scott (if you’re female) to see if you can get your need met. </p>

<p>You sound like a very reasonable and level-headed kid. Good luck!</p>

25

<p>I have run both calcs a while back, but it was really just a guesstimate since we didn’t have our tax forms with us. I think it turned out to be a few thousand per year, which hopefully I could cover with a part time during the year or summer.</p>

<p>It might really just come down to a “feel” between the two, from the response I’m hearing. @LucieTheLakie‌, I have visited Agnes Scott (and fell in love!), but unless I manage to snag one of their few full ride scholarships, I doubt I’ll be able to attend, as AGC does not meet full need. I will be sure to check out Rhodes, as I have a friend attending next year, though I didn’t consider checking it out til now!</p>

<p>Strangely enough, most people I know tend to apply to one or the other (AU vs UA) and I’m starting to think that might just be that ol’ football rivalry ;)</p>

26

<p>Why not apply to the other excellent “liberal arts school” in Atlanta, Emory University, which has the on campus Carlos Museum of Art, a supportive atmosphere for humanities majors, and ties to the outstanding High Museum of Art. You should also apply to Oxford College as it’s the less selective, but still full need met branch of Emory. </p>

<p>Williams is excellent in art history and if you’re lucky enough to get in, the FA office will make it easy to attend. Smith is also strong in the field, as are Barnard, Mount Holyoke, Reed, and Haverford (also apply to Bryn Mawr as it’s much easier to get in). Oberlin could also be a possibility as could places like Fordham (likely poor FA), Tufts, Brandeis (apply early), Pitzer, MIT, among others. The Ivies and their peers (Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, etc) are also excellent. </p>

27

<p>Though I’ve driven through Tuscaloosa once, I’ve never been to either school. From all accounts though, Auburn and Alabama have very different surrounding cities. Auburn is basically Clemson without a lake (small town) and Tuscaloosa is more of a party college town, if that’s your thing. Both are nice campuses. Really depends on if you’re okay living in the middle of nowhere (Auburn) or living in a larger city (Tuscaloosa). </p>

28

<p>Re: Emory, honestly it comes down to the fact that it’s a southern Ivy, basically, and I have mixed feelings towards those. I love Atlanta, though, and the High Museum, and I do have a friend attending next year, so I can hopefully get some feedback from her, as well.</p>

<p>Williams is one that has come up a lot as THE place to go for art history, though from what I’ve read is awfully isolated. Smith and Mt. Holyoke are on my list, and Bryn Mawr was a former top favorite (still very much like it). Barnard I like, though I loathe the idea of living in NYC.</p>

<p>I’ve certainly got a lot to consider however - this process didn’t seem so intimidating a few months ago! </p>

29

<p>Party college town is definitely not my thing - though I’d rather not live in the middle of nowhere, either. The ideal would be in the suburbs of a significant major city, though that’s not the case in either. Really, I need to tour both (which I’ve already scheduled!) to see if I like the surroundings at either.</p>

30

<p>Why would you have mixed feelings about a school of Emory’s caliber? I could understand if you rejected the school for concrete regions but not because of some label attached to it. Would you also reject a school like Duke because it, like Emory, draws people from around the world, has an extremely high per person endowment, challenging academics, etc? Duke is also considered a Southern Ivy. </p>

31

<p>OP, You’ll love Alabama. My personal favorite of the two. Southern architecture at it’s finest and a lovely place. Don’t stress about the city so much. You’ll spend most of your time on campus. I chose UofSC and even after a year, I still don’t like the city of Columbia, but I still love my time here and wouldn’t trade it for the world. </p>

32

<p>For the most part, Auburn=Alabama. These are pretty much the exact same school, just different names and different sports teams. But at the end of the day, they are both low-cost options for Alabama residents looking for a decent but in-expensive college experience. The education may not be top-notch, but you’ll have fun for four years. </p>

33

<p>The education at alabama is top 100 in the country so you can’t call it just average ^</p>

34

<p>UA = #36 USNWR ranking for Public Universities and AU = #40; you get a great education at either school with great student atmosphere and incredible SEC football. </p>

35

<p>I’m curious, were you a National Achievement Scholar? And did you apply to an HBCU (for full-ride, though it may not be your thing)</p>

36

<p>irlandaise: do include Williams on your list. If your EFC is zero, you’ll get a full ride if you get in, and Williams’ power in art history is phenomenal (they’ve been called, jokingly, the williams mafia).
Both Auburn and Bama seem poor fits for someone who doesn’t want sports or Greeks to dominate. I assume they’d be your safeties? However they may not be financial safeties since even with the automatic scholarships and potential competitive scholarships, you’d still have to take on loans (which many top universities/LACs wouldn’t require for someone with EFC0).
I agree with Yale and Brown being added to your list as “what ifs”. These would likely be cheaper than Alabama or Auburn if they admitted you.
I’d add UChicago too because it sounds like the closest to the college atmosphere you’ve described (few sports fans there :slight_smile: … well, if you ask students, they have no clue about any game, big or otherwise…)
I second Agnes Scott and Emory (perhaps Oxford’s rather than “big” Emory?) </p>

