<p>I’ve seen that the University of Alabama offers guaranteed full rides to National Merit Finalists with a 3.5 GPA. I am a homeschooled junior with a 4.00 GPA and top percentile standardized test scores (PSAT and SAT). I intend to take a few subject tests later this year. Would I qualify for the guaranteed full ride (assuming I make it to finalist status) or would my being homeschooled get in the way? Also, is University of Alabama at Huntsville a better engineering school? What about honors college? Thanks for your time.</p>
<p>Homeschooling will not get in the way. Bama asked for “certified” transcripts. That can be accomplished by writing out a transcript. The person who oversaw your education could then sign the transcript. The near full-ride is for NMFs. </p>
<p>Don’t know the answer if UAH is better for engineering. It is close to Cummings Research Park. I suppose that is convenient for internships and co-ops.</p>
<p>My D is a frosh at UA in electrical engineering. She is doing well in her classes and having a great time.</p>
<p>Have you been to either campus for a visit?</p>
<p>Does UAH give an extra $2500 per year for engineering and computer majors like UA does? </p>
<p>Good luck to you and Roll Tide!!</p>
<p>First off, congratulations on your excellent work as a homeschooled student. I have such admiration for those kids that have the self discipline to succeed at this. </p>
<p>As for UAH, you might want to look at their particular engineering programs. I believe they do some work with optics, and if that is something that interests you, you might want to check them out. UAB also has an excellent engineering program, including biomedical, and when my son applied there two years ago as a NMF, they gave him a full ride as well. </p>
<p>Take the time to research the different colleges and find which one is the best fit for you!</p>
<p>Good luck and congratulations on all your hard work!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the quick replies! Alfred University gave me a rather ambiguous answer about whether I would qualify for their full ride, so I wasn’t sure if NMF would cut it.</p>
<p>@Cuttlefish123 : I haven’t been on any campus visits yet. (I just moved back from a five-year stint in Asia a week ago!)</p>
<p>I had not heard about the extra $2500 for engineering majors at UA - I had actually not been under the impression that UA offerered much in engineering, but I’m glad to hear that they do. </p>
<p>I really do appreciate the information.</p>
<p>@Montegut: Thank you. I’m assuming UAB is University of Alabama at Birmingham - if so, I hadn’t heard about their offering full rides. Thanks for the info! I am actually very interested in biomedical engineering. I am definitely going to have to look into that school.</p>
<p>*Homeschooled Full Ride </p>
<hr>
<p>I’ve seen that the University of Alabama offers guaranteed full rides to National Merit Finalists with a 3.5 GPA.*</p>
<p>First of all, Bama doesn’t have the 3.5 GPA req’t for NMFs…only for NMSFs.</p>
<p>Secondly, being homeschooled is fine.</p>
<p>Thirdly, it’s not a “full ride”…it doesn’t cover meal plan or books.</p>
<p>BUT…if you major in eng’g, you’d get an additional 2500 per year, so that can go towards your meal plan.</p>
<p>I think UA is ranked higher than UAH, but even if it’s very close, Bama is better for OOS students. UAH is largely a commuter school. </p>
<p>Bama has a very good honors college. </p>
<p>What is your intended career?</p>
<p>Congrats on the great scholarships!</p>
<p>Here’s some info for visiting UA:</p>
<p>Here is the info:
M2CK’s usually posts this info. </p>
<p>Yes…If you decide to visit Bama, this is what you need to do…</p>
<p>set up a campus tour time online…try for the early morning one.
