<p>Who has the nicer campus Alabama or Auburn?</p>
<p>bama.
hands down.
go visit if you dont believe me. i saw both and was horrified how auburn was n the middle of nowhere,barely anything to do, and just...yuck. i almost didnt visit bama because i thought it would be similar to auburn. POLAR OPPOSITES. bama has a gorgeousss campus. look at the website, literally the campus looks the exact same. now from the brochures and stuff auburn sent me i thought it would be gorgeous. yea right. its dumpy. and i really didnt like the surrounding area of auburn...bama is just...everything and more.
roll damn tide :)</p>
<p>VISIT...BOTH!</p>
<p>I will be visiting both with my daughter. We are from Florida and trying to decide where to visit first. You've made a strong case for Alabama and no respose from Auburn site.</p>
<p>RIGHT..... The Auburn campus is gorgeous and the city of Auburn is not in the middle of nowhere. Auburn is a great city, and if you just head in and head out then you miss the best of it. You will be able to find most of your typical shopping centers, chain restaurants and big box stores in Auburn. You really shouldn't ask such a question on a message board such as this. You stand almost no chance of getting an unbiased answer. Visit both and make your own decision, they are both nice.</p>
<p>I'm sure you are right about not getting an unbiased opinion. I forget how much the two schools are at each others throat.</p>
<p>We are from the northeast (no allegiances to either school) and visited both campuses in August. In my opinion, they are both lovely. Auburn seemed to be a bit more "compact", a more intimate feel to it. Alabama was a bit more spread out, and very pretty too.</p>
<p>Does anybody know anything about UAB? My son is interested in Biomedical Engineering, and we are afraid that Big BAMA will be too big for him. I have visited Birmingham for work and loved it, but have not seen the campus. </p>
<p>My son is involved in a lot of clubs at his high school, and he likes to sit outside during lunch, so some green space will be nice. We will not send him with a car, and want him to live on campus for most of his college career.</p>
<p>Anyone who has visited or even attended, please give feedback. We live in New Orleans, and Birmingham is probably affordable for a visit. </p>
<p>Thanks for any help you can give.</p>
<p>UAB has alot going for it!!including very reasonable costs. But if he is looking for a typical campus UAB is situated in the middle of B'ham with busy streets going through the campus and i didnt get a campus feel. They have an incredible student complex with pool, exercise equip, rock climbing wall, have built new residence (Blazer) which is very nice. And they are in the middle of construction for a green area which i think will help the "campus" feel. My son likes the science and technology honors program and that is why we went to visit, spoke with faculty and they were extremely nice. UAB also has very good scholarships for merit both in and out of state. My opinion is that academically it is extremely good just not a typical campus... i suggest you visit.</p>
<p>College</a> Costs tuition & costs</p>
<p>FOR OUT-OF-STATE RESIDENTS WHO ARE FRESHMEN:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>$9000 with an ACT of 28 or higher and a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher ($6000 plus a $3000 on-campus housing allowance per year)</p></li>
<li><p>$5500 with an ACT of 26 or higher and a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher ($3500 plus a $2000 on-campus housing allowance per year)</p></li>
<li><p>$3500 with an ACT of 26 or higher and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher ($2500 plus a $1000 on-campus housing allowance per year)</p></li>
<li><p>$2500 with an ACT of 24 or higher and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I agree with parent56. Seems strong academically. Our daughter is interested in Chemistry and, when we toured, the Chemistry department seemed very strong. UAB graduates more Chemistry majors than Alabama, Auburn, and UAH (U of A Huntsville) combined. It is situated in a newly remodeled building with all new labs and an impressive array of equipment. D knew more about the equipment than we did and she was very impressed. If your son is intersted in medicine (which I gather he might be from the Biomedical Engineering), UAB certainly seems to be a good choice for med school or med school preparation. UAB does offer classes in MCAT (and maybe other grad placement tests) preparation. That way, you can take a regular class ("free") rather than having to pay extra for an outside MCAT prep course. They really touted this.</p>
<p>Urban location does give very non-traditional campus feel. Certainly different from more pastoral campuses such as Wake Forest or otherwise "traditional" campuses such as Duke, Vanderbilt, and William and Mary (which we also visited recently). Vanderbilt, which is also located in urban area, although not as close to the core as UAB, is like a bubble with green space, trees, traditional buildings, and ped walkways over major streets. At UAB, you will have to cross some surface streets to get to and from classes. We were there on a Saturday, I can't comment very on what the traffic is like during the week, but these are multilane streets, so I imagine that there can be quite a bit of traffic, at least at certain times of day. I think that there are campus shuttles that go through/around campus (and also to outlying parking areas), so you can probably take them if you had to go to a more outlying building.</p>
<p>Basketball arena (Bartow Arena) is within easy walking distance of residence halls. Football is played at Legion Field, which is NOT within walking distance. There is a shuttle that goes to and from the stadium on game day.</p>
