<p>Anyone else planning on attending this? My family thinks I’m crazy to want to go since DS is already set on going to Bama, but I thought it would be fun to maybe meet some other locals who are looking at Bama.</p>
<p>Is there any way to find out who is speaking?</p>
<p>At the Chicago reception last year they gave out free t-shirts. That’s a reason to go!</p>
<p>Your recruiter should know who is speaking; just e-mail him or her and ask.</p>
<p>^ Free t-shirts (elephant on back) and lanyards at Chicago this year. </p>
<p>It’s a great chance to meet other parents and students from your area. You may wind up ride sharing or taking things for one another’s students on parent visits. CC is great but it’s also very nice to put faces with names.</p>
<p>After reading the threads about the Milwaukee and Chicago receptions, I’d like to clarify something about these receptions that conflicts with the FAQ link on the threads. Each of these receptions is handled differently and the FAQ information doesn’t apply to each of them. For instance, the Atlanta area reception is held at the Coke headquarters in downtown Atlanta. Only seniors are invited and the senior may only be accompanied by one parent due to limited space and an overwhelming crowd of participants. Juniors are also not allowed to attend. I’m not sure when this change came about, but that is the current situation. It wasn’t the case several years ago when our oldest attended.</p>
<p>My greatest fear is that someone from another area that operates under the same restrictions of the Atlanta area reception or someone from the Atlanta area will read these threads and conclude that they have been slighted. I really don’t want that to be the case, especially for someone who hasn’t interacted with the UA since this could lead to a bad impression of a great school. This is the sole reason I contacted the UA Admissions Office and questioned the conflicting information provided on the FAQ’s from the RSVP link on the other thread. I am a huge supporter of the UA, and I want each and every student and family to experience the same welcome our D received. 
The University of Alabama does an excellent job with their recruitment efforts in all other instances in my opinion. </p>
<p>After speaking with the UA Admissions office, I understand they are considering adding an additional reception for juniors in the future. :)</p>
<p>We attended our area’s reception 2 years in a row. They had great speakers, t-shirts and yummy food. The featured food was whoopie pies and frito taco pie. </p>
<p>One year we met Dean Karr, head of the school of engineering and Dean Sharpe, head of the Honors College along with some great parents and students. It was a packed house both times.</p>
<p>Yes, cuttlefish, these receptions are very nice. We enjoyed hearing President Witt speak at the Atlanta area reception a few years ago. I’m not sure which receptions allow juniors and which are limited to seniors and one parent other than the Atlanta area reception per Mary Spiegel. I would recommend anyone who has the opportunity to attend do so.:)</p>
<p>There were no restrictions listed on our invitation or the RSVP, so I am assuming the Philly reception is open to anyone. The drop down menu for how many guests were attending went up to 12, I think. :)</p>
<p>You should definitely plan to attend! :)</p>
<p>The reason for the limit in Atlanta is that the response to the reception is greater than the amount of space available in the venue.</p>