Looking to schedule and see there are a number of choices.
One or two day, regular or Honors.
DS is in Honors college, for Electrical/Computer Engineering. We are from OOS, and this will be the only trip before he starts school in the fall.
Any advice on which session would be the best? Kids don’t graduate here until end of June.
Also OOS. Originally, my son was going to go to an early Honors session last summer, but because we had some additional travel planned in August, and because my son was going to be in Outdoor Action, we changed his session to one of the last two-day regular sessions in July so that we could get to Alabama, go to Bama Bound, then hang out for a few days, and then come back to move him in early. From a travel, time, and cost perspective, it worked out well. Unfortunately, by that late session, there were less than a dozen open spaces in any of the Honors Fall classes. He was able to grab one upper division Honors lit class that had one space left - that was it.
So, if being able to get into Honors classes is very important for that freshman year, then consider getting to Alabama as early as you can, whether regular or Honors. I know it means additional travel costs. Now, because my son already had so many units coming in, he did not have many general ed classes, so not being able to take Honors general ed was not that great a problem. But it has meant that this year, he has not really experienced the benefits of the Honors College as far as classes are concerned. For students who plan to take mostly general ed classes their freshman year, and want as many Honors versions of those classes, then obviously more significant.
As a side note, I really wish they would let OOS incoming freshmen do registration online, in virtual registration rooms if need be, if they just want to maintain some control. My son did not really receive any help or advice the actual day of registration - I was the one helping him from my hotel room, as we texted back and forth, putting together a schedule, grabbing what Honors classes were available. All the staff did was come by and check things off. I did not find there to be a compelling reason for him to be on campus or even in Alabama that day. He and I could have handled it all from our home in Florida. Yeah, he got to stay the night in the dorm, but he was going to be moving in soon anyway, and we had already visited the campus multiple times by that point. It was time and money that would have been better spent on his books 
I graduated high school in mid June and went to a Bama Bound session in late May. I liked having the whole summer to change my schedule. Coming in with a lot of credits, any priority registration was very beneficial. At the time (2009), airfare and hotel costs were very low ($200 roundtrip from Seattle and $39 per night at the Ramada) so OOS families could more easily afford attending an early summer Bama Bound.
So it looks like we should probably attend a June session to get the classes. He is not coming in w/ very many AP credits, so he will need to follow the flow charts pretty closely.
IF there is not any real help w/ scheduling, he should look at the courses and pick them before he gets there?
Also, is one day orientation enough? or would he be better w/ two. We have never been on campus before. Since we are going to be traveling that far and the expense is already fairly high, I was thinking about taking everyone and having a mini vacation somewhere in the area. It would be nice for all the kids to be together before he leaves in Aug.
Any suggestions on where we could spend a couple of days before heading back home to PA? We will be driving, so can travel. A few more hours in the car isn’t going to make that much of a difference.
An OOS student should go to the 2 day session. There is also a pool party at night that gives the kids a chance to make some new friends.
IF there is not any real help w/ scheduling, he should look at the courses and pick them before he gets there?
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Each Bama Bound has hundreds of kids attending.
Each student should come with a M-F schedule grid with Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C penciled into various time periods.
For instance, in the 10am MWF slots, your child might have 3 options listed (only write the class name and the CRN)
You can get on the mybama website and play around with the “schedule builder” under the student tab. I know currently enrolled can student pick classes, put them into the registration cart, and push “send” when their day/time to register for classes arrives. Not sure if the same thing can be done for incoming freshman at the Bama Bound sessions.
I’m an OOS freshman who attended a one day Bama bound. I strongly suggest a 2 day one. Mine was less social and more about getting in and getting out. At the 2 day bama bound sessions he will be able to make many friends and memories.
Where in PA are you from? I’m from the hershey area and we always drive through Chattanooga. If you’re willing to drive a bit out of the way, I’d suggest Huntsville or Atlanta. There aren’t many places to stop on my way here.
DS is also Honors ECE. We went to the first BB session in May. We had planned out all of his classes before he got there with alternates in case something was full. He ended up with first choice in all but math (but he got that one later in the summer with drop/add). As others mentioned, it was nice having the opportunity to search for that preferred math class over the course of the summer versus attending a later BB with limited options. If you would like, I could send you a pm with the classes he chose for each semester and the profs he enjoyed.
