<p>McFarland is by far the heaviest traffic in Ttown. We have found our way around enough that we know the cross streets and side streets to avoid McFarland as much as possible. For instance, coming from campus and heading to Midtown, no need to get on McFarland at all. Use another N/S street to take you to 15th. Even to get to Target we make our way to 15th on a side street and cross McFarland. Hackberry has been my preferred side street so far to get to 15th from campus. I’m sure there are many others that are just as easy. </p>
<p>I could spend a week in Ttown and never run out of great places to eat. For BBQ if you are heading to Dreamland (the one in Ttown) with a hankering for some brisket, head to their Northport location instead. The one in Ttown only serves ribs and sausage. They are good!</p>
<p>VAmom, we are from NOVA as well. My son’s accepted to the Engineering and Honors College, but we cannot make the Capstone day this Saturday, I checked the UA website but can’t find info if they will hold another info day for newly admitted honors students. Please keep us updated of your experience.</p>
<p>I know some of you are bumming that you cannot make the Capstone event. My older son could not do it his senior year, but everything worked out fine. He loved his four years at Bama. Perhaps you could venture down during your student’s spring break. We’ve done college shopping during that time frame for our younger son. Works out well, too.</p>
<p>If you want to buy BAMA gear there, Check the weekend hours for The Supe, the campus store in the Ferguson Student Center. They often close early on Saturdays and are sometimes closed on Sundays.</p>
<p>Other stores on the Strip and Downtown carry BAMA gear, but The Supe has things to be found no where else…and the profit goes back to the university.</p>
<p>Nope - you didn’t miss it. Sorry - I came down with a nasty virus (hack, cough, wheeze) and am now starting to feel a bit better. Glad we’ve got a snow day today.</p>
<p>DS and I had a nice trip to T’town. I’m glad that we had a full day on Friday to check out the town (which he hadn’t done over the summer) and to meet up with an Engineering ambassador for a tour of SERC (South Engineering Research Complex), lunch at Fresh Foods and some candid conversation about being an engineering student. Our ambassador had done several rounds of co-oping, so had some good information about that option. We also met with an ECE prof for a bit. That wasn’t as useful as I’d hoped, but did provide a different perspective. In the evening, DS went over to the Crimson Castle (gaming store) and played Magic the Gathering (one of his passions). Gave him a chance to meet some students and other Magic enthusiasts.</p>
<p>Capstone Scholars Day was a lot bigger than I expected. They had 2 venues going simultaneously. It was very Honors College focused, which was fine. We heard from Dr. Sharps first, then had our choice of sessions to attend. DS and I walked over to Russell Hall to hear about Study Abroad. Then we returned for the student panel and parent panel. Good information given at all the sessions. After lunch, we were divided into groups for a presentation by school. DS and I heard from Dr. Singleton. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell him who his audience was. He spent way too much time on high school summer programs, admissions and scholarship opportunities. No really relevant to a bunch of kids accepted with scholarships :-)</p>
<p>All in all, DS said he got a lot more out of the personal visits arranged through the Honors College (over the summer) and Engineering School (on Friday). I was hoping there would be more informal time for parents and kids to mingle or something. Not really any connections made there. I must say that the UA campus is really a beautiful facility and I know DS would feel comfortable being there. The other thing we learned on this trip is what it takes to fly down to BHM and do the drive to Tuscaloosa. We flew Delta through Atlanta, which was fine, but with all the airport time, car rental, driving time - it took about 7 hours from Northern VA.</p>
<p>The crafting of the message specifically to the Honors Student audience was an issue at the first Honors BAMA Bound sessions last year as well. There were issues with prerequisites and holds for registration which were I proved in later sessions, but, like what you describe, some of the speakers failed to tailor their message to the Honors Student audience.</p>
<p>I imagine a few of us can relate these concerns to the appropriate folks in the Honors College. </p>
<p>I ASSURE YOU, the faculty and staff at BAMA Care about Individual students and will, no doubt take feedback to heart.</p>
<p>I hope you and your student will continue to consider The University of Alabama, because it really is a great environment for higher education… A very special place.</p>
<p>DD attended Capstone Sat. Overall impressions were good. She had done visit with honors visit in Sept. Dr Morgan and Neal from honors both recognized her and greeted her by name (and she wasn’t wearing her name tag either). She had good chats with both. She wished there would have been more time in the student panel session for questions. The individual college visit was really helpful, the student ambassadors there were really informative. She got a lot out of talking with them. She found it helpful to go visit the dorm again, this time she for to see more than just the model room</p>
<p>@VAMomof4,
Sorry that you didn’t feel well during your trip. It’s great to a snow day for recovery.
Was the student ambassador from the engineering college assigned to you by the honors college or you requested one directly from the engineering college? How did your son feel about the engineering program’s strength?</p>
<p>We also attended the Capstone Scholars events and overall were impressed with the opportunities available for Honors students. A student who takes advantage of even half of what is offered will have some outstanding opportunities. DS is admitted to Engineering and we were disappointed with the information provided by Dr. Singleton. As mentioned here already, his presentation was targeted to prospective students instead of his audience of already admitted Honors students. Nice man, but not very helpful in terms of making DS more comfortable with the Engineering program. </p>
<p>We are registered for an upcoming reception in our hometown. For those who attended recent local receptions, can anyone tell us if there were any Engineering representatives present? We likely won’t have a chance to make the 11 hr drive to Tuscaloosa again and are hoping to find a way to help DS feel more comfortable about the Engineering program.</p>
<p>@247rtc - What area of engineering? Many of us have kids in one of the engineering programs and could offer some help if we understand your questions a bit more clearly.</p>
<p>Hi @MemphisGuy - He is accepted to ChemE and would like to double major in Chemistry. He has some acceptances from other colleges ranked in the top 10 for their ChemE programs, so I think one of the concerns (mind you, he is an 18 y/o male who doesn’t really share!) is a lack of knowledge about the reputation of Bama’s ChemE program and outcomes (specifically regarding grad school acceptances at some of the leading ChemE schools). My point to him has been that at the undergrad level, an ABET program levels the playing field somewhat and the ability to graduate from Bama with no student debt frees up that money for grad school funding.</p>
<p>At other schools, he has also been able to sit in on a class and speak with a professor in both Engineering and Chemistry to learn more about research as well as academics. So, any info you or others may have about that would be helpful.</p>
<p>So, he is concerned about which grad schools are likely to admit students (assuming he keeps up a good GPA and does well on testing). We’ve looked at the First Year Destinations report from Bama’s Career Center and the employment results for ChemE grads are better than many schools that are top 10 ChemE.</p>
<p>Our student ambassador was arranged through the College of Engineering request form. He was also an Honors College kid. DS is very impressed with the facilities at the Engineering school. Basically, I guess UA asked other schools what they would like to see or do differently if they could rebuild their College of Engineering = and then they did it! Inter-disciplinary buildings, large scale labs (including the earthquake lab) in the engineering complex, lots of open classrooms/spaces for students to meet and collaborate. Very well done. The prof we met with said that the school is very undergrad focused - not so much on grad students. If you do well and put yourself out there, opportunities for research etc. are not hard to find. Definitely a good support structure in place to help the students succeed - if they take advantage of it.</p>
<p>Being an ABET school definitely levels the playing field. Our ambassador said he’d had multiple co-op offers (and had done 3), enjoyed the Honors activities, had done Greek for a year and basically felt very positive about his experience. He already had a job offer from Chevron (his co-op company), so the hardest thing was pushing through to graduate. He’ll be the first of his family to graduate from college.</p>