<p>D is a Junior now- so many from her competetive HS are worried they won’t get in their preferred schools (away from Al) so Al is their safety school. My D doesn’t want to go to Bama- which is fine- did any of you look at Auburn? that is her #1 now and I have many friends who went to Auburn and LOVEd it but Alabama is the place to go now- just want some feedback from Auburn !! noone is on the Auburn forum- I know the Honors program and dorms are better at Bama and of course the damn football team-I am a MAJOR Bama fan but I know Auburn is a GREAT school and want her to be happy!!!</p>
<p>We visited both Auburn & UA, and we chose Bama. In all fairness, we went to Auburn last summer when the campus was nearly deserted, and we saw Bama last month when it was full of life. For us, Bama just had a different feel to it - the vibe was right - especially within the smaller honors college community. Both have beautiful campuses, but have you seen the dorm suites at Bama? Good golly, my D will have a larger closet there than she has here at home!
D had crossed Auburn off her list before we even discovered Bama, and frankly we only visited Tuscaloosa because of the very generous scholarship packages. We immediately fell in love with UA and Tuscaloosa. If you’ve had any dealings with the alabama staff you’ll know how welcoming a place it is. No dis to Auburn, but it wasn’t a hard choice for us.</p>
<p>I must add that i almost made D sign on at Auburn after tasting the tomato tart at the Auburn Hotel. I’m not joshing. </p>
<p>Good luck to you & your D - either school would be a fantastic choice.</p>
<p>We visited both and both sons chose Alabama.</p>
<p>There’s a reason nobody is on the auburn forum, cow pastures don’t have internet access. I kid I kid, well sort of, I hate them!!</p>
<p>NJ BAMA- I am not a fan of Auburn but apparently alot of people go and are VERY happy there- they must do something right down there in the plains!!!</p>
<p>My son and his friend visited Auburn during the Christmas holidays. (They are Alabama students, but my son had never seen that area.) One of the biggest differences he noticed between the two campuses was the open felling he got at Alabama. He thought that the Auburn campus was very compact, and given that we live (OOS-Virginia) in an area where you see fields for miles, he really did not like the place.</p>
<p>We’ve been on the Auburn campus (for Homecoming!) and dear friends of ours are alumni. It made the first couple of cuts on D’s list, but not the final one. Not quite sure why. The scholarship packages would have been similar, but Bama just clicked with her.</p>
<p>There are a couple of kids she knows who are going to Auburn & got the nice schollys. So it wasn’t really anything negative about Auburn, just that feeling that Bama was right for her.</p>
<p>You really can’t go wrong with either. Both are pretty decent public schools. It’s ultimately up to your personal preference. I thought Auburn was a little too traditional for my tastes, and the vibe just didn’t hit me at Auburn, but either way, you’ll get a decent education at either.</p>
<p>Bama has the better honors programs, and of course, far many honors dorms that are super suites. That makes it easier to still have a super suite after freshman year.</p>
<p>My D doesn’t seem to care about the dorms- it’s her decision- we are going to Auburn this summer YES - I have heard how fabulous the dorms are at Bama- guess some kids don’t really care and alot of the girls here stay in Tutwiler and not the Honors dorms anyway</p>
<p>Why not tour both?</p>
<p>I don’t think she wants to go there but we might if I can talk her into it</p>
<p>Auburn does have some great new dorms, called “the Village”, but it still has much less housing than Bama. Additionally, UA has long term plans to build even more dorms.</p>
<p>As I recall, during our tour of Auburn we were told that they do not have nearly enough housing for the students that want it. I do remember leaving with the impression that housing was an issue.</p>
<p>my son was accepted to both and got great scholarships at both, actually auburn offered an additional one from the college of science so maybe a tad more money. as he has been at a boarding school for 3 years he liked the fact that auburn has “trailer parks” that a lot of the kids live in rather than dorms… i think about 4 kids share them…alot cheaper than housing and a bus runs all the time to campus. when he was thinking more along the lines of engineering auburn had the lead, when he dropped the engineering idea, UA took the lead but when he didnt get cbhp , uab took the lead.</p>
<p>*I don’t think she wants to go there but we might if I can talk her into it *</p>
<p>there are some parents on CC that invoke a couple of “parent picks” when choosing schools to visit and apply to. I think that’s reasonable. It encourages everyone to keep and open mind.</p>
<p>If it’s of any help, hlsess, my son certainly never thought he would find his way to Alabama. He thought he would go nearly any other place where he applied than Alabama. </p>
