<p>First time poster, long time lurker. You people are a vast wealth of information and I thank you for putting UA on our radar screen. DD1 (rising Senior) applied when the application opened, UA has her scores and transcripts and she has submitted her scholarship application. We haven’t even visited yet but after sitting down for coffee with the wonderful recruiter last week, it is without a doubt her first choice now (if she had any doubt before that, which she didn’t).</p>
<p>We had planned on visiting in October to be there not only for the best weather but also for E-Day on the 11th. However, DD1 is really nervous about missing school days. So, now I’m thinking we should visit August 23-24 just before our kids go back to school and that way our rising Sophomore daughter could go with us (she didn’t want to go in October and miss school either). UA classes start on the 22nd. My question is: is that time not ideal? I know it will be very hot, but we are prepared for that. I’m more concerned about the Engineering department and Honors College perhaps being preoccupied with ironing out the kinks of student schedules and other administrative matters and not being able to focus on visitors. Or do you think it would be fine?</p>
<p>Thoughts from UA veteran parents are greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I’m glad you’re planning a visit to the UA. I can’t think of a reason not to visit then, but perhaps you might want to contact Honors directly and ask. I’d do that right away and indicate any special interests you may have. I hope you enjoy your visit! Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Does she have an idea of the specific field of engineering she wants to go into? Or is just a general interest in the area? E-day is a great opportunity to tour a lot of different departments in one day, and see all the wonderful opportunities, student projects, and labs that the COE supports. However, it will also be crazy busy and you wont get quite as much personal attention from the COE. The engineering area will be overrun by high school students from around the state. If you come in August, it’s definitely possible to go tour the different departments; they just wont put on as much of a show.</p>
<p>I think that visiting in August should be fine - just give them a heads up. While people will be gearing up for the semester and there will be plenty of admin matters to take care of, there shouldn’t be an issue in visiting! I second contacting Honors - they can help set everything up. You also might want to call the college of engineering as well, see if an ACE can give you a tour of the facilities.</p>
<p>Send emails to Allison and Susan and ask them if it will be a problem to visit that day.</p>
<p>Also, before you email them, see if there are campus tours that day. If so, sign up for those. Then when you email A & S, you can include the date and time of the campus tour so they can work around those times. :)</p>
<p>In the email include:</p>
<p>Student’s name and contact info</p>
<p>Date and time of the Campus tour that you’ve reserved.</p>
<p>GPA and test scores (include likely NMSF if applicable)</p>
<p>Likely majors*</p>
<p>Career interests (including med, law, etc)</p>
<p>Anything particular that you want to see. *If you have an interest in seeing the new Science and Engineering Complex, let them know.</p>
<p>Susan Alley
Assistant Coordinator
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
<a href=“mailto:susan.alley@ua.edu”>susan.alley@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Allison and her assistant will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with eng’g faculty, honors people, touring honors dorms, etc.</p>
<p>Sometimes mail goes to their SPAM folders, so call them if you haven’t heard back within a few business days. These ladies do an excellent job and work very hard</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great info, everyone! I did know to contact the Honors College reps and to sign up for the tour online, but didn’t want to go ahead and do that if it was generally thought to be a terrible time to visit. DD1 is probably going to be a Chemical and Biological Engineering major. We’ve done engineering college open houses at NC State, VA Tech and Duke so she has already had a good feel for those and the projects students in the different engineering disciplines have worked on. As great as E-day at the UA would be, it’s a very good point that it may very well be crowded with other high school students at that time. I think we will go ahead and change our plans and visit in August instead. DD1 can’t wait anyway; she’s been bouncing off the walls with anticipation!</p>
<p>Welcome from a proud BAMA Charlotte area mom</p>
<p>While visiting in August would be great since we are very similar in weather and I certainly understand not wanting to miss school and having an interested sibling coming along as well. </p>
<p>That said would visiting in November for University Days work? Last year my son and I were able to visit November 11th, fall on campus is a beautiful time to visit, see a Basketball game and he did not have to miss school because it was a holiday (Veterans Day) we flew into Bham on Thursday and he was able to do his personal “honors college visit” on Thursday followed by University Days on Friday and he was ready to just stay </p>
