So we’re planning on visiting UA with my oldest this July (traveling from Alaska, so during the school year isn’t an option, unfortunately), including an honors visit (since she’ll definitely qualify), and we need to plan it now rather than later because it has to fit in around visiting family and reunions and a couple other things that are also being scheduled. I read through the entire “Info about Alabama: Read this first!” thread, but after a while all the information begins to bleed together, you know?
So: We found on the Honors College website who to contact to set up a visit, but figured I should check here first if there’s anything in particular we should request to see or do. My daughter is interested in both biological bases of behavior (so, at UA, psychology) and the conflict studies track of international relations, and very emphatically not in Greek life (or sports, though I figure that one may well change if she’s at a place like UA).
Since students will mostly not be on campus, see if you can meet with a UA “Ambassador” - there are official ones for the university + additional ones for each college and sometimes each department. There will be limited staff during the summer, but ask specifically to speak with someone in that department. Here is a good listing of faculty: http://psychology.ua.edu/classification/faculty/ If something strikes your fancy, there is nothing wrong with contacting a professor directly (if you’ve done your homework and are genuinely interested in their field of work). I just looked for you (because I don’t know if you have access to a course schedule through mybama), and the following courses ARE meeting starting July 6: 355, 356, 361, 372, and some graduate courses. There is a Psychotherapy Lab also in session, under Clayton Shealey, every T/R, 9.30-10.45. Knowing which courses are in session might help you ask to sit in on a class as well. HC can arrange all of this, you just have to know to ask!
Be sure to be realistic about what time you have to spend - if HC is setting up meetings for you, you don’t want to be rushed. Since you are coming a long way, I would give yourself at least 1 full un-restricted day to meet and see things. Maybe more if you can swing it. Good luck with this!
My advice is based on my own experience visiting in Spring 2014:
Contact the Honors College directly and tell them when you plan to visit. The more specific you are about what you want your daughter to see and do, the more they’ll customize the visit (including the general university campus tour): http://honors.ua.edu/admission-to-honors/schedule-a-visit/
And I agree with @aeromom to plan at least one full day. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, walked around a bit, had dinner in town at a nice restaurant, and had our official tour on Monday. It was just right.
FWIW, I was attempting to make the experience as pleasant as possible since I was visiting with an ambivalent student, so I booked us into the Capstone Hotel on campus, which was very nice. There’s a new Embassy Suites in town now, but I’m not sure if it’s a walkable distance. Others can tell you more about that.
With regard to sports, my son had zero interest in football when he arrived (his HS didn’t even HAVE football), but he’s really enjoyed going to games with his friends. It’s as much about the pageantry and communal experience as it is the game itself. (Although he’s really learned to enjoy that too–not hard when the team is a National Champion!)
Greek life, OTOH, he still has no interest in, but he has plenty of friends who are active in fraternities and sororities.
ETA: Given your daughter’s interests, ask them to arrange for you to check out The Blount Undergraduate Initiative: http://blount.as.ua.edu/
ETA 2: Since you’re coming from Alaska, you might want to help prepare your daughter by having her sleep in a sauna for a week or two.
My daughter visited during the school year, and she met with a professor in her department of interest and sat in on a class. There will be summer classes going on in July, so I would think that would be a possibility. If your daughter is interested in CBH or University Fellows, you could ask to speak with someone about those. I don’t know who is around at various points during the summer, but I’m sure they’ll accommodate any request they can.
Have you always lived in Alaska? Or, I guess the real question is how used to really hot humid weather is your daughter? If the answer is not at all, give her some time to acclimate before she has to walk around the campus on a really hot day, and remind her that for most of the school year it’s really pleasant. I say this because my daughter’s biggest objection to Alabama was that she didn’t like hot weather. I arranged her visit for January, and now 4 years in Alabama have turned her into a southerner who has no desire to return to cold midwest winters. However, I’m fairly certain she would not have chosen Alabama had we visited in July.
I know—July isn’t the best of times to tour in the South, is it?
We lived in Florida for several years before moving up to Alaska, and my daughter has solid memories of living there, so there’s that, and we’ve visited family in the coastal upper South most summers, so she’s had some solid experience with weather conditions that can only be described as sultry. Also, we toured a lot of schools last July as well, and part of that was spent amidst a solid Midwestern heat wave that even the local news stations were saying was pretty extreme, so at least it won’t put Alabama at any sort of comparative disadvantage, I figure.
