<p>Sniner, my D received an email invitation to apply for Emerging Scholars on July 22, 2011. The preferred application deadline was August 5. Abby submitted her email application to Dr. Webb at 10:52 on August 3, and received a brief email acceptance into the program from Dr. Webb at 5:00 PM on August 4. She received the official acceptance email letter with all the details on August 12.</p>
<p>My D is also one of those who didn’t make it into CBHP, which had really disappointed her. She felt much better after winning one of the Crimson scholarships, but she was pretty depressed about missing out on what she thought would have been her only major entree into research her freshman year. She bounced right back after being admitted into Emerging Scholars so quickly.</p>
<p>I know they accepted so many this past year, some started first semester and others started second semester. The latest email Dr. Webb sent seems to have gone to 163 students. I think this is just the second semester group.</p>
<p>Bamamom2B- Thanks. Very glad to hear that your D is enjoying the program. My daughter is very interested in medical research and we were happy to hear that she would still have research opportunities outside of CBHP. She told me last night that she worked on her essay for Emerging Scholars, so I was excited to see her moving forward.</p>
<p>^Yep. Based on my son’s experience in CBH so far this year, the first year focuses heavily on computer programming. As m2ck indicates, he was still able to do research this year by taking the initiative to look into the available opportunities.</p>
<p>@Slippy - don’t you still have a little time to get your housing deposit back? Is there any possibility that a change of heart might happen again before May 1? Perhaps it might be prudent to hold off a couple of weeks, just in case. </p>
<p>I would LOVE to know what the big draw is from OOS students- i live here in Alabama and realize that OOS is about 45%- and that most pay the full tuition- I realize alot do get some $$$ but what is IT that brings you to Bama?</p>
<p>hlsess - if my D were to go to our state flagship (UIUC) and major in business, which is her plan at Bama, the in-state tuition would be over $20,000. You read that right, in-state, tuition and fees only, is almost as much as OOS tuition at Bama. So even if D didn’t have the Presidential scholarship, it would be almost a wash.</p>
<p>But my D didn’t choose Alabama for financial reasons. Nor did she choose it for the beautiful campus, because two of the other schools she considered had campuses that were just as beautiful, if not more so. She wanted a large flagship, and Alabama had the smallest, most personal feel of the five state flagships to which she applied. She greatly enjoyed the southern friendliness and hospitality (in fact, when she chose Bama she said she’d have to “get nicer” in order to fit in - and this is a perfectly nice kid). She LOVED the suite style dorms - they were a huge draw. She also liked the Honors College -it had more benefits than honors programs at other schools she looked at. I encouraged her to go to Alabama because I thought there was a better chance of her having opportunities (and taking advantage of them) at Bama than at the other schools she was considering. And finally, I don’t think those two national championships in the last 3 years hurt.</p>
<p>Beth’s Mom I would have to just cut and paste your response, because it is exactly what I would say! We live in Chicago too, and for D to go to U of I downstate, in state tuition is almost $30,000!!! yes that is in-state with room and board. D has no desire to attend UofI, many of her friends from HS will attend, and she wants to spread her wings. </p>
<p>Our first visit to 'Bama was almost a year ago in June. We were there for an Honors Tour, and were in the area for 3 days to get a feel for this foreign country called “The South”.</p>
<p>Well between the amazing hospitality we were shown by complete strangers, the impressivness of the HC and the campus, the opportunities available to her and the athletic program (D will major in Athletic Training), we were sold. D said exactly what Beth’s Mom child did - I am going to have to slow down and learn how to be nicer. LOL </p>
<p>I think that the biggest selling point for her was the opportunites available in both HC and IC. Does the merit aid help? Absolutely! I will have 3 kids in college in the Fall and merit money is important, but D did her job getting her ACT high enough to qualify for the Presidential and is waitlisted for CBHP. Other schools have already come close to and one is even over what Alabama is offering, but D is set.</p>
<p>D applied to 12 colleges from Nebraska, to Pitt and many inbetween. She has been accepted to all (a couple we are still waiting to hear from), but as far as she is concerned, she is done looking. We are proud and excited to be able to say “Roll Tide”!</p>
<p>Boy, the girls from Illinois are flocking to Bama! In my D’s case, it was a combination on Merit Aid and wanting to break away and try something new. Not one of my D’s even applied to our state flagship. In their words “I dont want to repeat High School”. Both wanted new experiences, people, places, and situations. Both choose to go south. H and I know it will be great and hope the southern manners rub off.</p>
<p>hlses- to be honest, the initial draw factor was the scholarship money. However, as others have said, there is the honors college, being in a different state, and opportunity. Is UA the only college to give opportunity? No. But right now, it seems to be putting opportunity out there, and well publicized. It is also nice to go to a school with good academics AND good sports. That is not always easy to find. My son did not want to be in a big “city”, and most colleges around here have that. He did not want to be in the middle of no-where either. He knew that he wanted something more than a very small college town with one restaurant and closes at 10pm. Tuscaloosa seemed to fit that bill quite nicely. </p>
<p>And as others have said- he calls our state school HS part 2. Even though it is large, and he probably would not have seen people from his HS often, if at all! </p>
<p>It is very similar to why people from Alabama want to get away from Alabama too. He has grown up here and does not know what it is like to live in another area. He has visited, but not lived in other areas. He wants to experience new things and different people.</p>
<p>I’m a highschool senior who has received a generous scholarship from Bama. I am definitely still skeptical. My family is visiting in less than a week, so we’ll see if all my doubts are blown away I’m really excited about the trip. I’ll be sure to make a thread when I get back from the trip that tells about my experience.</p>
