<p>Scheduled an Honors visit for my son last week. Susan in the Honors Dept put together a custom itinerary which included a meeting with her, lunch with an honors student, a tour of honors housing, a campus tour, and meeting with professors in my son’s two areas of academic interest.</p>
<p>I have to say the visit was a fabulous success. My son loved the UA campus, and especially enjoyed the discussions he had with the UA professors. They were extremely welcoming, gave some great advice regardless of whether he attends Bama or not, and invited him to meet with them again if he decides to attend next year.</p>
<p>We were both pleasantly surprised by how small the campus feels. We were able to walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes, and never felt the campus was overly crowded, even with 25K undergraduates roaming around during the day. We had a tight schedule of back to back to back events, but never felt rushed and were able to make each appointment on time. This was in stark contrast to our subsequent visit to UGA. Although the campuses are the same size roughly (in student population), the UGA campus seemed larger, more cramped, and much “busier” surrounded by busy roads with buses/cars constantly zooming by. We also liked the fact that many of the historic UA buildings still have a student focus whereas many of the historic UGA buildings are now administrative in nature.</p>
<p>As a result Alabama is at the top of my son’s list as we await acceptance decisions from a handful of other schools. If anyone else is on the fence about consudering Bama I can’t stress strongly enough how the importance of a first hand visit to get a real feel for the school.</p>
<p>My now sophomore DD at UA felt the same way after visiting UGA. She felt the UGA campus was so big. The student guide even said everyone takes the bus and doesn’t walk. That just didn’t appeal to her. She is happy at UA to roll out of bed and be in class 10-15 minutes later!</p>
<p>Wonderful! Glad that your son had such a great visit!</p>
<p>Although UA’s campus is large, it is well organized, and classes within majors tend to be grouped in the same buildings. A lot of students walk to class, but if you need transportation, Crimson Ride is clean and efficient. For example: as you leave your dorm in Ridgecrest South you can check the interactive board to see where your bus is. There are also mobile apps for your smart phones to get real time info on the go. It is a very walkable campus and there are plans to make it even more walker friendly.</p>
<p>For us the UA campus seemed a better fit for him overall, but there were two areas we both liked better at UGA.<br>
There are many more activities to choose from right off campus in Athens than we saw in the little strip in Tuscaloosa.<br>
We also appreciated being able to walk by and look into the open end of Sanford Stadium. I’m sure Bryant-Denny is beautiful inside, but we were not able to enter the stadium and look around as part of our tour.</p>
<p>As for the campus size, Bama is thoughtfully laid out so that academic bldgs are grouped by type, and many Core classes are towards the center of campus. Unless a student is double majoring in unrelated subjects (like Business and Engineering), most of his classes will be in one section of the campus. </p>
<p>The non-academic bldgs tend to be towards the perimeter of campus (dorms, dining halls, rec centers, etc)</p>
<p>Congrats, jm2817, on a great visit. Our family was in the same position a little over a year ago and we knew within the first couple hours of our visit that our son’s college search was over. Your son will have a fantastic four years in Tuscaloosa. Roll Tide.</p>