Thanks @aeromom and @SOSConcern for your replies. She is a very busy senior, taking dual enrollment classes and AP classes. It’s also marching band season so she really is tied up until the holidays. There is hardly enough time left in the day for her just do finish her homework. I think at this point she will probably look into trying getting into HC down the road unless she tries to wing it in December on the ACT. But that would definitely be her last shot at it.
@dutchmomsey Can she ‘skip’ a dual enrollment class or trim down a class in the fall? It made a big difference for both DDs to be able to spend the time on practice ACT tests and test tutoring. Plus getting college applications etc in.
@SOSConcern I don’t see any wiggle room in her classes and she is also not quitting band after all the years of hard work she put in. This is her last year marching and I don’t want to take away from that. She will be okay. She might take the ACT again in December and we will see. Our main concern is that she gets into the college of her choice in the first place and that she enjoys and is passionate about her studies at college. If that involves HC down the road that’s great and if not she will carve her own path. I understand her being so close to 28 and the coveted 30 plus these are tough choices and decisions to make, but I am sure it will all work out in the end either way. I also don’t want to push her to breaking point. 27 is a fine ACT score and we are proud of her regardless. If there was a way she could apply with a super score 28 she’d apply to HC , but if that’s not possible she totally understands. I think she is leaning towards working towards HC down the road then. I really appreciate your input and perspective though.
@dutchmomsey - I totally “get” your point. My DS is taking one more ACT in September - he is so close to the full scholarship $$$. But man it is a PAIN! He is dual enrolled too, in some tough classes.
I don’t know how band students survive fall season!
^ oooo @dutchmomsey, don’t forget to see if she’d like to join the Million Dollar Band - the ultimate in marching band experience! This definitely does not need to be her last year for that! 
@aeromom hahahaha that is sooooooo true!!! She is thinking about it @SouthFloridaMom9 Yup she basically has no life until Christmas LOL. Wishing your DS good luck on his ACT. 
Some kids burn out with HS band. I hate to see that happen. I do understand it is a lot of fun and camaraderie (I was in HS band), but it is a lot of work and commitment and even more so for some.
The ACT testing goal was important for us with the scholarship level, plus HC.
UA DD had a lot of music prep before getting into middle school - and was the only All State student from our district in 6th grade (and one of only three 6th graders at Middle School All State). Had a superb experience 7-8-9 in our public middle school where curriculum was modified block, and was able to continue a lot of music EC too. Was able to also do volleyball through 8th grade. At conclusion she won the Director’s Award from that large band program, and was a band officer for 2 years. Was the only 7th grader in Wind Ensemble (first chair all 3 years), and was in Jazz Band all 3 years, and a second Jazz Band with HS/college kids for two years and lead on her instrument. However I could see the 10-11-12 public school block system would suck the life out of DD with band/marching band and not as much academic focus - so 6 classes plus band, instead of 8 classes - IMHO the athletes also get cheated out of a fuller academic experience because they have a block each semester for ‘conditioning’ along with 6 total classes per year. They even added where one could be in competition marching so 2 our of 4 fall classes were band…as I shake my head…So had her go back to Catholic school which had a small band program, and only did band there one year before picking back up/continuing in local youth orchestra and was able to do UA Honor Band 3 years - which was a better music experience for her than All State Band, because UA auditions the students to place in one of four honor bands, and she was in the top Festival Band all 3 times - so music was fun and challenging; our state has some weaker districts so the music level in the top All State band is not there for all the musicians that won the top band from their district. Although DD was drum major in 9th, she didn’t really do much marching until UA MDB rookie camp. MDB is looking for music excellence (audition) - most kids that have the high music ability can learn the marching skills. DD was so excited for MDB - it was worth the wait for her. DD takes a heavier engineering course load during spring term, but MDB and UA football definitely makes fall term at UA rock. She has to assess each year if she can continue to do well on her courses and continue to do MDB. Looking back, she says HS wasn’t fun - but she definitely had the core college prep and study skills to make the transition to college. She also did go to the one week summer band camp UA had (went two years) which is directed and run by MDB two top Directors.
Yes the standardized testing is a pain, but the reward is so worth it. My older DD’s one ACT point meant $12,000 more in scholarship at her school (UAB). UA DD went up much more hitting Presidential level - she was very motivated because she knew she was smart enough and was determined to prove it. We were so overjoyed with her last test score. The test tutor helped not only with infusing motivation, but helped DDs with strategy, structure. Lots of other kids at the tutor’s office all with the same goals.
