My daughter has applied to UA. We have never visited the campus and we are trying to decide on the best time to do so. I’ve received an e-mail regarding the University Days in October and November. Will it be a madhouse? Will we have a good impression/feel for 'Bama? I’m wondering if we would be better off doing a regular campus visit.
Wondering the same here! If it is a madhouse then we would rather do it on a quieter day.
The Monday University Days are great events and UA greatly manages the crowds. In fact, of all the schools we toured, UA is most highly “regulated” - I mean that as a positive, not a negative. Everything at UA is carefully orchestrated and you have ample access to ask questions. I found the special visits far preferable to typical Friday visits as Fridays are, well, Fridays and everyone is “workin’ for the weekend”…so it is hard to pin folks down for deeper convos.
We are doing the University Days on 10/17 once again so my son can see both Ole Miss and UA one more time back to back. When it all comes out in the wash, I expect he will have to choose as the expected offers will be roughly comparable. So far, Ole Miss has a been a bit more forthcoming. We know he will have “Presidential” at UA - that’s amazing (thanks UA staff!), and I believe the additional $2500 for engineering…but aside from that, not a ton of info. Ole Miss was pretty blunt with expectations and they were pretty high. Honors College, strong consideration for Stamps and a few really great engineering options too.
The good news for us is that either is a great choice and our son can see himself at either school. To me that’s important.
My advice, pick the Monday visit. Things are a bit more “normal” - the campus is “normal” etc… Heck, even Tuscaloosa is more normal.
Not that we need to feel special, but we were separated at Ole Miss from the “regular” tour. At Ole Miss it was a very personal tour with a few kids that were all high achievers. My son really appreciated that. We were able to focus questions on things that concerned these kids and not so much on the “general crowd” questions. At UA, we were all together. This October, he will be applied (and I assume accepted) already…so maybe things will be different. That’s not to say we need to be segregated, but splitting allows the kids to really to inquire about fairly different topics.
Good luck!
Oh, the tour at UA is phenomenal. They took a lesson from Disney and do it exceptionally well!
@morida … Thanks! Very helpful!
Does anyone know if there is a special Honors component to the University Days?
@morida Thank you!
@carachel2 I clicked on the link provided in the e-mail which took me to the University Days page. It appears that the Honors College is one of the topics.
I think it depends. We didn’t visit until April 1 of my son’s senior year and it was the perfect time for us. We arranged our visit through the Honors College, and they tailored the day to meet my son’s specific goals and interests.
We were able to attend a University Days session back in March. It was definitely enough to sell my daughter on the school, but we felt that we missed a lot. It was incredibly organized and the activities fair in the morning was worth an early start. During the afternoon, we had make a choice of sessions, and there was an optional tour of the Media Center that we didn’t find out about until late morning, and had to prioritize. We missed seeing all the dorms except one, since they were open house style tours. We also missed the Honors College session. The media center alone was impressive enough for DD17, but I think we’re going to try to set up a visit through the Honors College this fall, especially if she makes NMSF and other schools end up in the mix. The trip reports that I’ve seen for Honors College visits have been pretty amazing. Most I’ve seen are focused on some type of engineering, but I expect they can set up the same type of thing for any major if your daughter is thinking of Honors College. If she’s not going that route, I’d definitely go to University Days, but leave some time the day after to try to visit anything you missed! Good luck!
^ Yes, if possible, do both tours: either University Days (500+ people!) or a ‘regular’ campus tour (small group of ~25) + tack on a privately arranged, 1-on-1 Honors College tour (if you qualify). The UD and/or ‘regular’ campus tours will give you a nice overview. The HC arranged tour can be for any major, not just Engineering, and you will meet with an ‘Ambassador’ for the college/department that your student is interested in…maybe even take you to lunch in the dining halls…and definitely answer all of your questions about what it is like to go to school there. You will get multiple perspectives by doing both types of tours, and, if you’re coming from far away, you don’t want any stones left unturned since it will probably be your only visit.
I am different than most people and don’t think campus visits are worth much. The things that make a good college experience can’t be ascertained by 1 visit (or 2). My DD did not like UA after her visit but for various reasons ended up there and could not be happier. My other DD loved her visit to her college and ended up hating it. The biggest factors in being happy are the friends you make; the quality of the professors you get; your field of study and how much you enjoy it. None of those can be determined by a visit or two.
I never even saw my college. It was the only place with my major so I was going there no matter what. Choosing a school based on a major, or academics, or price, or distance, or climate, etc. are all valid reasons: a visit, not so much. JMHO
I think a high stats student is better going on a non-UDay…so they can have a more personalized visit setup by the Honors College.
Weekends aren’t a good time to visit. And certainly not on a home game weekend. Everything is already booked and $$$
An option could be come to a UA University Day, and stay for another day of more personalized schedule. Or could come back to the Saturday Honors Day (in January, check with Honors College) - and again have the Friday be with the stuff one missed or would miss on the Saturday schedule. The Honors Day is all high stat kids, there by invitation, but can get invited via HC.
