If cost weren’t an issue . . . would you still choose Bama?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>@dodgersmom Ds obviously has not started at UA, but CBHP is what made him decide to attend there. In addition to the opportunities it offers, scholarship $$ is offered to a certain # of CBHP students as well.</p>

<p>While I can’t say what ds’s experience will be like there, it is hard to separate the $$ offered from ds’s decision either. Bc he will be attending UA on scholarship, he was able to accept a research internship at the local university since he didn’t have to work a paying job this summer. The research is an awesome opportunity working with graphene. Bc he is not technically a college undergrad yet, they couldn’t offer it as an REU type of position and had to go with volunteering instead. If he had had to help finance his college expenses, he would have had to work a minimum wage job instead of participating in cutting edge research.</p>

<p>Fwiw, ds had zero interest in a LAC experience. He knows what it is like to be isolated with no kids who understand 99% of what really interests him. He also knows what it is like to be around kids who love the same things he does thanks to great summer programs like SSP. He honestly felt like the kids he met at CBHp’s finalist weekend, both the current upperclassmen involved and the students that were there for the interviews, etc, were every bit on par with the kids he formed strong relationships with at the various summer programs he participated in. When I have shared the comments about “intellectual thickness” made here on CC, he has simply shrugged it off bc he doesn’t believe that he won’t have it UA. At this pt anyway, he is completely content with his choice. (And he has taken upper level college classes at a couple of different universities in different states since we moved across the country in the middle of his 11th grade yr. He did have something to compare the lecture he sat in at UA to and he said he liked the class atmosphere.)</p>

<p>Ask me again in a yr. ;)</p>

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<p>@dodgersmom I’d try to ask some current students the same questions. This forum is pretty biased (understandably so) towards Alabama with very little current student representation.</p>

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<p>“In other words, are there advantages to UA, other than cost, that make it a better environment in one way or another than what you could expect to have found at the other schools that were perhaps higher on your original wish list? Are you finding you have opportunities at Bama that you might not have had elsewhere?”</p>

<p>This is the part that was really throwing me off, most of us have no idea what opportunities our kids would have had at the higher ranked college. With that dilemma I really didn’t know how to reply to the question. As I considered my problem I started thinking about what opportunities DS has had during his two years at Bama.</p>

<ul>
<li>Currently working on undergrad degrees in Biology and ChemEng and a Masters in Biology which he should be able to finish in 4 years due to the number of credits he had when he entered Bama.</li>
<li>Had a paid research internship at Bama with HHMI between Freshman and Sophmore years.</li>
<li>Is currently at the University of Cologne, Germany for three months on a paid research internship with DAAD Rise.</li>
<li>Has been in a Biology lab at Bama for a year and a half performing Nano-Particle research with a wonderful mentoring Professor</li>
<li>Has presented at three or four research conferences</li>
<li>Loves his suite as it allows for interaction when he wants it and solitude when he needs it</li>
<li>The very shy, quiet kid who entered Bama was elected as an officer to two different student organizations for next year, so he is growing socially as well as academically.</li>
<li>Got to attend and perform at a National Championship football game with the marching band as a freshman (and celebrate the win afterwards!!)</li>
</ul>

<p>At that point I realized that he really wouldnt have had any more, or better, opportunities had he gone to one of the higher ranked schools on his list. Maybe different opportunities but not really any better.</p>

<p>After two years we are still very happy with his choice to attend Bama…and we will have available dollars when he chooses his location for a graduate degree thanks to the NMF scholarship that put Bama on the radar iin the first place.</p>

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<p>What is the point of all this discussion? Is it to justify making the UA choice in the first place? If so, I’m very prickly about this, sorry, because it is as if people are trying to find shreds of evidence that just aren’t there. </p>

<p>Do you really think that someone who has been handed a $100+k scholarship + honors opportunities + research opportunities + mentoring + networking + an awesome atmosphere ++++++ is going to look the gift horse in the mouth and post on here: “You know, I wish I had gone to [eliteLAC] instead” ??? It has been said over and over and over again: the scholarships got us to look at UA; all the other stuff made us choose UA.</p>

