<p>Our son absolutely loved it. We’re from Texas and last week he formally turned down two full ride scholarships (one even had monthly living expenses) at two Honors College programs at great Universities here. He turned down several partial scholarships (generous though) and one Ivy League interest. That said, this isn’t a full ride so he will have to work when he is home summers and, as with all of us, the budget is going to be lean :)</p>
<p>The one thing our family saw - actually S commented first - is the investment UA puts into its students. The opportunities are unparalleled. We have visited quite a number of in state and OOS Universities over the past years. Nothing we saw compared to Alabama. </p>
<p>I am really thankful that we responded to the initial postcard! We actually drove two hours to go to the nearest UA in-state presentation to see what they offered even though he planned to go elsewhere. We were impressed then. After being one of the Colloquium attendees at another University, his first remarks were “It’s not Alabama.” UA, Dr. Sharpe and the Tuscaloosa staff really set the bar so high that no one else compared.</p>
<p>I will tell you that I started digging for information. I reviewed the curriculum statistics, called the professional society for my son’s career of choice and even looked hard at DOJ crime statistics. My thoughts were that nothing could be that good. UA has measured up every time across various measures. </p>
<p>So, now this diehard, multi-generation Texas mom can truly say Roll Tide! We are so grateful our son has the opportunity to attend Honors and hope he is included in CBH too!</p>
<p>Son loved the campus and engineering program. He also REALLY liked the CBHP and wants to participate. I think the visit sealed the deal for him. We’ve now paid our deposits and he’ll be signing up for Bama Bound soon.</p>
<p>It is curious regarding the delay in notification this year. It appears that they got the notification for CBHP on March 10th last year. </p>
<p>One last thing, I sent in the receipt for the plane ticket and have not received reimbursement. Was my son supposed to pick something up during the visit and missed it? Is it just the wheels of the system and I’ll get the check in the mail? Has anybody else received their reimbursement?</p>
<p>Best wishes to all when decisions do come out.</p>
<p>All … We loved our visit to UA! It was my second time and my wife’s first visit. My D really enjoyed CBHP weekend and is now openly and proudly announcing that UA will be her school in the Fall. We are certainly hopeful that good news arrives re: CBHP! She received 2 accepts and 1 waitlist this week bringing her total to 5 accepts and 1 waitlist with only 2 decisions left outstanding. She could not have been more uninterested in those fat envelopes. Now that she’s registered for her room and identified her new roommates, she’s all but moved in. Now we just need to pick a bama bound date, and get ready to move her in before Alabama Action week! Roll Tide! Whatever will I do once this is all settled? LOL. I guess I’ll have parents weekend to plan?</p>
<p>@loring
We submitted our ticket the week before they went down and have not received reimbursement yet either. I emailed Mrs Batson a week and a half ago, and she said they had everything they needed but they usually take two to three weeks to process, so I think we should be seeing it around the time we find out if they are in or not LOL!!</p>
<p>SO a very official looking letter from UA came today…I resisted the overwhelming temptation to rip it open and look. I called D over and told her it was for her… she took it like a dog snatching and hiding it’s bone. Down to the basement she went to read it on her own. </p>
<p>Five minutes later she comes up with a big smile on her face and says “I have been waiting for this.” </p>
<p>"So what is it?! "</p>
<p>“The check for the airline ticket, and it is in my name, now it is ALL MINE!” </p>
<p>ROFL!! And crying, the 31st can’t come soon enough for the parents!</p>
<p>I’ve been told that all finalists will be notified by the end of March. This year’s group of finalists was excellent and all will do well regardless of the final decision re CBHP.</p>
<p>Thanks all. Talk about time dragging by slowly. </p>
<p>Although I did check the mail and we didn’t get our refund check. Those of you that got the check - are you out of state? We are but we have a horrible mail system. We all usually get together on the street and swap mail since it is delived to the wrong box… constantly.</p>
<p>LD … NO!!! … and believe me I take the “quiet” on CC as indicating that nobody has heard. My daughter is just about going CRAZY. Mrs. Batson indicated that she would notify anyone by e-mail that she felt would not receive their letter in time. We’re on Spring Break this week, and are heading out of town tomorrow (30th), so you can imagine that we’re wondering whether we’ll hear via the mail or email. So much so, that instead of having our mail delivery canceled, we’re having my wife’s sister come and pick up our mail all week so that we’ll know immediately! This is getting crazy … I wish I was bold enough to just send Mrs. Batson an e-mail! :-)</p>
<p>Whatever you do, send an email rather than send it snail mail. Son’s ‘Thank You’ to Mrs. Batson got returned to sender. Really? Univ of Alabama, Nott Hall, just like the web site? It only took them a couple of weeks to send it back undelivered. Arghh.</p>
<p>We’ll know soon. In the meantime, son was actually signing up for Bama Bound today. He’s going to the May 16th edition and I may go with him since I just happen to be off that day. And what ‘skills’ are they looking for on the OA application? He mows grass pretty well. Not very good with a fly rod. He can ride a bike. Disc golf? What?</p>
<p>^^^ Funny … I’ll not send out ANY message to Mrs. Batson without my D’s approval … that is for certain. I don’t want to get myself in trouble for meddling! We’ll be coming down for BB June 8th. The earlier Honors days conflict with her HS graduation week. She’s going to AA, so we’ll all see each other down there during the early move in dates!</p>
<p>Hanging in there … by a crazy thin thread! :-)</p>
<p>loring: The same thing happened to my D regarding a snail mail thank you note. The address for Mrs. Batson and Dr. Sharpe is: P.O. Box 870169 (per Dr. Sharpe).</p>
<p>While a few letters addressed to the street address for Nott Hall do get forwarded, the official address for letters is:</p>
<p>Honors College
University of Alabama
Box 870169
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0169</p>
<p>Generally speaking, anything being mailed to the university goes to a box number, except for packages shipped to the Paty Package Delivery Center.</p>
<p>Yikes! We did the same thing, and haven’t gotten ours back yet. How embarrassing. Well, we were thankful, and we did try. Hopefully they understood that LOL!!</p>
</p>
(And I don’t even have a kid involved in the process, LOL.)</p>
We’ll be coming down for BB June 8th. The earlier Honors days conflict with her HS graduation week. She’s going to AA, so we’ll all see each other down there during the early move in dates!</p>