<p>No essay for general application. There is an essay for Honors College. You can do that after you are accepted. D just applied a couple of weeks ago and has already been accepted. You need to have ACT or SAT scores sent and request school to send transcript. Also, scholarship deadline is generally Dec 1 but I think it is later for National Merit. There is a box to check on the scholarship application that asks if you have been named National Merit Semifinalist. Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Hi Tommy!</p>
<p>No essays…no teacher recs!</p>
<p>you’ll get your acceptance soon. Be sure to fill out the scholarship app.</p>
<p>What’s your major?</p>
<p>I am back with another question. Can anyone share the name of a good hotel nearby for D and I to stay at when we visit? We are still trying to figure out when the best time is for her to go visit.</p>
<p>Sheraton Capstone .is actually on campus.</p>
<p>The Capstone Hotel is no longer a Sheraton, so you won’t find it on Sheraton website… I think it was bought by a Bama alum, so now it’s Hotel Capstone.</p>
<p>However, the prices there can be crazy on certain days, so also try…</p>
<p>(The ones in **bold **are the ones we’ve used…however, Wingate is further away, so avoid if you can…it’s nice but far)</p>
<h1>Country Inn & Suites 4801 McFarland Blvd. East Tuscaloosa, AL 35401 (205) 345-9999</h1>
<h1>Courtyard by Marriott 4115 Courtney Drive Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 (205) 750-8384</h1>
<h1>Fairfield Inn 4101 Courtney Drive Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 (205) 366-0900</h1>
<h1>Hampton Inn 600 Harper Lee Drive Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 (205) 553-9800</h1>
<h1>Hampton Inn 6400 Interstate Dr. Tuscaloosa, AL 35453 (205) 562-9000 *</h1>
<h1>Holiday Inn Express 1120 Veterans Memorial Parkway Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 (205) 464-4000 *</h1>
<h1>Home-Towne Suites 1650 15th Street East Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 (205) 553-3828 *</h1>
<h1>Hotel Capstone 320 Paul W. Bryant Drive Tuscaloosa, AL 35401 (205) 752-3200</h1>
<h1>Microtel Inn 6331 Interstate Drive Tuscaloosa, AL 35453 (205) 556-1555</h1>
<h1>Microtel Inn & Suites 1417 Veterans Memorial Parkway Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 (205) 553-4095 *</h1>
<h1>Wingate by Wyndham 4918 Skyland Blvd. East Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 (205) 553-5400 *</h1>
<h1>Yellowhammer Inn & Conference Center 2700 Yacht Club Way NE Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 (205) 343-4215 *</h1>
<p>And, here’s our CC thread about restaurant recommendations in T-town
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1156069-bama-area-restaurant-guide.html?highlight=food[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1156069-bama-area-restaurant-guide.html?highlight=food</a></p>
<p>We particularly like…
Bento Japanese
DePalma’s Italian
Wings U
Mugshots
Iguana Grill
Mellow Mushroom
Zoe’s Kitchen
and there’s a new Greek place Taziki’s Cafe</p>
<p>*We are still trying to figure out when the best time is for her to go visit. *</p>
<p>Don’t try to visit on a home game football weekend…you won’t get a hotel at any decent price.</p>
<p>Also, it’s not a good idea to visit on a weekend anyway, since honors faculty, profs, and dept heads aren’t there to meet. </p>
<p>If you can, either arrive on a Sunday and tour and meet with honors & faculty on Monday…or arrive late Thurs, tour/meet on Friday</p>
<p>If your child’s school has any of the “faculty in-service days” where kids are off school, those can be good days to visit.</p>
<p>The airport to fly into is Birmingham, which is on I20. Then you take I20 west to Tuscaloosa…so not a complicated drive.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of the great advice. D still is insisting she will be heading to Alabama next fall and doesn’t want to apply anywhere else. It really sounds too good to be true. She submitted her scholarship app today. Will she not get the honors college app until she has actually been admitted? I hope that her school guidance counselor submitted her transcripts. It’s still showing as not submitted on the UA website. I was a little ticked that the GC was giving D a hard time about applying to UA. The GC seems to only recommend schools that he is familiar with or that students from our high school have gone to. He told D that with her stats and GPA/class rank she could apply to top schools in the country including Ivy League. Her friends are chuckling that a “nerd” like D would apply to a big football school.</p>
<p>Linnylu…dealing with the same thing. Had email from GC asking what my sons plans were, and why he was not getting teacher rec’s already. Don’t need 'em…and they sent out the transcripts this summer, and dont need any more sent now! She was a little astonished, and not sure he was making a wise decision. But when asked where he would get scholarships guaranteed at teir 1 schools, she was at a loss. When asked why Alabama was not a good fit, she could not give a real reason. But when she asked me why it was a god fit, I could reel off about 10 reasons she never thought about.</p>
<p>D got accepted at Alabama already! It is a strong second choice to the family alma mater, but we love everything we’ve heard so far and are planning to visit. She’s also accepted at her first choice school and had to put in a housing deposit. Is this something we need to do at UA also? We don’t want to put money down if possible, but we don’t want a desirable housing situation to go away either!</p>
<p>Debbie,</p>
<p>You don’t HAVE to put down the housing deposit at UA. Once your daughter feels like there is a good chance she might attend 'Bama you should go ahead and pay the housing deposit. Freshman room selection times are based on the time you pay your housing deposit. They are first come, first serve, BUT, even if you wait until the Spring she’ll still get good housing, she just won’t have as much flexibility in choosing. Also, I think all but $25 of the housing deposit is refundable if your daughter chooses not to come to UA.</p>
<p>You can’t pay the housing deposit until you have paid the $200 Freshman enrollment deposit.</p>
<p>If your child is going to want a particular honors hall…or want to choose suitemates…or is only going to want frosh suitemates…</p>
<p>Then you should deposit within the next month or two. The housing deposit is refundable. The housing app ($25) is not. The enrollment deposit is not refundable.</p>
<p>If you wait until next spring to deposit, then this is what might happen…</p>
<p>1) dorm your D wants is full
2) D can’t find a suite that has more than 1 empty bed in it and she wants her new Facebook pal(s) to be suitemate(s).
