Culture shock for a northerner?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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So, my S is a junior in high school and we’re starting to pin down his college choices. We’re Minnesotans, so naturally the UMN is on his list. But he also would like to experience a different part of the country, preferably one that doesn’t have windchills of -40 (no joke- that was this morning).

The UC’s schools are probably too pricey for OOS, but Alabama has that Presidential Scholarship that he would seem to qualify for (3.7 GPA, 32 ACT), and seems to have a marine sciences program that would be interesting.

Here’s the thing. The only notions we have of Alabama come from the movie “My Cousin Vinny”, which we know must be hyperbole for humor. But does anyone have experience or opinions about whether there would be a culture clash for someone coming from the Twin Cities? Or is campus like Austin - a blue island in a very red sea?

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Culture clash? Yes, it’s different - as long as he understands “different”’ doesn’t mean “better” or “worse” - he’ll be fine.
Alabama is warm and friendly - and there are a good mix of states represented at the university.
(Should I base my notions of Minnesota on “Fargo”? grin)

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Yes, very different. It might be hard at first. For some, friendly translates to “nosy”. For others, it translates to “caring”. Have you visited campus?

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DS is a junior at Bama, from NY. He doesn’t like grits, still fits in fine. We’ve never seen a Sack o Suds in Tuscaloosa. Trust me, it’s nothing like you picture. Biggest culture shock is that people are universally friendly, though that might not be much different for you (it’s strange for us New Yorkers). Other than the southern accents, it’s no different than any other big college town.

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As you probably know by now…LOTS of OOS students at UA from midwest and northern states… stats on the website… 290 freshmen this year from IL in fact. Lots of different views / political etc. Fairly conservative area but huge variety of people make for a great mix, from what I hear.

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My two Wisconsin boys are student at UA and I don’t think they experienced any “culture shock” at all. In fact when I asked they looked like I asked the dumbest question ever. I think your Minnesota student would fit in just fine in Alabama.

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Visit Early so you know how you’d feel on campus. Schedule an Honors College tour. Lots of OOS kids from non-southeastern states like it. My student’s friends and roommates have been from KS, NY, TX, CA, OK, CO. Good luck. You are wise to research and visit financial and admissions safeties early.

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I’ve never lived near Minnesota, but I did live in Oregon, The Netherlands (south holland, The Hague), Virginia, and San Diego before coming to my current residence in southern Louisiana.

The south was definitely very different. Friendly, but I often didn’t appreciate the friendliness - it often seemed insincere and required. I found that many people were more conservative than San Diego, and less accepting of outsiders.

With that said, everything changes around the universities. I spent some time at a biology lab at one of the big louisiana universities, and I felt right at home. People from London, Barcelona, Munich, New York, everywhere. In general, it seems that universities are much more connected to the outside world, and thus I feel that the culture at Bama will be significantly different from the stereotype.

Good luck! And remember to stay classy.

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@khidhala‌

Only way to know how he’ll feel is to visit, but FWIW my kid (who attended Philadelphia Quakers schools from 4th through 12th grades) is very happy at Bama and he chose it (much to our surprise) over a great school in St. Paul.

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@Palomina S is very good about avoiding judgmental opinions, so I’m not worried about that. And honestly, you wouldn’t be far wrong if you did base your opinion of Minnesota on the movie Fargo… though the accents are more Iron Range, the quiet unassuming characters are familiar to any Minnesotan. We all know someone like them, but maybe a better fit is Lake Woebegon. :slight_smile:

@kjcphmom just the sort of info I wanted to get. 'sconnies are close enough to 'sotans to know what’s what. Thanks!

@SpaceCoastMom yep, seems like a trip to Tuscaloosa is in our future. And that’s not something I would have imagined myself saying even two months ago.

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FWIW, My Cousin Vinny, like many movies set in the South, was filmed in Georgia. I had a long discussion about the film with one of my college law instructors, who is a judge in the Tuscaloosa area. It’s a great film, but doesn’t accurately reflect small town Alabama.

As you may have seen, Delta Connection has seasonal nonstop service from the Twin Cities to Birmingham. Otherwise, one has to take part in a southern tradition: connecting in Atlanta.

Also, when a southerner says “bless your heart,” they’re expressing a similar sentiment to the Minnesotan “it’s different.”