One thing that was good with University Day was a break out session with Avanti team members to answer questions - one got the student perspective. We had talked to a student one-on-one between sessions and both DD and I captured both the spirit of the school/students, but insight into what DD would experience. The particular student we talked to was so exuberant - and he had to string together campus jobs because of financial need - which also gave DD perspective that she is very privileged to be able to not have to fund some of her education with a paying job during her school semesters.
We attended a lot of UA things - in part because it was DD’s chosen school - some where she wanted to go for years and years. Engineering Day, University Day, The Saturday Honors Day, a few other times on campus taking in the University tour. We learned something each time.
To me, it is important for a student and family to have enough various campus visits and research, talking to other parents with students at various schools, learning from others and seeing where family/student options are - and where the student can meet their college goals within the financial constraints.
Parent also needs to determine what their student can handle - can they handle being at a campus far from home? Can the student focus on academics despite outside influences that may be very strong at a particular school? Can the student complete a degree plan within financial constraints the family may have?
@TV4caster, while I value your opinion, your personal experience appears to be a bit of an outlier and far outside the norm for most families.
In our experience, multiple visits are warranted - heck 3-4x isn’t out of the question. On paper, U of I (we’re IL residents), Northwestern, and Vanderbilt were all stellar fits. One day on campus and my son knew he wasn’t a fit. In fact, he strongly disliked all the three.
Our tour of schools left us with UA and Ole Miss. On paper, they may not be great fits. However, my son loved both and can see himself at either. We are doing the October UDays to augment the Friday tour we have already completed. I wouldn’t be shocked if we make yet another visit.
Each visit is unique and we take lots away. I love just chatting with random students, staff, and faculty. The more personal encounters the better.
If life were all about stats and figures, we could scratch sports. The human element to college is what makes each school worth seeing - both good and bad.
I am a strong supporter of campus visits, even multiple visits, if time and money are no object. However, I have observed that one visit usually seals the deal at UA.
However, make that visit count. Visit the student’s department of choice, sit in on a class, meet with a professor, take the general tour, visit the Honors College, see the dorms, have lunch with a Student Ambassador, talk to enrolled students, visit the Ferguson Student Center, go to one of the museums on campus, walk around campus, drive around campus at night, drive around Tuscaloosa, and eat some awesome food.
Too much to do in a day, heck…make it a two day visit. 
Visits are a must. They give you a feel for the campus, especially while students are heading to class or eating in tha halls. Our 2nd visit in Feb sold my S for UA. Our 1st visit was in July last summer. Actually, Miss St was his 1st choice after the summer visit, with Ole Miss being 2 and than UA. After visiting all 3 again in Feb, It came down to Ole Miss and UA. UA won out for it’s facilities, campus, ease in and out of Birmingham airport, the friendliness of students, and proximity of downtown to the university. My S could see himself at UA more and I could not agree more. It was very tough to turn down the prestigious CME scholarship that Ole Miss offerred ( more on me than S - lol) and the HC, which is also more of an “honor” because they just don’t take everyone that has high stats. But again, it came down to where he could see himself at.
I really think it depends on the student. Not everyone has the luxury of visiting a school before attending, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend that if a visit is at all possible. But @robotbldmom is absolutely right–you need to make that visit really count.
I want S to be visiting! I don’t know where people get all the time and money to do visits. We would either have to fly so S doesn’t miss too much school, or drive so we don’t have to spend so much. Of course when you’re stuck in the midwest every flight route is inconvenient AND expensive, and every drive takes 8+ hours.
@flatKansas, that’s why we waited until our son had all his acceptances in hand and had eliminated schools that either cost too much or had been ruled out for other reasons… It WAS expensive, especially since we booked the trip on fairly short notice, but it was well worth the cost in the grand scheme of things. We visited two other schools for the first time that spring, as well.
@flatKansas, we are also from the midwest (9 hr drive) - and although my son was very interested in UA - we did not visit until right before Christmas his senior year. I will admit that I was not ready to even think about him going so far away the summer before senior year (so no summer visit); and the entire fall was simply way too full with school and football. His only visit was the day before the campus closed for winter break (definitely not a great time because there were basically NO students around). Still, he LOVED the campus and the people we met! We knew he wouldn’t be making any truly final decisions until we had the financial packets from a couple of other schools, so the December visit worked out fine for us. Good luck! (He/we just “discovered” UA in June [summer before senior year]; if we had known about the merit scholarships sooner, I suspect we WOULD have visited in the summer…even though I was still wanting him closer to home.)
Newcomers, please don’t feel that UA is a complete ghost town when it is not in session and that there will be no one around to help or answer questions, etc. IF your tour/visit is arranged in advance, UA will most likely be able to find someone with whom you can meet. And, you will probably find that UA will bend over backwards to make the time YOU have to spend at UA worthwhile and accommodate YOUR schedule, regardless of when that time is, rather than dictating that you only come when it is convenient to UA.
It is my understanding that a limited number of student ambassadors are always available during evenings, breaks, and vacations, and days that the school is not normally in session, and these ambassadors can be called upon to meet with prospective students and families with mutual consent.
I can attest to the ambassadors being “on call”. My student did many an impromptu tour for the Honors College.