Yes it is challenging going up from ACT 27. ACT 29 is 95% and ACT 30 is 97%. Some kids hit high scores their first or second time on these tests, which is admirable and enviable.
And I do agree you do not want to pile on expectations that would be too stressful.
Life is balance and choices.
Some kids don’t try out for MDB until their sophomore year - however they do need to be motivated to keep up with their instrument for a good audition.
Thanks for this site, very interesting: http://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/publications/14_11-47.pdf
Very interesting. I like the size of Alabama engineering, very close to the engineering size of University Minnesota (UMN). The number of tenure track/tenured faculty at Alabama is not on the top 50; UMN has 231 faculty (number 22). I am wondering if they are growing so fast that they do not have the capacity (instructors). Do you know who is teaching the engineering classes?
@mom2collegekids What are your thoughts?
@SOSConcern It definitely gets more challenging in the upper ACT ranges. Your daughters seem very accomplished and driven. You must be very proud. Kudos on all the band achievements too. My DD is still thinking about MDB. Her band directors definitely are pushing her that way. She is 1st chair in wind ensemble and section leader, but nowhere as accomplished as your kid. Lots of stuff to think about Thank you for your detailed response. I certainly enjoy communicating with other college kid parents as this process is our one and only go at it our DD being an only child.
There are many other musical opportunities at UA, not just the MDB. My son is in the Huxford Symphony there. Check 'em all out here: http://music.ua.edu/ensembles/ Note that the MDB is not part of the School of Music, per se - it is its own entity: http://bands.ua.edu/ensembles/million-dollar-band/ .
Anyone (regardless of major) can try out for any of the ensembles, in either the School of Music or the University Bands programs. There are additional stipends available within the MDB and band programs, and I believe these are funded by the athletic program, not the SOM. These stipends are different to music scholarships, which are administered by the SOM.
If you have a student who is playing at a high level in HS, please have them seriously consider keeping up their instrument by joining one of these great groups at UA. There is further info and posts in other threads on this. PM me if you want info on the Huxford directly. Good luck with your musical decisions! 
@aeromom @mom2collegekids Just so you know, I am very interested in Alabama and discussed with my DD and DS last night. I am just trying to look at all angles because it is almost too good to be true how well Alabama is doing growing their engineering program.
I just asked the question about who is teaching is because the “labor” is the hardest part to grow when capacity is increased. Just my experience as an engineer in a manufacturing environment.
Hopefully you do not misunderstand my questions as being negative.
^ no misunderstanding whatsoever!
I think that UA needs to track the impact of @mom2collegekids on UA’s enrollment, quite honestly. There should be a separate line item for that in all of those surveys and databases.
___ Check here if you heard about UA from mom2CK posts on CC!
My son is beginning his 4th year (his 6th semester of classes because of his co-op) and all of his engineering coursework has been taught by a professor or assistant professor and none of the courses in the engineering department have been taught by grad student TAs. His first 100 introductory level course was actually taught by the head of his department.
In his 6 semesters of classes I can only recall one course, a math course, that was taught by a grad student, all of his other courses, even in his minor of Spanish and his core requirements have been taught by professors. Some classes do have added discussion sections or labs that are broken into smaller groups that are led by grad student assistants.
I know that Bama has increased their faculty size significantly over the last several years. I’ve read that they were aided by the fact that many other universities were struggling with funding and were freezing hiring or even cutting positions, so Bama was able to take advantage since they were one of the few universities hiring.
Thanks for the response. Would you say that the faculty in engineering at this time is +/- 200? That would be a good number considering the undergraduate size and on par with other major universities, OSU, Purdue, ISU. of a ratio of 25:1.
I fully agree/understand grad students teaching discussions or labs. That was common in my day way back in 78 - 82!
No, it was Finding Financial Freedom. It’s a great, practical class that my daughter would recommend to anyone.
Here is a list of the engineering faculty & staff at UA: http://eng.ua.edu/faculty/ , and more specifically, here: http://eng.ua.edu/people/
If you’d rather, you can click on each department to see who’s who.
