<p>*Montegut said it all ツ *</p>
<p>How do you do that ツ without copy/pasting???</p>
<p>ツ hint; it’s a character in another alphabet ツ</p>
<p>Being from the Atlanta area, here’s my 2 cents. Georgia is out if you want engineering. Georgia Tech is an amazing opportunity for an engineering major, and my husband has a EE master’s from there. However, you have to be comfortable with the urban campus and the safety issues that have been a problem there. My daughter spent several summers there for swim camp and the dorms are nothing less than gross. I think counting on “free” tuition at Tech is probably not a sure thing – given the reductions in HOPE and the rigor at Tech (only a very small percentage of their very talented student body retains HOPE). Despite her NMF status, her grand total offer from Tech was $234. Alabama was far from being my daughter’s first choice and it took 2 campus visits before she was hooked The scholarship from Bama is something she couldn’t ignore knowing that she wanted to go on to graduate school. But the individual attention and recruiting from Alabama made the final difference. Tech is very impersonal and disorganized throughout the application process and you are nothing more than a number. Alabama was totally the opposite and she felt that the Honors College faculty was very invested in her success. Follow everyone else’s advice and schedule the Honors College visit. Make sure you let them know your student’s specific interests – we even had lunch with a triathlete since that is her passion. After that, and a frank discussion about finances if applicable – I’d leave the decision up to your son. After attending orientation, and meeting a lot of great kids who were equally driven and successful, she is even more sure of her decision to attend Alabama. Good luck with all that lies ahead!</p>
<p>I just need to ad one thing as a parent of what was an EXtREMELY reluctant incoming freshman.
AP and CLEP credit is AMAZING! I was just chatting with my D’s two BF’s, one heading to Drake and the other Virginia (I think) anyway they all took the same basic course load through high school, fairly rigorous, and heavy AP, anyway D is going in with 54 credits, Drake student was awarded 12, and Virginia less than 10!!! Not only is the scholarship opportunity FABULOUS for high achievers, but the generous award of CLeP/AP hours makes it possible for these kids to double or triple major, and even get their masters in 4 years! </p>
<p>The campus and people are amazing, and it literally took my D 15 minutes on campus to move UA to the top of her list, and she could have gone anywhere.</p>
<p>nicollec- the web site states they will only allow 45 credits from AP/Clep/department testing. Did she also have college credit from a community college to bring it up to 54?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I think we need some clarification about all of that. The website says up to 45 credits for AP/IB/CLEP, but it sounds like Bama accepts them all…**but maybe only lets you use 45 credits for the 120-128 credits need for a major. **</p>
<p>Maybe the others can be used towards a minor or second major…or they just sit on the transcript???</p>
<p>Your daughter has two boyfriends? Heck with the ap/clep credits. I wanna hear more about the love triangle :-)</p>
<p>nicollec brings up a great point with the AP credits; as a matter of fact I just read part of her post to my somewhat reluctant D2 who just got her first AP score back today. While some STEM majors may choose to retake a math or science class that their AP credit would cover, my humanities focused D’s love that any math or science AP credit means they have to take less of those classes in college; my history major D got to go right to higher level history classes and my prospective english major D knows that she would have credit already for the history classes that she dislikes 
</p>
<p>That’s one angle I’m trying to subtly plant seeds about so that D2 has her app in for UA next year…</p>
<p>RobD- same here for my math/science son. If he can get out of history/eng classes, his ears perk up! And he probably will retake a math/CS or other major specific courses.</p>
<p>My boys were thrilled to get out of Frosh comp classes with AP English exam…mostly because the Frosh Comp classes take a lot of time.</p>
<p>Younger son didn’t even want to take AP English, so he just took the exam. </p>
<p>Your daughter has two boyfriends?</p>
<p>I’m sure that Nicolle’s D is cute enough to have a whole stable of boyfriends…but I think she meant “two best friends.”</p>
<p>Thanks M2CK! Yes, she is darling. Yes, I meant 2 best friends LOL!</p>
<p>My opinion goes against the crowd here, but I would encourage you to have your child read the many posts here that detail the fabulous things about Bama and NOT rely on the visit to clinch the deal. I’ve read many posts about how wonderful the visits are and how many kids were sold by the visit, but that didn’t happen for my daughter. Her visit was nice, and she got more attention from UA than she did from the 3 Big Ten schools she’s visited so far, but it was nothing like the visits I’ve heard others describe.</p>
<p>We set up a visit with the Honors College 4 weeks before the actual visit. We had asked to meet honors college faculty - it didn’t happen. We had asked to talk to someone about CBHP - it didn’t happen. Jami made arrangements for her to have lunch with a CBHP student, but he didn’t show! DH said at that point things were very disorganized, and he and D were standing around Nott Hall having no idea what to do next. Eventually they were sent to lunch with a non-CBHP student and another family. The meeting they had with a CBA accounting professor was a disaster - DH said this prof had no personality and couldn’t/didn’t answer most of their questions. It was so early in the semester that the honors class D sat in on had no discussion - they were just learning each other’s names and taking care of housekeeping matters. And the campus is apparently not at its most beautiful in January, because D said it was pretty much the same as the other large publics she’d seen. The only thing that blew her away were the honors dorms. In UA’s defense, she went very early in the 2nd semester and shortly after an ice storm that wreaked havoc in the area and probably made scheduling difficult. But bottom line, the visit did not move UA up on my D’s list, although she has applied and is still interested.</p>
