<p>The best way to find out is to visit. I thought UGA would be perfect for me but after visiting I had no interest. A few days later I visited Bama and fell in love! So you just have to go for yourself.</p>
<p>* A few days later I visited Bama and fell in love! *</p>
<p>:) </p>
<p>How many times have we seen these words posted? </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>We have had our share of misgivings about Alabama. But D2 has got the presidential scholarship as well as the additional scholarship from the Engineering Department. So it has become our top choice now. We are getting tons of mail from the top colleges in the country. We even got a call from UCLA yesterday.</p>
<p>We will be visiting this week. Hopefully the visit will seal the deal. I cannot thank people like M2CK and malanai enough.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Have you contacted the Honors College to help arrange your day?</p>
<p>Are you instate for UCLA? </p>
<p>Let us know how your visit goes and if we can help with anything.</p>
<p>^ ^</p>
<p>We are from Colorado. Susan from Honors college has arranged an itinerary for us.</p>
<p>QuietThinker,</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman Engineering major (also CBHP) at UA and we are from Littleton. She is thriving and absolutely loving it. I am sure she would love to talk to your daughter. PM if you would like for them to connect, or if you have any questions I can answer.</p>
<p>HI Folks,
My son (sorry, I haven’t figured out the abbreviations yet) is accepted to UA for next year. Three grandparents and his dad are alums. We live in the Northwest. People here make blanket judgments about the south, particularly with regards to racism. This is factoring into his inability to warm to UA, even though his parents feel its a great fit. We are not trying to shove our opinion on him, but we also don’t want to see him make a decision that is based on inaccurate information. He will be in the business school and the honors program. Any suggestions as to how to approach this issue? Anyone have a similar experience? I’d appreciate your advice!</p>
<p>He should visit the school and see for himself. That’s the best way.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>My DS1 is accepted to the Honors College Engineering School with NMSF scholarship. He is not committed to UA yet because he hasn’t learned much about the school. Most of the students from his HS are also quite ignorant about UA since we live in Northern Virginia. But it’s not easy for us to pass up on this big scholarship he’s offered. So we plan on taking him to visit the campus end of this month to let him soak up some southern charm. We have big hope of changing his mind.</p>
<p>Yes, he should visit…so many times we hear that " the visit sealed the deal!!" Make arrangements early, go on a tour, have him meet with folks at the Honors College, sit in on a class and meet with a student ambassador (preferably one from his choice of major). Have a great visit and Roll TIde!</p>
<p>CaminoKate, since your son is a child and grandchild of a UA alum, he would likely be eligible for an Alumni Association scholarship provided that his dad or at least one of the three grandparents is a member. In the past, the scholarship has been granted to students once a relative joined the Alabama Alumni Association ($40 per year).</p>
<p>Having grown up in the Northwest and then attended UA in both the business school and Honors College, I feel qualified to say that there is very little culture shock provided one understands that Tuscaloosa will not be exactly like their hometown unless Tuscaloosa is their hometown. </p>
<p>Sadly, there are racist people all across the country and the world. Luckily, the number of such people is rapidly decreasing. The South gets singled out for having racism due to its past and large minority population. Until the 1960s and 1970s, there was very little racial or ethic diversity in many small towns throughout the US, meaning that segregation, while it did exist, was not as noticeable in many areas. For example, while both Seattle and Portland had segregated schools and neighborhoods, many of the smaller towns had integrated schools because there were few, if any, minority students.</p>
<p>It takes courage to walk a different path from ones peers. When I graduated high school, my local school district had over 18,000 students. After deciding which college I’d attend, I found out that I was likely the first student to attend the University of Alabama from my school district in almost 30 years. Yes, I got the occasional odd look and comment, but I knew that I wanted to attend the University of Alabama. Upon looking at what I could and eventually did accomplish at UA, the majority of naysayers immediately go silent.</p>
<p>I’ve often described the current UA in terms of cities and universities in Washington. As such, I see UA as a cross between Washington State University in student life and the University of Washington in academics, though class sizes tend to be small like those in the directionally-named universities. Tuscaloosa is a cross between Yakima, Wenatchee, and Mount Vernon, but with fewer farms and orchards.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>CaminoKate, my son hails from the most racially diverse state in the country. He is a senior at UA, a NMF majoring in Business (as well as Telecommunication & Film), and a member of the Honors College. He loves UA, experienced “zero culture shock” (his words) and has found Alabama to be no more racist than anywhere else he’s been (and he’s well traveled).</p>
<p>Feel free to share this with your son. Better still, I’m certain my son would be happy to speak with yours if he’s interested. Even better still, set up an Honors College visit and see UA for yourselves. It sounds like your son is getting bogus info that’s as prejudicial as that which it purports to describe.</p>
<p>I don’t know how to do that linky thing you guys all do, so I’m just going to type what Malanai said. “It sounds like your son is getting bogus info that’s as prejudicial as that which it purports to describe.” Malanai – thanks for expressing so nicely what I was thinking in a not so nice sort of way.</p>
<p>Thanks for reviving this thread. My son has also been accepted for Fall of 2014 and going all the way to AL for school is traveling a far different path than most from his HS. I keep thinking “Can UA really be that great?”. But all the posters on CC and FB are really convincing! The information in this thread is very helpful…</p>