First School Visit next week-tips beyond tours?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>Hey all,
DS was accepted to Alabama for Engineering and into the Honors College so we are making the trek up to do our last set of college visits before making any decisions (still waiting on two more schools anyway). </p>

<p>I have signed up for a campus tour, an engineering info session and tour and have requested to speak with somebody in the Honors College. </p>

<p>That’s the official stuff. What should we look for that may not be covered by the official folks? Any good recommendations for places to eat (I’ll check Trip Advisor too). We fly up on Wednesday, see that “other” school down the road on Thursday and will be in Tuscaloosa Thursday night and tour on Friday. I want to maximize our time and make certain we leave knowing everything we need to make an informed decision.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>*and have requested to speak with somebody in the Honors College. *</p>

<p>Did you contact Allison or Susan? If not, please do so ASAP!</p>

<p>In the email include:</p>

<p>Student’s name and contact info</p>

<p>Date and time of the Campus tour that you’ve reserved.</p>

<p>Time of eng’g tour.</p>

<p>GPA and test scores (include NMSF status)</p>

<p>Likely majors*</p>

<p>Career interests (including med, law, etc)</p>

<p>Anything particular that you want to see. *If you have an interest in seeing the new Science and Engineering Complex, let them know.</p>

<p>Honors Recruitment
Allison Verhine
Coordinator
269 Nott Hall
205-348-5534
<a href=“mailto:allison.verhine@ua.edu”>allison.verhine@ua.edu</a></p>

<p>Susan Alley
Assistant Coordinator
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
<a href=“mailto:susan.alley@ua.edu”>susan.alley@ua.edu</a></p>

<p>Allison and her assistant will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with faculty related to major, honors college faculty, touring honors dorms, etc.</p>

<p>Sometimes mail goes to their SPAM folders, so call them if you haven’t heard back within a few business days. These ladies do an excellent job and work very hard</p>

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<p>That’s the official stuff. What should we look for that may not be covered by the official folks? Any good recommendations for places to eat (I’ll check Trip Advisor too). We fly up on Wednesday, see that “other” school down the road on Thursday and will be in Tuscaloosa Thursday night and tour on Friday. I want to maximize our time and make certain we leave knowing everything we need to make an informed decision.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1156069-bama-area-restaurant-guide.html?highlight=restaurants[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1156069-bama-area-restaurant-guide.html?highlight=restaurants&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1342479-things-see-do-around-ua.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1342479-things-see-do-around-ua.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I can recommend asking to actually sit in on a class in your student’s eng’g field - preferably an upper-division class. Hang around and actually talk with students after class. PM w/ info on your S’s interests (both inside and outside eng’g) and I can make more specific recommendations.</p>

<p>There are plenty of older threads on this same forum w/ tons of suggestions on places to eat, so do some digging. Sometimes the best pleasures are those you find yourself, and Tuscaloosa and UA are ripe for finding hidden gems.</p>

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<p>Make sure to see an Honors Dorm. Spend a few minutes or eat at the Fergunson, and buy a national championship tee at the Supe. Stroll The Strip.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the quick replies! </p>

<p>The engineering folks scheduled a visit with Allison for that day already, a visit to a residence hall with the engineering ambassador (don’t know if it’s the Honors dorm or not) and he can sit in on a Mechanical Engineering Session. Don’t know if that’s a class or more info. Just found out though that they only have room for one person on the campus tour (!) so my younger son and I will do our own. We do actually have a friend who swims there so I’m gonna see if she’s available to see us too.</p>

<p>Love the links-will start researching!</p>

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<p>Stay until Sunday, meet with engineering students, and Feb. 9th see Alabama Men’s Basketball Game vs LSU, 7pm Saturday on ESPN. </p>

<p>You get a little taste of the school spirit, the BAMA cheerleaders, Pep Band, and Crimson Cabaret…ROLL TIDE</p>

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<p>I really think you should try to get on the guided campus tour, at least for us it was a highlight. The tour guide was really great, and it was an incredible way to start the day, especially if you have never been on a campus like this (are there other campuses like this? :))</p>

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<p>Yes to the tour. Just show up and hope that someone cancels and you can take their spot. Bet that happens all the time. Good luck. Be sure to ask for a campus map from the office there, or bring the one they will inevitably give you in your packet, and have it handy to mark the route of the tour, so you know where things are next time. I found it difficult to orient myself while taking the tour (but I’m challenged that way), but doing so w/ a highlighter made driving it myself the next day so much easier.</p>

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<p>wvacupuncture-wish we could stay but have to get back to Tampa for some prior commitments! We are squeezing this in on his last non-spring break day off from school.</p>

<p>aeromom and upstate13, the guy I spoke with in the admissions office said to keep checking the website to see if spots open up and to show up that morning too. I have to take DS there anyway so that’s an easy thing to do. Love the tip about the map too!</p>

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<p>If you can’t get on a tour, there’s this:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Here are some links to get you started: </p>

<p>[Help</a> - iTour Bama - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://itour.ua.edu/help/]Help”>http://itour.ua.edu/help/)</p>

<p><a href=“http://itour.ua.edu/itour_companion.pdf[/url]”>http://itour.ua.edu/itour_companion.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Don’t forget to go to Dreamland for BBQ. My son will be taking my wife to Rammer Jammer for breakfast during Bama Bound. He loved the atmosphere and of course the “championship breakfast”.</p>

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<p>Malani thanks for those links. That sounds like a great alternative if we can’t get on the real tour!</p>

<p>Definitely thinking I need some BBQ at some point on this trip so these places getting recommended are getting noted in my file!</p>

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<p>The iTour is really cool. We didn’t use it on our visit, but I enjoyed just watching the videos before we went.</p>

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<p>DH & DS strongly recommend Dreamland BBQ. Like it very much over Blue Moon.</p>

<p>I don’t think the University tour is necessary, so I wouldn’t be too concerned if a spot doesn’t open up. I would encourage you to walk the Quad, see the library and do a drive by of the Rec Center Lazy River pool - We had never seen a Lazy River at a college before!</p>

<p>If not already included, see if you can meet with Dean Karr or Dean Sharpe. DS still hasn’t made any decisions on where to go, but these 2 gentlemen really raised Bama on my son’s list.</p>

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<p>Wanted to give you all a post trip follow up. We were able to get on the tour, unfortunately we were only able up do the bus portion because of the rain. We then drove around on our own to try and get our bearings before the engineering your. They took us to the Honors dorm (wow-nothing like the one I lived in way back when!), lunch and showed us some of the engineering facilities. After that we met with Allison in the Honors college and she was awesome. THEN my son met with the head of the Mechanical Engineering department and had a tour of their facilities. Wow. We loved the school, the campus is beautiful (holy cow-those Greek houses!!!) and the opportunities with the Honors college are great.That all said, he probably won’t attend. He got into the University of Florida and they are much more highly ranked for engineering. Plus there’s that whole in-state school thing which would cost less (he gets a Florida bright futures scholarship plus we have Florida prepaid plans.) Thanks for the advice!</p>

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<p>Glad you had a great tour at Bama.</p>