One thing we have found that we did not consider in son choosing UA is that there are many students, like sea_tide, who are very smart, very hard-working and continue to be high-achieving who place a lot of weight on value over prestige. These strong students are often very humble considering what they achieve and make excellent friends and build a really comfortable community. I predict that in the years to come, as they enter the work force and head to graduate and professional programs nationwide, the prestige issue will lessen for UA. We will really enjoy watching that happen.
@NoVADad99 I don’t agree with your statement that: “Prestige” only matters to those who lack confidence.
I am very confident. My confidence has taken me very far in high school. I am sure that is why I was named captain of my varsity soccer team for the past two years along with being named MVP all 3 years. In addition, I have been asked to speak many times at conferences in my specific area of academic interest and expertise.
I am sure I could do well and be happy at Alabama if that is what I decide to do. But what I am trying to figure out is why others, guidance counselors included, don’t have a positive impression of Alabama. Prestige may matter to hiring managers. The hiring managers are aware of what employees from certain institutions are capable of. I don’t believe that all programs are equal. Sure, most may be able to get the job done but not equally.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with trying to get into the best school possible. I have sacrificed and worked extremely hard. My most recent ACT was 35 (36 for schools that accept superscore) and gpa improved to 4.9 W, 4.1 UW. As stated earlier, I plan to visit Alabama in the summer. I appreciate all the replies as I continue to research schools.
Maybe after you visit you will get more comfortable. But if not…
Perhaps there are other schools besides Alabama where you would qualify for similar, or close enough,. cost deals, but possibly feel better about them? For whatever reason. You might look into that.
IMO “prestige” is not the only characteristic of a school. The people you go to school with are the available pool you will have to draw your friends from. Also, there is a regional flavor to recruiting, at almost every school. So where that school is located, physically and culturally, may be relevant.
If you remain a top student you could possibly get the “prestige” monkey off your back by getting a suitable.graduate degree later on. That could possibly cost you, but that would be on your dime, not your mom’s.
Or you can just deal with it, go to work, and hopefully cream will rise to the top.
I would think with your high scores you could be offered merit at a good number of schools. Maybe your GC could offer assistance with particular schools.
I’ve got a few years on you to learn about life, so maybe you can re-read this thread in 30 years and see if you still feel the same way.
I’ve worked with people from all backgrounds who’ve attended Ivy Leagues, top 20, flagship state universities and podunk colleges. What I found is that the smart and hardworking people (many of whom went to state and podunk schools) will rise to the top no matter what. Where you went to college for undergrad only matters (maybe) for grad school and your first job, maybe a bit more if you want to work somewhere like Wall Street. Every other job you will get in your life will be solely based on your personal achievement and how you handle yourself in an interview. I’ve been a hiring manager and reviewed hundreds of resumes for positions. Not once did I select someone over others only because they went to a ‘prestigious’ school. I judged them only on their personal work and academic achievements. I’ve passed over quite a few with ‘prestigious’ school pedigrees because their work experiences were weak or lacking in other areas.
You are from Ohio, so it’s natural your GC and others are not as familiar with UA as they are with OSU, Miami,or other state schools there. There’s also the biases they people have about schools in the south. Unless they have personally been to UA, I get it that they ‘don’t get it.’
Finally, you said you don’t want to burden your mother. If you are an NMF, you wouldn’t want to dismiss UA’s generous NMF scholarship without thinking about how that will spare your mother from paying out of her pocket for your college education.
OP, I agree with NovaDad that most people in the midwest aren’t familiar with any of the southern schools, no matter how good they are. UA might be on their radar because of our football program, but otherwise they are clueless. On top of that some people have no knowledge about the southern states, just know the stereotypes. It takes good students like yourself (and many of the outstanding students who go there from OOS) to educate and change those stereotypes. I know my son, who was a NMF and val of his class of 600, was the first that I knew who headed to the University of Alabama. Because of his success there and the wonderful things the school offers, I personally know of 4 other people heading there next year. (One of the mothers told me that after her visit she now knows why we were so excited about the school.) UA is not perfect, but my two boys are getting an excellent education there at a very reasonable cost and we are happy they chose to go there.
Interesting that some are telling the OP that prestige does not matter and when they grow up they will realize that. To some, even adults it obviously does matter as is evidenced by the lively 36 page debate yesterday where a dad was disappointed his child did not accept multiple offers from prestigious universities and instead opted to go to a lower tier school.
It’s like cars. Some people realize a Toyota or Chevy gets the job done every bit as good as a Mercedes or Lexus, and there’s no need to spend the extra $$$ to get to your destination.
Honestly, it’s the location. It’s Alabama. Lots of stigma attached to that state. It’s the same thing with Ole Miss. Those states don’t really have the best reputation for the past 150 years. In fact, they probably have the worst reputation. If those schools were in California, they would be up there with the likes of UC- Davis or UC- Irvine academically.
OP, if you can get full tuition at Bama and have a single mom who needs financial help, surely you could apply to some elite schools and very well find yourself there for free.
@CaliCash Last year that would have been the case, but my mom just recently graduated with MBA and got a substantial increase in pay that put her salary over the range that would have made it possible for financial aid. The increase will pay off debt and begin to build her retirement. I don’t want to take any of that money. I did receive a couple of private messages with good suggestions for me to go forward.
