Hi, all! Like many students on CC, I received an email last night from Dr. Sharpe and Mrs. Batson explaining that I did not receive an invitation to the finalists’ weekend at the end of February. My initial reaction was that of slight disappointment (which I believe is natural), but this morning I am much more positive about it and I am grateful to have been considered for the program and selected to the reserve pool. I have read in years past that many students from the reserve pool enter the program due to several finalists not matriculating to the university. I have also heard that to have a chance to interview later this year, I need to maintain interest. What is the most polite way to show Mrs. Batson and Dr. Sharpe that I am still interested in the program over the next few months? I have already sent a thank you to Mrs. Batson. In that email, I also explained that I was still interested in the program. I would like to show other ways I’m interested because I don’t want to spam her with emails. In two or three months, would it be inappropriate for me to call her and tell her that I am still interested, as well as tell her what days I will be at UA for Bama Bound? Or should I be patient and just maintain a passive interest?
Thank you everyone! I’m grateful for all of the helpful people here on CC!
I would send them an e-mail a couple weeks before your Bama Bound letting them know that you are definitely attending UA, your BB dates and that you continue to be interested in CBH. That was what my daughter did - she responded to the initial reserve pool e-mail to let Mrs. B know that she was still interested, and then sent the follow-up e-mail in mid-May. She didn’t do anything in the meantime.
Thank you for the words of encouragement and advice. I will email her toward the end of this school year after I have picked out my Bama Bound date. Fingers are crossed!
Keep in mind that even if you aren’t accepted into CBHP, there are other opportunities to do research at Bama. There is the Emerging Scholars program, to which you can also apply. In addition, you can always approach professors on your own and inquire about research opportunities. My daughter had to find all of her CBH projects herself - while there was a list of projects available to CBH students, none of them were in my daughter’s field (she was a business major and the listed projects tended to be mostly in the sciences and engineering). She approached several professors in her search for projects, and there is no reason that a student who was not participating in CBH could not do the same.
Would just like to give anyone who may have looked at this thread in the past an update.
I sent my initial email in Jan/Feb letting Mrs. Batson know that I was still interested in CBH and then mostly gave up on the idea of being in the program. Then, I did some reading in April and decided not to give up on being in the program and I expressed further interest in May. I did not hear back from her until a couple of days before my Bama Bound session. I had a successful interview in June and was promptly accepted in to the program (from the reserve pool–something I thought was impossible!). I want to thank everyone for their wonderful advice. I’ve probably read hundreds of posts about CBH at this point and I apologize I did not think to update this thread earlier.
Glad to be part of this program starting in the fall! To anyone who may read this thread in the future (much like I have done with threads from previous years), don’t give up hope if you are placed in the reserve pool. I’m living proof that you don’t have to have perfect stats (GPA in my case) to get in to the program.
Roll tide!
Thanks for the positive update!
Good luck this year st UA!
@Auallonia Welcome to CBH! We’re lucky to have you. Many of my friends were accepted from the reserve pool, but at this point I don’t even remember who because we’re truly all one big class and family. Take every opportunity you can! I hope CBH is as wonderful for you as it has been for me.