<p>I don’t know if this will help, but here’s a copy of what I posted here many months ago:</p>
<p>Why Alabama?</p>
<p>It’s a question that we, and our son, a National Merit scholar born and raised in Hawaii, asked over and over during the fall of 2009. All it took was a visit and we discovered the answer. Here are the top 10 reasons why the University of Alabama is a great choice:</p>
<ol>
<li>Plentiful and generous out-of-state scholarships. </li>
<li>The Honors College–the personal touch and rigor of a small liberal arts college, coupled with the resources of a major research university. </li>
<li>Diversity—more than 40% of incoming freshmen are from out-of-state. Looking for a church, temple, or mosque? They’re all here. </li>
<li>A drop-dead gorgeous campus. </li>
<li>A modern, state-of-the art infrastructure—the facilities are first-rate. </li>
<li>The finest dorms we’ve ever seen. </li>
<li>An endless array of extracurricular activities, service opportunities, internships, and recreation. </li>
<li>Southern Hospitality—the Aloha Spirit, Mainland style. The folks at UA are simply the nicest, most helpful people you’d ever hope to meet. </li>
<li>Water! Kayaking, canoeing, rowing, water skiing, sailing, and swimming. </li>
<li>Deep traditions. Awesome school spirit and pride. A visionary president.</li>
</ol>
<p>I should add an 11th reason: generous application of AP credits. Our son is entering his second year at Bama, yet is only 3 credits shy of junior standing. He is double majoring in Business (Marketing) and Telecommunication & Film. He loves UA and is having the time of his life–academically, socially, and recreationally. And hey, if he can get himself from Honolulu to Tuscaloosa, it can be done from anywhere. :)</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or wish to discuss UA further.</p>
<p>I like the idea of an Honors Facebook page also. My d is not interested in rushing, as are the vast majority of girls posting, and most are not in honors. A facebook page might make it easier to get to know each other.</p>
<p>Malanai, thanks so much for posting the top 10 reasons why your son left Hawaii to attend UA. And the 11th reason is great too! I’m going to have both my D and husband read them tonight. And you’re right- if your son can travel from Hawaii, D has nothing to worry about traveling from Ohio. </p>
<p>In terms of roommate finder, my D and I aren’t finding it to be very user friendly. We have searched by city, state for a couple students of people on CC and it comes up with no results.</p>
<p>After talking with a friend who has a DD entering for 2016 she said there are 4 separate Facebook pages is that correct?..one with 5878 members, one with 122 members, one with 101 members and one with 608 members. Do some students multiple post…</p>
<p>Only one of those is a “group” and not a “page.” The main one has about 600 kids in it. Maybe she tacked on an extra number? There isn’t one with 5k people.</p>
<p>No… her mother who is all thumbs tacked on the extra number!!! But aren’t kids posting on all of them??? The girls going through recruitment who are posting will diminish quite a bit after Preview Weekend. Lots of networking that weekend :).</p>
<p>I took DD to Capstone Scholars Day and the deal was sealed. Like Ahpimommy, I was so impressed with how friendly everyone was! One girl on the student panel summed up why she chose Alabama saying that she felt every other school made her feel like she’d be lucky to attend their school where Alabama made her feel like they would be lucky to have her attend their school. DD felt exactly the same way. My daughter isn’t a NMF, in fact she joked that she was the “dumb one” in her group. While the focus seems to be on NMF’s and high test scores, she didn’t feel any less special. </p>
<p>We stayed the whole weekend and went all over Tuscaloosa. Quite honestly, I didn’t see a single unhappy, grouchy person. Can’t say the same here in the sunshine state. My DD’s friend that wasn’t part of Capstone Scholars Day toured on her own and a very nice girl walked her from the Capstone hotel to Newk’s when she heard she was asking for directions. The girl was headed towards Tutweiler, Newk’s was just a little out of her way. </p>
<p>This was our second visit, but the Capstone Scholars Day just pushed Alabama over the top. We didn’t have any private meetings set up but DD was sold. I was sold too, but since DD isn’t getting lots of out of state scholarship money, we both were a little depressed trying to figure out how to pay. She’s been offered a full ride to a small liberal arts college and a few better scholarship offers. Very, very hard to pass up. </p>
<p>On Sunday we ran into Dean Sharpe at church. Wow, what a great man! I expected him to smile and say nice to see you again and be on his merry way. He spent 20 minutes talking to us while his party waited patiently for him. After talking with him, I knew there wasn’t any other college for my daughter. </p>
<p>We were waiting on scholarships to Ole Miss and her acceptance to University of Florida. UF was my daughters dream school for so long. However, the deposit is being made to UA. Even though this is quite the sacrifice and it is so far from home, it is the right choice for our daughter. </p>
<p>I like the idea of an honors college fb page. DD isn’t a drinking, party girl so the FB page was a bit much.</p>
<p>Pinkturtles: Wow, sounds like your daughter will be very happy at UA. I know that this is the experience we have had with our son.</p>
<p>Although, your daughter is not receiving much OOS scholarship money, see if there are any local scholarships she can apply for. Usually, there is a list in the HS guidance office and she can apply for as many as she is eligible for. </p>
<p>Pinkturtles, thanks so much for your post. How wonderful of you to make the sacrifice so your D can attend a school that she fell in love with. We have done that for my oldest who fell in love with a small, private college campus in the cornfields of Ohio during their explore pharmacy day. It was very hard turning down bigger scholarship packages, but it was what we wanted to do. </p>
<p>My D hasn’t visited UA yet and I can’t wait until we go in early April. I have read so many wonderful things here. My family is getting a little tired of me saying, “and guess what else I found out about Alabama today?”. What you wrote about Dean Sharpe talking to you after church really struck me as saying a lot about the school. </p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for posting and giving me something else to tell my family about UA today! </p>
<p>Edited to add that my D is looking for roommates who want to live in Riverside West. She doesn’t drink/smoke, is very studious, she’s not rushing even though my sorority has a chapter there, and she’s not really a sports fan- but maybe that will change. Please pm me if your daughter might be interested in talking to my D.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. Robotbldmom, she has been applying to private scholarships but she gets so frustrated with all the work involved and the odds. She applied to two this weekend because even if she gets only one or two $500 scholarships, that’s more than she has now:) She is cutting back on student government and other clubs and getting a part time job to save for her sorority. She won’t be able to work once school starts as I want her to have the full experience of college and she needs to maintain a high gpa to get into the nursing program. </p>
<p>Linnylu, my d wants to live in Ridgecrest South North Tower. She has been talking with kids on the fb page as well as signed up for ■■■■■■■■ and roommate finder. She probably would have been a good fit for your d as she doesn’t smoke or drink and is very studious also. She wants to join a sorority though. I sure hope the fact that she’s a non smoker and non drinker doesn’t affect her sorority experience too much. Of course that could all change once she starts college:)</p>
<p>Everyone on the fb group seems to want to be in RCS North… does anyone know how hard it is to get a room (or even pull 3 other roommates) there?</p>