<p>I personally think UA is the best fit for my D, and I don’t think that because of the scholarships. I think it’s a school on the rise and a very student-centered school (particularly for a large state flagship). And I love the “selective but not exclusive” nature of the Honors College. Unfortunately, D hasn’t come to my way of thinking yet.</p>
<p>while most of the visits we hear about here sound fab, ours was nothing special either!</p>
<p>i would think that if you are a probably NMF and let them know that, you will get a different visit then we got.</p>
<p>we liked it when we visited, but it was not really due to anything good that happened on the visit.</p>
<p>we got there on time and had a info session/tour with 1 or 2 other kids. we saw tshirts in the office. they didn’t give tshirts to our group, but they did give them to the groups who came later.</p>
<p>our tour guide was cute. ; )</p>
<p>we asked to speak to someone in scholarships and we had a few questions, but the person we met with didn’t really volunteer any info.</p>
<p>we asked to see a dorm, and they gave us vague directions and sent us on our way. when we got there we couldn’t get in the building. so we had to come back and ask again. then they sent us somewhere else. we finally got in somewhere and looked for a minute … then left.</p>
<p>we didn’t have any meetings with anyone in the honors college or in any department.</p>
<p>our visit was set up by our regional recruiter.</p>
<p>so … the visit can be good or meh.</p>
<p>i will say that it was better than our visit at lsu which just turned us off so much that it got knocked off the list that day.</p>
<p>Mike…it sounds like your visit was the regular version…not the honors version. Since your tour was almost 2 years ago, I think that may have been before the Honors College really started doing more “honors tours” for non-NMFs. </p>
<p>I don’t know why Bethsmom’s honors tour was so disorganized. It seems to have fallen thru the cracks in some odd way. Usually, Jami (now Allison has the job) gives you an “hour by hour” written itinerary in a folder of who you’ll be meeting with, etc. I can only imagine that there are going to be odd days when certain faculty aren’t available and nothing much can be done about that. 
It would be better if you could come down again and give the school another “go” at a time when they were certain that various faculty were available. </p>
<p>I agree that winters are not going to be the most beautiful because the trees are bare and the grass is dormant. </p>
<p>My nephew had his tour in January (the day before CSDay) and everything went like clock-work…but it was cold because it was right after one of those very rare snow storms. </p>
<p>But…I do remember my SIL asking me what that brown stuff was (dormant grass) because being from Calif, she had never seen dormant grass…or really very many dormant trees since many Calif trees are evergreen. lol</p>
<p>Overall, I think most tours (by far) are very good. I’ve been on at least 15 tours at Bama…all have been very good. So, I think the meh ones are the exceptions, not the rule.</p>
<p>M2CK - I think my D and your nephew might have been there at the same time. D’s tour was the Friday before CS weekend, just a couple days after 2nd semester started. She did have an hour by hour itinerary, but unfortunately it didn’t have any honors college faculty on it, the lunch got screwed up and the one faculty member on the schedule was a dud. I still give the school credit for trying - none of the other large publics D has visited even tried to give her that kind of experience.</p>
<p>First off, I sincerely apologize for those who had campus visits that didn’t go as planned. I know that the Honors College works hard to plan meeting for accepted students, but sometimes a specific professor or student is busy, out of town, or had an emergency come up. I know that I ended up meeting with many prospective students with no advance notice because I happened to be in the office that morning.</p>
<p>I didn’t have a VIP visit when I first visited Alabama. My introduction to the Honors College was running into [Dean Emeritus] Dr. Halli’s office for a meeting while freezing cold because I decided to wear shorts on the plane only to find out that it was 12 degrees in Tuscaloosa that day (this was in January). I still haven’t taken a campus tour.</p>
<p>Much like the deans I met on my first and only campus visit, I know that the most important thing a university needs to do for a student on a campus visit is to make the student feel like they belong and will be happy and successful on campus. Thanks to CC and a job preparing hundreds of letters and information packets for the Honors College, I can readily quote facts and statistics about UA. Do such facts constitute a majority of my interactions with prospective students? Of course not. They serve the purpose of getting students to consider the opportunities available at UA.</p>
<p>If I were to meet with your son on a campus visit, the first question I would ask him is what drives him; what are his interests and desires? While many students don’t know how to answer this query, any responses help develop a more personalized conversation and help the student see themselves at UA. Next, I would inquire as to the other colleges/universities he is considering and what led him to consider UA. Not surprisingly, the most common responses to the latter are money and getting a large scholarship, which is nice as it gets that elephant out of the room. With these responses, we would then discuss possible academic plans and extracurricular activities that may be of interest. Since your son is going to be admitted or will already have been admitted, it is UA that is trying to sell itself to your son and your family, not the other way around.</p>