If your student has a very northern accent, don’t be surprised if someone asks if they’re from Canada. I’m from Seattle and one of my good college friends is from Minneapolis and we both got that question a lot.

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Aw shucks, come on people. My daughter had to ride her horse from Texas all the way to Bama.

Even she feels like an outsider as bein she has a nice horse and all. :wink: jk

Stereotypes abound. Most are unfounded. Over 60% of the students at UA are from out of state. My daughter has good friends from upstate NY, Chicago, Minnesota, NC, TX, Georgia and Alabama as well as a host of other states. She could go to any state and have friends from UA there.

Think a trip to Tuscaloosa is warranted.

Yes, people are friendly. Yes, I will talk to strangers at the store. It is just the way we are. Could not imagine going thru life and never talking nice to the people around me.

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I moved from Wyoming to go to grad school at UA in 1986. Yes, that seems like the stone age now. It was a shock, but I was not well traveled then. I fell in love with the South, and now love living in Texas. (No, Texas is not the South, but they are close cousins.) There is much truth about southern hospitality, and I adopted southern manners pretty quickly. I would not like to live anywhere but Texas or Dixie.

One of my colleagues in grad school used to tease me and call me a damn Yankee. I said I wasn’t a Yankee since I was from the West. He said, Honey, “Anywhere north of I20 is Yankee Territory!”

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@khidhala‌

Yes, you need to visit!!! Be prepared to fall in love! :slight_smile:

@TejasLibertarian‌

If you haven’t been back to Bama since the 80s, you’d hardly recognize it…and you probably wouldn’t recognize Ttown at all! :slight_smile:

Have you been back?

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I went back in 1989 and in October of 2014 with my husband and daughter. She is likely to attend UA this August. I couldn’t believe how much Ttown and the campus have changed. I hope that we will be saying ROLL TIDE! and visting her!

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The USA south of New Jersey is not some scene out of Deliverance. Be reminded that Eric Garner happened in NY.

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We have a big 3M plant here in Decatur AL, about 120 miles north of Tuscaloosa. Sometimes we can’t get the gosh darned Yankees to go back home again! So we marry into 'em and make 'em part of the family. :wink: And yes, “yankee” is defined as anybody not from the South. That pretty much includes everything west of Dallas and north of the Kentucky and Virginia borders. Welcome to the South…and Roll Tide!

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@mom2collegekids , @tejaslibertarian ,

I grew up in Virginia and later moved to Texas, the thought of Alabama was not negative or positive when I first heard about Bama. In fact all I ever heard was how my bride of 22 years fell in love with the south even though she grew up so very far to the north in bitter cold country. Other then the stories I heard about Bama, and not being at all involved in football, I simply had an open mind regarding the school. (fair disclosure: @tejaslibertarian is my darling bride of all these years).

I really didn’t think much about Alabama until my daughter started applying places, she put Alabama on the list for a few reasons, she heard that they might give her some scholarship money, and Mom had good experiences there. Plus the application was very simple compared to the other schools. So given all of that we did a series of college visits earlier in the year, first flying into BHM to visit Bama, the driving to Gainesville, and then on to Miami.

The visit to Bama was by far the best organized and complete tour we had, and DD had a very good feeling about the school overall. She also really liked UF and Miami, this was all before the application process.

Now fast forward a bit, Bama’s scholarships appear to be fairly unique in that they tell you up front what you will be able to get, in our case DD had the scores for full tuition, then they added in acceptance to the Honors program, and later the STEM MBA program. These opportunities are amazing, and simply head and shoulders over what she will get in state in Texas.

From what we have seen so far the opportunities are just much more plentiful here, granted the process is still ongoing.

FWIW, the tour is really a thing to do, I highly recommend getting in touch with the Honors college and setting up the tour with them. They will help organize a tailored day for you, their tour is by far the most complete of any of the schools we looked at so far.

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I went to HS in Wisconsin. Not really a culture shock. UA has a lot of out of state students as it is. There really isn’t a huge difference between the Mountain West, Midwest and South in my opinion. I’ve lived in all three. If one is coming from a very urban built-up area like NYC it will probably be different.

The food is 324325423x better than the midwest though.

The only thing I don’t like about the South is that disgusting Sweet Tea. It’s seriously diabetes in a cup.

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But do you like football? And friendly people?