<p>Lots of families were at Ridgecrest South to see the model room and tour the facility. Thanks so much to the housing office for making this available to prospective students and their families.
The staff was great, and so were the students there. They were willing to show us laundry rooms, kitchens, and even answer questions about classes.
Although our route from the hotel to the university for Capstone Day was less than spectacular, when we exited Ridgecrest and headed toward the interstate, we got to see the beauty of Tuscaloosa, its lakes, rivers and parks, and the great shopping district on McFarland.
We’re hoping to get back to campus next month and see the engineering facility and maybe sit in on classes.<br>
So glad we attended Capstone. We’ve been able to totally rule out some maybe colleges and even cancelled some honors interviews at other universities, as Bama has moved that far up the list, and with the generous scholarship offer and amazing honors program and course selection, it has definitely moved up to the top of the list.</p>
<p>I’m glad you enjoyed your experience at CSD, the first CSD (in its current incarnation) where the weather hasn’t been so atypical. As some of us have mentioned previously, Tuscaloosa does have some not-so-great areas, but students rarely visit those places. </p>
<p>Your experience is a reminder to all prospective UA students and parents. Visit campus before you cross UA off your list. For any college, visiting gives a student a better idea of how they would like attending spending 4+ years at that college.</p>
<p>Good to hear you had a great time. What engineering discipline were you interested in?</p>
<p>I’ll roll tide to that.</p>
<p>I am always surprised at all the students I meet that fall in love with Alabama after visiting. UA is definitely a school that you should not sleep on.</p>
<p>In Ridgecrest South, the bedrooms are split…2 on one side and 2 on the other (with a bathroom on each side). In the other super suites, all 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms are down one hall.</p>
<p>We really liked the split format. Mom, are either of your boys in Ridgecrest? I know it’s not all honors, and will not be all honors next year. Do you think it will be quiet enough for an honors kids with a rigorous curriculum?</p>
<p>My younger son is in Ridgecrest South. </p>
<p>I think Riverside is the quietest.</p>
<p>I thought one of them was in Ridgecrest. I thought, with the pool, that Riverside will be noisier. Is Riverside all honors, or are there some non honors in there as well?</p>
<p>*I thought, with the pool, that Riverside will be noisier. Is Riverside all honors, or are there some non honors in there as well? *</p>
<p>No, the pool doesn’t contribute any noise to the residents. The pool is outside of the community building area. </p>
<p>Riverside East, West, and North are all honors.</p>
<p><a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/halls/riverside.cfm[/url]”>http://housing.ua.edu/halls/riverside.cfm</a></p>
<p>If you enlarge the upper area of this map and find where Riverside is…</p>
<p><a href=“http://uagameday.com/football/documents/2010Championship_000.pdf[/url]”>http://uagameday.com/football/documents/2010Championship_000.pdf</a></p>
<p>Right where the “mm” in Riverside Residential Community is…that’s where the pool is. The community building is that single bldg right below that first “m” is.</p>
<p>So you can see that the pool isn’t really that close to the dorms.</p>
<p>Half of Ridgecrest South is honors if that isn’t changing for next year. What’s confusing is that Ridgecrest South is actually two different buildings joined together, one’s honors and the other isn’t.</p>
<p>Dorms designated all or partially honors will be quiet enough for studying. What I should mention is that honors students aren’t necessarily recognizable from non-honors students. We still like to have fun and do things besides study, but when we really need to study we will.</p>
<p>The thing that concerns me is that Ridgecrest is supposed to be all freshmen next year, and you know how college freshmen are! Having an all honors dorm might cut down on the craziness, but I know, honors kids do like to have fun! </p>
<p>Thanks for straightening me out on the pool. Remembering those family vacations when we made the mistake of getting a hotel room by the pool. Not a lick of sleep on those days.</p>
<p>Now, that beautiful lake in that park across from the dorms, which dorm has the best view? That’s the room I would want.</p>
