Is the University of Alabama racist? (My parents won't let me apply because they think it is)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>@scholarme 34 out of the 75 Asian-American Freshmen last year were in honors. This fall my son who is Asian-American will be joining those ranks. When we went for Bama Bound last month, we did not feel any racial tension. We did see other Asian students walking the campus, could not tell you if they were international or domestic. </p>

<p>CBHP will have 2 Asian-Americans in this years class. My guess is that this year’s Asian-American enrollment will again increase due in large part to the generous merit scholarships, in part with higher perceived quality of education at UA, and growing OOS student body demographics. </p>

<p>@Hunt is probably correct that UA doesn’t discriminate against Asians but Asians have chosen not to apply in the past because of similar mentality of @oldmom4896‌. We too were concerned about the lack of Asian-Americans attending UA, but having seen the school and talked to those who attend and run the school, we no longer have such concerns.</p>

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<p>"“34 out of the 75 Asian-American Freshmen last year were in honors”"</p>

<p>Are the numbers posted somewhere? </p>

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<p>@mon2collegekids It is in 2013 UA Factbook page 81</p>

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<p>ok…then there actually could be more Asian students in honors because for some reason, when the HC does their counts, they often miss people.</p>

<p>Poor SEA_Tide wasn’t counted, I don’t think.</p>

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<p>The total Asian-American population in Honors was 111 last year out of 6374 total Honors Students. Data is on page 80 of UA Factbook</p>

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<p>FYI Here is breakdown of Freshman Honors students based on Race for 2013
African-American 46 of 615
American Indian 8 of 30
Asian-American 34 of 75
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 2 of 6
Hispanic 62 of 245
White 1737 of 5167
Two or more races 51 of 178
Non-resident Alien 8 of 162
Total number of Honors students1948 out of 6478 freshman in 2013.</p>

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<p>Well, of course, there’s no need to apply then. Nobody is twisting anybody’s arm!</p>

<p>Look, any school in the South not named Rice, Duke or Vanderbilt is going to have relatively few Asians or Asian-Americans primarily because there aren’t the same number of Asians living in those states that live in CA, WA, NY, NJ, MA, PA, etc. So some of this just reflects regional differences. And when you combine that with the bias of many Asian/Asian-American students and families TOWARDs Ivies and other elite schools, you’re just not going to get the same numbers either applying or attending. </p>

<p>If your child will only be comfortable in a school with the racial breakdown of say UCSD, where Asian/Pacific Islanders total 43%, then, no, UA is not the place for you. (Worth noting is that only 1.6% of the undergrad student body at UCSD is Black/Non-Hispanic, so I guess, going by the same logic, Blacks should skip applying to UCSD? Not an argument I would make, but to each his own!)</p>

<p>For very high-stats kids, or students whose families have unlimited pocketbooks, there may be no reason to take a chance on a school in the South, but for those who don’t find themselves in such a fortuitous situation and don’t mind being a bit of a pioneer (URMs, students from distant states, etc.), what UA is offering is well worth the gamble IMHO.</p>

<p>My advice: Don’t rule UA out without visiting and seeing for yourself. It’s certainly not the school for everybody, but what school is? Yes, it’s predominantly white, but there were enough minorities that my son felt comfortable at the school. And this is non-religious, ethnic Jewish kid who attended Quaker schools in the Northeast and was close friends with many biracial, Asian, and African-American students. Is UA as diverse as his high school? No, of course not. But as it attracts more minorities, I suspect it will start to be more representative of the US on the whole.</p>

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<p>^in same logic, Washington and Lee is predominantly white…and for a bit of useless but fun info, it’s MORE conservative than our school</p>

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<p>Using Cappex data, here are the diversity breakdowns of six popular state flagships: UC Berkeley, UVA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State, and UA. Different students are going to have different needs/requirements. For our family, we were comparing Alabama to Penn State. What Alabama lacks in Asian representation, it more than makes up for in Non-Hispanic Blacks. Both schools are predominantly White/Non-Hispanic (70%+).</p>

<p>UC Berkeley Diversity
STUDENT TOTAL
AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE 0.7%
ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 33.8%
BLACK/NON-HISPANIC 3.6%
HISPANIC 10.6%
NON-RESIDENT ALIEN 9.0%
RACE/ETHNICITY UNKNOWN 9.0%
TWO OR MORE RACES 0.0%
WHITE/NON-HISPANIC 33.3%</p>