<p>Compare like with like schools; make your decision on what FITS for you and your family situtation; and be done with it. Don’t 2nd guess your gut reactions to UA if it FITS for you. It’s the real deal. The very vast majority of people - both students and parents - on this forum are HAPPY with UA. </p>

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<p>Ultimately I think the answer to this question is different for each individual.</p>

<p>All the other schools my son applied to were either in the top 10 in engineering or in the top 10 specifically in the field of civil engineering. Of those schools he chose Bama with absolutely no regard to cost, but for reasons that only apply to him personally.</p>

<p>He toured UIUC which was then (and may still be) ranked #1 in the field of civil engineering, but the tour was disorganized, we were left standing and waiting several times which made us feel as though we weren’t a priority, an instructor was incredibly rude, and my son said the school and the grounds appeared dirty to him. He opted not even to apply.</p>

<p>He toured, applied, and was admitted to both Purdue and Rose Hulman. Rose Hulman still ranked #1 in engineering schools with no PHD programs. Since Purdue is an IS public and Rose gave him a substantial amount of merit and need based aid to offset their $50K+ annual cost, both may have been a stretch financially, but feasible. For personal reasons, he opted to choose Bama. Rose is about 40 miles from our house and he just wanted to get farther away from home and spread his wings. Also after visiting he started preferring the larger schools and I believe felt like he’d be missing out on social opportunities at a school like Rose. He knew other classmates that had chosen Purdue and other graduates from his small school and he opted against Purdue mainly because he wanted to feel unique and not like he was just following the crowd of all the strong students from his school pursuing STEM degrees. That didn’t upset me because 2 years later I still have some bitter feelings about Purdue not feeling he was deserving of ANY merit aid.</p>

<p>He was accepted to Georgia Tech, but quickly decided against it because after the tour he just didn’t like the feel of the school and the proximity to Atlanta and prefers being in a more ‘college town’ environment.</p>

<p>He wouldn’t have chosen an IVY school over Bama even if cost wasn’t a factor, and frankly since they meet 100% need the cost wouldn’t have been signifcantly higher than an IS public for us, but even though we toured a couple very highly ranked schools, based on the ‘fit’ he opted not to apply to most. We drove from Indiana to Boston to tour MIT and I couldn’t even convince him to tour Harvard the same day, while we were litterally RIGHT THERE, it just wasn’t a good fit for him. He did apply to MIT and was deferred EA and later rejected, had he been accepted to MIT, he would have chosen it over Bama, but cost would not have been a factor in the decision. </p>

<p>Cost was a factor in getting us to notice Bama and to apply - we’d never been in the state of Alabama prior to our first visit to the school and although son grew up watching and attending pro football games, we’d never followed the game at the college level and early in the process he couldn’t even identify the school as The Crimson Tide. It was the scholarship that made us look at the school and got us to apply as a financial and academic safety. But for us cost wasn’t a factor in the decision, but neither were the competitve programs like CBHP or UFE, neither of which son opted to apply to, it was just after receiving his acceptances and considering his options, he felt like it was the best option for him personally.</p>

<p>He was able to participate in Outdoor Action, did get an internship for the summer after his freshman year, went to Ecuador with Alabama Action Abroad, earned a spot on the President’s list his first semester, returned to Ecuador as a student leader for Alabama Action Abroad, and will start a co-op in his field in the fall, so I honestly don’t feel like he sacrificed anything with the choice he made. For students interested in pursuing a career in research or in academics pursuing prestige might be a wise choice. But for most that are going to wind up in the professional world, the name of the college on a resume quickly becomes a footnote and frankly the alumni networks of state flagships are much larger than those of the more prestigious schools. </p>

<p>Not to mention that compared to our tour at UIUC where I left feeling like I’d inconvenienced them by bringing my son to tour, Bama made my son feel valued. And,ultimately, that was probably one of the strongest factors in his final decision.</p>

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<p>@aeromom, with all due respect, isn’t CC the place for “this discussion”? Obviously the OP is torn or else she wouldn’t have posted! </p>

<p>I am EXTREMELY thankful that when it was time to make a decision my son’s was easy. Bama, hands down! But I was anticipating a dilemma much like the one the OP is suggesting. Choices are great, and great choices are better, but the fear of making the “wrong one” can leave some kids paralyzed with indecision. There’s no way to know what the future will hold and there’s no way to go back and explore the “road not taken.” Thus, there is angst! Once a decision is made, most never look back, but it’s a lot like giving birth–the anticipation, and fears, can be exhausting.</p>