<p>I cannot stress enough that you want your son to see be able to himself attending UA after his visit is over. This can take a lot of different forms. For example, after I had spent a good amount of money in the Alabama clothing section at Macy’s the day after my visit, had sat down with the manager of an Olive Garden talking about UA’s business school, and had started signing my e-mails with Roll Tide, I knew that I was attending UA.</p>
<p>Good Luck and Roll Tide!</p>
<p>beth’s mom: I understand your concern that Alabama did not give its best during your daughter’s visit. But I would encourage her to take another visit to the campus, as the school has many opportunities that could interest her.</p>
<p>My son was not sold on Alabama, either. He was a NM kid (we live in Virginia), and we told him to go through all of the NM offers he had, select one as a financial safety and apply. He chose Alabama because it was the closest to home. We visited during the start of the Christmas holidays. It was 22 degrees the morning we took our tour. Did not see too much of the campus, although our younger son went wild over the Rec Center – thought it was awesome. Went over to the honors college just for a look-see. My husband and I thought, “Well, this was a disaster.” But over the next few days, our son said that he liked Alabama, although it was not at the top of his list. About three weeks later, I had to (strongly) encourage him to apply to CBHP. He really did not want to apply. He did not think the program was for him, but he agreed to humor me. After all, he would not get selected, and then, he would not be hearing from his mom that Alabama had a great package to offer.</p>
<p>He got selected to go to CBHP finalist weekend, so he asked that I fly down with him. At the end of the two-day program, my son introduced me to Dr. Sharpe, who asked if there had been anything we did not have a chance to do on our visit. He had not sat in on a class, but my son did not make that a priority. Seeing a dorm, however, was important. Dr. Sharpe got one of the students from the honors college to take my son to see Lakeside West, the dorm where my son lived his freshman year. Even after being treated so well during finalist weekend, my son still was not completely sold. He said that he could see himself at Alabama, but he wanted to wait to make a decision in April when he would learn his fate from other schools. </p>
<p>In the end, he weighed all of the programs at those schools where he won acceptance. He chose Alabama because of the opportunities it presented. He could be in three honors programs. The school would accept all his AP credit (65 hours). He could double major, maybe even triple major. He could earn a masters all in four years. He could research with a professor – he is in CBHP and did just that this year. His reward is that he and that professor will go to an economics conference sometime during the upcoming school year. The NM scholarship gives him some funding for study abroad – he’s currently in Belgium. But he also has gone to Costa Rica twice as part of a service learning program. He joined a fraternity, and its national office awarded him an all-expenses paid trip to Greece. He’s been involved in everything from student government to the academic team (made two trips to Chicago to compete in the national tournament). </p>
<p>He has been in classes with some very brilliant young people, including M2CK’s oldest son and Sea_tide. </p>
<p>My son is an honors college ambassador, which has been an incredible experience for him, because he gets to tell prospective students that he was not always sold on Alabama. He even told his kid brother that he should take advantage of the same offer I made him. Visit several schools. Ask lots of questions. You just may find something you like more. </p>
<p>Oh, and then, there’s that little matter of football. I know where he is every Saturday in the fall.</p>
<p>And to think, two Augusts ago, as we were pulling out of the driveway to head to Alabama for move-in, my son looked at me, and said, “Well, if it doesn’t work out, I can always transfer to UVA.”</p>
<p>*I think my D and your nephew might have been there at the same time. D’s tour was the Friday before CS weekend, just a couple days after 2nd semester started. *</p>
<p>Ahhh…</p>
<p>I know that Jami and the Honors College (faculty and student ambassadors) were completely overwhelmed by the number of requests for special tours that Friday before CSDay…since so many kids had flown in a day early for special meetings etc. </p>
<p>My nephew also didn’t get to meet with any honors faculty that day (they were already booked up!), but he did meet with ChemE profs and toured the SEC and the honors dorms…and had lunch with an honors person (but the original one that we were supposed to meet with was late, and another came to sub)</p>
<p>That was one busy and crazy day! (and I do think that since the semester had just started, that also complicated things)</p>
<p>I met 8 prospective pre-med ChemE students that day who had flown in from all over…that doesn’t even count the other majors!!! I know one of the student’s I met that day has a mom who posts here occasionally, and that student will be in CBH this year.</p>
<p>I will mention to Dr. Sharpe and to Allison that it is very likely that the same thing will happen next January…so if there’s anything that can be implemented to lessen any complications or confusion, that would be a good idea!</p>
<p>Well, M2CK, it’s good to know why it happened. I had wondered if it was just that D’s stats/desirability weren’t as high as other students who had good experiences. It’s also good that you’ve mentioned the potential problem to the folks at the honors college. I had specifically asked when making the appointment if it was OK to come the day before CS day, and had Jami told me that they would be super busy that day and it wasn’t the best time for a visit, we would have made a different day work. Unfortunately, when you’re paying for airfare and hotel rooms to visit OOS schools, one visit is usually all you get, so you want to make it as good as possible.</p>
<p>What is CS day?</p>