@brentwoodmom Jumping in as I have a DS20 in the middle of his search, but also a DD17 who is at UA. Unless it has changed for the incoming class, the UA housing scholarship travels with the student and DOES NOT have to be used for living on campus. My DDs roommate and several friends were NMF and have the full ride including housing. The school gives them the extra money in their account to apply towards their rent, utilities, and food for eating off campus. It is a great deal all around. I am not sure if this has changed now that they have built the new freshman dorm. If it has changed and they must remain on campus, there are apartments on campus and the suite styles are awesome. Many upperclassman have decided to stay, especially if they are taking a semester abroad so they donāt need to find someone to sublet or pay for an empty place. My dd could have certainly lived in RCE and been happy as it exceeded any dorm that her friends at other schools have lived in. The school has really impressed us from day 1 and we have not been disappointed yet.
My ds14 attended Bama full ride. He received a check for the balance after tuition and fees were paid. He lived in off-campus housing at a fraction of the cost.
@bamamom2021 @Mom2aphysicsgeek The scholarship package changed this year and instead of a housing stipend, they are offering 4 years of on-campus housing. I asked about whether they would get a refund for that portion if they moved off campus I was told no, that itās use it or lose it.
If our son goes to UA, weāre hoping he might find some other NMF that want to live on campus together for multiple years. And I hadnāt thought about housing during a study abroad year, that makes total sense that he would be in a dorm the other semester.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Did you S14 major in physics at UA? Thatās my sonās intended major.
Yes, my ds doubled in physics and math. He is now in grad school for physics (theoretical cosmology). Ds loved his yrs at Bama. He started research his 2nd semester freshman yr. He changed projects that summer and ended up staying with that project through gradustion (Ice Cube-neutrino research).
Interesting about that scholarship. He had 4 different stackable scholarships. None of them stipulated how they needed to be used.
Thatās so good to hear that he had a great experience. My son applied as Physics major and was also admitted to the Stem to MBA program. He is also considering double majoring in physics and math.
My only concern with Bama is the size. But everyone we know loves it.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek - yes,
I think there have been various changes. One has been that the engineering scholarship is no longer stackable with the NMF package. It is still an extremely generous scholarship overall, especially with housing increased from 1 to 4 years. The UF Benacquisto is actually more generous (full ride plus) but my son really clicked with Alabama and did not feel the same connection when talking with UF engineering students.
Hoping S20 finds a similar feeling with one of his safety options.
@brentwoodmom What are his post UG plans? Is he planning on pursuing grad school?
While Bama might be a large school, the physics and math depts are small. For example, he was approached by a professor in the math dept to join his research project. Ds didnāt bc his interest is physics, but obviously students are not just bodies in chairs. Professors know who students are and are engaged with them. Ds had a lot of great mentoring from his professors.
Have you seen this document?
https://www.aip.org/statistics/reports/roster-physics-2017
That should give you an idea about dept sizes. I think when ds graduated there were something like 22 srs. Iād have to and look, but considering the 30000+ campus size, the dept was small and personal.
The SAT is coming up (to be taken in school on March 6th). Honestly mine hasnāt had too much time to prep. Has been spending a lot of time on her classes and extracurriculars. It looks like, at this point, she will need to put off any significant prep until AP exams are done. Am trying to be somewhat laid back about it because I donāt want to add to any self-imposed pressure she may already be feeling. I do fear burnout though. Glad that she will have a bit of a break at least during Spring Break and summer.
@AlwaysLearn Iām in agreement with you about the stress of SAT test taking during the school year. DS says heās got major projects due in most of his classes and isnt sure how heāll have time for test prep. Looking forward to Spring Break as well. I hate to see him so stressed. He mayāve gotten 5 hours of sleep last night.
Anyone have knowledge of Brandeis? Iāve been reading about it. Looks like good science research with merit and music too. DS recently told me that he does not want to go to most of the safeties on his list. I feel weāre early enough in that we expected his list to change, but we need to add safeties if heās dropping only those.
@SoccaMomma, Brandeis is indeed a top school for science and research, and the very top admits are offered merit money. It has a great music department, too. But please donāt mistake it for a safety.
I donāt seem to hear the terms āBrandeisā and āmeritā mentioned together very much. I checked the Brandeis thread and it seems itās been a few years since much talk of merit. Iām sure they probably have a few competitive awards available, but Iād be surprised if there is anything automatic? Definitely not a safety.
Youāre rightāthere is nothing automatic about merit at Brandeis (i.e., you donāt get it just because you had a 34 ACT, for example). From what I recall, the decision is made to offer it to roughly the top 10% of applicants every year. Because the applicant pool tends increase in strength from year to year, what might have garnered an applicant merit in one year could yield nothing the next.
Mine is taking SAT next Saturday with zero prep. I am hoping the in class work she has been doing in AP Lang will boost her verbal score. She did PSAT with no prep in 10th and 11th and got elrw/math of 700/760 followed by 710/750 so not much more can be done with math. If she nails math again and stays same in elrw I hope for 1500+
I try not to think about what she would get if she prepped a little. That drives me in to the rabbit hole of thinking about what her GPA would be without missing homework assignments.
@VickiSoCal I was thinking/hoping the same about AP Lang.
It sure seems like it should help. With the essay as well.
Are you sure we donāt have the same daughter? Mine is failing art. Who fails art? The kid who hasnāt turned in art projects!
Mine is also taking the SAT next Saturday. She SAYS she has been prepping but I havenāt seen any evidence of it. She had a decent ELRW score but a dismal math score on the PSAT because she needs to review all that geometry and algebra she took eons ago.
@VickiSoCal, if itās any consolation to you, I think sometimes not prepping for something might yield unexpected benefit of de-stressing a kid (or so my daughter claims). Wonāt keep you from stressing out, though (personal experience
Mine takes the SAT at her HS in April. I keep asking when she is going to start prepping, now that sports seasons are overā¦but things are getting real now. She took it the first time right after the PSAT, so has a score that is probably fine for all the schools on her list, but you never know if there might be more merit to be had with just a little higher scoreā¦
My son signed up for the ACT today. It seemed that in order to register, you had to provide the high school code so that the school could get your scores. If you entered ādonāt know codeā - it would force a look-up. I would rather the school didnāt get the scores just from a privacy standpoint although he is a good test taker. Does anyone see an issue with the school getting the scores?
@Octagon are your sure your school gets the scores? In our district, the district office receives them but they are not made available to counselors, teachers or admin at the HS.