Campus Visits - Undergraduate Admissions - The University of Alabama</p>
<p>send an email to Allison Verhine in the Honors College </p>
<p>In the email, include:</p>
<p>tour time and date
student name & contact info
test scores and GPA
(if a likely NMF, indicate so)
intended major
professional interests (pre-med, pre-law, pre-dental, etc)
interest in Computer Based Honors program and/or University Fellows Program (if desired)
Also, include any thing else that interests you about the school…such as touring the new Science and Engineering Complex and Shelby Hall. </p>
<p>Allison will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with dept heads, honors faculty, touring honors dorms, etc.</p>
<p>Allison Verhine - Honor College Recruitment Coordinator
269 Nott Hall
205-348-5534
<a href=“mailto:allison.verhine@ua.edu”>allison.verhine@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>uab is the only school that offers biomedical engineering…</p>
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<p>let me know if you have any questions… you can pm me anytime… have son attending there</p>
<p>forgot to mention… all the engineering schools at uab have an honors track and a 5th year track (bs and masters in 5) so be sure to check that out also.</p>
<p>•Biomedical Engineering
•Civil Engineering
•Electrical Engineering
•Materials Engineering
•Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>This video shows you a bit of the Bama campus.</p>
<p>It features the College of Arts and Sciences, but since eng’g majors take science and math classes, it’s still relevant for you.</p>
<p>Also, in the video is Shelby Hall, which was Phase I of the new Science and Engineereing Complex. Bama has built about 700,000 square feet of new Science/eng’g building space in recent years. There are 4 phases of the Complex…3 are complete. The 4th phase will complete a year from this summer. </p>
<p>[The</a> University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences “This is How College is Meant to Be” - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Are you from out of state? If so, it may interest you to know that over 50% of Bama’s frosh this year were from OOS. Bama has students from all 50 states. When coming from OOS, it’s nice to know that you’d be on a campus where many students will be there on weekends. Bama provides a full campus life experience.</p>
<p>you might also want to visit our Roll Call thread to see where Bama’s students are coming from.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1096387-what-state-everybody-roll-call.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1096387-what-state-everybody-roll-call.html</a></p>
<p>if you do visit the Bama campus, do what Cuttlefish suggests in her post, set up your campus tour online and then contact Allison Verhine in honors.</p>
<p>the UAsystems of schools (UA and UAB and UAH) are incredibly lucky to have great research facilities. Here is the newest one at uab</p>
<p>[Shelby</a> Biomedical Research Building](<a href=“http://peir.path.uab.edu/pathgrad/article_112.shtml]Shelby”>http://peir.path.uab.edu/pathgrad/article_112.shtml)</p>
<p>new in 2006, now gives uab 1.4 MILLION sq feet of research space on campus. uab receives more research money than all other alabama schools combined.</p>
<p>I am really grateful to all of you for your time and your great replies. </p>
<p>In reply to some of the questions and suggestions above :</p>
<p>I intend to go into a career in biomedical engineering (possibly the medical field, but probably engineering) and, depending on the school, get my undergraduate in a more traditional engineering field. (electrical, mechanical, chemical) I will definitely get a master’s degree. </p>
<p>I have never set foot in Alabama. (I’m from the south, but am now living further north.)I live too far away to make it down there for a campus visit anytime soon. However, I really appreciate the information on how to set up visits. I’m sure that will make my life a lot easier when the time comes. </p>
<p>I’ll be sure to look deeper into UAB based on your information. I just found on Wikipedia that it has the nationwide #40 biomedical engineering program in the US. </p>
<p>Thank you all for being such nice, helpful people!</p>
<p>Just to clarify, Parent is right about UAB getting the most research dollars, but you should know that that is because the UA system’s medical school is there. I attended UAB for my first masters degree, and the undergraduate program there is not as highly ranked as that at UA. Most of those research dollars at UAB are for their med school and graduate school.</p>
<p>atlanta… i wasnt comparing schools, just saying that the uasystems has incredible research facilities and money… spread across the 3 schools. from an undergrad research point of view… incredible opportunities for undergrad not just med school and grad students. S2 has been doing research since his first semester, currently doing cancer/dna research in the shelby building. they get alot of research money in other programs, math, physics, psychology etc, not just medical</p>
<p>*get my undergraduate in a more traditional engineering field. (electrical, mechanical, chemical) I will definitely get a master’s degree. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>That’s a very good idea…you’ll be more marketable that way. An undergrad degree in biomed can be very limiting. </p>
<p>*uab receives more research money than all other alabama schools combined. *</p>
<p>As Atlanta mentions, that’s because the MED school gets a huge amount of research dollars.</p>
<p>whether the uab med school generates most of the money or not…that still means incredible opportunities for undergrads to be involved in research… if you want to think uab isnt as good as ua…go for it… i know that the opportunities are vast at uab, as they are at ua…still dont understand why the animosity when all the schools could be complimenting each other. the poster said he/she was interested in biomedical engineering…uab has that program… if that is what they want to do, why not give info ??</p>
<p>^ wish this forum had a ‘like’ button… I am amazed by the resources at all these schools. DS toured UAH and UAB and the opportunities there were undeniable. Comes down to what works for each specific case.</p>
<p>Parent, I wasn’t implying that UAB undergrads won’t benefit to some extent from the research dollars that go into the Grad and Med School programs. However, without explaining why UAB gets more money, people might think that the undergrad experience at UA is inferior to that of UAB.</p>
<p>lol atlanta… dont think there is any fear of anyone on this thread thinking ua is inferior to uab :)</p>
<p>totally agree AL34</p>
<p>I’m not trying to be rude, but does UAB have a page on here? I wish the UA system was set up so that students could take more classes at each of the three campuses in the system. Till then, there will be increased tension I think. Each campus has jewels.</p>
<p>wish uab had its own forum too atlanta… that would be a great idea to be able to take courses at the different schools, but they are so far apart, they could probably never work out housing etc.</p>