Speaking of their honors college recruiting, if you ever want to see a group having fun, go check out Bama’s Blount Honors College FAQ here. I give them credit for this, I really do.
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Xavier very nice school in a Cinncy. Similar to Duquesne here in Pittsburgh.
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I think that might have to do with the aggressive recruiting of OSS high stats kids in an effort to raise Bama academic standing among Public universities
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All I will say here is that Alabama has been giving these offers to National Finalists (Merit, Achievement, Hispanic, etc) for a good long time. Sufficiently long enough that there are members of that received-a-full-ride-to-Bama-and-went-elsewhere club who are old enough to have kids repeating the experience.
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No one here in our New England private applies to Alabama. Can’t imagine the culture shock (have seen pics from the sorority rush - yikes) and in any case for us all abortion ban states are no-go. I think it is a CC phenomenon - in real life I have never heard of anyone even considering it.
Maybe time to move on? The early decision dates are not that far in the future… definitely exciting and stressful, and hard to convince kid to do a lot of the RD apps while waiting but I know if he doesn’t get into his ED school there will be so many essays and apps to do in quite a short time…
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I don’t know of any kids applying to Alabama in my area but it is really far from Seattle!
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They get a couple or three high-stats kids from Alaska every year.
Like others have said, it’s hard to pass up free.
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My S23 (my baby) got his first acceptance tonight to Baylor! We are so excited for him and so relieved to have an acceptance in hand.
This is getting real!!!
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just saying - my D23 is begging us to let her go to bama; as she looks outside at the snow and icy ground in our frozen midwest town right now. the southern charm, all the active engineering groups, tailgates, no-loan, and 60%-kids-from-other-states vibe goes far in her mind compared to our other affordable in-state cornfield option. 
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My 21 was accepted to their dance program from an outside audition, and they were sending her all kinds of personal notes to entice her. She is not a Bama girl and would never consider it.
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We had several kids from our HS Class of 2017 that went to Bama. I think they were all from the south so proximity was in play as well as free.
edit: meant to type 2017 and not 2023
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I think all employers understand the appeal of a free ride to college now. Top employers recruit heavily from the finance clubs and honors college at Alabama.
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Yeah my D19 wanted an urban school. I made her apply to Miami. We visited in April of her senior yr in HS for the first time. She liked it and pretty much has enjoyed her experience the whole time. It isn’t perfect, but a good school if you can get the merit$$.
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Studying in a cornfield isn’t exotic? 
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I spent a third of my life in Tuscaloosa and three generations of my family still live there and there is no way I would allow my kid to apply to Bama. I’m sure the university is fine, a nice cozy bubble, but kids don’t stay in the bubble. Tuscaloosa is unremarkable and full of willfully ignorant, racist people. I’m Roll Tide 'til I die, but Bama as a place to educate my kiddo? Nope.
@relaxmon Sorry to keep the conversation about Bama going but I was compelled to add my thoughts to the discussion. Like you, we’re anxiously awaiting ED results. S has started working on a couple of his RD applications, but it’s slow going as senioritis is hitting him hard. Hopefully, our kiddos get good news in a few weeks.
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Thank you for this honest appraisal; it means a lot to me, and others, I’m sure. It’s very hard to get a sense of a place from a thousand miles away…though I had suspected as much.
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i mean i like where we live; but really, for kids who like to be outside - there’s no mountains, hills, forests, real lakes, beaches etc. I think exotic is the right word for sure! (and yes, my family lived in WA for 17 years - so i know what the kids are missing out on; they do by visiting other locations).
At our local Alabama event, I met an AA engineer who was there as alum speaker. He works for a top engineering firm in the RDU area. He said he encountered more racism in Detroit/Michigan than in Tuscaloosa/AL. His exact words were “I never had any isses on campus or off. My then GF and now wife used to go around town for dinner dates. I did not participate in Greek life or football so cannot speak to that. My experience was very positive.”
What was more interesting to my son and me was the fact that his dad went to Alabama as well…I suppose in the 80s.
Of course it is n=1, well n=3 if you count his father and wife but thought I’d leave it out here.
FWIW, I went to grad school in New England. I saw my more than fair share of ignorance there. @mountainsoul @relaxmon
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There are lots of people who a) passionately and proudly defend and promote Bama or who b) would never send their kid there.
This debate has been going on on CC (and IRL) for ages and won’t be resolved any time soon. So probably best to move on.
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It hurts my heart to send S23 south. But I am admittedly more concerned about where my D25 Latina lands. So many factors to consider. All we can do is hope we raised them well enough that they recognize when things are not right and are strong enough to speak up when things are discriminatory.
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