<p>Residence halls are very modern. They told us that you would never have to share a bathroom with more than one other student. Rooms are suite style, typically consisting of two bedrooms with two beds each. Each bedroom has its own bathroom. Suite has a shared kitchenette with refrigerator and sink. Freshman hall (Blazer) is directly adjacent to new dining hall and new campus rec center. There are enough beds for about 20% of overall undergrad enrollment (pretty typical for state schools). Due to large commuter population, not sure what the demand is for dorm space (i.e. how easy/hard is it to live in dorms all 4 years). It was not obvious to us that there were any (or much) adequate off campus housing optiosn within reasonable walking distance to campus.</p>
<p>UAB is trying to improve the core undergraduate area of campus, building sort of a semi-traditional quad with green space (grass). On one side is the rec center/dining hall/some dorms (including Blazer). On other side, several academic buildings, including Chemistry, Education, library, Psychology. There is some greenspace (mainly grass as opposed to large numbers of trees).</p>
<p>Overall, UAB campus is large (they told us it is 80 blocks), but undergraduate area where your son would do most of his living/eating/learning is pretty small (really, just the new "quad" and the surrounding area). I could imagine that it might get a bit claustrophobic after 4 years.</p>
<p>In addition to Science and Technology Honors, look closely at University Honors. It is billed as having a more "liberal arts" approach. The University Honors curriculum (33 hours) replaces the university's core academic curriculum requirements (42 hours), except for math. University Honors has its own Honors House (for classes, not for living), which is located in a remodeled 100+ year old church on the western edge of campus near the Engineering and Business buildings. All University Honors courses are held there. 24/7 access for University Honors students. You can only be in one honors program (not counting departmental honors) and it doesn't have to be "related" to your major. In other words, even being in Biomedical Engineering, your son could probably be in University Honors, if he chooses and if he qualifies (application is required).</p>
<p>Regarding merit aid... UAB (and Auburn and Alabama) have pretty straightforward criteria for awarding merit aid. Basically, given GPA and ACT/SAT scores, you can determine exactly how much merit aid you will get. If you have GPA X and SAT Y, you WILL (not might) get Z money. Top scores get what amounts to a full ride (room/board/tuition) at UAB. I think that it is not quite as easy to get full ride at Auburn. Auburn does provide a nice grid that lays out what you WILL get, given your scores.</p>
<p>Again, I second parent56's comments and recommend visiting campus before committing. Academics look good, but you may or may not like the overall campus environment.</p>
<p>PS
If you look at Alabama, read very closely about the various honors programs that they have. They look to be very exciting, especially the top-level University Fellows program. Look also at the Computer Based Honors Program (or something like that). The name is pretty clunky, but it sounds at least interesting and, possibly, even exciting. Also, while not an honors program, be sure to look at the Blount Undergraduate Initiative. Its mission is to provide a liberal arts atmosphere to the students enrolled in it. It has its own dorm and two academic buildings for participants.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your input! Son actually wants to be a biomedical engineer, not going premed. So we're looking for a program that offers coops, internships, and not the cutthroat premed environment. </p>
<p>Thanks so much also for the description of the campus. Son wants access to the city, but does like green space. Maybe by the time he gets there, in Fall 2010, the campus will be more developed.</p>
<p>Thanks also for the vote of confidence on the rec center. It looked too good to be true on the website.</p>
<p>It's a definite visit, thanks to your comments.</p>
<p>I have a friend that wants to visit the whole UA system and decide. The question is, when one refers to UA, which campus is the one referred mostly to?<br>
thank you</p>
<p>Tuscaloosa</p>
<p>Post #9 is funny at first glance. "College Costs:" then lists costs in a fashion that suggests costs are higher for those with higher ACT scores. Instead of the heading "College Costs: Tuition & Costs" it should be "University Scholarship Merit Awards Based on ACT Scores".</p>
<p>Both campuses have their nice parts. The philosophy of architecture is what separates them. </p>
<p>The original 1830s layout of the campus was created by a disciple (or sorts) of Thomas Jefferson, so the campus had strikingly similar to the University of Virginia. It even featured a rotunda near where the Gorgas Library now sits. Columns became a signature item of buildings on campus that continues today (look at the huge columns on Shelby Hall).</p>
<p>Auburn's campus was built more pragmatically, mirroring contemporary design of the period the building was built. Auburn expanded a lot during the 1950s and 60s, so much of their campus building reflects the modernist architecture of that time (UA isn't immune, though, see ten Hoor Hall and the Biology building). </p>
<p>That being said, the Haley Center is much more of an epic monstrosity than anything UA has to offer.</p>
<p>UA's campus is beautiful. Very nice new dorms and a major building program has been underway for several years. On our visit to Auburn we thought the campus looked a little dated. UA's campus does look like the brochure. Although it is large- very good transportation system is available- and alot of the campus is flat so it is an easy walk.</p>