Questions and concerns

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>Well,the last couple of posts have been very encouraging. It is a BIG decision. Everything about UA has made it onee incredible opportunity for DS who qualifies for the full tuition scholarship. </p>

<p>All our friends and family are very excited for him as well. When I mentioned it to my brother, first thing out of his mouth was Roll Tide; obviously a football fan! </p>

<p>We are still concerned about the distance :frowning: . but at least there will be opportunities there with the career fairs. </p>

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<p>Glad to hear that you found our info helpful. Please feel free to ask specific questions on here or through private messages. My daughter really has had a great experience and Bama. We couldn’t be happier with our choice. There have been a few bumps in the road here and there, but nothing worth getting too upset about and in the end everything has worked out. Well, I still do have a gripe with how they did the away game tickets for students this year, but I’m sure that’s the least of your worries :wink: Oh, and quick update: D said that both Google and Microsoft are coming to the campus this month to hold info sessions. So although they weren’t at the fall career fair, this is probably an even better way to meet the recruiters from these “dream” companies. Roll Tide!!! </p>

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<p>laralei - I was told by a friend of mine who saw your original post that sharing our experience with you might be helpful. I started to look through the responses and I see that this discussion has gone in many different directions so I will respond to some of the concerns in your original post. We are from New York and our son is a freshman at Bama. Like Rose808’s daughter and many others on this thread, our son has had an excellent experience so far. The funny thing is that when he told people in his high school that he was considering Bama they all had blank stares and looks of utter confusion. After all, our son was accepted to many of the highly coveted schools that people here hope to attend and with very generous scholarship awards. So why Bama? Well, the original reason why I looked into Bama and urged him to apply was the incredibly generous scholarships, the unbelievably helpful information that I obtained on this web site from M2CK, Robotbldmom, Chardo, Montegut and others and the feel that I got from these people. I thought if he could go to a great school that offers so much, where the cost would be minimal and he could be in a new environment with new people (we live in a VERY homogeneous area), how could we not look further into Bama. Our son applied and was accepted. He then applied for the Honors college. He was accepted and was eligible for the Presidential (I think that’s what it’s called) scholarship. Then there was Capstone Scholar day. We traveled from New York (based on the information we obtained on College Confidential) and what a visit! Everything good that I read on here was true and even better in person. The personal tour arranged for us by the Honors college was exceptional. In fact, we visited several small, highly ranked liberal arts colleges and they did not even begin to do for us what the Bama people did. It was simply amazing. On that visit, our son who was not seriously considering Bama prior to that visit, just being “open to it” was sold. During that trip our son asked us if he could attend there (at which time he had not even heard from most of the schools he applied to) - we couldn’t believe it - not that we weren’t blown away but my husband and I were definitely more interested in Bama than our son was before this trip. Then he made a trip there on his own to interview for one of the programs there. I can’t even begin to tell you how nice everyone was and how our son was elated and excited about the whole Bama thing when he returned home (I didn’t think he would be even more excited than he was after the Capstone Scholars weekend - but he was!) Once he got to Bama it got even better. He is very happy with his classes, he has made many friends, loves the South, loves the football and has been exposed to many, many things (including SEC football) that he knew nothing about before. The hospitality and interest shown by the people at Bama has not changed since he arrived. They have been welcoming, helpful and gracious. I have to be honest and tell you that being from New York, I didn’t know how it was going to go once he was there for real, but it went well and the people at Bama continue to make our family so happy and thankful. I really could go on and on but for now I will leave it at that. As far as your original concern regarding the distance, we are in New York about 18 (?) hours away. Our son has never been away from home before this. He has not been home since he arrived there in August. He was lucky to meet really nice friends and one even invited our son and his roommates to the parent’s summer home on the beach for labor day weekend. They went and had a great time. During the October break he stayed at school, found plenty of things to do and studied. Thanksgiving he will be in Tuscaloosa and the dorms and dining halls are open. Since my husband is a big football fan, neither of us have never been to an SEC school on a big game weekend and the big Auburn game is Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, my husband decided that maybe we should drive down (18 hours each way, yikes!) and spend Thanksgiving in Tuscaloosa. Also it’s my husbands 50th birthday so we thought it would be nice to spend it with our son. But, that was a very recent development. We did not go to parents weekend because it seemed so close to the time we dropped him off in August. So, I guess from the perspective of another family that is far from Tuscaloosa and a mother who did a lot of worrying, everything has been fine and believe me our son has been so busy that not coming home on these short breaks has not really been an issue for him. I will end this novel here but if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask. If you would like you can send me a message, etc. Good luck, have a happy Thanksgiving and ROLL TIDE!</p>

