<p>My son received his invitation today for the Capstone Scholars Day in January. What is this? Any information is appreciated.</p>
<p>Capstone Scholars Day is a special admitted students day that focuses on high stats students (ie those getting merit scholarships). Admissions and the Honors College put together a full day of activities and presentations. As your invitation most likely says, it is held on the Saturday of MLK weekend. It will probably be cold; I remember that it was 12 degrees when I landed in BHM (wearing shorts, nonetheless) and the people hosing CSD were just glad that it wasn’t “snowing” like it did the previous year (UA does not get much, if any snow). </p>
<p>I forget what state you’re from, but January is one of the least expensive times to travel and the long weekend makes it possible not to miss much school. What I would say is that if a person likes UA when they visit in January, they will love UA when the weather is warmer and students are out and about.</p>
<p>Thanks Sea_Tide! I’m in the panhandle of Florida, so it’s not too far to travel. Sounds interesting, probably will make plans to attend.</p>
<p>Definitely go! Great program!</p>
<p>Is there any advantage in attending this if we have already had a good tour of the university? Any new info or insight to be gained?</p>
<p>D got invite in mail today as well. We didn’t get the Honors College information on our visit so maybe we will go just for that. Since we are in Atlanta area, not much travel is involved.</p>
<p>CSD day is different than a typical tour day. CSD does NOT include a real campus tour (usually only includes a brief walk thru the quad which doesn’t show much.)</p>
<p>So, if someone wants a full campus tour, then need to schedule a tour for the Friday before.</p>
<p>What about our situation where my son has already sent in his deposit and been accepted to honors college? We did a full tour in the spring but never an honors type tour. My son will probably audition for the marching band so he would have to come down in the early spring anyway. Also, he is applying for fellows so if he gets asked to interview another trip. Coming from Virginia that will get expensive and he really cannot take all this time off.</p>
<p>Ugh, all of a sudden so much to do. We are in the thick of marching band and academic team competitions right now. Throw in lots of school work and a part time job… And of course Xbox 360 time.</p>
<p>Hokiefan: Should your son be invited to the University Fellows weekend, Alabama picks up the tab, but you won’t receive that invitation until around the time of the Capstone Weekend. My son did not make that trip in January when he got the invitation. He had just toured the campus a month earlier. Then, he went to the CBHP finalist weekend. You won’t lose much not attending the honors portion.</p>
<p>hokiefan: we went this past January long after deposits had been sent in. We had also gone to one of the honors days, I think in November. As SEA_Tide says, invitations are sent to all the high stats kid & there is a big turnout. Besides a CSD long sleeve tee shirt 
I don’t remember too much except they split the kids into their intended schools & it was a nice day. I don’t remember D and I thinking it was a waste of time. D just couldn’t turn down an opportunity to be on campus.</p>
<p>Of course, it’s up to you with the expenses, but if your child is on the fence about where to attend college, I would take advantage of any opportunity to visit Bama, especially during one of these special programs.</p>
<p>As for Capstone Day, I remember the talks given by Dr. Sharpe and Dr. Morgan about the honors college and their philosophy of service, and how strong an influence that played on our decision to send our son to Bama. Cap that off with the Honors College reception at the end of the day, and we were sold. We got to meet Dr. Sharpe and Dr. Morgan and Jami and Wellon personally, as well as other honors kids. What a great opportunity. We spent a lot of time just asking the honors kids for advice about courses, even got tips on professors! We spent a lot of time with one of the CBH lab guys who just blew us away, how intelligent he was, how motivated he was. What great kids!</p>
<p>We are Catholic, and we attended mass at St. Francis the following day. We met the pastor, and he showed my son around the student center. We also went over to Ridgecrest to see a model room, no appointment needed! We also met some parents at Capstone who we reconnected with at Bama Bound and even during move in. Coincidentally, our sons have even become friends, and it’s comforting to meet the parents of your son’s friends away at college.</p>
<p>As a fellows applicant, my son got a phone interview later and was able to ask even more questions about Bama and learned even more, solidifying his decision.</p>
<p>We do have a big Discover bill that we’re still paying down from all these visits, but when it came time to pay our tuition bill this fall, we realized that the investment was well worth it. Compared to what we might have had to pay had our son chosen another college, that Discover bill was well worth it.</p>
<p>Have to chime in with another viewpoint. We visited UA in Nov. shortly after DS was accepted and had received his Pres. scholarship. His Honors app. was in and we knew he’d get in based on an email from them, but there was a backlog at the time on the acceptance letters.
