@midclassdad, “alumni” is Latin; it is the plural form of “alumnus.” (I’ll spare you the feminine versions!) What you want to request when you visit is to be put in touch with recent “graduates” of the engineering school.
I, too, highly recommend setting up your visit via the Honors College; they will customize your student’s itinerary depending upon his interests and specific requests.
<<<
Thanks for your insights. My wife is trying to schedule campus visit and left voice message and sent email yesterday. Can somebody enlighten me what this tour covers? Will we be able to talk to current students, visit dorms etc on this two hours scheduled visit? We would also want to know more of Engineering department of my son’s interest. We are coming from NY and wanted to make it as fruitful as we can. Thanks for your all your inputs.
<<<
??
What is your wife trying to set up? The basic campus tour? If so, then that is just a show of the campus. It doesn’t include showing dorms or talking to faculty. It’s not special to the major.
If you want to talk to folks and see dorms, then you need to contact the honors college and eng’g.
this will take all day…much more than the two hours for the tour that is just a general any-major campus tour.
We can help direct you to the right folks.
First tell us what campus tour you’ve reserved and the time
Set up your basic campus tour here: http://tour.ua.edu/
Don’t delay setting up your campus tour! The tour is a mix of walking and riding in a small bus, so each tour is strictly limited to the number of seats on that small bus.
In the email to the below listed people, include:
Student’s name and contact info
Date and time of the Campus tour that you’ve reserved.
GPA and test scores (include likely NMSF if applicable)
Likely majors
Career interests (including med, law, etc)
Anything particular that you want to see. If you have an interest in seeing the new Science and Engineering Complex, the TV or radio stations, the B-school or what-have-you, let them know.
Honors Recruitment
Susan Alley
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
susan.alley@ua.edu
Kayla Fields
kdfields1@ua.edu
They will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with faculty, honors people, touring honors dorms, etc.
Sometimes mail goes to their SPAM folders, so call them if you haven’t heard back within a few business days. They do an excellent job and work very hard.
Thanks again. My wife took Honors college tour only. It is scheduled and we will be there on March 25th.
?
So you’re not doing a campus tour?
The honors tour isn’t a campus tour at all.
No. It is not campus tour. It is almost entire day tour.
If you have the time, do do the short campus tour as an add-on. It can be a great supplement to your personal tour. You ride around in a small bus (~25 people?), narrated by an impeccably dressed student ambassador, and get a feel for how the campus is laid out.
Thanks for the suggestion. We are just in campus for a day as we have to pull my other kid too during the visit. So we decided to keep the visit for a day.
During honors tour, do the parents accompany the kid for the entire tour? How does that work?
When we visited last year, it was the first day back to classes from Bama’s spring break and we only had a day to spend there because my son was due back at school. The Honors College itinerary set up for my son INCLUDED the regular campus tour, which included a visit to one of the new housing complexes. I can’t remember if it was technically “honors housing,” but it was comparable to the suite-style honors housing. If anything was lacking, in fact, it was a visit to a traditional dorm, but I think the tour guide did offer that–it was just that nobody had the time or inclination for it.
If you have a full day, you should be able to see most of what you need to in order to make an informed decision. And, yes, it’s typical for the parents to spend the day with their student, and nobody makes you feel weird for being there if you want to be.
Try to find some students to talk to, esp any in your student’s field of interest. These shouldn’t be set-up appointments - just randomly talk with students. You’ll be amazed (in a positive way) at what they have to say! 
It has been widely reported that students feel whether they belong on a campus within 15-20 minutes of arriving. I don’t think is universal to UA…I think a student just ‘knows’ if a campus is a good fit for them. A whole day is plenty. I know coming from such a long way, it seems like you should spend more time and cram everything in that you possibly can…but a whole day is plenty. You’re in great hands at UA. Good luck!
<<
The Honors College itinerary set up for my son INCLUDED the regular campus tour,
[/QUOTE]
Oh great! I didn’t know that the HC sometimes includes a “regular campus tour”.
I just wanted to make sure that the OP got a campus tour. Sometimes people hear the words, “honors tour”, and it doesn’t include a campus tour. In those cases, it’s not really a “tour” of the school, it’s just a visiting with some faculty and some buildings of the chosen major.
^^^I’m pretty sure it was a standard “feature” of the tour that Neil set up for my son, but Neil had asked us to let him know what all we wanted to see/do, and he would take care of the rest. Amazing care and attention to accommodate one student. No other school treated my kid like that!
OP, I can try to dig up the itinerary if it would be helpful to you.
When we visited two years ago, I only went through Honors College to schedule the visit. I did not set up the regular tour, and neither did they. We started at 8:30am and met with HC, Engineering (a professor), HC again, DS sat in on an Honors class (15 students in a boardroom like setting), lunch with an honors student, tour of the honors dorm. Then, because we did not have time to tour the engineering department earlier, they added on an engineering tour for us at the last minute. Very accommodating! So, no, we did not get the usual tour, but I don’t think that mattered! it was all very personalized. Every other school we visited, we were one of 50 on a tour - nothing personal!
Enjoy your visit! And Roll Tide!
Hello Everybody,
Thanks for all your inputs. I will keep all of them in mind. I will initiate correspondence to see to what extent I can personalize our tour.