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<p>^ I could have written the identical post 3 years ago.</p>

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<p>@lucky&blue That is so great to hear!!! We are already excited about Bama, and attending Capstone Scholars Day in January. Hope to have an experience like yours!</p>

<p>Questions (for anyone here):</p>

<p>We have so far been arranging a personalized visit (and meetings) for the Friday before Capstone Scholars Day though our regional recruiter. Do you think we should also contact the Honors College directly about our visit as well?</p>

<p>For these meetings - with representatives of the Honors College, Biology Department, CBHP, etc. - do the parents sit in on the meeting or is it just the student?</p>

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<p>Yes, get HC involved.
Yes/No/Maybe: feel free to sit in w/ your student in any/all meetings and activities that are arranged for you personally (if your student wants you to be there :wink: )! Some activities during Capstone day might be for students only (don’t know - your agenda should help you decide which are for students and which are for families). </p>

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<p>Happy Happy for lucky&amp and her son. UA is really and truly just like we talk about here on this forum, a special place where your sons/daughters can thrive and succeed.</p>

<p>Roll Tide!!!</p>

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<p>@Mom2collegekids - did you ever hear back from Dr. Karr?</p>

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<p>Yes! He has asked Travis Railsback to get in touch with me in regards to the concerns (Dr. Karr warned me that it might take a week and it did…I don’t know if Mr. Railsback was out of town or what). Mr. Railsback contacted me a day or two ago and asked what the concerns were. I sent him copies of the concerns, so he is likely preparing a response. I will let you know what his response is. </p>

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<p>Thx- I hope Bama knows what a treasure you are!</p>

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<p>luckyamp%3Bblue</p>

<p>Just wanted to thank you for taking the time for such a lengthy response. Very informative and also good to hear.</p>

<p>DS is also up for the full tuition at Temple, which is much closer to home, and we have family in the area. He was injured during a gym class and couldn’t attend their open house, but DH and I went. It also seems like a good school, so he has options.</p>

<p>However, through a friend of his, he prefers UA. He does want to apply to Cornell, but baring winning the lottery there, it looks like Bama will be his future home. </p>

<p>I think it will be an exciting adventure for him. </p>

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<p>@laralei, our family had a very similar experience to lucky&blue’s but we live in suburban Philadelphia. We have friends with kids at Temple and they offer some very generous scholarships as well. VERY different school than Alabama, however, so I would encourage you to visit both schools before you make a final decision.</p>

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<p>I would love to visit, but the expenses just are not something I want to spend when we could use that $$ to cover books next semester for DD. She had a change in major and colleges and the money we expected to help her with doubled, and DH is getting very anxious. </p>

<p>DS is very laid back, for the most part, and keeps telling me he will be happy no matter where he goes. He felt he didn’t want to attend a large school, but I believe all the colleges he is currently looking at are larger than he wanted. </p>

<p>He really doesn’t want to attend Temple. I think there are going to be some huge improvements at Temple in the coming years, but the campus does not compare to UA. </p>

<p>I worry about the distance more than he does. I don’t think he realizes exactly what it means when I say he will not be able to come home all that often. But that could also me just being overprotective, and knowing I won’t be seeing him as often as I would like. :frowning: </p>

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<p>laralei I understand the concern about distance, but technology is great. My son Skype’s us about once a week and we live a long ways from Alabama. BTW, my son did get accepted to Cornell, but chose Alabama, even if your son does get accepted to Cornell, he might realize that on balance, Alabama might be a better choice. Net cost for Cornell was $60K/yr, net cost for Alabama is $10K/yr.</p>

<p>Median ACT Cornell is 32, Median ACT Alabama Honors College is 32. Median ACT for UFE & CBH is 34.</p>

<p>There are a lot of bright kids at both institutions so which ever path your son takes, he won’t have a bad choice either way.</p>

