Capstone Scholars Visit - Reaction

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>Those who read this forum already know more about UA than is going to be given in most generalized info sessions. As such, CSD and other events may not be the best choice if you don’t also schedule individualized meetings with staff and professors.</p>

<p>Back when I officially visited with prospective families (long story involved with that), I would make a point to personalize the tours and go beyond the script to give accurate answers to families’ questions. While wonderful people, not all of the tour guides/ambassadors have this ability. For example, up until a year or so ago tour guides would tell a [probable] legend of why the President’s Mansion was not razed during the Civil War, but told the story as fact. They now insert a disclaimer beforehand that we don’t actually know the reason(s).</p>

<p>Unless you’re somewhere like Deep Springs College (<30 students), it is possible to have an impersonal experience at most any college/university. UA is different from other large schools in that it is actually very difficult to have an impersonal college experience at UA as people are more friendly. Sometimes I feel that I attend a college with less than 100 students because my UA experience is so personalized. </p>

<p>I encourage everyone who attended CSD to respond back to the Honors College with any comments/praise/suggestions/complaints and to complete a survey about CSD in the event one is sent. </p>

<p>Roll Tide!</p>

<p>FWIW, I attended CSD in 2009 when it was 12-18 degrees outside. I arrived the day before and met with a couple staff members I contacted myself and then attended CSD the next day. The people I met with the previous day explained that while the information being presented at CSD wasn’t new, it was a great way to meet ones future classmates.</p>

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<p>I attended with DS & DW. She went to CSD so I can’t speak to that part. This was to be our first and only visit.</p>

<p>I really must compliment CC for providing useful information in advance, none more important than reaching out to the honors college to enlist their help in arranging a couple activities on Friday afternoon. DS emailed them and simply asked, what’s the best way to make use of our time on Friday? They arranged the rest. We got some good information at the honors college office from a recent graduate. We attended a group session at the college of commerce which had little new or useful information. Finally, we ended up with a personal dorm tour given by a senior from our state who provided far more information than residential life. It was only 45 minutes but seemed like twice that for the tips and insights we received about the university in general. On Saturday DS quickly met a UA senior who who lived only a couple miles from our present location. He was his group leader for the day as well. There was an instant connect and that made a difference throughout the day for him.</p>

<p>I cannot comment on the content of CSD because I wasn’t there. The agenda seemed a bit weak on paper considering the time & distance required for many to attend the event. The bottom line for DS is that UA has moved from 3rd to 2nd on his list, but his 1st choice may require more loans than he is willing to take on.</p>

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<p>CSD was not my son’s first trip to the University. So, we were good candidates for CS Day, from my understanding. The Engineering break out session consisted of students building catapults…that’s it. DS was disappointed in this. Lunch also lasted way too long and DS would have rather walked the campus and devoted less time to catapults and lunch.</p>

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<p>*The agenda seemed a bit weak on paper considering the time & distance required for many to attend the event. *</p>

<p>this is the kind of feedback that I think the CSD organizers need. And, frankly, I think Dr. Sharpe needs to hear this as well. While the HC isn’t the organizer of the event, if he believed that it needed some tweaking, they’d listen to him after all those are the HC students attending.</p>

<p>When I went to my first Bama Bound back in 2007, there was way too much repetition. The parents were bored silly hearing the same stuff over and over. During the parents luncheon, they passed out forms for us to review BB. I know that many, many parents complained about the repetition. The next time I attended a BB, it was different.</p>

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<p>My OOS DD and I did Capstone Honors Day two years ago. It was our second trip and first organized tour of the UA campus. On the first trip she decided she liked the layout of campus and feel of Tuscaloosa and wanted to apply. By CHD time, we had done group tours of enough universities to know every school says class sizes are small, food is good, study abroad is great, libraries are fabulous, career placement is the best etc. I told her to focus on the other students attending because if she decided on UA, these types of kids would be her new friends. If overall, she got a bad vibe, then Alabama wouldn’t be the place for her. Well, she found the other kids to her liking and couldn’t picture herself anywhere else. We had come in the day before and met with the head of her planned department. We also were able to look inside an honors housing room. What sealed the deal for her was that a couple of the random OOS honors students we spoke with said while they loved having roommates, being able to have quiet in their own room made being an airplane away from home easier.</p>

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<p>DH & DS were underwhelmed with CSD.</p>

