<p>Many like hampton inn on harper lee. Close to campus.</p>
<p>The Quad is really pretty at night! If your son is a gamer you could also go into the student center (Ferguson)…I believe there will be some activity going on since the gaming club is holding some kind of convention/tournament…don’t fully understand it since I’m not a gamer (daughter is) ;)</p>
<p>Oh, we are fans of the Hampton Inn on Harper Lee.</p>
<p>raider25: If you and your son have time when you get into TTown Friday there is a Gymnastics meet at 7:30pm; thinking it might be a nice venue to see the Coleman Coliseum -university spirit/talk to students. From Wikipedia: Gymnastics meets have an average attendance of over 13,000 at Coleman Coliseum. Single meet tickets are $10.00. The campus is really beautiful at night too.</p>
<p>If the meet isn’t of interest and you have time for a sit-down meal Fri. evening I vote DePalmas or The Cypress Inn right on The Black Warrior River. Also a vote for Gigis cupcakes in Midtown or TCBY on The Strip later on might be good places to run into students and chat. </p>
<p>I can share that D called us last night, having hosted a hometown teammate last weekend for an official visit, she wanted to tell us that the girl had given her verbal commitment to UA. The Mom emailed me today to say it was her Ds last official and prior to visiting UA her D was all set to sign with another school but with the plans previously made to visit UA she and her Dad felt they should go…Well…the D and her Dad were blown away by everything they saw and heard at UA, so much so that it changed her mind Im sure none of us who have students thriving at UA are surprised by that it is a special place.</p>
<p>Enjoy both of your visits and the individual time with your son. I believe our kids get a gut sense about what is the right decision for them. Whatever will be best for him will come to light through the process.</p>
<p>I highly recommend The Cypress Inn! Beautiful setting across from campus, along the Black Warrior River. Do check out Manderson Park on the Black Warrior. It is the northern most part of campus. There is a walking trail as well. </p>
<p>Also, check out Downtown Tuscaloosa. Lovely part of town. And maybe walking distance to campus. It is for me, but I know some might think it would too far.</p>
<p>Raider, what is the “Boulder, CO lifestyle”?</p>
<p>It’s great to get this wonderful info to find places to get more of a feel of the area at night. The 3 college towns in Colorado definitely reflect the university within each as I imagine Tuscaloosa will. </p>
<p>Feenotype: I can’t really fully describe Boulder. It’s just “Boulder”. LOL. Anyone who lives in Colorado knows it. Anytime the city passes a random ordinance such as “pets will now be referred to as people”, the rest of Colorado shrugs and responds with, “Well, it’s Boulder.” When they have their annual “bare-streaking” bike ride through town… “Well, it’s Boulder.” It’s kind of the “it is what it is” city in Colorado. If you were to ask anyone here to describe Boulder, their first response might be, “Well, it’s Boulder”. LOL. </p>
<p>University of Colorado as I have experienced is not a very welcoming place. CU has a lot of very wealthy OOS kids who are very snobby. It’s consistently ranked as one of the top party schools and not without good reason. And well… it has a very racist reputation that it is working hard to change but it’s having a tough time doing so because of continued events. I wouldn’t characterize the city as racist, but CU definitely is. The school also always has some sort of controversy going on. Right now. there is an uproar because the top school officials just got raises (some $50K) by using the increased tuition dollars. Just too much going on up there for my son.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that Boulder is a very liberal town, but I just wanted your take on it. Some would say that Tuscaloosa is about as liberal as it gets in Alabama, but that speaks more to Alabama than Tuscaloosa. For certain, I don’t think we’ll be seeing World Nude Bike Ride Day coming to town any time soon. </p>
<p>Now, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but UA has many of its own issues and controversies (very few schools do not), including clashes for class- and race-based one. And UA has a distinguished history of vying for the #1 ranking on the party school listing. We have very active board, so you’ll find any controversial issue at UA well-covered here. I’d encourage you to look over the board if you’re still looking for more info after your visit.</p>
<p>But why do the controversies get more attention at UA when it is more diverse than AU? The latter has had its share if not more of racial issues. And just as many rich kids go to AU as go to UA. For years AU people have used safe campus as a codeword for few Blacks on campus .</p>
<p>Do they get more attention? This board is more active than the Auburn so there will be more discussion here, but I don’t think any is sweeping controversies at Auburn under the rug. Remember that blackface Halloween frat party at Auburn a few years ago? Talk about a powder keg!</p>
<p>Sorry linnylu. Yes, he said Hilton, but either way you are ok.</p>
<p>Raider- my daughter is Bama bound from Littleton and majoring in Engineering. CU was her safe school, and they could learn a few things from UA about how to treat kids with high stats. We too attended the Bama recruiting event and enjoyed it very much. That was our first taste of southern hospitality and with a college that really wanted our daughter. When Dr. Whitt told her that all her hard work was about to pay off, I teared up. We visited in November and have never spoken another word about any other colleges. The happiness in my daughters eyes as she posed with the big Al lighted Christmas tree says it all. Bama here we come.</p>