<p>It was the merit aid that put UA on our radar, or at least on my radar. That and seeing several excellent students from D’s HS over the years choose UA, many of them UFEs and CBH kids. We are in TX and literally half of the class each year chooses UT or A&M or Baylor or TCU. D was adamant about not staying in TX. In fact, she really wanted to go up to the Northeast or at a minimum somewhere cold and snowy in the winter, so we concentrated all of our visits geographically from Chicago to Boston with points in between. I would tell D that we should take a southern trip and D would say “I’m not going to Alabama”. </p>
<p>I think this CC community is huge in getting people in the door to see UA. After that, UA sells itself. After spending a bit of time on here, I asked D to please apply, which she did. After she was awarded the presidential scholarship, I asked her if we could go visit during Capstone Scholars weekend. She agreed but told me that she probably wouldn’t like it. I asked her to just be open-minded. During this time, in December, she found out she’d been deferred from her dream school that she’d applied early action to. I believe that was a key component in her slowly changing attitude toward UA. When we visited for CSD, she strongly felt wanted, and after not feeling wanted by her dream school, it impacted her. </p>
<p>Combine the Honors College, beautiful campus, large number of OOS kids (no one wants to feel like an outsider), numerous opportunities for involvement, the general feel of the school, and of course the merit aid and amazing dorms, and you have a girl in crimson and houndstooth! Even not making UFE and being “waitlisted” for CBH hasn’t dimmed it. Our most recent visit was incredible, including face time with Dr. Morgan in the HC. She is sold. So sold that a recent admission to a highly ranked school and being offered a surprising amount of aid (think out of pocket at this school = out of pocket at UA) hasn’t fazed her. </p>
<p>My son attended the Capstone Business Leadership Academy last summer and was sold on Bama, he only wanted to apply to Bama but in the end did apply elsewhere and was accepted and received merit money from all.</p>
<p>I agree with all of the above posters and would add that being a part of the Tide family is exciting. The UA campus and student body are growing not treading water like many other flagships. </p>
<p>Yes the merit money is great but once one peels back that layer and finds out about the Honors college, the University Scholars program, AP/IB/CLEP credits available, the new dorms and great business and engineering complex, the new nursing school, etc…add to that the school pride, the beautiful campus, the sports teams (and not just football) and then add the great marketing the school does to actually make the kids feel wanted…well, Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Thanks all- we are from Birmingham so it is like HS Part 2 for us… D is at BSC 20 minutes away but never comes home and it is a VERY good small LAC .My son is a Junior and has grown up going to Bama games etc… Most of his close friends will go there but it is what he wants and if it makes him happy that is what is important and it is a VERY good state school and has a pretty d*&# good football team! I ti snice also that he will meet alot of OOS students… he is just an average student so probably won’t get merit moeny- he will take ACT again in June- isn’t a good test taker- made 23 both times so far…Congrats to all of your kids and welcome to Bama…</p>
<p>*I would LOVE to know what the big draw is from OOS students- i live here in Alabama and realize that OOS is about 45%- and that most pay the full tuition- I realize alot do get some $$$ but what is IT that brings you to Bama?
*</p>
<p>I know that many OOS that post here have gotten some scholarship money, but most OOS aren’t getting that much/any. </p>
<p>There are states that have very high instate flagships or flagships that are hard to get into. And some kids want the big Div I flagship experience. When I went to Family Weekend in 2010, there were 8-10 Calif families all from the same high school. They were paying full-freight to come to Bama. Their kids wanted the big D1 football experience and UCLA and Cal were too hard to get into.</p>
<p>My daughter is coming from OOS (NJ) and is not receiving any guaranteed merit money from Bama but she was not impressed with any of the state schools here in NJ. Plus the instate cost here is high - I pay $15,000 for my son’s tuition only at Rutgers. Add $10,000 for room and board and we aren’t too far apart. Granted we will have the added travel costs to Bama. My dd really wanted to go to a big football school with a great cheering squad (that she will hopefully be on). When she looked for colleges she looked for good nursing programs and good competitive cheer squads - she knew that she wanted somewhere that had an amazing football team and she wanted to be in a warmer climate than here. Bama made it on her list pretty quickly. And then we visited . . . and then she spent the weekend there . . . and it quickly moved up towards the top of her list. </p>
<p>Slippy- consider doing a pro’s and con’s wall with him. It has helped my son make big choices. Here is an idea of what we do:</p>
<p>Put the name of each college on a piece of paper, and tape them to a wall. put a piece of tape vertically down below each piece of paper so you have 2 columns below each college. </p>
<p>Get 2 stackes of post it notes, one in green, one in red (or any other color, really). </p>
<p>Over a few days, have him write pro’s and cons of each school on the post-it’s, green is always pro’s/ con’s the other color. Place the post its under the appropriate school on the pro or con side. Some schools will have the same pros and cons. If something is SUPER important to him, put 2 post it’s up for that item, or place at the top of the column with a big exclamation point on the post it. If you want to get real fancy, make a seperate column between the two schools that you will put post it’s that are shared by both schools (ie- both schools have suite style dorms- that is a pro that they share. Or neither school allows freshman to have a car- that may be a con they share). </p>
<p>It is a nice big visual for kids (anyone really), that helps to solidify what is and is not important. It also helps people that are technical “see” what they may already be feeling but cannot pinpoint.</p>
<p>We sorta did that last night, vlines. We sat him down and laid out the economic implications of his choices for him in black and white. Kids don’t really get economics, and they really don’t consider these issues in their decision-making unlesss forced to do so. I think we opened his eyes about the extent of the sacrifices both we and he will have to make. We tried to make it clear that we are not trying to push him in one direction or the other. We just want him to have all the facts and to make his decision with eyes wide open. He listened. Hopefully we’ll be off the coaster soon.</p>
I’m really excited about the trip. I’ll be sure to make a thread when I get back from the trip that tells about my experience.</p>