<p>*Remembering those family vacations when we made the mistake of getting a hotel room by the pool. Not a lick of sleep on those days.</p>
<p>Now, that beautiful lake in that park across from the dorms, which dorm has the best view? That’s the room I would want. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>you can’t hear the pool area while in your dorm. My older son was in Riverside his first year, and will go back next fall. I think my younger son is going to do the same.</p>
<p>And, I just don’t think the students are that noisy when in the pool anyway. It’s not like a bunch of screaming 8 year olds are there. LOL It’s more of a relaxing pool. I think the rec center pool area is louder.</p>
<p>Lakeside has the view of the lake. I think you can also view the lake from Ridgecrest West?? (or Ridgecrest East??)</p>
<p>I think I’d enjoy eating in the patio area of Lakeside dining and watching the ducks.</p>
<p>Both Lakeside East and West, along with Ridgecrest East have the best lake views along with Somerville and Palmer (Mallet). I read on a map that it is actually named Palmer Lake. Ridgecrest West may have a couple rooms with a lake view, but I haven’t checked. FYI, there are 22 ducks in the lake, of which I believe 17 are white, 3 are black, and 2 are gray. There used to be a mallard, but he isn’t there anymore :(.</p>
<p>And you can buy a loaf of bread for them at Lakeside C-store and when you come out to the lake the ducks will come swimming to you! LOL</p>
<p>Oh, the ducks sound great! Son will love that. Although at first I was worried that the dorms were so far away from the classrooms, I think they are a beautiful living community that son will really enjoy. Thank goodness for that bus! I’ll bet that’s a great way to meet people, too, both at the bus and feeding the ducks.</p>
<p>The dorms aren’t that far away from the classrooms. (Besides, it’s a great way to keep off the Freshman 15). Students can choose their housing based on which area their most of classes are. </p>
<p>Alabama (like other schools) tries to cluster classroom buildings in the middle and put housing and other ancillary buildings on the outer perimeter.</p>
<p>BTW…incoming freshmen: when making out your class schedule, pay attention to where the classes are held. Avoid scheduling “back to back to back” classes that require you to schlepp back and forth and back and forth across campus. If possible, choose your schedule based on building location and schedule a meal break at a time when you’d have your furthest trek.</p>
<p>Typically, a student can make it from one area to another within 5-10 minutes, but why make things too difficult if it can be avoided with some forethought.</p>
<p>I also have a question about Ridgecrest South for my daughter who will be attending as a freshman in the fall (yes Capstone Day sealed the deal!). Anyhow, our understanding is that Ridgecrest South has an honors section and a non-honors section. Right now she qualifies for honors housing, if she chooses Ridgecrest South, but she connects with roomates who are not honors eligible and she moves into the non-honors section, is she still allowed to use the pool at the Riverside Dorm? I thought I previously read that the pool was available to be used by all of the honors students and not just the students at Riverside. If anyone can set us straight on how this works, we would be very appreciative.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that CSDay was a good experience for your DD! :)</p>
<p>yes, she can use the honors pool. For those who wonder what that is…go to this link and scroll down to the last picture… <a href=“http://urec.ua.edu/aquatics-facilities.cfm[/url]”>http://urec.ua.edu/aquatics-facilities.cfm</a> That’s the honors pool behind Riverside. The other pools are the indoor and outdoor pools at the Rec Center.</p>
<p>Yes, Ridgecrest South has an honors tower and a non honors towers (altho this year, there were some vacancies in the honors tower, so some rooms have non-honors in them).</p>
<p>But…as a warning to your D. You must start in an honors dorm to be in an honors dorm in the future. She can’t do “non-honors” dorm this year, and honors dorm later.</p>
<p>It would be better to see if she can move the non-honors friends into her honors suite (if room is available.). Or, not room with them, but still have them close by in the other tower. </p>
<p>If she was able to pull her non-honors friends into her suite (because of vacancies), and these friends get a 3.3 GPA at UA, they can join honors (or a 3.0 and join IHP).</p>
<p>thank you for helping to clarify. your information is most helpful.</p>