<p>Hey all. I’m currently a freshman, going into my second semester here at the University of Alabama. I have a few questions that I really need answering, and would appreciate the help.</p>
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<li>I currently am registered for UH210, Arts of Tuscaloosa, and have heard that there are quite a few off-campus events. I am considering getting a bike for this semester, but will that work for the events that are far from campus? I know I read somewhere on here that it was a fifteen minute drive for one of the events before, and that is not really encouraging. </li>
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<p>Also, is the class a lot of work? I’m currently at 18 hours, not including an hour of research, and I don’t really want to have a greater burden writing long essays every week combined with my current workload. </p>
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<li><p>I’m thinking about joining a fraternity this Spring, but I’m unsure how to start the process? Any general advice on how to get your name in an start meeting people? I’ve kind of started the process with one fraternity, and I have been invited to several events, but declined to attend because it was during the football games. But one problem I have as of now is I don’t know anyone in a fraternity. My former roommate was in Alpha Tau Omega, but he withdrew from the university, so there goes my only connection. I’m also just a bit nervous doing this thing on my own as an out-of-stater, since none of my friends are interested in joining. Are there any fraternities that are party light and are focused on other things like volunteering, normal social events, etc.? I’m looking to make some good friends and to have a great time at the university, but I don’t want to give up on my studies at all. </p></li>
<li><p>Does anyone know about the classes labeled Kinesiology? I registered for one of the classes that involves a sport, soccer, and I’m wondering what it is all about. Is it an introduction on how to play the sport and does it involve some of play time? I already know how to play soccer, and thinking about switching to racquetball or something else. Are these kind of classes worthwhile and do you get some good exercise? </p></li>
<li><p>Is there any way to get your friends with you in your suite in buildings like Ridgecrest South- North Tower? My friends and I are planning to live together next year, but are concerned about being able to do so. I found it incredibly difficult to get into Ridgecrest South this year, and was randomly paired with people I didn’t know. How can you secure a room so that you and your friends can all live together? Do you have to personally ask these people to switch rooms (using that room code) in order to make it happen, or can someone in the University Housing Department help out with the situation? It would be a real disappointment not to be able to room with my friends.</p></li>
<li><p>Lastly, what is the difference between a club and a intramural? I joined the Tennis club for a while back in the fall, but it was not well-organized and it kind of got annoying to go to practice every day and ask to hit with a group of guys. They already seemed to have their “groups” set in and they were mostly juniors and seniors, with a few freshman and sophomores. Is the intramural any different? I’m a pretty good player (played on HS team for 4 years, captain senior year) but I just want to play as much as I can without interfering with academics. </p></li>
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<p>1 and 2. Don’t know much about these issues, but I know there are some on this forum who have dealt with them before, so I will defer to them.</p>
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<li><p>Those KIN courses are basically phys. ed. The intro courses teach you the basics of the sports if you haven’t had formal instruction before. I took Intro to Golf, which was taught at a local golf course. It was all outdoors, but since golf isn’t a inherently physical sport, it wasn’t much in the way of exercise. However I assume something like racquetball would be. If you already know the basics of soccer, you could take the intermediate level - there’s no pre-reqs.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve heard on this forum that once you have a suite, you can “pull” others into the suite as long as you have their code. Once again, I’ll defer to those with first-hand knowledge.</p></li>
<li><p>My understanding was a club sport competes with other clubs at other schools, but not under the purview of the NCAA, while intramural sports have “in-school” leagues. Lot of fraternities and other clubs form intramural teams to compete in intramural leagues, but there’s only one club team. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong.</p></li>
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<p>As for Fine Arts of Tuscaloosa and transportation.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would send an email to the prof and voice my concern about getting to events without having a car. Ask if the prof has any system set up to encourage car-pooling or arranging for 348-Ride to provide round-trip rides to these events. </p>
<p>There is a lot of writing required for FAT, so if you’re not going to have time and/or you’ll be rushing, it may not be a good idea to take that class this semester. </p>
<p>You may want to wait and rush in the fall…and spend this semester meeting more guys in various frat houses.</p>
<p>Yes…you can pull others into your suite if you have empty rooms and they’re also eligible for honors housing.</p>
<p>Second m2ck’s advice on FAT- the essays aren’t hard, it is the attending the events that is time consuming. With at least one event per week for a couple of hours and 2 lectures it’s a big chunk of time for a 3 credit class.</p>
<p>Not sure about spring v. fall rush. Rush is very, very time consuming. You basically live there for 8 weeks without living there. I would look at your work load & see which semester you anticipate being easier. I wouldn’t recommend rushing with 18 credits. I’m sure people do it, but I would go in the other direction like 12-14. Go onto Bama’s greek website I forget the name. You can register to rush with your info(gpa, state, etc) & then some fraternities contact you which is one way to get to know some.</p>
<p>Djoker, my son is the new head of recruiting for his fraternity. He’s an out-of-stater who would never belong to an organization that caused him to compromise his academics. PM me if you’d like me to put you in touch with him. He’ll give you an informative, low key intro, not a hard sell.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help. I’ll stick with racquetball then, since these courses seem to be more of an introductory to the sport. So with the club sports, a team is organized by a group of friends, rather than just a bunch of people playing as one big team? So that’s good for fraternities/other social groups then. </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids</p>
<p>I appreciate your advice. Having 18 hours isn’t exactly ideal, so I think I’ll drop Arts of Tuscaloosa and stick with 15 hours and that leaves some time for me to do research. I was worried that AoT was too much writing, and that I would be stressed having to go to events for 2-3 hours during a night that I needed to study for a test the next day. Perhaps I’ll defer my Fine Arts until next semester…I had heard that Behind the British Mask with Betty Florey was a really great class. Has anyone had experience with that?</p>
<p>Could you also explain the concept of pulling in? Will I grab a spot in a room, and then grab an extra code for my friend? When I registered for housing for freshman year, it was very competitive, and I didn’t think there was anyway to room with friends.</p>
<p>@ldinct</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. I think I’ll enter my name into the system just to see what’s out there. </p>
<p>Last question I have is can sophomores go through Rush? I had never heard of a sophomore doing such a thing, seeing as everyone I’ve met who has rushed is a freshman. Are they generally acceptant of sophomores? </p>
<p>I really appreciate having you guys answer my questions. It’s helped a lot!</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know much at all about sports at UA. Intramurals are leagues organized by the rec center. I was president of a large student organization while I was a student and our club fielded teams in a variety of intramural leagues, but I wasn’t in charge of getting that worked out. (One of the benefits of being president is being to delegate work…) </p>
<p>This website may help you out, just in case you haven’t already seen it:</p>
<p>Re: Fraternities. It’s more feasible to rush a fraternity as a sophomore and get a bid then to do the same for a sorority, from what I’ve heard. I know our Garden State expert would be an ideal person to seek advice from.</p>
<p>Going through sorority recruitment as a sophomore is a lot harder than doing it for a fraternity. Not impossible but definitely more challenging. Each sorority will have an upper class quota determined by Panhellenic. That will give them the number of sophomore and above they can bid. I am not sure how it works for all fraternities but I do know that some hold a certain number of bids for sophomores and above.</p>