37

<p>There is the impression that the city of Tuscaloosa is considerably larger than the city of Auburn. So, I thought that I would discover the facts. Take a look:</p>

<p>City of Tuscaloosa, population 95,334
City of Auburn, population 58,582</p>

<p>So, despite some statements, Auburn is most definitely not rural.</p>

<p>Tuscaloosa Metro Area, population 235,628
Auburn-Opelika Metro Area, population 150,933</p>

<p>Obviously, the term “Metro Area” is used loosely in each case. Neither school is close to being urban. </p>

<p>So, yes, Tuscaloosa is larger by about 50%, but that might or might not be a major factor to most people. Also, both campuses have easy access to Interstate highways; Tuscaloosa to I-20/59 and Auburn to I-85.</p>

38

<p>“Alabama: 32.7% of women in sororities, 22.1% of men in fraternities
Auburn: 31% of women in sororities, 21% of men in fraternities”</p>

<p>Yes, though a similar participation rate doesn’t necessarily imply a similar culture. I agree that the OP should probably apply to both in-state flagships, as well as schools that might fit her profile a little better as someone who’s not interested in sports and Greek life. I think she will likely have a lot of affordable options if she plays her cards right.</p>

39

<p>In the “for what it is worth” category, sororities at Auburn are housed in the dormitories (oops… I meant residence halls :">), while at Alabama they have houses (mostly on campus). </p>

40

<p>Just wanted to briefly check in, as I’ve toured both Auburn and Alabama in the past few days (it’s been a hectic week!)</p>

<p>I’ll start with Alabama. Everyone who said I needed to tour to really get a feel for Alabama was absolutely spot on. The tour was very informative, focusing a lot on the history (moreso than Auburn) but still going in depth about student life and all. All in all, it was a pretty formal, almost scripted, trolley tour. </p>

<p>While I liked the campus, it seemed intimidatingly large and definitely seemed like a “driving campus”, which is something I didn’t really like. Most of the students on my tour were actually from Alabama, which I didn’t expect. I did get the feeling that UA is a pretty Greek heavy campus. We checked out a couple of dorms (don’t remember which except for the Pres. Village), and there were A LOT of dorms, and A LOT of halls. We went, after, to drive around Tuscaloosa and get a feel for it. </p>

<p>All in all, it seems like my gut feeling was right. I don’t know what it was, but I could definitely tell that the student body was not one I wanted to be part of. UA may be a great school, I don’t know - but it’s definitely NOT somewhere I want to attend. </p>

<p>Back to Auburn:</p>

<p>Okay, I’ll get this out of the way - I LOVE Auburn, so this is probably going to come off completely unbiased. Oh well ;)</p>

<p>Auburn’s tour, by contrast, was a casual, walking tour - and it was HOT. But that didn’t faze our great tour guide, and she took it in stride. Oh, I was also the only student from Alabama on the tour - now that I mention it, the only student from the South!</p>

<p>The tour took us through the entirety of the campus, and involved the history, student life, and a lot of guide’s own personal experience. I lost count of how many times a random student stopped just to shout “War Eagle!”. </p>

<p>While the campus is significantly larger, it actually has that small campus feel, and it’s largely a “walking campus”. All in all, Auburn definitely had more of a community feel (and much less of a Greek feel!) than Alabama had. I even got excited to catch a few football games eventually.</p>

<p>In terms of dorms, we toured the Hill and the Village. The Hill was pretty depressing - two students per dorm and one bathroom per two dorms (so four students per bathroom). The Village, though, was pretty awesome - it has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a common space, and a kitchenette. It was very similar to the Presidential Village dorm we toured at Alabama, but Auburn’s had better layout - more open space, and it wasn’t carpeted, which I liked. A big thing, too, was that the sink/vanity was separate from the toilet/shower, which is pretty key when sharing a bathroom, but these all are minor details. I think UA’s Village is slightly more expensive than AU’s, but only by a bit.</p>

<p>I liked the meal plan at Auburn better, which functions on a straight declining balance of $995 per semester, as opposed to Alabama’s quantity based meal plans. Oh, and speaking of food, it was pretty convenient that Auburn has a dining hall right across from the Village, as opposed to UA’s Pres. Village which was a few blocks away from the nearest dorm. Not a big deal, but pretty nice for those 3am Denny’s cravings.</p>

<p>I really was surprised at how much I loved Auburn - I went into this thinking it would be a good safety, but nothing more. I’ll be returning next month for a Very Impressive Tiger private tour, but I’m pretty certain that in just a few months, I’ll be happy to call myself an Auburn Tiger. WDE :)</p>

<p>[If anyone has anything to add about either university, though, keep them coming! This all was very helpful.]</p>