<p>OP, I hope we’ve been able to help a little. I think you’ve gotten some good and honest feedback. Do try PMing @Longhual. She was very helpful to me early on in this process as her son was looking at SLACs too and applying to Bama, if I’m recalling correctly, was her idea initially. Good luck!</p>

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<p>jrcsmom - You are the poster child for this forum!!! Very well said, all of it.</p>

<p>I forgot to add: we do not rue the fact that S chose UA over other schools, with hindsight; we REVEL in the fact that he chose it!</p>

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<p>“In other words, are there advantages to UA, other than cost, that make it a better environment in one way or another than what you could expect to have found at the other schools that were perhaps higher on your original wish list? Are you finding you have opportunities at Bama that you might not have had elsewhere?”</p>

<p>I don’t know why this question would make anyone prickly. It seems like a very valid question to me. For some people money/cost is not the driving/only factor in their decision making. If great uncle Fred told you “I have set aside $500k for your college education so go ahead and go wherever you want to go” would you pick UA? What makes UA special? </p>

<p>Having a son that is considering UA as well as several other large state schools, I find the thread interesting and informative.</p>

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<p>Expanding on my prior answer (which didn’t quite answer the question the OP intended), I do think my D has had advantages at UA that she wouldn’t have had at her other schools. Of course, it’s hard to say because you don’t know what the experience would have been at another school, but I’m fairly certain she has had more personal attention at Alabama. She is not a student who will seek out attention or relationships with her professors, but CBH has gotten her attention and relationships with the profs for whom she does research. She can’t help but be known to Dr. Sharpe since she has a small class with him every semester. And she will most likely finish with both a bachelors and a masters (not to mention a double major) because of generous AP/CLEP credit and the University Scholars program. She is also thriving in the environment, has found like-minded friends and, although she thought she’d hate the weather in the south and the distance from home, she does not at all. My D was never interested in top schools or LACs; she applied only to large state flagships. I always thought (and I’m fairly confident now), that UA had the smallest feel of the large universities to which she applied. And none of those other schools won a national championship during her college years!!!</p>

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<p>Opportunities, advantages, personal attention, generous credits, and many others at The U of Alabama are things that I would have a hard time putting a price on…</p>

<p>Friday, the last day of final exams, my DS and I go to the Sewell-Thomas Stadium to catch college baseball and see for myself the new rage on campus-right field student section. Well, guess what it is full and no one else is allowed in the student section. I commented, “Wow, son, it’s at capacity on the last day of finals; I would not have believed it.” My DS interjected, “Dad, we love our school, we don’t to leave for the summer!”</p>

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<p>My son chose UA over the other state schools he was considering (that were also financially feasible for us.) Without the scholarship, UA would not have been on the radar - we simply could not afford out of state tuition. We really don’t know how the UA experience compares to what he would have gotten at the other state schools, but I think it’s a better fit for him. He is very happy at UA. </p>

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<p>Great thoughts from everyone - I love hearing decision stories. As for me, choosing between Bama, Vanderbilt, and Duke, cost was not a factor; and two years later - here I am.</p>

<p>Reasons/Advantages: CBHP, early research opportunities, early leadership opportunities, great Honors college, friendliness, nice campus, and of course all the NMF perks like guaranteed housing.</p>

<p>You get the chance to shine at Bama. I took that chance, just as it seems a lot of students represented here have, and it paid off.</p>

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<p>That’s so great to hear, @TNTide5‌! </p>

<p>I’ve often wondered how someone would choose between Duke and Vandy–the latter of which just sounds so beautiful. Did you visit both their campuses? How does Bama’s compare to theirs? I think UA sounds like an excellent safety school for someone interested in Vanderbilt, but I’ve never been there so I can only guess.</p>