<p>University of Virginia (Charlottesville) Diversity
STUDENT TOTAL
AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE 0.3%
ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 8.0%
BLACK/NON-HISPANIC 7.1%
HISPANIC 3.7%
NON-RESIDENT ALIEN 6.8%
RACE/ETHNICITY UNKNOWN 12.9%
TWO OR MORE RACES 0.0%
WHITE/NON-HISPANIC 61.2%</p>

<p>University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Diversity
STUDENT TOTAL
AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE 0.6%
ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 11.7%
BLACK/NON-HISPANIC 5.4%
HISPANIC 3.9%
NON-RESIDENT ALIEN 13.3%
RACE/ETHNICITY UNKNOWN 5.6%
TWO OR MORE RACES 0.0%
WHITE/NON-HISPANIC 59.5%</p>

<p>University of Wisconsin (Madison) Diversity
STUDENT TOTAL
AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE 0.5%
ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 5.3%
BLACK/NON-HISPANIC 2.8%
HISPANIC 3.6%
NON-RESIDENT ALIEN 10.0%
RACE/ETHNICITY UNKNOWN 3.8%
TWO OR MORE RACES 1.0%
WHITE/NON-HISPANIC 73.1%
 
Penn State Diversity
STUDENT TOTAL
AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE 0.1%
ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 4.8%
BLACK/NON-HISPANIC 3.8%
HISPANIC 4.1%
NON-RESIDENT ALIEN 8.8%
RACE/ETHNICITY UNKNOWN 4.0%
TWO OR MORE RACES 1.5%
WHITE/NON-HISPANIC 72.9%
 
University of Alabama Diversity
STUDENT TOTAL
AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE 0.6%
ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 1.3%
BLACK/NON-HISPANIC 12.2%
HISPANIC 2.1%
NON-RESIDENT ALIEN 3.1%
RACE/ETHNICITY UNKNOWN 0.2%
TWO OR MORE RACES 0.0%
WHITE/NON-HISPANIC 80.4%</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>And how many of you are considering historically black colleges and universities, many of which are quite generous with financial aid?</p>

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<p>@oldmom4896‌, I considered Howard for my son early on in the process, but he didn’t want to go to any schools in DC. </p>

<p>Would your daughter apply to an HBCU like Howard, where only 1% of the student body is Asian?</p>

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<p>@oldmom4896 Son applied to Howard University was given full ride. Net cost was $Zero. Was seriously considering it but son wanted to do research in CBH. He also liked the campus of UA over Howard. BTW he also was accepted to Cornell but UA’s scholarship plus admission to CBH was too good to pass up. </p>

<p>Look at the stats of UA Honors students, it is very impressive, more so than we initially thought. UA Honors stats are comparable to those who attend the top ranked schools.</p>

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<p>m2ck is correct that the Honors College census isn’t always 100% accurate. </p>

<p>I had some classes at UA where 20-30% of the students were Asian. These were often graduate-level courses in technical fields, though there are some undergraduate courses where that is also the case. </p>

<p>It’s important to consider how the numbers are reported. In addition to the above mentioned omissions in the surveys, some multiracial students will check the box of the race they most identify with. </p>

<p>One of the best parts of college is being able to experience new things. It’s good to step out of one’s comfort zone and try new things. This doesn’t mean that one can’t have some of the comforts of home. In fact, UA hopes that students will share their home cultures and discuss how things are different in other parts of the country and world. UA has changed a lot since I started in 2009 and it’s continuing to change. I take pride in knowing that I helped enact some of this change during my four years on campus and am continuing to do so as an alumnus. </p>

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<p>^^^
Thank you SEA_Tide!</p>

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<p>My Asian-American son is also in the Class of 2018. The scholarship deal was too good to turn down. My wife and I wanted him to go to a college where Asians are not attending in large numbers because he’s been in schools with large Asian-American student populations his entire life until now. He has been living in a bubble being around mostly Asian American friends. He Hasn’t really been exposed to a situation where he is a minority and to deal with that, because he will have to in the real world after he graduates.</p>

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<p>I don’t think you will face racism more in BAMA than other places simply because it’s Alabama…racism is everywhere.
I’m an Asian, I was here for several days and no one ever called me a ‘c*<em>**’ or a ‘j</em>*’, except in facebook where some people are just jerks and bigots</p>