<p>Can anyone describe pros and cons of the Honors College Dorms (if there are any?) Are they pretty much alike, is one in a better location than others to classes or other important campus buildings?
Can you apply for housing before putting a deposit down? (This is the case at our state flagship school which D is not applying to)
We will not be able to visit Alabama until Honors College weekend in January</p>
<p>When is the Honor College weekend? My son has finished all of his applications to the UA including honors and scholarship. We have not heard anything about this?</p>
<p>they are all in the same cluster, general area. riverside is the best in the aspect in the fact that it has the pool and the clubhouse. but all the honors dorms are allowed to use it. i personally say that the ones that are open to honors & non honors are the best, because the full honors ones can be a wee bit...anti social-ish. but thats not always true..its up to you..and if youre an outgoing personal anyways, its not gonna matter where you stay. also all these dorms are near Lakeside Dining, which has the best food hands down..as well as the Ferg. these rooms are VERY spacious. you pick pick from singles, two, and four room suites. comes with kitchen, and furnished living & dining room. does cost more.( about $900 difference) worth it.
* they all are the same model</p>
<p>In comparison to the other dorms (south campus)...the North Campus community (honors + Sommerville & Paty Hall) are farther (around 10ish minutes) from the middle of campus - quad, sororities,some of the fraternities, stadium, etc. people make a big deal out of the distance but honestly..its not even that bad. youre just not in the heart of the campus.BUT the honors dorms/north campus are near the Ferg ( student center) The traditional dorms are said to be more social, because youre pretty much forced into that situation. Community showers, most people keep their room dorms open, and all this sharing-ness creates a comradery(sp?) between everyone and they tend to hold more students so thats the whole "social" thing youll hear from people.</p>
<p>When picking housing you should also factor in where your department is too, not just the social/non social</p>
<p>Honors only
Lakeside West
Ridegcrest West
Riverside </p>
<p>Non Honors
Lakeside East ( female engineering program)
Ridgecrest East
Ridgecrest South ( brand new for Fall 09)</p>
<p>South Campus<a href="popular%20ones">/U</a>
Tutwiler - ALL GIRL, the sorority rushees like to live here, but not all of them chose this dorm. 966 women..enough said..slow elevators, traditionally some people got stuck here, social</p>
<p>Burke - COED, has a dining hall, down the street from the stadium</p>
<p>Parham - ALL GIRL, directly across from Burke, so you have access to the dining hall. not as big as tut.</p>
<ul>
<li>rooms in these are very small.</li>
</ul>
<p>This year they are doing housing through online selection so instead of picking which community (north, south, etc) and then being placed, you can pick the actual dorm. you virtually select while dorm,floor, room you want to be in. but its first come first serve. the contracts/deposits started being accepted Oct 1st, so those who turned theres in asap will get priority (after honors) and so on...
Honors & Living/Learning communities chose throughout March, regular chose throughout April</p>
<p>and NO you cannot apply for housing until you put ALL the deposits down</p>
<p>i think i covered everything?</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification on the dorm situation, it is extremely helpful since we will not be able to tour Bama until January.
The Capstone scholars weekend is by invitation only, I believe, and it is being held on the Saturday of the MLK holiday weekend, January 17,2009. It is a nearly all day event, from 8am until after 2pm.</p>
<p>When were you sent the invitation to the Capstone Scholars Weekend? Did they recruit your student or was the invitation sent after they were accepted to UA? Also.</p>
<p>My son received his Capstone invitation after gaining admission. He, unfortunately, cannot attend, because his academic team is competing for a district title that weekend. He not only returned the card, but also sent a letter to the College President explaining his situation. He hopes that this will not hurt his chances for additional opportunities at the school.</p>
<p>Sorry for the delay in answering your question. D applied after receiving the offer as a NMSF for the full ride Presidential scholarship in the mail back in early October.( she will get OOS tuition, and if she makes NMF she will also get free housing, a laptop and a stipend) About 2 weeks after she was accepted, she got the invitation to the Capstone Scholars weekend which will be Saturday, January 17, 2009. (there was a typo saying it was Saturday, January 16,2009) which is incorrect. She also received an invitation to apply for the University Fellows Experience which is highly competitive-only about 40 are selected from a pool of around 400-500 invited students. Not all will follow up to apply, but it is still competitive-barely 1/10 odds.</p>
<p>Hope4freeride:</p>
<p>Do you have any more details about the Scholars weekend on 1/17/09. My son also received his invitation and we plan to attend. Is this more of a we think you are special kind of thing or are they still trying to convince the kids to attend Univ of AL? My son received the Presidential scholarship which is full tuition. He has already decided and has paid enrollment and housing deposit. </p>
<p>It's an expensive weekend if all they are doing is trying to convince you to attend? We have to get a hotel etc. I just wanted your thoughts on it. In the letter that came with the Fellowship application it states that all academic scholarships that were called Academic Elite will now be given to all University Fellows. Am I reading this correctly? Previously, only 8 or 10 fellows received this fantastic scholarship which is basically a free ride for eveything since they give you over $8,000/yr stipend. </p>
<p>We realize that the competition is very stiff and it's a very long shot but it's nice to think about it.</p>
<p>Hi srobin,
Your guess is as good as mine. Although they send tons of letters and certificates in the mail, it is still not very clear to me what they expect to accomplish on this day. I am treating it like bit of a glorified tour and info session. I hope they will explain to the students how and why this is special. My D is still not crazy about going, but since she won't have to miss school to do it and also since she has no desire to go to Baylor( even though she has been accepted) under any circumstances ( our original safety), I told her she needs another safety. Period. Her other safety is Furman as she was named a Furman scholar at her school.