3) D can’t find a suite that has an empty bed in it that also has frosh in it. </p>
<p>A couple of years ago, a few families waited til April to deposit and then whined that “Susie” couldn’t get her hall choice or find a completely empty suite for her and her friends.</p>
<p>The whole process is like getting a hotel room at WDW. If you book early, you’ll get your fav hotel. If you book much later, the only vacancies may be in a hotel that is fine, but not a top choice. </p>
<p>All NMFs will get an honors super suite if they want one…but if you don’t deposit in a timely manner, you won’t have a choice as to what is left.</p>
<p>Debbie…have you and your D visited Bama?</p>
<p>Are there any online communities/forums where I can find and meet other incoming freshmen at UA? I’d like to make some friends/find roommates so I’m not all by myself when I go.</p>
<p>Thank you for the detailed information. It was very helpful and is what I kind of expected. We can’t afford to risk the 200 enrollment deposit to keep UA as our financial safety. We haven’t visited yet, but we really want to! It is really hard for me to get away because I also have younger children to care for at home. </p>
<p>Since D doesn’t know anyone going there and is not picky about which dorm, except that she loves the super suites, it sounds like we might be OK with waiting. She won’t be whining about where she gets placed. She is the most laid back kid you’ve ever met.</p>
<p>Debbie:</p>
<p>Until you have a chance to visit try out the following link:</p>
<p><a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama;
<p>This is a good introduction to the University of Alabama.</p>
<p>Tommy- start a FB page, or a thread on the Alabama forum here on CC for incoming freshman 2012.</p>
<p>Tommy…</p>
<p>Post that Q on the Bama forum. The students there know how to find future roomies on Facebook. There is some kind of roommate finder option.</p>
<p>[University</a> of Alabama - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/]University”>University of Alabama - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Why are you trying to come here when I’m trying my best to get out?!? Let me be honest.</p>
<p>If you are a minority or anyone looking for the least bit of diversity, do NOT come here. In my experience, everyone has stayed within their own little groups. I rarely ever see anyone who’s white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc, etc, walking together. Those types of friends are rare. Actually my group of friends is the only one that’s open-minded. We hung out at the University Mall once and received like so many stares. No joke! </p>
<p>I talked to many good students from other high schools in this area (ex: Northridge–who last year had students accepted into Stanford, NYU, UChicago, etc, etc), and they are all trying their best to get out. </p>
<p>They have the same reasons I do: UA-big party school, overrun by the Greek majority, crazy football scene. Very close-minded. There is a certain way to dress here. Obviously you need to wear Toms and Shirtshop shirts. Almost every older woman I’ve seen has dyed her hair bleach blond and is so wrinkled from overexposing themselves at tanning salons. I’m sorry but I’ve been here five years and aside from my experiences at a nursing home, I’ve never felt like I was home here. And I have volunteered and joined many clubs and sports at my school. </p>
<p>Just think about it. If you are a smart student, you want to be surrounded by people like you. UA would give me a full-ride, too, because I have good credentials, too, and am also a NMerit Semifinalist and the money may seem attractive at first, but there are other things to consider. I am still applying to UA this fall as my safety, but I am going to look at other colleges, too, such as Emory, Vanderbilt, UChicago, Duke, etc, etc. Do not hang yourself on one tree.</p>
<p>@writtenwords</p>
<p>My son is a Freshman NMF from North Carolina and his experience at the University of Alabama has been vastly different than what you describe. What you are describing is life as a High School student in the area (from your perspective) and thinking that is what the college experience will be like. I can understand your sentiments, most high school students think their home town isn’t all that by the time they are ready to graduate. Often times, when they go away to school, they find that things weren’t so bad there after all. Good luck to you in your college search. I would suggest that you go meet with the folks at the Honors College at 'Bama. You might be surprised after you talk to them and some of the students in the program.</p>
<p>@written words</p>
<p>My D was one of the top students in her high school up here in Madison County (Huntsville area, but we’re in the county school system). She had the grades and test scores to qualify for admission to any college she chose. (Of course, actually being accepted would have been another story, since so many qualified kids with equally impressive stats apply to top schools.) UA was the ONLY school she even considered applying to.</p>
<p>She ended up with one of the elite Crimson Scholarships (equivalent to the NMF scholarships, but awarded on a competitive basis, not solely on a test score), is part of the Honors College and the Emerging Scholars program. As such, she is surrounded by kids who are just as smart as she is, and probably quite a few who are even smarter. :)</p>
<p>I agree with loring that what you have seen and experienced as a local high school student is much, much different than the actual experience as an on-campus UA student. It’s also very common that students want to get away from their hometown. Huntsvlle is a wonderful area, but D couldn’t get out of here fast enough and on to a college experience in a different town!</p>
<p>We all here think UA is a fabulous school, but there are many other fabulous schools out there. I would encourage you not to look at UA as just a safety school. Think about what majors might be of interest to you, and check out those departments. Talk to some of the faculty, arrange a campus tour through the Honors College. Talk to some of the students in the Honors College to see what they think of their UA experience.</p>
<p>You may end up deciding that another school is a better fit for you personally, and that’s okay. But you could end up discovering that UA is a wonderful fit, too.</p>