Convince my mother?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>Amy9998 - we didn’t feel there were any IL schools that were even in serious contention. My son also would have qualified for those large scholarships. The research opportunities were just not there at NIU or SIU-E. Likewise, we crossed off UIUC due to cost and to the fact that the research opportunities are almost all awarded to grad students (and even that is extremely competitive). Purdue, cost aside, we crossed off because of the competitive way they pit the students against each other to weed out in engineering. Son liked Madison but straight out they said at least 5 years to graduate in engineering, and it wasn’t as strong of an eng. school as some others. If mine were to have stayed in the midwest, Iowa State was probably the choice. </p>

<p>While I agree it is great to have options, mine decided after visiting UA in September of his senior year that UA was his choice and he never looked back. Positives: the dorms where he could have his own space and not have to go elsewhere for quiet/studying, the AP and CLEP credits where he was able to go in as a sophomore and will graduate in 4 years or less, the research opportunities available (even as a freshman) and the huge fact that given the Presidential and Engineering scholarships, the remaining cost is about $10k per year, which we are fortunate enough to be able to pay for our son, meaning he will graduate with zero debt. </p>

<p>There is a spirit of family and cooperation at UA that we did not find at any other school. It’s hard to describe, but UA really does want your student to thrive academically. While it’s a large school, it’s very personal. If you have an issue, it will be addressed. </p>

<p>We had never stepped foot in the state of Alabama before my son visited UA. And I wasn’t even a CCer before our visit, at least not on the Bama boards. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my son would attend college in Alabama, but it’s exactly where he was meant to be.</p>

<p>There is nothing wrong with applying to other schools and keeping options open (attn kids). April is a short couple of months away, though. Not much may change between then and now. Is it really that you want more time to make a decision or that you are hoping your son might change his mind?</p>

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<p>DO NOT ATTEND THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!</p>

<p>The campus is too beautiful. The Honors College is far too accommodating, intimate, and flexible. The people are so friendly it makes you feel eerily warm. The Greek culture is so dominant that the vast majority of students don’t belong to it. The football culture is so dominant that the thousands of students who couldn’t give a rip about it feel free not to attend or be bothered. The party atmosphere is so overwhelming that top scholars eschew it and, gasp, achieve! The culture is so foreign to non-southerners that the majority of incoming freshmen are from out of state. The students are so out of step with the times that they walk around smiling and laughing without being drunk or stoned. The life is so perversely balanced that students both work hard and play hard. The dorms are so luxurious and private that they facilitate studying. The freshman orientation experiences are so craftily structured that they practically force you to make great friends and discover extracurricular opportunities. And the school is so disorganized that, to quote my son (who’s a NMF senior and about to blow this popsicle stand), “The thing about 'Bama is that if there’s something you want to do, the school will do everything it can to help you make it happen.” Yuck!</p>

<p>STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING.</p>

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<p>I may qualify for those scholarships, but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I will revisit this thread after my visit to tell y’all about it.</p>

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<p>malanai…I’m stealing your post…</p>

<p>:)</p>

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<p>Class2012mom: Your recent post is extremely helpful! Thank you very much. We’ll have more to go on after our upcoming visit. Yes, I would love for my S to be closer to home (than 9 hrs away – it’s the “emergencies” that worry me) and I would love for him to graduate with extremely low debt. Everything is on the table at this point… Things can change over the next four months – I’m all about keeping all the reasonable options open. Oh, and I very much wanted him to visit and apply to Iowa State, and it’s probably too late now…</p>

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<p>malanai – cute!</p>

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<p>Purloin at will, m2ck. :)</p>

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<p>Amy9998, don’t let a 9 hour distance be an obstacle. It’s not an ideal distance but it’s far from being overseas. Remember, they only go away for 16 weeks at a time at the very most. How many times have you walked into your son’s bathroom and thought to yourself how nice it would be to have it clean for more than 10 minutes at a time. Here’s your chance (barring any other kids at home). </p>

<p>UA is a GREAT school to visit. Good weather, easy drive, very fun place to be. </p>

<p>In an ideal world, mine would be a shorter drive away, where I could visit every six weeks or so to take him out to lunch, stock up his freezer and yell about the state of his housekeeping. Instead I have to drive further and go less frequently, but that is better for my son - makes them grow up a little quicker.</p>

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<p>ACThater, we live within 100 miles of you and my D is also a HS senior. She has been accepted at both UI and UA and is currently undecided. We have visited UA three times including a visit through Allison and the Honors College, and a visit three months ago for the UA-Colorado St football game. When we mention UA as a possibility, we get lots of uninformed comments (I believe there was a thread several months ago about getting “the look”, that you may want to find).</p>