<p>One of the things that blew me away about UA was that it really WAS as beautiful as everybody on CC says–I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes. We arrived on campus just as students were returning from Spring Break and it was like watching the campus literally “bloom before our eyes.” Aside from the grass that had suffered through a very tough winter, all the plantings were magnificent, and the trees had already begun to blossom. It was so lovely. And my son, who’s been very inconsistent about how much “campus beauty” matters to him, was pretty stoked by what he saw. We got to visit the sculpture garden too, which we spotted while we were on the official tour. We took some photos there of my son posing with Goldie, the “Fallen Iron Giant.”</p>

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<p>I admit that cost was a big factor in my son picking Bama, but he also looked at the many opportunities that he had as soon as he walked on campus.</p>

<p>Beautiful dorms (having your own bedroom was cool).
Getting into CBHP and doing research with the same professor for three years.
Having 65 credits to start his college career (thanks to 13 APs – no other school would offer that).
Alabama Action – gave him a built in group of friends which is important when you come from OOS and know no one. </p>

<p>In the end, he graduated debt-free with two majors and two minors. He was president of six organizations. Phi Beta Kappa. And his Bama education has launched him into law school this fall – at UVA, one of the nation’s best.</p>

<p>Bama is what you make it to be.</p>

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<p>Thank you to all of you (far too many to list now!) who’ve taken the time to provide thoughtful replies to my question.</p>

<p>You’ve reaffirmed what I believed to start with: Alabama is more than just a “good value” - it’s also, for many students, simply a good choice, even when compared with far more prestigious institutions. While students elsewhere spend four years working towards a single major and a fancy diploma, Bama students are completing multiple majors and advanced degrees, and even those students who are not in University Fellows are able to take advantage of service and leadership opportunities that quite probably surpass what they’d find elsewhere.</p>

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<p>Late to the party, but finally weighing in. My son, like @LucietheLakie, was odd in his app to UA and many LACs. He was torn between Cog Sci, Music and Engineering. If he had no financial restrictions, I think in hindsight he would have chosen one of the Claremont LACs over Engineering at Bama. He truly could be a college student for life. The LAC route was abandon when he realized he would be looking at undergrad and a Masters at a minimum before becoming employable. Engineering an employable in 4 years became quite appealing by April of senior year. He applied to few Engineering schools because none measured up to UA (or IMHO, no one else measured up to the positive impressions Dean Karr made or the AP credits which gave flexibility for courses outside of STEM).</p>

<p>DS did not apply to CBHP or UFE. He regrets that. He is a part of STEM MBA and did Emerging Scholars research. He also just returned from May term in Peru with Engineers in Action (service learning and 3 credits). His experiences this past year far exceeded his expectations. Many professors know him by name. Most responded to e-mail in record time. </p>

<p>RESEARCH – The opportunities, even without Emerging Scholars, are truly impressive for freshmen.</p>

<p>He really can’t imagine himself pursuing anything but engineering at this stage. He also is very happy for the breadth of Professors. The LACs he liked most would have been very limited in the number of professors in his areas of interest. </p>

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<p>I applied to UA after learning about the scholarship packages on CC. Getting enough financial aid was a huge concern for my family and I applied to schools based on that. While UA ended up giving the best financial aid package of the schools I applied to, there were comparable offers elsewhere. </p>

<p>Were money not an issue, I would still choose UA provided. During my college search, it felt like a lot of schools felt that students where lucky that the school would even consider accepting them and that they shouldn’t ask that the school adapt to their needs and desires. UA doesn’t work that way. UA shows that it’s honored to have students consider and eventually attending UA and will work with all students to make sure they have the best possible college experience.</p>

<p>Factors why I’d choose UA again:

  1. The people. UA expects its faculty and staff to act in a friendly, responsible, and can-do manner.<br>
  2. Classes. Having attended community colleges with over 15,000 students, I wanted a school with lots of course options and manageable class sizes taught by talented professors who interact with their students.
  3. School Spirit: No matter where one lives in the US, you’ll probably hear a “Roll Tide!” UA is the #2 college in the nation in terms of sales of licensed merchandise.<br>
  4. Easy access to administrators and elected officials. One can drop by Judy Bonner’s office and often have a meeting within the hour. The Mayor of Tuscaloosa is on campus almost every day and Governor Bentley is on campus almost every week. Many of the LGS 200 instructors have either served on the Alabama Supreme Court or are judges at the other levels of the state/county judicial system.
  5. Excellent dorms. For less of the cost of dorms at other universities, one can have their own bedroom in a nice suite. There is also plenty of air conditioning.
  6. Favorable academic policies. Instead of making students retake lower level courses, UA allows them to take advanced and even graduate courses.
  7. Academic and Volunteer Opportunities. UA provides students with lots of opportunities to challenge themselves academically and to help improve communities near them and around the world.
  8. Publix. This one is thing people who leave the South miss the most. Try the chicken tenders and sub sandwiches. They also have really good lemonade.</p>