<p>What we told him was this, “The economy is lousy. Pick one National Merit offer, apply to the school and should you get in, we all can visit. Just in case the economy does not rebound as quickly as we all would like it to. We want you to have options.”</p>
<p>He had plenty of offers, but selected Alabama because it was the closest school to our home in Virginia – well, close as in 13 hours.</p>
<p>He got in. We visited. He sort of liked it. (Of course, it was 22 degrees that day) He applied to CBH, only because his mom thought he should. He got an invitation to the finalists’ weekend. So, we visited. Again, he liked it a little more – this time, he saw Lakeside West and by far, it was the nicest dorm he had ever seen. He got selected to CBH. He got a National Merit scholarship. Still, he was not completely convinced. After looking at the financial offers from all the schools that offered him admission, he chose Alabama. And even after we left for T-Town, he told me that if he didn’t like it, he could always transfer home after a year.</p>
<p>And when he reads what I’ve posted, I’d like to think that he will get a laugh. Oh, he’s been packing his room so he can put his items in storage. He’ll be back in T-Town in August.</p>
<p>I think it’s best to keep one’s options open and visit many schools. Kids often get ideas in their heads that can sometimes be dispelled by visits to a school.</p>
<p>My older son didn’t want to consider any southern schools. He wanted to go to school in the NE. We insisted that he visit many schools, and we did. </p>
<p>The same can work in reverse. I’ve known 2 girls that “were sure” that they were going to love the schools that they wanted to go to. All they ever talked about were those 2 schools. They didn’t want to go on any campus visits to other schools. </p>
<p>When it came time for a campus visit, the first girl didn’t even complete the tour because she disliked the school so much. Her parents had to quickly line up some other campus visits to find a school for her. The other girl did enroll at her chosen school, but applied for a transfer 4 weeks after classes started. </p>
<p>The point is that teens often don’t know what they don’t know… A campus visit is just a day of your time. Not a commitment.</p>
<p>If at all possible, visit both schools, even if your D does not want to visit UA. The “parent’s choice” idea is a good one and is what gets many UA students to look at and eventually enroll at UA. For me, it was the opposite. My parents were skeptical when I told them about UA and once I got them accustomed to the idea, it was basically “hey mom, next month you and I are visiting Alabama; I’ve got everything reserved.” Once they visited campus, I got almost instant approval of my decision.</p>
<p>I really do need to visit Auburn, maybe stopping to visit the cows near campus. 
I researched Auburn’s website and it didn’t seem like the school for me. I didn’t know about their scholarships or up and coming business school, but even so, I don’t think I would have applied. I did have criteria that an OOS school had to be roughly an hour or less from a major airport with relatively inexpensive flights and was in a somewhat suburban or small city, with a campus feel preferred. Despite numerous nonstop flights, ATL is an expensive airport from SEA and I didn’t really like Auburn’s location compared to UA. </p>
<p>I recognize that people are attracted to different schools and find it very hard to ever say that a school is bad because it might be perfect for another person. Auburn has many intriguing aspects and may very well be a great choice for your D. Even if she visits UA and doesn’t like it, she now has a better idea of what she doesn’t want. No school is perfect, but it is the student’s job to choose a school where they feel they are minimizing the less-liked aspects even if situations (financial, academic, personal, familial, etc.) change. This may be UA, Auburn, or another school.</p>
<p>My D finally narrowed it down to Auburn or Alabama. We visited both again this Spring and for her Bama was a clear winner. Scholarship offers were similar, each have nice dorms and people seemed very friendly at both. Either seemed a good choice.</p>
<p>Deciding factors: FLEXIBILITY>>>>Bama; Honors program >>> @ Bama-More course offerings, can choose reg. Honors classes or seminars in subjects she finds interesting; Diversity>>Bama; Rec center>>Bama (of course Auburn is building new facility); Dining>Bama-Lakeside dining 5 min from her dorm. More hours, more selection.</p>
<p>Honestly what impressed me most about University of Alabama is that they were very organized and really saw my D as an individual. Instead of just trying to stick her into a mold they were focused on how they could help her realize her personal goals.</p>
<p>But as stated earlier, it’s all about the best fit for her personally. She has to be able to envision herself attending that school. You never know, it might be neither one that’s the best choice…</p>