<p>Hey all, I was accepted to the Honors Program at Alabama and was hoping i could get some pros and cons of the university from alumni, current students, or really anyone who knows the university well. Ive taken 2 visits already (Scholars Day being one of them) but am having a hard time deciding. Another thing is I’m an out-of-state student from North Carolina but the distance doesn’t bother me! Also, it helps that I received a 2/3 tuition scholarship, and have the GI Bill so i wouldn’t have debt. Thank you everyone for your future advice!!</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>The pros are:</p>
<p>Excellent Honors college
strong academics
friendly people
beautiful campus
modern facilities
nice housing
spirited campus</p>
<p>Id more than likely major in Biology with a pre-med emphasis. Still undecided with a minor though. Are there any cons that you can think of? Thank you so much for your help!</p>
<p>Congratulations on your scholarship. What sort of “cons” are you looking for? My D loves it at UA. I just wish it was closer to my house. ;)</p>
<p>Thank you Cuttlefish! I find little to no “cons” with UA. One thing that I was looking for in a college was being in a big city, but my views on that have changed now that I’ve visited T-town! I absolutely love their recruiting of students which drew me to UA! I was just wondering if I was overlooking anything or maybe if there is something that I haven’t seen or heard that is a “con”.</p>
<p>My DD had “in a major city” as a “must have” on her list too, but Tuscaloosa is so “magic” that she felt it met her needs just fine.</p>
<p>^Ditto for my DD.</p>
<p>The only “con” I can come up with is that if you’re from out of state and plan to return to your home state upon graduation, there may not be many recruiters from your area coming to UA to interview. National companies will be recruiting at UA, but I would expect that a local/regional company based in Chicago, say, will be interviewing at schools in Illinois because that’s where they’ll get the most bang for their buck. That doesn’t mean you can’t contact the company on your own and get an interview at their office, it just means you have to work a little harder.</p>
<p>If you’re not from a distant state, or if you’re planning to go to grad school, then this isn’t much of a “con.”</p>
<p>Cons for me fall into two categories: imperfections (e.g. we’ve only won three of the last four BCS Championships, the dorms aren’t as close to XYZ Hall as I’d like) and deal breakers (e.g. the academics are substandard, the infrastructure sucks, you can’t graduate in four years, the people are horrible).</p>
<p>In 2.5 years of Bama experience we’ve found myriad pros, a few imperfections that my son likes to call first-world problems (i.e. not worth mentioning), and zero deal breakers.</p>
<p>any cons?</p>
<p>Well, it’s not located on a Hawaiian island.</p>
<p>I plan on going to med school after so I don’t have to worry about that! Thank you for your insight! It’s going to be a hard decision to make for sure!!!</p>
<p>When attending the BCS game watching party with the young BAMA alums in Houston, MANY of them told me they found jobs in Houston with firms who recruited them directly from UA.</p>
<p>This, of course, was music to my ears.</p>
<p>What are your other choices and what are the costs?</p>
<p>Music to my ears, too, TXArchitect!</p>
<p>My daughter also had “in a big city” as a must-have in her college search. She now attends school in NYC, so I guess she meant it… Sorry to go off-topic; I just thought it an interesting aside.</p>
<p>@RTRMom2 So far I’ve been accepted to University of Miami, and Ohio State. Both would be free since I have the GI Bill. I dont hear back from most of my schools until the end of march which kind of scares me with how early Bama is with BamaBound etc. </p>
<p>@HappyBCDad I really thought I meant it when I said I wanted to go to school in a big city, but after going to Tuscaloosa I think that might’ve changed a little bit! :)</p>
<p>nckid,</p>
<p>Have you heard they have a fair football program? Tarheels love Tuscaloosa. The scholarships often make it cheaper than anything you’ll find here.</p>
<p>Have you thought about majoring in Chem E? There are some additional scholarships for Engineering Majors AND the degree has the benefit of you being EMPLOYABLE should you decide not to pursue medicine…</p>
<p>@loring I think i might have heard a couple things about their football program, only a couple times though! :)</p>
<p>Right now my major is open to really anything; looks like I’ll be doing some research on Chemical Engineering majors now!</p>
<p>*I plan on going to med school after so I don’t have to worry about that! Thank you for your insight! It’s going to be a hard decision to make for sure!!!
*</p>
<p>Then it’s a good idea to minimize costs or loans as an undergrad.</p>
<p>My younger son is a senior at Bama. He’s a Chemical Engineering major and pre-med. He’s been accepted to med school.</p>
<p>Con:
Many opportunities at UA and not enough time to do them all</p>