Don’t sell yourself short. You could be eligible for some major dollars. Even a major bonus could allow for some great aid. Look at Stanford for example. Families with a household income of $100,000 get to send their kids to Stanford for free.
OP, don’t over-think this. Apply to a range of schools and then, AFTER you have all your acceptances and financial aid offers in hand, see how they stack up against what Bama is offering you. If prestige (as US News defines it) is really important to you, then perhaps you’re willing to spend a few extra dollars for it. That’s your prerogative. But don’t dismiss Bama without visiting it first so you can make an honest comparison. If like @SEA_tide (and my own kid) you’re someone who values value, you may find that Bama is an easy choice and never look back.
And, for what it’s worth, I attended (and graduated from) one of the CC “darling schools” back when it was much less prestigious. It was, for me, by far the best value because it offered me the best FA. And, I’m not going to lie, it’s nice to display the school’s name on my resume–even if many, many very successful folks still mistake it for our state flagship. 
I’m a single mom too and my primary goal is to provide the very best that I am able to for my son. When we toured colleges, all of the colleges we toured were ranked in the top 10 in engineering or in his intended field of civil engineering, except for Alabama which I’d discovered the information on scholarships for and encouraged him to apply as a financial and academic safety.
He found reasons not to like most of the schools we visited. He didn’t like that Rose Hulman was too close to home, he didn’t like that Georgia Tech was too close to Atlanta and he preferred the ‘college town’ feel, he just didn’t like anything about University of Illinois.
He liked the thought of attending MIT, but although he was deferred during early admissions, he was later rejected. So when it came time to make a decision we wound up debating between Purdue, which was in state for us, so would have been a good value in spite of them not providing any merit aid and his safety of Alabama. I told him that the decision was his to make.
I think ultimately the difference was in how he perceived he was treated by the schools. At Purdue, we visited twice, the first visit was a ‘cattle call’ with hundreds of other students with no individual attention. When we returned for a second visit, no one there recognized him or knew his name. And they opted not to provide a penny of merit aid. At Alabama he felt valued. We met our area recruiter at a college fair and she followed up by sending a personal invitation to our area recruitment event, when we attended she remember all our names and took time to introduce us to the dean of the engineering college that was there to speak. When we visited campus for the first time with a tour set up through our recruiter, there were one on one meetings where people spoke directly to my son about his interests and how Alabama could address them. When we toured the second time, we met one on one with the head of the civil engineering department and my son sat through a class and then the instructor took time after class to speak with both him and me about the engineering curriculum and how the class fit into the big picture and answer any questions we had. We had toured 10 other schools and none of them took the time or provided the personal attention that Alabama did. And the icing on the cake that they were willing to provide him a full tuition scholarship there, made him feel like they wanted him to be a student there.
Even after he accepted, I have to admit, I had doubts that we made the ‘best’ choice.
But he started the year in Outdoor Action where he met many other honors students, he got to live in the best dorms I’d seen at any of the schools we’d toured, he ended the year by going to Ecuador with Alabama Action Abroad and then worked the internship in his field he managed to get after only one year of classes. After his second year he returned to Ecuador as a student leader and then began his third year working a co-op position that he was able to get through the school. This year he has been the student director for the Alabama Action Abroad program and helped develop their budget and arrange their travel plans. With the aid of his scholarships, we have currently borrowed less than $5,000 which he should be able to pay with his co-op earnings prior to graduation.
When I reflect back, I know that other schools may have offered opportunities that would have been just as good, but no matter how much I reflect, I honestly can’t imagine that ANY other school could have offered more.
Just in case you haven’t seen this. This is one smart young man!
@novadad99 saw the same article I did. This student is taking full advantage of what UA has to offer. From @jrcsmom relayed a lot of information as well on her student’s success, and all the information they have found out about UA before their two campus visits. I imagine Ronald Nelson and his parents have visited UA campus enough (since from Memphis TN, not too far away) - article also talked about the visits with his Fellows Program interviews.
One more suggestion for OP is to indicate interest by finding out area recruiter for UA, and find out about any regional events (can find out by going on www.ua.edu).
I fully expect that Business Insider website to crash in 3, 2 …
A lot of good advice was offered. We visited UA and my son really liked the campus and the new science and engineering buildings. I think he was surprised how much he liked it. When you visit you will have a whole new viewpoint.
@CaliCash Her new salary is above that amount so we are not eligible for financial aid.
@ssjr16 There are schools where you would feel like you are not being challenged. UA would not be that way, nor would most state flagships provided you are willing to find like-minded students and instructors who are willing to challenge you. Finding such people really easy to do at UA.
I will say that grades and test scores only tell part of the picture and do not necessarily show how intelligent one is or their innate curiosity and appetite for learning. While grades are important, it’s important not to let classes get in the way of your education. I’d rather see a student get a 3.8 GPA and have a bunch of experience outside of the classroom than see a student with a 4.0 whose typical schedule included class, studying, eating, sleep, and not much else.
@CaliCash I’ve often said that UA would be extremely attractive if it were located someplace like Palm Springs. In addition, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama is arguably less conservative than Orange County, California, which surprises a lot of people.