<p>Roll Tide Roll!</p>

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<p>@LucieTheLakie, I did, in fact! I live about half an hour from Vanderbilt (another contributing factor to my “wanting to get away”), and I essentially made my decision to attend UA while visiting Durham for the first time. Vandy and Duke are twin schools of sorts… they’re both highly ranked, and the feel of each campus is very green, like the campus flows seamlessly with the nature. The trees help give that feel. Vandy is actually a national arboretum. Durham is much smaller than Nashville… maybe I wasn’t visiting the right parts of it, but if I recall, the university essentially WAS the town. Nashville is one of my favorite cities, and Vanderbilt feels pretty well-connected to it.</p>

<p>If you want my take on it, I think both schools’ atmospheres are stunning, and I would have been happy with the aesthetics at any of my three choices - and as a matter of personal taste, perhaps even moreso at Vandy or Duke. But some of those other factors that I mentioned are what drew me to UA - along with the observation others have shared, wherein campus reps have portrayed the other universities as such gems that “you’re lucky to get in, and if you do, we have someone with your credentials on our waitlist ready to take your place”… yeah, that just rubbed me the wrong way. They WANT you at Bama. We’ve been striving to better ourselves by building up and investing in high-achieving students, and I LOVE it. While on my Duke tour, I essentially got one woman in admissions to admit, “Well, no, if you plan to go to grad school, the ranking of your undergrad doesn’t really matter.” And that helped seal the deal for me, since I was worried at the time not necessarily whether I would get a good education at any of the institutions - I knew I would - but whether others would recognize that quality and open up my opportunities accordingly. I’d say all of my doors are still open.</p>

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<p>@TNTide5, thanks so much for coming back to reply!</p>

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<p>Interesting question. My son just graduated from UA a few weeks ago. He was a NMF, a dual major, and we were definitely lured to UA by the scholarship. Had he received an equivalent package from his so - called dream school, USC, he would have gone there instead of Bama based on what he thought he knew about the two schools. However (and I’ve posted this before) he declared during his sophomore year at UA, “Knowing what I know now, if I’d gotten into every school in the country, this is where I’d want to be.”</p>

<p>Why? First and foremost, the phenomenal, gracious, talented, generous, bright, caring, and friendly people. I’m talking about everybody: peers, professors, deans, administrators, clerks, etc. </p>

<p>Then there’s the academic rigor, coupled with the ability to lead a balanced, healthy life. UA is as tough as it needs to be without needing to crush a student’s soul just to prove how rigorous it is. My son was able to work hard and play hard. Add to that the pervasive can - do spirit that permeates every facet of UA. Need an internship? How can we help? You want to create a never-before-seen hybrid major? Let’s see what we can do? Live too far away from home to go home for Thanksgiving? Come to my home and don’t be shy because I’m your dean. Can you join Dean Sharpe for lunch? He’d like to make sure you’re doing well and would like your honest feedback about what works and doesn’t work for you at Bama. You won the Campus MovieFest regional competition and want to know if we can help you go to the national competition, even though you’ll have already graduated? Sure, here’s $1,500. Makes us proud.</p>

<p>I could go on and on about the finest dorms on the planet, the drop dead gorgeous campus, the first class infrastructure, the perks of being in the Honors College, the astounding intimacy one can experience despite the size of the school, and the appreciation UA conveys to its students, but that’s been posted many times on CC and, well, you get the idea.</p>

<p>My son summed it up best when I asked him what’s the one thing he’d want a prospective student to know about Bama. “Dad,” he said, “If there’s something you really want to do, Alabama will do everything possible to help you make it happen.”</p>

<p>Roll Tide. :)</p>