My gut tells me that the one-day Bama Bounds are mostly for locals and instate students who’ve been on campus a gazillion times.
It seems like they would do more advising of freshman. . . I hope they do more once you are in.
We are OOS and did the 2 day Bama Bound which I HIGHLY recommend.
Your student should be able to get an excused absence with a letter from the advisor at UA that he/she was there for advising and orientation. Most high schools give 2-5 days for college visits for their senior year. Take advanatage of that.
You can make it a family vacation of sorts while you all get some insight into UA and the area. While the future student is at their meetings concerning all things UA, advising, etc the parents are in the Parent Sessions with all sorts of great info that will be of concern for you and your UA student. Younger siblings can attend Sibling Orientation, my younger daughter attended this and enjoyed it greatly. Still talks to the other kids she met during that time. Your whole family can stay in the dorms to keep costs down. Parents and siblings will be in their own dorm room. The future UA student will be on another wing of the building with other incoming students.
When we attended the 2 day Bama Bound my daughter did receive advising for the classes she needed to enroll. She aleady had done the mybama schedule options by researching ahead of time and had several options. They worked with them when enrolling in their classes and made sure they were doing it all right then signed off on their schedule. Since we went early in June if there was a class that she wanted to move to a different time slot, she had that option all summer to tweak her schedule since she had aleady been to BB and been advised.
If you have not been to UA at all or only once for a one day visit, I highly recommend visiting and doing the 2 day BB.
^^^^ We also HIGHLY recommend the two-day Bama Bound orientation. Agree with everything that TxNewCollegeMom said! Great oppt’y to meet several of your new classmates, etc. My son and I both totally enjoyed our two-day experience (we had been there previously for just a one-day visit).
On the one day session, looks like the parents are part of it, as it indicates a dismissal time.
If DS does the 2 day session, are we a part of any of that? We are not interested in attending the parent orientation. We will also have our youngest child w/ us and she will not be doing sibling.
Would we still be able to see the dorms, etc.?
Also, what do some of the acronyms stand for? UAPD, REXPRO, FYE?
UAPD-University of Alabama Police Department
REXPO-Student rec exposition
FYE-first year experience
Student Bama Bound, whether one or two days, is only for students. They do not want parents and younger siblings tagging along with the college students. If parents and/or siblings want to participate in their respective orientation each person has to register, but parents and siblings cannot attend student orientation.
If you want to see the dorm, you can see the model in Ridgecrest South at anytime. This is the model for all suite style dorms. Parents and visitors are not allowed in the other dorms during the summer because these house young children who are doing summer camps.
Thanks bamagirls. We were thinking of the 2 day but it seems very long and I have to wonder if it is so beneficial to devote that much time to it. I know on a few of the college tours we did, they were far longer than necessary, with a lot of wasted time.
What would you consider the value of the 2 day Honors, over the one day. I really couldn’t find any posts here about the actual experiences of those who attended.
It’s more like one and a half days than two. I’m not sure if they release any honors sections until that first honors Bama bound is why we didn’t do the one day. If you are trying to save costs, I recommend staying in the dorms. The hotels will be expensive and are likely already booked. @laralei I’ll send you a pm.
The value in the 1.5 day orientation is that incoming students have more opportunities to interact with other incoming students (there is a pool party) and get to spend a night in a dorm. If they are going to live in Ridgecrest South or Presidential I/II, the suite will be very similar to the one they will be living in, which makes it easier to figure out what they are going to bring on move in day.
Parent and sibling orientations are optional, but do come highly recommended. Some of the material presented may seem obvious to some people, but that is going to happen when teaching the same information to hundreds of people over the course of a summer.
Speaking on sibling orientation, I high recommend any younger siblings who may or may not be interested in Alabama go to this. I went when my brother was an incoming freshman and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t know how young your youngest is, OP, but to any others who are considering this for their kids its a lot of fun. I am still friends with the girls I met then and now I am a freshman here. I still talk to those girls and we got to do a lot of fun things at orientation like rock climbing and smoothies.
How did you get a hotel for $39
Is June 22-23 too late to do BB and get good classes?