<p>Yes, they get more attention for sure, probably cause UA has a high enough level of Black students that the latter are able to organize when they feel there is a problem. The AU Greek system is no more integrated than is UA’s, but for some reason, the media focuses on UA alone. </p>
<p>Former Auburn football players have come forward to say that the campus is racist… Maybe it is maybe it isn’t. I am not trying to attack Auburn here, but I am a little tired of the state media pretending that UA has the majority of the “racial” problems. And when some unknown idiot writes something racist on a campus building, people should not make assumptions. We still don’t know if those two incidents were true instances of hate speech, or hoaxes! There have been many instances of minorities creating phony hate crimes and being caught by security cameras doing it. </p>
<p>So when you say UA has “racial” problems, let’s give it some perspective. The fact is that UA is more diverse and tolerant of diverse political opinions than is AU.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter Sniner! Roll Tide!</p>
<p>raider25, I will second the suggestion for DePalma’s for your Friday night meal, or if you want something more casual you can go to the Mellow Mushroom across the street. We have had great meals at both places. You may want to make a reservation for DePalma’s.</p>
<p>Sniner, Congrats on your daugher’s decision. A lot of schools could learn from UA about how to treat student’s who have worked hard for academic achievements in high school. They really made my son feel like they wanted him to attend, and they continue to do so now that he is there.</p>
<p>Feenotype: Boulder as a city is definitely considered an ultra liberal town. No doubt about that. It’s just VERY different from CU Boulder which has an ultra conservative reputation along with a racist reputation. It has a very good engineering program, but it definitely has it’s own vibe and can learn a lot from other big universities.</p>
<p>Sniner, is that why it was her “fallback” school? It’s great to hear that another student from Colorado chose Bama! Congrats!</p>
<p>My son didn’t even apply at CU, instead it was CSU for his fallback. School of Mines waived his app fee along with emory, Chicago, and a few other schools. But he wanted the big D1 football university experience along with a good engineering education. He’s been accepted at Bama, Auburn, Iowa State, CSU, and Arizona State but Bama’s recruiting event was absolutely phenomenal and like you said, rolled out the southern hospitality. </p>
<p>I know that all big schools have racial and other diversity problems from time to time. It took place at the university I went to as well. No school is immune to those issues. You have kids from all over the world trying to mesh their beliefs and customs onto one college campus. It’s inevitable. College is a place for students to learn from those differences and sometimes, it doesn’t go smoothly. I think it stands out at CU Boulder because Colorado as a whole is a very tolerant and moderate state. Having a huge military presence huge probably has a lot to do with it. I remember reading a few years back that Colorado has one of the highest number of interracial couples in the nation. CU not only has a reputation of racism between the students, but institutionalized racism as well. It’s a little island inside the state of Colorado. And because of continued events including hate crimes motivated by race, ethnic, religion, or nationality the school is becoming less and less diverse. There are many instate kids that go there because of the high academic standards, but many also leave because they don’t like the campus atmosphere whether they don’t feel comfortable with race relations, or class issues, or morals. Now whether or not CU’s racial issues are more or less than other big U’s out of state, I don’t know. But in relation to the views of the rest of Colorado, it definitely stands out. </p>
<p>Regardless of CU though, we’re coming from a moderate state in Arapahoe County which is one of the highest contested counties in the nation for the upcoming election because it is pretty much a 50/50 split in political views and racial make up. We pretty much expect that any school he decides to go to will have a different atmosphere than metro Denver. I appreciate the insight you guys provided about that aspect of the two schools. Obviously we won’t hear about that in brochures or campus tours!</p>
<p>Randomparent: 1st, I love your screen name! What is the dress code at DePalma’s? Since we had planned on bringing “campus tour” clothes, I want to make sure that if we do decide to go there, we pack the appropriate attire. :-)</p>
<p>Wear Bama gear! I hope you enjoy your visit. Roll Tide!</p>
<p>raider25, </p>
<p>Thanks. I picked the screen name because I thought my son would find it amusing.</p>
<p>Both time we went to DePalma’s, we were wearing “campus tour” clothes and didn’t feel out of place. It just has a “classier” feel than the Mellow Mushroom and it looked like the students dress “up” a little more when they go there. If you do go to DePalma’s, I can recommend the Portabella Mushroom Ravioli and the White Chocolate Bread Pudding, yumm. We really like the hoagies at Mellow Mushroom and really, really, like an olive/garlic bread appetizer that is special to the Tuscaloosa restaurant (I think it’s on the last page of the menu, but I can’t recall the cute name they gave it).</p>
<p>cuttlefish: you are too funny! </p>
<p>randomparent: I did raider25 because it’s my son’s team and jersey number and for some odd reason I thought he’d be on this board so I wanted to make the username easy for him to remember. Well… I don’t think he’s logged in once! The PMR sounds like a yummy dish. Italian food is my favorite.</p>
<p>raider25, Perhaps our screen name selections reflect how all of us on this board are “into” our kids. If you like Italian, than DePalma’s is a great choice.</p>