We wanted to get down there as soon as possible because we were both becoming so vested in a school neither of us had seen… and having visited our “flagship” U of I, and hating it at first sight, needed to get this done. Did not want to wait for Scholars Day.</p>
<p>So visited in Nov., for one of their scheduled “UA Days”. Did come in the afternoon before for a quick visit with Jami Gates in the Honors College, but honestly that was a 30 minute chat, did not get to meet Dr. Sharpe, attend classes etc. Loved everything, instantly. During the breakout meetings, in DSs case for Engineering, we heard what we needed to hear about his major - honestly Honors College has huge perks and all, but the general Engr. curriculum is where you will live! It was great to see that there was a plan for all Engineers, honors or not.</p>
<p>Toured the dorms, Ferg, stadium… did Shelby, Rec Center on our own… Honestly there is enough info out there and via phone that any specific questions were more easily handled later with a specific phone call to the appropriate person.</p>
<p>Next time we visited was for Bama Bound!
Point is, while I’m sure Scholars Days is great, I’d get there when you can, as soon as you can, and get this done :)</p>
<p>RTR!</p>
<p>D is currently a senior and we visited last Feb on a University Day to get an idea about the University. D loved it. We are currently scheduled to visit again in early November for a more in-depth visit (sitting in on classes, meeting with Dr Sharpe and others, etc). It would be nice to go back in January for Capstone but doubt we would make it. Hopefully will get invited for CBHP/Fellows interviews.</p>
<p>Agree with the above. If you can get down there before Capstone, do so. And there are places you can visit on your own without a tour: rec center, model dorm, the library, both Gorgas and Rogers. Walk around Shelby, the Ferg, the Quad, Riverside, dining halls. If you can’t get in on a scheduled tour, if you’re motivated enough, you can see a lot. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the opinions. When we visited in April we did an official tour. Than we did our own thing thanks to all the guidance from this website. Checked out the rec center, saw a few dorms , ate at the Ferg, met with the director of engineering and the music director. It was quite the day, actually 2 days. I never contacted the honors college as I did not want to overwhelm my son and I felt I had a pretty good handle on things from all of you. Even ate at Dreamland- yummy! My son is pretty much committed to Alabama but maybe some more from the academic side may help. Good luck to all.</p>
<p>Hi, We are from PA and have not visited Alabama, yet. Have heard Great things from neighbors- who are current UA students. D just received Presidential Scholarship and Capstone invite. We plan on attending - but she has mid-terms and 5 Ap classes on Friday . So will be flying down on Friday and can not sign up for school tour - will not be there in time. There are two campus tours in the morning on Saturday - the same time as Capstone presentations. Tours are not included in the Capstone day? How about the Honor Dorms?</p>
<p>Hello! We will have residence halls (including honors) open in the afternoon of Capstone Scholars day for self-guided tours. In Ridgecrest South, we have a model room that is always available to view. As for campus tours, we are planning to have a tour as an option for the day, but we also offer an iTour you can take. The iTour can be downloaded to your iPod and can guide you around campus, or you can watch the iTour video online any time that is convenient for you. For the iTour options, head to [iTour</a> Bama - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://itour.ua.edu/]iTour”>http://itour.ua.edu/). For more information on Capstone Scholars Day, stay tuned to <a href=“http://csd.ua.edu/csd.html;[/url]”>http://csd.ua.edu/csd.html;</a> there you can find maps, driving directions, and soon we will post a tentative agenda for the day.</p>
<p>Ind500, don’t miss the presentations to do a tour. You can do some self touring, and there may wind up being a tour at the end of the day. Our Capstone Day did not plan to have tours because it was the football celebration day, but we did wind up getting an abbreviated tour at the end of the day. Then we headed over to the Honors Open House. Make sure you go to this! You can visit the model room, rec center, whatever other things you have time for and missed, before you head home on Sunday if your flight is not too early! Enjoy!</p>
<p>*we are planning to have a tour as an option for the day, *</p>
<p>I sure hope so. It was disappointing for some out of state families last year that only a partial tour was offered…and it was only offered to parents.</p>
<p>With so many students coming from OOS now, CSDay really needs to be CS Weekend…starting on Friday afternoon with a full campus tour.</p>
<p>Another option… Ending CSDay later with a campus tour. Obviously, the regular campus tour bus can’t be used, but perhaps the Crimson Ride buses could be used.</p>
<p>*There are two campus tours in the morning on Saturday - the same time as Capstone presentations. Tours are not included in the Capstone day? *</p>
<p>Typically tours are offered on Saturdays…but not on CSDay. I know that it shows that they do on the website, but I think that is a mistake. With a 1000 people coming for CSDay, they do not usually have the regular scheduled tours that can only accommodate a small number.</p>