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I agree that they must not see much difference between an ACT 30 and 32.
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glad that you understood my crazy typo. I did mean to type 32 for that last part in my post.
When are you going to visit? You’re going to be amazed at the new Science and Engineering Complex… 1 million square feet of new STEM space.
We will have to visit after the turn of the year. My kids have started HS already and my DD is in tennis until end of October and then DS starts wresting in October. Wrestling does not end until March with the state tournament.
My DS has good info because the son of his wrestling coach, coach has mentored DS through HS (former NCAA wrestler), started at UA this fall in CS. DS listens to his wrestling coach.
We are going to the UA reception here in Chicago on 11/9. UA is actually visiting my kids HS in November (a first I think).
Will probably try to visit over Soring Break at the end of March. I think we will pay the housing deposit ahead of time to secure a spot since there is only a $25 risk.
@mom2collegekids I appreciate all of your feedback. It has been pleasant to talk to you and your friend @SOSConcern .
Oops, meant Spring Break at the end of March.
Engineering can easily become a 5 year degree at any school due to either the need to take pre-calculus or similar classes or poor performance in one of the many required classes or probably also due to idea of double majoring or switching majors or working on grad classes rather than checking off boxes on the 4 year plan. It’s a hard group of majors at any ABET school and there are lots of classes that you must take on time and pass.
Typically higher achieving more prepared students are not part of this group (except maybe the double major / changing majors crowd).
Some schools have limited room in some required classes, but I think that gets corrected rather quickly.
If you personally want to graduate from any engineering school in 4 years, work hard in STEM high school classes so you can do well in freshman science/ math classes and maybe pick up a few AP credits, stick to a 4 year plan, talk to your advisor if anything is happening that is keeping you from checking off all the boxes in any year, and stick to one major and the idea that graduating on time is important. Summer school is one way to stay on track, but that does not work well if you miss say a junior level specialized course.
Bama probably accepts students that are marginally ready for a difficult engineering program and they take more than 4 years. And obviously if everyone coops, you need 5 years.
If you want to graduate in 4 and still get work experience, summer employment will not interfere with that at all.
Agree with everything you say. I remember when I switched from Econ to Materials Engineering at ISU that I had to “catch up” to others that started as engineering.
What happened is that all of my first tear econ went to gen eds and I had to double on required freshman classes in Fall of Sophomore year. That trimester, ISU on trimester then, just about killed me. I also had to take a couple of required engineering courses in the summer between Sophomore/Junior year. Technically, it took 4.5 years to graduate when I count the summer.
It was not easy but well worth it in the end. One of the better decisions I ever made. 
I would agree that engineering is not an easy path. I know that I will not let my kids take AP credit for any of the Calc, Chemistry, Physics classes. I think AP in HS is a good foundation so you do not get blown away out of the gate.
They did well enough on AP humanities to pass out of Freshman English. Which I have no issue with. Maybe being an engineer, I undervalue the humanities too much.
Here is a question: What are the “weed out” classes at UA in engineering?
At ISU, the weed out classes were Calc, Chem, and Physics. The drop rate from engineering after year 1 was about 25%. I recently looked at a site provided by @aeromom and it looks like that has not changed at ISU when I look at Freshman entering and the number of Sophomores in the program the next year.
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Will probably try to visit over Soring Break at the end of March.
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Check to make sure that it doesn’t fall the same week as Bama’s spring break…otherwise the school will be closed.
I think we will pay the housing deposit ahead of time to secure a spot since there is only a $25 risk.
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You have to pay the enrollment deposit in order to pay the housing deposit.
Is the enrollment deposit refundable also?
@CyclonesGrad, we visited UA in the spring of 2014 at the very end of a long senior year of college applications. It was the perfect time to visit and completely sealed the deal for my kid.
Make sure you set up your visit through the Honors College, and they’ll take care of the rest. It’s a beautiful time of year in Tuscaloosa.
You want to get housing priority, and if housing ‘opens up’ Oct 1 as it did two years ago, you want to get your registration in then. Early housing applicants are able to actually have a priority date for getting on the housing site electronically and selecting from an available room. In the past, traditional dorms have run $2800/semester, while the suite style dorm (4 BR/2BA) run $4400/semester. If one wants to be in a honors dorm, Blount Initiative housing, etc. Also before the electronic selection, kids have an opportunity to find compatible room-mates. DD actually had the housing priority over a later time room-mate, and two room-mates needed to get ‘pulled in’ by DD - they all select each other on the housing system, and then DD and I could schedule the 4 BR suite with all 4 students. Those that don’t have electronic access to housing will have housing assigned by the University Housing Dept.
Once student decides to come to UA, there are student and parent facebook closed groups that are very helpful.
Nice that regional recruiter is coming to your students’ HS. The Chicago event will also help with information and questions answered.
Look ahead and see if there is a “A” Day planned during your visit time-frame (in the past they have had a number scattered through the school year, but they fill up). It is a full day of planned information to prospective students along with tours and housing tours. Check when Scholars Day is - this is a one day Saturday, maybe Jan? If you can visit then, schedule Honors College and Departmental tours on Friday. The Scholars Day has great presentations and it is invitation for students who are eligible for Honors College. Since we are in AL, we had visited campus more times (and had prior activities there, including summer one week SITE which DD determined what field of engineering she was most interested in). We attended the local event (probably like your Chicago event), A Day, and Scholars Day. Lots to absorb, and DD knew this was her school.
A few fees are not refundable, but as OP stated, all but $25 of housing fee is refundable with timely notification if not coming to UA.
My son has several friends who are engineers. Only one needed an extra semester, because he switched engineering disciplines. Others, because they had lots of AP/DE credit coming in, were able to double major or pick up a couple of minors.
When my son was a freshman eng’g student, Bama didn’t yet have the Freshman Engineering Program. Now that it does, I think that has helped students know, early on, which E discipline is better for them. That first semester class exposes them to all the disciplines, so if a student were to realize that s/he likes MechE better than EE, then changing at that point is much easier and likely won’t require any extra classes.