Thanks @aeromom for your information on all the different music departments. I did not know. I will share your post with my DD. It’s definitely more food for thought
I was reflecting on the comments about class sizes/course availability for engineering students and some things do not make sense to me. Here are the numbers regarding entering class size/middle 50% ACT (25/75):
2014 1342 27/32
2012 1063 25/32
2011 844 24/31
These numbers are from the following site:
http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/6474/screen/19?school_name=The+University+of+Alabama
If we think that the distribution is bell shaped with respect to the above splits, then the number of Honors eligible students has increased as follows (using the criteria of 28 ACT required and assuming that anyone over 28 probably has a 3.5 UW GPA (?)):
2014 1006 (Mean ACT = 29.5; spread 5 pts))
2012 531 (Mean = 28.5; spread 7 pts)
2011 422 (Mean = 27.5; spread 7 pts)
The reason for this is the mean has shifted and the distribution has tightened significantly. This results in a much larger population becoming Honors eligible now than even two years ago. If the class sizes are remaining the same and the eligible population has doubled, then the number of offerings must have doubled or students will get locked out of critical courses.
I know from experience, engineering graduate from ISU with no honors at the time, that smaller class sizes are beneficial for the introductory weed out courses in Chem, Physics, and Calculus.
How is UA accommodating this explosive growth in the numbers of Honors eligible students in engineering?
The heavy recruiting of high stats students has definitely changed the profile of the entering class but surely has put a heavy burden on the Honors College.
I know that UMN statistics show that the engineering college has middle 50% Honors Stats of 34/35 ACT (2 point spread). OSU minimum is 32 ACT. See this for UMN:
http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/honors/review.html
UMN has different levels by college due to competitiveness of enrollees (see above link). Right now, it seems Alabama has a generic 28 ACT/3.5 UW GPA across the board.
Has anyone heard if this is going to change for the College of Engineering? I am curious because of the increased entrance of High Stats students.
@mom2collegekids @aeromom I have great respect for everything you have said on the site. I do think that maybe your kids entered UAB before the explosive growth and were able to get the Honors courses fairly easily. What are your thoughts about what I have detailed above?
@SOSConcern Your DD started last year, I believe, could you give your thoughts on Honors Classes availability? Especially for Chem, Physics, and Calc.
All - I am not trying to be critical. In fact, I am very impressed by all things that I have heard about UA. The possibility of being in Honors for Physics, Chem, and Calculus is definitely high for me. I am just concerned that either the criteria will change by fall 2016 or it will be extremely difficult to get Honors classes in the core subjects mentioned.
My DD selects and schedules her classes based on what she needs and the time available. First semester she didn’t even realize one course was an honors until I told her - it was her one credit CE 121, Intro to Civl Constr Evr eng course, and was taught by the dept chair Dr Fridley (he now has been promoted to Senior Assoc Dean and UA has a different Dept Head for civil eng). I was impressed that Dr Fridley wanted to have the experience/exposure with his entry honors students. DD is in the STEM MBA program, which is an honors class.She is not bent on seeking honors versus the regular class - she looks at what she needs and how her class selections fit into her schedule. However, she knows she would not sign up for honors physics II for example, because regular physics I was challenging enough. As time goes on, I am sure she will count up her honors hours to make sure she if finishing enough along the way. Many, many students realize the benefits of the class priority with honors designation. I just saw a comment by another parent that her DD took honors chemistry which requires a paper every week with the lab that is done - great for a chemistry major but may not be something a student who just needs one chemistry course will want to do.
@cyclonegrad an honors college student at UA has to only fulfill a certain number of courses with honors designation to graduate with the honors program fulfilled.
The stats you see mean that the entire student body of UA coming in is being raised.
Many engineering schools limit the students accepted into their program major - UA does not. However students at UA that find they don’t have the aptitude or the desire to pursue engineering do change majors, and some of course do come into engineering after initially declaring another major.
I do think many look at UA from OOS and wonder if the school is as good as it looks. It is.
I would address the honors questions regarding class offerings and how they are managing this with HC and Eng Deans - they can assure you based on what they are doing. Both HC and Eng are well run from my point of view.
Also, honors course at UA (or probably other colleges) does not mean the same thing as in HS. @mom2collegekids can perhaps explain this on a post.
@sosconcern Thanks for your comments. Very insightful. Seems like Honors designation is beneficial even for scheduling regular classes due to priority, correct.
So, the Honors Chem, Calc, and Physics are way more work than the regular classes? I guess there is a trade-off for smaller class sizes. Maybe better to stay in regular classes for these?
I will ask the Honors College and Deans when I see them.
Could you give some insight on STEM MBA? Are these classes used as electives? What do they cover, Acctg, Finance, Marketing, etc.?