<p>Today my freshman son from outside Philadelphia had out patient surgery. (With the Sandy grounding all flights, he had to negotiate this one on his own.) His roommates could not have been more supportive. My son is the only one in his suite from outside the south. His roommates have taken him to appointments, gone with his to Target to get prescriptions and food and one even took him to surgery and stayed to bring him back to the dorm. (Surgery went well and he is now resting.) My son has refused to come home and deal with it in Philly because in his words, “due to our (UA’s) outstanding world class athletic program our orthopedic surgeons are also world class!”</p>
<p>My son’s professor’s have been understanding and supportive throughout this protracted experience giving extensions when needed. Student services also sent out official emails to all of my son’s professors to corroborate my son’s story. UA really does follow it’s mission statement of being a student centered university. </p>
<p>My son got into all the schools he applied many of which were much smaller and closer to home. UA went from being his “safety” school to his number 1 choice after he visited over the honors weekend in January. I could not be more happy with his choice of university to attend.</p>
<p>…Such comforting words to a northern mom still struggling just a bit with my ‘baby’ so far away next year, I worry about all of these things too… Hope your son is back in excellent health soon, and your heart is at a happy peaceful place…</p>
<p>Also, what is honors weekend? we are going down thursday/friday for his tour and i am still trying to figure out the next visits he should plan…</p>
<p>Upstate 13 - thank you for your kind words.</p>
<p>I called the honors day by the wrong name:-) It is called Capstone Scholars Day. Below you will find information I copied from the admissions website. My son enjoyed his visit on this day and it changed his choice of college. (UA going into the weekend was ranked 6th on his list of 6 colleges. It became tied for 1st choice after touring engineering and became 1st choice after honors day.) He loved the campus and students. </p>
<p>Capstone Scholars Day</p>
<p>Capstone Scholars Day is an invitation only event. The event will be held on Saturday, January 14, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Bryant Conference Center.</p>
<p>In order to receive an invitation, a student has to be admitted for Fall 2012 as an incoming freshman with a 28 ACT or SAT 1250 (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA by the scholarship deadline of December 1, 2011. You do not have to attend Capstone Scholars Day in order to receive a scholarship nor would you receive any additional scholarships during this event.</p>
<p>My freshman daughter from PA has also just gone through a scary time far away from home but the UA Health Center handled it beautifully. She came down with a fever on a Friday night that lasted on and off throughout the weekend. It always seemed to pop back up to 103 as soon as Tylenol, etc. would wear off. </p>
<p>On Monday AM, she tried to make it to class, but nearly passed out and got on a Crimson Ride bus to the health center. They asked for her insurance info, etc. but when they saw how pale she was, they took her back immediately and put her on IV for dehydration. They also did a chest xray to check for pneumonia and gave her antibiotics for what turned out to be an ear infection. Scary to hear that your daughter is on IV, but the nurse talked to me on the phone and assured me in her sweet southern drawl that she was “taking care of my baby and she was going to be just fine mama!” They gave her an excuse for missing class for a couple of days and gave her prescription medicine right there before she left. My daughter’s roommate picked her up at the health center, went out for chicken soup and other supplies, and made sure she was drinking lots of fluids. </p>
<p>Just Skyped with DD and she’s back to health and very happy! It is a huge boost of confidence that she navigated that and I’m so thankful for all the state-of-the-art facilities right on campus and the wonderful people she has come into contact with there. Roll Tide!</p>
<p>^ Glad she’s ok, and we continue to hear nice things about the student health center. I’m curious, though, what was the cost of that service, if you don’t mind me asking?</p>
<p>Chardo…are you asking how much was charged for each test/IV/etc? I would imagine that each item received a typical charge. Bama’s health center charges per service as a normal place would and then a person’s insurance pays the cost.</p>
<p>if you don’t have insurance, then the school offers “student insurance”. </p>
<p>Bama doesn’t charge an annual “student health fee” like some other schools do. Some schools charge a flat Student Health fee (maybe 700 a semester or 1500 per year), and then many services are “free”. Bama doesn’t do that. They charge per service, and your insurance pays it.</p>
<p>At my older son’s grad school, there was a 1700 per year “health fee” but we got it waived by showing that he had full health insurance from my H’s employer.</p>
<p>I can’t remember when the invitations go out. I would call admissions to find out. I found this board incredibly helpful when it came time for planning the trip for Capstone Scholar Day. One of the most important thing to tell my son was that it could snow in Tuscaloosa while visiting in January. I think he had the image that it would be in the 80s and sunny!</p>
<p>TeacherMom Too - glad your daughter is on the mend! Glad she has awesome roommates too!</p>
<p>Chardo - the wonderful thing about using the Bama health center is that they first bill your insurance and then put the unpaid portion of the charges on your child’s billing account. Students don’t need cash, checks etc at the student health center and can get many medications if needed there also. Medications are billed to insurance by the health center. (Bama health takes many out of state health insurances.) Students can now also use flexible spending account debit cards at the health center which is a new policy and minimizes paperwork for those who have these cards.</p>
<p>Cuttlefish - You are right my son won the lottery when it comes to roommates. On the flip side I know he would do the same for them. And thank you he is on the mend. He reports that today was the first day in weeks where his pain meds took away his pain rather than just taking the edge off! Hopefully, he will be off all medication soon!</p>
<p>If you qualify for CS Day, but don’t receive an invite, don’t be afraid to ask for one. The school doesn’t send them out to everyone who qualifies. Don’t know how decisions are made…distance?? I know that my nephew didn’t get one (Calif), but all we had to do is ask and one was sent.</p>
<p>Southerners are amazing. I was recently at a Sams Club and I had a 10-pack pkg of folded packing boxes in my cart for purchase. A lady stopped me and asked me if I needed boxes. After I said, yes, she gave me her business card. Her company (down the street) has a ton of very sturdy boxes that they have to get rid of everyday. She called her company, told them I’d be coming over, and when I arrived a big stack was ready for me to pick up. Amazing!</p>
<p>So awesome I’m getting ready to enter bama as a freshman, and afraid of not being accepted by the Southerners, being from Southern California, but hearing stories like this are amazing and comforting as well. roll tide! :)</p>
<p>** #17
abbylouise
So awesome I’m getting ready to enter bama as a freshman, and afraid of not being accepted by the Southerners, being from Southern California, but hearing stories like this are amazing and comforting as well. roll tide!
*</p>
<p>Don’t worry! I’m from Southern Calif (Orange County, to be exact) and Southerners are friendly to everyone…even those NE Yankees! ;)</p>
I’m getting ready to enter bama as a freshman, and afraid of not being accepted by the Southerners, being from Southern California, but hearing stories like this are amazing and comforting as well. roll tide! :)</p>