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<p>FWIW we live only 2 hours away and our DD has only been home once since August. She is having too much fun to come home. :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>I hear you, @laralei, about the travel costs associated with just visiting. All I can tell you is that my son refused to apply to Temple, but was willing to apply to Penn State and Bama because I told him we needed to have at least two schools we knew we could afford. He didn’t have a lot of preferences, except he thought he wanted a smaller school. In the end, he liked Bama the best of all his choices and has been very happy there. No, we haven’t seen him since we dropped him off in August, but he has friends at Pitt and other schools closer to us who haven’t been home before Thanksgiving either. </p>

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<p>Travel distance is always a concern for OOS Parents initially, but as your students become more involved in their academics, they may be just as happy to remain on campus during the breaks. My student used these times to “catch up” on sleep, wash laundry, clean, take long walks and enjoy the changing scenery, visit with friends who also stayed on campus, study and get ahead on academic reading, read novels, food shop and cook meals with friends and just plain relax. It is good to have nothing required to do for a few days in order to unwind. Traveling home is great if you have the extra funds but it is isn’t always relaxing. Students just do need a breather now and then, when they are not “expected” to do anything. </p>

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<p>Just received this from Travis Railsback </p>

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<p>Thank you.</p>

<p>Travis</p>

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<p>Ok! The upthread claim that Auburn brings in “hundreds” of employers is not accurate…AU brought in 127, while Bama brought in 105…not a big enough difference to make an argument that AU is bringing in “hundreds” of employers.</p>

<p>Travis provided the following info:</p>

<p>Thank you for taking the time to share this post. I can assure you our team is committed to providing exceptional career services that empower students to prepare for and connect with careers beyond the Capstone. Several of your questions relate to what Auburn is doing vs. what Alabama is doing. In short, there are great things happening at Auburn University and there are great things happening here at The University of Alabama. </p>

<p>I did reach out to a colleague in Auburn’s Career Center to specifically inquire about the assertion that Auburn’s career fairs bring in 100’s of employers. In fact, Auburn’s fall Engineering & Technical Career Expo brought in 127 employers, while our Technical & Engineering Career Fair brought in 105 employers. Of the employers who attended the Fall 2014 event, 86% were seeking full-time employees and 54% were seeking interns. 105 employers is a record high for this particular event and the capacity for our current venue. We are aggressively seeking out other venue options for the future so that we can continue to grow this event. The Technical & Engineering Career Fair is an event that occurs in both September and February of each year.</p>

<p>We are consistently striving to more effectively serve students and employers and solicit feedback from both following every career event. When we asked employers attending our Fall 2014 Technical & Engineering Career Fair to rate the event, 65% rated the event as “Excellent” and 35% rated the event as “Good”. No employers rated the event as either “Fair” or “Poor”. When we asked our students attending the Fall 2014 Technical & Engineering Career Fair to rate the event, 49% rated the event as “Excellent”, 44% rated the event as “Good”, 6% rated the event as “Fair” and 1 student rated the event as “Poor”. This is not to say that we get everything right, but I did want you to have an accurate picture of how employers and students who participate perceive these events. Our biggest complaint remains a lack of space, an issue we are working to remedy as the fairs continue to grow in employer attendance each year. </p>

<p>In addition to our Career Fair, the Cooperative Education and Professional Practice Program hosted a Co-Op Interview Day this Fall. The event was attended by 81 employers, an all-time high for Co-Op Interview Day.</p>

<p>We regularly meet with current and prospective employers in an effort to grow these relationships. As both the size and quality of our College of Engineering student population continues to grow, Alabama is increasingly becoming a target for additional employers. Often the biggest complaint I will hear from employers coming to campus (outside of crowded career fairs) is that they wish they could have seen more Electrical Engineers, Chemical Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, etc. at our events. As the college continues to grow with increased enrollment, this larger pipeline of talent will help remedy this challenge.</p>

<p>I am always open to feedback regarding our services. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if I can ever be of assistance.</p>

<p>Travis Railsback</p>

<p>I encourage anyone who has other concerns or perhaps suggestions for improvement to please contact Travis at <a href=“mailto:trailsback@sa.ua.edu”>trailsback@sa.ua.edu</a> He is the Executive Director of the UA Career Center. </p>

<p>It is easy to post concerns here, but to be truly effective if there is an issue or you have a suggestion, you have to go to the source. It only takes a couple minutes to formulate an effective email…about the same amount of time to post here. ;)</p>

<p>Happy Thanksgiving everyone!</p>

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<p>Thanks M2CK! I always hesitate to reach out because I often feel it is my student’s responsibility. Now thinking I should just reach out sometimes to put my own mind at ease.</p>