<p>So here are the things we thought were important to decide if UA was a good option. 1) Culture – while I hear many refer to Illinois as north, my opinion is that downstate Illinois is the midwest, and our culture is much more similar to that in Alabama or Tennessee than it is New York or Massachusetts. The people we met and the values they have are very similar to what we see at home. Other than the weather, I believe Tuscaloosa is very similar to Bloomington IN, Champaign IL, and Columbia, MO; 2) As an OOS student, will she be an outsider? – initially a concern, but you don’t have to spend too much time on CC to realize that UA is drawing such a national student body that an OOS student is in fact the majority, not the minority. On one visit, the primary people that showed her around from the HC were from Dallas, St Louis, Wilmington NC, and Birmingham. What a great cross-section of backgrounds! 3) Academics – for the field of study that she wants to pursue, UA is ranked among the top 15 nationally of all public universities. Two of the top three firms recruiting for her major are national firms so she should have the flexibility to go where she wants after graduation (assuming she makes the grades to get the job offers).</p>

<p>My S is a current junior at UI and loves it. We visited Michigan, North Carolina, Duke, Iowa and Michigan St with him so I have a lot to compare our UA visits with. Like many others on CC, the beauty of the campus and the warmth of the faculty, staff and students at UA really stood out to us. As many parents of existing students have commented, this warmth is not an act, but a normal way of life. Every school has their partiers, but there are too many high stat academically driven kids for UA to be called “a party school”. (I’ve never seen so much drinking as I did tailgating before a Michigan home football game…)</p>

<p>So that brings us to the distance from home. There’s no escaping that it’s a nine hour drive. You won’t have the option to come home on short notice. But if finances allow, you can fly from Birmingham to St Louis for around $200 round-trip, and likely get from dorm to home in about five hours. It’s probably a little bit of an issue first semester, and after that, almost not at all. With the money we would save from her scholarship, my D could fly home several times a year and we would still be way ahead. There’s so much to do at UA though, that I highly doubt she’ll want to fly home more than 1-2 times a semester.</p>

<p>So good luck with your decision, but know our experiences have been that the negative comments you or your mother have heard are not justified.</p>

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<p>We live more than 4,000 miles from UA.</p>

<p>My anxiety about my son experiencing an emergency so far away is trumped by the lessons he’s learned about accessing resources and developing a support network. He has become wonderfully resourceful and independent.</p>

<p>My wish that he was closer is trumped by the magical experience he’s having at UA.</p>

<p>My ability to visit him is facilitated by the amazing scholarships he’s received. Once a semester is plenty for him. I felt the same way about my folks when I was an undergraduate, 400 miles from home.</p>

<p>Whenever I want to hear his voice or see his face we call or Skype. It takes as long to connect with technology as it would if I lived in Tuscaloosa.</p>

<p>After nearly four years of this arrangement, our relationship is closer than when we began the UA journey. I believe this is because we’ve given him both roots and wings.</p>

<p>Not everyone will find this comforting, but I thought I’d share our experience for what it’s worth.</p>

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<p>Class2012mom: Thanks again for the perspective. Loved the comment about the clean bathroom. SO very true! </p>

<p>randomjoe: Thanks for chiming in on this conversation. More great information for consideration. It’s all quite helpful!</p>

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<p>malanai: Thank you for sharing your experience … It is extremely helpful to know how others have handled it / have made it work. Sounds like it has worked out extremely well for your family and your situation.</p>

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<p>What exactly is an “unorganized” university?</p>

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<p>^ good question…</p>

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<p>I’m not really sure what I said to earn the title “troubled teen”, as I was only asking for clarification as to what an unorganized college is? I’ve literally had like 4 posts and I see none of them as disrespectful.</p>

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<p>I didn’t say you were a trouble teen, but you do need to learn to quit while you are ahead. Have you ever watched Judge Judy and seen a case where people are babbling or talking when they don’t need to? Judy tells them “Does it look like you are losing?”. You were not losing. That remark did not add points in your favor.</p>

<p>I am on your side. I like UA is a great choice of school, otherwise my kid would not be there. But you are not helping your own case here.</p>

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<p>Amy,
I am not sure if you still care about any information about IL schools, but here is my two cents worth. If I were going to pick from NIU or the SIUs due to a free ride, I would go to NIU for most majors, especially business/accounting. I am biased, due to my husband having earned his BA and MBA from there. I received my BSEd, MA, and Mrs.</p>