<p>Hope your visit goes well whenever it works out for you to go!</p>
<p>My D visited at the very beginning of the 2nd semester. One thing I would note is that if your D will be sitting in on classes, she might find them taking care of housekeeping matters rather than substantive stuff. That was the case for the honors class my D sat in on. I personally would never have visited in August. My D isn’t a big fan of hot weather, and I wanted her to give the school a chance, which she would not have in 90 degree heat and humidity. She’ll be getting a heavy dose of heat and humidity when she shows up for Outdoor Action next month, though! If your D is used to or doesn’t mind the heat, then August might be a fine time to visit.</p>
<p>Avoid E-Day - besides the obvious reasons already stated, you want the personal attention that UA is famous for, right? I should think that E-Day would appeal to someone who knows nothing about Eng’g and wants to try it out. You already know what you want to head into, and plus you have visited 3 other schools, so…you might be disappointed that it is pitched too low for you.</p>
<p>So, get a personal tour/agenda set up through either the Honors College or the Eng’g office (both should be involved), spread over 2 full days (so you’re not just overwhelmed by cramming it into 1), if you can spare the time. Be sure to ask to sit in on an actual class (suggest not a level 100, so check the flowchart and pick something that interests you further down the line in your field). </p>
<p>Despite the personal agenda that they will give you, you want to actually speak with students, ad hoc. You can do this with those students whose class you have just sat in on (if they don’t have to dash away)…or ask to meet with a student ambassador in your major/area of study. You want to get different perspectives. Find out as much as YOU can about who does what in your department (advisors, main teachers, recruiters), and then compare it with the names they will undoubtedly give you, and ask to fill in some holes if necessary.</p>
<p>Also, a comment about University Days - if they are your only opportunity, fine, but there will be 100s of people walking around. Instead, try to schedule your personal visit 1-2 days PRIOR to Uni-Days, and then also plan on unofficially tagging along that 1st morning of Uni-Days - that way, you will have your personal tour (be sure to include the narrated bus tour of campus), but you will also be able to go to the Ferg on that 1st day of Uni-Days, and get all the ‘feel’ of the entire campus, with dozens of individual tables set up, lots of give-aways and info on clubs, departments, etc. Combining the two (private tour + Uni-Day tag-along) is what worked best for our family.</p>
<p>100% agree with AeroMom, my son (Econ/Finance/Math) was able to sit in on a Honors Micro Econ class and talk with students before, met with a Business advisor, met with the Math undergraduate advisor, sat in on an EN 103 class and met an accounting professor (granted he knew this professor from attending the CBLA the previous summer).</p>
<p>The biggest thing (I think) for my son was being on campus with not only current students (school was in session) but many prospective students as well (University Days). </p>
<p>This really helped him make the decision that he would “fit” in at Alabama :)</p>
<p>I just have to add (for any of you worrying about the big university= big class size) my son’s class sizes, as a first year student, for this fall are as follows: </p>
<p>Micro Econ 30 students
Honors Fresh English 18 students
Fresh Seminar (Intl War Crimes) 15 students (which is an Honors and Humanties credit)
Legal Env of Business 48 students
Cal 3 48 students</p>
<p>Fellow Carolina Mom here! We are going to visit on 8/23. Allison is setting up the day for us! DD is a rising junior! We are looking forward to our visit!</p>
<p>Crimsonmom…I could list similar class sizes for the classes that my kids have had/will have for 8 years combined (younger son is a rising senior). </p>
<p>Actually, the biggest undergrad class that has been experienced has been at my older son’s elite private university. He took an undergrad FL class for fun and the class had 80 kids in it…and not enough seats for everyone (so much for the belief that small privates have all small classes…lol).</p>
<p>I wanted to add that August 22nd is the first day of classes…I am not sure if that will make things a little chaotic or not. I can’t find the exact date for Greek Fest…it might be the 24th but it could also be the 31st (it’s usually that first week of school or the next…)…that will also throw just a little chaos into the pic on Friday. I wouldn’t think it would disrupt tours or anything but there might be a street closure ect.</p>
<p>Thanks to you all for your help and comments and the kind welcome to the boards! I emailed Allison and Susan this morning when I got to work and Susan responded to me right away. I am so impressed with the response and help we’ve received from them and from our fantastic recruiter, Katie.</p>
<p>We will drive straight through from Raleigh on Wednesday, the 22nd, check into whatever hotel I book and then have Thursday and part of Friday on campus before we have to head back east again. We plan to have dinner Wednesday or Thursday night at The Cypress Inn. So excited!</p>
from a proud BAMA Charlotte area mom</p>
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