<p>As I said earlier, my son has not received any word from UFE yet. However, he did receive a very nice, very personal (and personalized) letter form Founding Dean Emeritus, Robert Halli, on Monday. I was out of town, on business, and he called me at my hotel that night to tell me he’s about to open the letter – thinking it was a rejection or acceptance to UFE. We were both surprised to find that it was this other nice letter instead!</p>
<p>When I returned from my trip and saw Dean Halli’s letter for myself, I noticed it was dated December 7th! Hmmm. Let’s hope the UFE letter doesn’t take nearly two months to arrive! :)</p>
<p>No mail from Alabama at our Pennsylvania home today. We have had two major power outages , for extended periods of time, since D phone interview 1 week ago. It is a good thing that she did not have it last Thursday night - need to buy a phone with a cord! So maybe stormy weather is making our already slow mail, a bit slower. Oh, to be in Hawaii this time of year!! Loved the Alabama Holiday Engineering Card, too!!!</p>
<p>Still no Bama mail for my son either. So, he called to ask. He is not a finalist. We’re totally okay with it. From the time I asked about UFE on this forum, about half a year ago, I have heard that UFE is not only next to impossible to get, but also that there seems to be no rhyme or reason why some people are accepted and others are rejected. We have also heard that it’s very unusual for NMF’s to get selected. My son is NMF (well, NMSF – can’t see any reason why he won’t be NMF). His stats are extremely top notch … can’t get any higher in most things, number-wise. But that’s okay. We were actually expecting a rejection, just based on what we heard about the program, in general, previously.</p>
<p>However, if he doesn’t get CBHP, Bama will go off his list. It’s not just the scholarships that are appealing to him. He wants to participate in their awesome honors programs!</p>
<p>Simplelife, who did you call to ask about whether your son was selected as a finalist? I didn’t realize you could do that and I’ve been awaiting my decision for the past week</p>
<p>SimpleLife and others … We had not received notice either, so my daughter was able to eventually speak with Wellon and found out that she was not selected. She was VERY disappointed. She had met for almost an hour with Dr. Morgan when we visited UA and was sold on the program. Obviously, kids of her caliber are not used to rejection and certainly she is “qualified” (NMSF, 4.0 u/w, 35 ACT, 1550 SAT CR+M, Many ECs with lots of community service, etc. etc.) … so … echoing those others that have posted here, we are puzzled, yet understand that the selection process is both unknowable and unpredictable, since she didn’t even make it to semifinalist status. I had not heard that NMF “status” was in any way correlated to UFE … that’s news.</p>
<p>We are certainly hopeful that the CBHP decision will be different. We had a very nice meeting with Jane Batson when we were in town too.</p>
<p>Good luck to EVERYONE that was fortunate enough to have been selected for UFE … you all deserve it!</p>
<p>UA still sits atop my D’s list … perhaps some of the “shine” in her mind has rubbed off … but still an amazing opportunity. What I can say is that if she would have gotten UFE, she had already told me that she would have chosen UA over Vandy, Tulane, Rice, WashU, and William & Mary without hesitation. It was an “all tie breaker” in her mind. Now, I think it will just be weighed equally … which I think is still saying really good things about what UA has to offer!</p>
<p>No mail again today. We did call and D also not finalist. We had a meeting with Dr. Morgan and a Prof from the engineering depart in December- they described research opportunities that are available to honor students that wish to do research - you do not need to be in the cbhp or service based ufe. Do not write Alabama off just because you don’t get in to these programs. Many of the faculty seemed willing to have an ambitious student that is interested in their fields work with them. There are also opportunities available in the IHP if your child has studied a language there are many study abroad research programs.</p>
<p>D also has high stats, ECs (you have to be to make it to semi-finalist )and has been mentor for an after school program for inner city kids 10 hrs/week for the past 4.5 school yrs. She missed the NMF by one point ,this year PA went up by 2! But, Alabama’s Presidential full tuition plus Engineering $2500 is still a great deal! Not making the UFE finalist cut, has not made her want to give up on Bama - phone interviews are not her strength - much better at face to face .</p>
