I was just talking to a prospective dad and he said that they paid a registration fee for their family and junior high school daughter to visit Bama. I think he’s mistaken, but I thought I’d ask here first to find out if there’s something new.
Never mind…he was talking about University Days and the modest fee for that.
That would be a heck of a way to show interest!!!
I think they charge $15/person for University Days. It’s probably mostly for lunch, but that would be $60 for a family of 4. I’d rather go on a different day when it didn’t cost anything and wasn’t so crowded.
We attended a University Day at University of Alabama - which was very good for getting some good general information, more than the tour and individual things that can be arranged and done at other visit. At the time we did University Day, there were select numbers of University Days - maybe 6-8 in a calendar year.
Since we are in-state, and it was the top school of interest for DD, we took the opportunity to attend several special programs - Engineering Day, Scholars Program, 3X UA Honor Band. We had toured a few different times - years earlier with both DDs, and maybe one or two other times on campus. When there was an area Scholars evening program, we went to that. DD did UA SITE (one summer week before HS junior or senior year) and at the conclusion to that, parents and student luncheon was also informative with Dean of Engineering speaking. SITE was helpful for DD choosing her area in eng/cs.
OOS, often families tie college visits with vacations.
Maybe the small fees with UA Day (University Day) will help eliminate ‘no shows’. I suspect fees are for counting/covering lunch/snacks, but it probably helps with getting fuller attendance, since they fill to capacity with registration.
here is my more complete version. I ran out of time on editing my comments…
We attended a University Day at University of Alabama - which was very good for getting some good general information, more than the tour and individual things that can be arranged and done at other visit. At the time we did University Day, there were select numbers of University Days - maybe 6-8 in a calendar year.
Since we are in-state, and it was the top school of interest for DD, we took the opportunity to attend several special programs - Engineering Day, Scholars Program, 3X UA Honor Band. We had toured a few different times - years earlier with both DDs, and maybe one or two other times on campus. When there was an area Scholars evening program, we went to that. DD did UA SITE (one summer week before HS junior or senior year) and at the conclusion to that, parents and student luncheon was also informative with Dean of Engineering speaking. SITE was helpful for DD choosing her area in eng/cs. She is now finishing her junior year in Engineering, and added a second concentration within her eng area (civil and architectural engineering), and will graduate May 2018.
OOS, often families tie college visits with vacations.
Maybe the small fees with UA Day (University Day) will help lessen or eliminate ‘no shows’. I suspect fees are for counting/covering lunch/snacks, but it probably helps with getting fuller attendance, since they fill to capacity with registration. I know there were some ‘no shows’ at our program.
What I found informative was the small break out sessions with Avanti team members, so you could ask very specific questions to students who could inform you. For example, some students can jump into Calc III based on AP or dual enrollment - the question was posed, how do those students do in Calc III at UA?
I also was impressed with an Avanti team member who had such a strong desire to attend UA, and so happy attending UA, that he was working so hard to be there (additional jobs in addition to the financial aid) - I am sure it made an impression on DD.
Also had some interface time with a few faculty, and did hear some unique talks, as it was generalized - so from various programs. They also answered some general questions after each talk. It was helpful to go.
For some evaluating lots of colleges, one has to decide what kind of time to spend at various schools.
I suspect some families bring younger kids to motivate them for academic pursuits to be able to attend schools like UA on scholarship.
With the oldest child, parents as well as the student are not only looking at schools/programs, but the parents are getting into the swing of the college paradigm today. As the younger children get ready for college, the parents are more sophisticated in the processes.
We arranged our campus visit through the Honors College which included a lunch with a honors student…our lunch was paid for by the Honors College, it was a nice surprise and we had a great lunch!!