<p>It was DS second visit; DH first. They did personalize some things on Friday through the Honors College. Thanks to folks here, they also got tickets for the basketball game Saturday.</p>

<p>DH did not feel any “sell” from CSD. If not for the info I’ve gained here, he would not think Bama is a good choice for son. I think Bama offers many things that were not mentioned at CSD (Alabama Action, research opportunities outside of UFE and CBH, etc).</p>

<p>DS did not feel “important” or “wanted” as others here have reported from past CSD events. My son agrees with SpaceCoastMom’s son. He did not like the catapult build. He would have rather seen more of the Engineering labs and talked to current Engineering students. </p>

<p>For OOS, even something as simple as adding a website link to CSD info to purchase athletic event tickets or concert tickets would be great.</p>

<p>All that said, neither felt the event was bad in any way. It just simply did not stand out versus other schools. </p>

<p>We have received great attention and quick responses from direct communication from the school.</p>

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<p>We attended CSD and fortunately setup a tour the day before as we sort of expected there would be a big gathering. We didn’t really know in advance the agenda for CSD either (they really do need to make this more clear) so wanted to make sure we got a decent tour of the school my son was interested in. We felt really good about that tour and were able to see the residence halls too. </p>

<p>Yes, the CSD was a big event but we did find the students who presented good, and as a parent I found my 2 breakout sessions more informative than I expected. We’ve been to a few of these scholar’s days and this may have been a bit larger than some of the others but it was helpful to get a look around, get a feel for the kinds of future students around you, and hear from the honors college student speakers and faculty and administration.</p>

<p>Because he got the full tour of the engineering school the day before, the much maligned catapult build my son found fun because he was able to interact with kids around him. The overly long lunch also gave him an opportunity to find out more about the kinds of students who were also attending CSD and see that they were a lot like him.</p>

<p>Yes, it was unfortunate the celebration scheduled that day siphoned off a little of what could be done that day but I suppose stuff happens…</p>

<p>This was my second visit - I toured the campus a few years ago with my daughter and clearly there is a lot going on at Bama. We were impressed.</p>

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<p>We just got home (1770 miles round trip), and we feel that it was a success. This was our first and only visit (prior to orientation, if applicable!)</p>

<p>DS enjoyed the catapult assignment for the same reasons the PP mentioned - meeting potential classmates and figuring out how he would fit in. I enjoyed the time at lunch to chat with other attendees and staff. The session about housing was very helpful and we got some valuable insight by staying behind to chat personally with one of the parents on the parent panel.</p>

<p>DS and DH were thrilled to see the football players & coaches in the parade, that is something they will both remember for a long time. We followed along with the parade and then turned off towards the honors housing where we joined a LONG line of CSD families who had obviously been doing exactly the same thing as us. The RAs apologized for the chaos (caused by so many families arriving for the tours at exactly the same time) and did an excellent job of showing us around and answering specific questions. Tours were available until 3 pm. After the tour, we spent some time in the gift shop at the Ferguson Center. Minor point: personally I was disappointed/surprised that the Starbucks was closed - at our local recruitment reception they had specifically mentioned that their Starbucks was the largest in the world!! (maybe it was in the USA, I can’t remember) and I would have loved to have gone in. The sign on the door said it was closed Sat, Sun & Mon of MLK w/e. </p>

<p>At around 4, we walked slowly back through campus to our car (parked nr the soccer fields) to drop of our bags & papers, then caught a shuttle bus from the parking lot to the arena for the basketball game. The game was very exciting from start to finish, and ended in a close victory for Alabama.</p>

<p>On Sunday we spent a few more hours exploring the campus by ourselves.</p>

<p>The weather was absolutely beautiful both days, maybe that helped form a favorable impression in our minds, but overall, we were very happy with the information we received, with the descriptions of the opportunities available to students, and with the facilities that make up the campus. Everyone we spoke to was friendly and helpful, giving us the feeling that DS would be in good hands and would fit in well. DS said he wants to go and we support that decision (he is going to wait to hear from a few more colleges first, though).</p>

<p>CSD was a good time for us to visit because the MLK holiday gave us more time to explore, and because our 20-year old was still on his college break and so he could stay home with our younger children. There are pros and cons to being part of a large group presentation, but the format worked well for us.</p>