<p>This is not saying that without the free ride, this would be my choice. It is hard to bypass a free Undergraduate education when graduate school costs SO much. With that said, D has applied and been accepted to NIU. It would cost more for her to attend NIU than other choices. She will be attending elsewhere.</p>

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<p>FWIW: My impression of NIU is that there are a lot of quasi-commuting students, because it is so close to majors cities in the Chicago-land area. Some students who go to NIU from local high school here have complained that weekends are ‘dead’ on campus because many students go home. Is SIU-C that way? It might be something to consider if you are one of the students attending from far away.</p>

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<p>I visited NIU under the impression that I would be receiving an automatic full ride (33, 3.75 req.) as posted here, on their website, and in an email from the scholarship office. While I was there, I told my scores and gpa to engineering staff, and a few congratulated me on my full ride. I didn’t like the campus much, but I liked the engineering department. You can imagine my surprise when I received a scholarship application in the mail. I am the type of student that automatic scholarships were made for. Other than a few football awards, i havent done much in the way of extracurriculars. For this same reason, i ruled out applying to some more selective schools as well. </p>

<p>I wasn’t pleased, and put it away almost immediately. And it didn’t help that my mom was smothering me about NIU all the time. Also, a big football school is very attractive to me, as I love football. It doesn’t get better than Bryant-Denny. Also, any deal you get, regardless of how good it is, looks bad compared to a full ride.</p>

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<p>We are 9-10 hours away from UA as well, Dallas. My D is a freshman at UA. She is loving it! This is my uber book smart, zilch for street smarts kid. She has had to learn a few things along the way. Many of her learning curves have been car related, she has her car on campus. As much as she has been around cars and 2 parents that are really “into” cars, she just never got some things. She has finally realized that these things do not magically get fixed. She has learned that one has to find the time and go get them taken care of. She even relented and left the car on campus over winter break and flew home. </p>

<p>Yes, it is tough at first knowing your baby is so far away if an emergency were to come up. But, I’ve realized that over the last 18 years that all of the mistakes that I let them make were building up to this point. She knows we are only a phone call or text away. </p>

<p>She did come home over one weekend in October. We went to UA for parents weekend in Sept and Thanksgiving. It really did go by fast and actually started to seem like it was not that long of a time between visits. D has one friend from high school that attended a school nearby, a bit over an hour from home. She lives on campus but comes home almost daily and every single weekend. She has let it be known she is not happy and has made no friends. The school is heavy on commuter students. Even so, she has not given herself the chance to make friends nor to get involved because home is just too close. </p>

<p>Early College. Please check this out! This is a great way to get ones feet wet at UA and gain college credit at a much lower cost. They are very generous with OOS scholarships for EC. My D went for Summer II and loved it! They have a strict schedule to adhere to while in EC. It is for high school students that have finished their soph year thru graduating seniors. You can attend EC the summer after your hs graduation. The rules are: Curfew Sunday - Thursday is 10:00pm, Fri - Sat 11:00pm. Mandatory study hall hours in the library Sunday-Thurs 7:30-9:00pm. All of the EC students live together in one dorm building with RA’s living with them. They are in suite style dorms with 4 to a suite, some have RA’s in their suite. Dr. Causey is AWESOME!!! Organized? YES! At move in she will come around and meet each and every student and their parent. She will take all of your pictures and add your cell phone # to her phone and ask that you add her # to yours. Also, you can take UA EC courses online during the regular semesters. Early College is worth checking out! I plan on my younger daughter attending EC when she is eligible. One other advantage of attending EC in Summer II, you get to move straight from your summer dorm to your fall dorm on the last day. At least we were able to this past year. </p>

<p>Organized? YES! UA is organized! If you have ever seen move in at UA, HA! Organized is putting it mildly. This is a well oiled machine! From the horror stories that I’ve heard from other friends experiences at their kids schools, UA is a piece of cake. Every person I have called, talked to in person or emailed has been very on top of things. I emailed the parking office 2 weeks ago to ask where my D could park her car over the winter break. They responded in less than 15 minutes with an entire put together plan. I have not experienced any thing that could be construed as “unorganized” at UA. </p>

<p>One thing you will notice, if UA or any other school is the place for your kid to be at, once they come home they will refer to their new “home” as their “HOME”, not your house. We visited many schools with D and only one was in state. Most were in California. Alabama was the last school for us to visit and she feel in love, as did we. We wanted her to be at a school that she could become a part of and at the same time give her what she needed to spring to the next phase of her life. We feel she has done just that at UA. </p>

<p>That is our story
RTR</p>