S22 is deciding between Bama and Auburn, likely for finance. He is fortunate to have full tuition at Bama, and approx half tuition at Auburn through merit aid.
He will be in the honors program at Bama as well.
However, he is OOS and has a good friend from HS who will attend Auburn.
When visiting, both schools exceeded our expectations, however the full tuition to Bama is enticing. They also offer the STEM MBA through the honors college.
We are worried about availability of freshman housing at Auburn.
He will meet new people immediately in either location. I think the increased price and housing concerns aren’t enough to offset the minor advantage of having a HS friend on campus. It can actually be a disadvantage, inhibiting the development of other friendships. They are less than 3h appart. It would be fun for them to visit each other.
We visited both schools are were very impressed with Auburn’s dedication to student success. We loved that the campus is not spread out all over town. We were lead to believe that almost all freshman get housing, provided you don’t wait until the last minute to commit. Alabama felt too big and too focused on sports and greek life. My dd immediately crossed Alabama off her list after visiting. She’s not going to Auburn either, but hoping our younger child will consider.
Your son should go to Alabama. One should not pick a college because a friend is going. The free tuition alone is a great reason to choose Alabama over Auburn. Besides, if S22 and his buddy want to visit each other in college, it’s only about a 3 hr drive between the 2 colleges.
Kids go with friends and meet other kids - and they have new friends and the old friendships don’t stay a priority.
My son is at Bama with several friends from HS - he sees his one good HS friend at home, not at school? Why - different interests (greek life) and other activities, etc.
It’s clear from the first post that you want your son to go to BAMA.
Both are good schools.
The STEM to the MBA isn’t someone who is in Manderson though so if he’s in finance it won’t work.
It’s a fine program - but note from a bang for the buck, you want to graduate college, work somewhere for at least two years, and if possible go to a top 20 MBA and come out with $100K salary.
Kids that go straight through undergrad to MBA don’t get much lift salary wise.
I’m sure both programs will be fine. Auburn seems the cleaner town to me - Tuscaloosa is kind of - yuck.
Both are very nice. Bama will have more geographic diversity because of the huge merit.
You can’t go wrong either way - but you want to spend less and it’s evident.
If you have a budget, share that with your son - and limit his choice to what you can afford (or want to afford). This is where parents need to get ahead of up front - because a school like Bama or Arizona (is another) - you know up front what your cost will be.
btw- the Honors dorm (at Bama) - Ridgecrest - really nice - you get your own room and share a bathroom with just one other. Plus you have a shared kitchen with two others in the same situation. Not sure about Auburn but you mention housing shortage…I will say the campus and town are nice.