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<p>DD, DW and I returned from CSD this weekend. For us it was a very successful event - it sealed the deal for DD. She will be heading to T-town in August. </p>

<p>I guess I understand some of the points from both sides. This was the third visit in a year. We previously attended University Days last February, and DD and I had a personal Honors College visit in April. DW attended all the parent CSD activities and was impressed since she could not be part of the personal Honors College visit. (I attended the after lunch sessions when it was clear there was plenty of room for the “excess parents”). To me, and maybe to parents or students who had read much of the material her on CC, much of the information was not new. However, it would be hard for the school to assume all parents memorize the information on CC. I spoke with several parents - some were avid CC members or lurkers, others had never heard of the site.</p>

<p>My DD appreciated being able to have in depth discussions with current students in her major - at least this happened in the Education School. The biggest benefit was that DD has made friends over FVB and Twitter with several persons and has potential roommates. We met one and her mom for dinner on the strip on Friday night. The girls hit it off and we got along with the girls parent too. The visit solidified her decision and already having some out of state friends when going to school 700 miles from home is great.</p>

<p>Like many other posters I highly encourage anyone who is interested in Bama to call Allison about a personal visit. They will arrange just about anything short of carrying you around in a sedan chair :slight_smile: I guess those of us who have made these type of visits, experienced the highly personal treatment and posted about them, may have “raised expectations” too high, because obviously such treatment can’t be given to 1000 people at the same time. However, University Days and CSD serve a purpose. They seem to typically be scheduled on 3 day weekends which makes then available for the most number of people and easier for OOS families to travel to T-town.</p>

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<p>Sounds like not attending was a good choice for our time and money.</p>

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<p>I’ll throw in my 2 cents.</p>

<p>My son is eligible for honors college, but b.c. he was slow to apply (and there was a screw up with the reporting of his correct GPA), he was not invited to Capstone, but we were aware of it. He was invited to formally interview for the Blount Initiative, held this past Friday.</p>

<p>We first visited Bama last November. I understand the “underwhelmed” feelings that lots of folks here have expressed. There seems to be so much talk on CC about how awesome Bama is that I think it is easy to go in with very high expectations and anything short of AwesOME is just a bit of a let down.</p>

<p>Last fall’s visit wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t anything that bowled us over. I have to say this past weekend’s visit was more pleasant and we really took in the school spirit by attending the parade, taking our time to explore campus more on our own and trying some of the local fare by eating at places off the beaten path.</p>

<p>I’m kind of glad we didn’t feel compelled to insist on an invite to the Capstone weekend after what others have shared. But I’m also glad we gave Bama another look. My son did enjoy meeting others interested in the Blount program and the weather was so beautiful, it was hard not to be impacted by that.</p>

<p>Again, just my two cents.</p>

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<p>I have to add one more comment about Capstone weekend. We live in Georgia and are only about 3 - 3 1/2 hours away. My son has about 400 senior classmates. I told him I wouldn’t be surprised if he saw other kids from his high school there. When he came home I asked did you see anyone from school? He said No.</p>

<p>Fast forward to last night. He got home and told me at least 2 other kids were there. They didn’t see each other either but they saw my son “ONLY” because he happened to be in the front row with my husband and my son asked a question.:)</p>

<p>So while the weekend was good. If kids from the same high school can’t notice each other and you want some individual attention… Setting up a visit on a different day is probably a good idea.</p>

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<p>Personally, it was my first visit to UA, and I absolutely fell in love with campus and the overall kind people. The CSD activities themselves weren’t really informative in general, but my mom and I made a point to fly in (from Chicago) Thursday night and get the full campus experience on Friday. We were able to book a tour of campus, walk around in the amazing weather (apparently it was cold for them, but, for us, it was so warm) and see students out and about after classes. </p>

<p>If Saturday was your only day there, it was definitely a shift from the mood on campus on Friday. When Students were walking around after class Friday, I was able to really see myself fit in at UA, but Saturday was crazy and busy due to the huge crowds the parade and CSD brought out. I’m so glad I visited and the school spirit was amazing to see at the parade. I hope you get to see UA again, because, as a student who wouldn’t have even considered Alabama at all a year ago, I think that my wonderful visit has made me see a whole new side to the university. Above all, it comes down to fit, so make sure you give UA a fresh chance on a day without thousands of extra people on campus before you make any final decisions. Good luck and roll tide! :)</p>