I think they could save a ton of money and effort by making a really good DVD of their Honors Programs and send it out to those who qualify.</p>
<p>I can't recall when we received two videos from Alabama but I thought they were well done and very informative. </p>
<p>Keep an opened mind about all your school choices. All schools are selling their "product" to you. You are the customer. Evaluate each school on a set of criteria that is most important to you / your student and your family's values. </p>
<p>Another factor to consider is how many credits will be granted for any AP/Post Secondary course work completed before next fall. Alabama allows a maximum of 45 credit hours when other schools set their limit to 10 or 15. My son started this fall with sophomore status. </p>
<p>Our son is very happy at Alabama.</p>
<p>I just found a regular DVD about Alabama that was sent to us and primarily talks about the Blount initiative, the New College and another freshman program that appears to have a lot of tutorial/remedial assistance.
I wonder if we will get a second DVD after she sends in her Honors College app?</p>
<p>formomof3boyz, I may PM you after we return from the Capstone Day in midJanuary.
Thanks for all of your many other posts about this opportunity at Bama. My D is still kind of sticking her nose up in the air about it, and she also has a young Bible study teacher/mentor who is an alumna of Bama who has a bit of a sour grapes attitude about sororities,etc, even though she was in one there. I think she has some poor self image issues which she is projecting onto Bama(yet she married into a very wealthy and socially prominent family in our city). Unfortunately, teen girls listen more to peers and younger adults than mom at this point in time.</p>
<p>The elite scholarships are basically free money. After you pay for meals (since housing and tuition is covered) your child will receive a hefty refund check :)</p>
<p>The best honors dorms to me are Lakeside/Ridgecrest because they have full community kitchens. I enjoy cooking though having meal plans is very convenient as sometimes I don't have time to cook.</p>
<p>I shouldn't be saying this but try to see if you can stay in The Bluffs. They are off campus apartments that the University has leased because of the influx of students. You can use your scholarship there though I htink preference is given to upperclassmen. I also think you are billed for utilities on your student account which you probably have to pay for.</p>
<p>To any students considering another university. There's nothing more fun than hitting the road to watch your football team play. I went to our season opener against Clemson and went to Knoxville for the UT. If I didn't have to work I'd be in NOLA for the Sugar Bowl.
Roll tide!</p>
<p>Yes and the Florida kids are having more fun than anyone.</p>
<p>i went back to re-look at the alabama scholarships.</p>
<p>does anyone know if the gpa guidelines are for weighted or unweighted gpas?</p>
<p>Wait, but are they improving the regular dorms too? I might prefer the "animal house" dorms that the more studious honors dorms.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman in the honors program at Bama and loves it. I wanted to add a couple of things that weren't clear to me last year, so they might help someone trying to make a decision. </p>
<p>If you have a National Merit or other scholarship that includes housing, and are an honors student, you don't have to pay extra to live in an honors dorm. The honors dorms at Bama are by far better than any we saw at other schools. Having a private BR in a 2 or 4 BR suite is great. I don't know how anyone would prefer having to share a small old-fashioned dorm room with someone.</p>
<p>The honors college at Bama, unlike many other schools, has real benefits. For instance, at UNC-CH the honors program was presented to us as "we do lots of community service activities and have seminars on topics of interest..." Well, community service is fine, but it doesn't make an honors college. At Bama there are quite a number of honors courses. Most students in the honors college could have gotten accepted anywhere, so they aren't lowering their standards by not going to an Ivy League school. And, in addition to the housing, honors students get first choice of classes. A freshman honors student gets to schedule his classes before a senior non-honors student. And, as mentioned above, the honors housing is superb.</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn't realize how great priority registration is until I hear my peers complain about how they are stuck with an early class or not so good professor.</p>
<p>And the honors classes available are quite interesting. I'm taking one class where I will learn basic tax preparation skills and then help low-income singles and families prepare their taxes. Another honors class I am taking will teach me entrepreneur skills in a small setting.</p>
<p>It is for weighted GPA.</p>