<p>m2ck and ind500 … we have not written off bama, far from it. And re: stats, I agree, and like ind500’s D, my D had lots of experience volunteering with disadvantaged & disabled kids, etc. So main point of my post was to echo that, it is certainly not the stats they’re looking for, so beyond that there’s no telling what makes the decisions one way or another. All you can do is apply and see what happens. That being said, as a factor the helps differentiate UA from the other schools she’s applied to … in her mind … it was a BIG factor. She’ll get over it, and hopefully CBHP will be a better result. :-)</p>
<p>^Hi again. Yeah, I also agree – UFE is not stats-driven. My son also had lots of other leadership and community service stuff, like everybody else, though we would both say that others could easily outshine him in terms of “depth” of community service, and probably hours as well (based on what some others have posted). That’s one of the reasons he was kind of expecting a rejection. Leadership was really strong. The fact that he got a phone interview did encourage us just a little bit.</p>
<p>It’s okay. Come on, CBHP!! :)</p>
<p>(Sorry, spinzthatwinz, my son is out and I can’t ask him who he called, though I overheard his end of the conversation. He looked up the UFE office on the internet and called the number listed there. He was grateful that she told him of his rejection over the phone, rather than waiting any longer for the mail. He didn’t seem phased at all. Perfectly happy! )</p>
<p>malanai … thank you. Going through this with your kid is quite an experience, especially since there are so many wonderful opportunities afforded her due to her serious hard work and achievements. ANY of the schools that she chooses to attend are wonderful, and we can really make no mistakes in that regard … she’s very fortunate. Finding UA, and having it rise to the top of her list has been fascinating. I truly hope she chooses UA … it’s my favorite … although, “I” really liked Tulane too (but that’s just me, but for other reasons! Thanks again!</p>
<p>*When I returned from my trip and saw Dean Halli’s letter for myself, I noticed it was dated December 7th! Hmmm. Let’s hope the UFE letter doesn’t take nearly two months to arrive! *</p>
<p>LOL…no…I think Dr. Halli writes those letters and then prints/sends them out batches. He probably forgets to think to change the dates of the ones he wrote first.</p>
<p>Heartiest congrats again to all the Finalists for UFE! Have a great time on the weekend!</p>
<p>When we first heard about UFE, we were told that ALL the applicants have hugely impressive stats, so that’s a given…therefore, academic stats & tests scores are not really considered, they said. We were told that what makes a student attractive is his or her EC’s, especially SERVICE and CIVIC INVOLVEMENT. Beyond that, interests, passion, and VISION are valued; wanting to make a difference with one’s life.</p>
<p>Based on our son’s total profile, we really thought he was going to be a perfect fit with these criteria, and that he would bring a lot to the program. We didn’t necessarily expect that he would definitely make it into the actual UFE program, but we were frankly shocked that he wasn’t even a semi-finalist and didn’t even make it to a phone interview. So we find ourselves scratching our heads, wondering, “Well, what WERE they looking for?”</p>
<p>We were not applying in order to get the scholarship…we just thought the program sounded wonderful, and tailor-made for him…something in which he would really go far and thrive, full of fascinating people and providing lots of attention and opportunities with faculty. I don’t know if being 1 out of 1,000 is what we were looking for.</p>
<p>Our son is NMSF, so we told him that he’s got until March 1 to decide which school he wants…and which one really wants him. It’s totally his decision.</p>
<p>HowtheHeck- what other schools has your son applied to/been accepted to? He sounds like such an impressive young man - I’m always curious to see the actual choices these high caliber kids have, especially since so many of them end up choosing Alabama. D has a few very high achieving friends with whom she’s talking up Alabama, and she enjoys hearing all the schools the Bama Bound crowd are considering/turning down. In any event, good luck to him with his choice.</p>
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