Southern hospitality

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>Do kids from outside the South feel alienated at Bama? Are they avoided like the plague or welcomed. Is there a “It’s a southern thing; you just wouldn’t understand?” attitude at these schools. When they are alums is there the attitude, like in Rome that you’re not really Roman until 7 generations have been born there?</p>

<p>I’m from PA and my family has always gone to school in New England and the northeast, but I’m pretty conservative and schools in NE and the northeast tend to lean way left.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>You will be just fine. We Southerners are welcoming of everyone. And people in Alabama are about the nicest I’ve ever met. </p>

<p>Now, the attitude you speak of does exist in New Orleans, where you can only get ahead if you’ve been born to the manor, as they say.</p>

<p>As for conservative, again, in the city areas, you’ll probably find your share of liberals, but the suburbs are generally conservative.</p>

3

<p>personally think you wont have any problem at the university… small rural towns here still have that “roman” attitude imo but the mix of students at university coming from all areas of the country will be great</p>

4

<p>S is from Chicago and other than being called “damn Yankee” as a joke he has been welcomed with open arms. I am happy becuase the excellent manners seem to be rubbing off on him! There are a few frats that really only have the “old guard” southern families, but there are plenty that will take a yankee : )</p>

5

<p>Do kids from outside the South feel alienated at Bama? Are they avoided like the plague or welcomed.</p>

<p>First of all, many “in-state” kids at Alabama are not Alabama natives. For the past 20+ years, many Fortune 500 companies have relocated to Alabama because the cost of living is lower here. Therefore, many kids at UAlabama either were born elsewhere or their parents were born elsewhere.</p>

<p>My kids are not unusual. We are California natives that were moved with my H’s company - which moved 4 entire divisions here. </p>

<p>My kids’ friends are a mix of natives and non-natives. My kids have never rec’d any kind of “bad vibes” from the native southerners. Southerners just aren’t that way. </p>

<p>Even when I’ve had dealing with those in the more rural regions (which according to stereotypes are supposed to not like “outsiders”), those people have been genuinely friendly and helpful. </p>

<p>This is my take…with cable TV and all, people from all over the US have come to realize that people are just people. There’s very little “us and them” attitudes any more. </p>

<p>With national stores and restaurants ( Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, Costco, Target, TGIFridays, Outback Steakhouse, Chilis, etc), there has been such a blending in most states - including the South. Any southern city that is sizeable (Tuscaloosa has 125,000 people) is going to have a national influence, simply because of the “invasion” of nationwide stores.</p>

<p>Also, keep in mind that many of UA profs and many in exec positions are not natives, either.</p>

6

<p>Given that you’re a conservative, you should be fine. Southern people in general are fairly nice and gracious. I’m pretty liberal, and some of my other liberal friends from OOS feel somewhat alienated, but that’s what happens you go to a deep south school :slight_smile: . But anyways, southerners are generally pretty nice and at the very least polite. UA has a pretty sizable OOS population, but if that’s a really big factor for you, Auburn has a higher % of OOS (60%) and was a slightly better school, but I think Bama has also caught up.</p>

<p>tl;dr you’ll be fine. Where in PA are you from, by the way? I’ve got plenty of family pretty close to Wilkes-Barre and PSU was my top choice.</p>

7

<p>**ABR **quote… *Auburn has a higher % of OOS (60%) *</p>

<p>Considering that more 60% of Auburn’s students are Alabama residents, that would be impossible. lol</p>

<p>From Auburn’s website:</p>

<p>Alabama residents… 60.2% </p>

<p>Other US states… 35.9%</p>

<p>Int’l…3.9%</p>

<p>Considering that Alabama was Obama-land during the last election, it hardly qualifies as a deep south school. lol Since you’re going to UTenn, it’s not like you’re heading to Berkeley.</p>

8

<p>I could’ve sworn that Auburn that I saw 60% somewhere. There goes that point, lol.</p>

<p>But Alabama is DEFINITELY in the deep south, and McCain won pretty handily in 2008 (by 21%)</p>

<p>[United</a> States presidential election in Alabama, 2008 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Alabama,_2008]United”>2008 United States presidential election in Alabama - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>But all that’s besides the point :)</p>

9

<p>Any university is going to pretty much be Obama-land compared to the general population, and this going to be especially true in Alabama. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you see things, Tuscaloosa is what passes for “liberal” in Alabama.</p>

10

<p>ABR…</p>

<p>Considering that Alabama was Obama-land during the last election, it hardly qualifies as a deep south school.</p>

<p>If you look at my sentence, I was talking about the University of Alabama…not the state. The university is not that conservative, nor is it a “deep south” school. I’m not saying that UA is liberal; it’s more centered - which should be fine for most. It wouldn’t be fine for those who can’t tolerate hearing opposing views (like many left-wing schools).</p>

<p>Any university is going to pretty much be Obama-land compared to the general population, and this going to be especially true in Alabama. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you see things, Tuscaloosa is what passes for “liberal” in Alabama.</p>

<p>Very true…and I think it’s a plus that UA doesn’t lean heavily to one side or the other. Universities are going to be more left than the general population.</p>

11

<p>Sorry, I couldn’t tell from your sentence you were talking about the university since you just said Alabama and not UA. Sorry for the misunderstanding. And you’re right, Bama is a centrist school, and probably liberal in terms of Alabama. And I know I’m not headin to anything close to Berkley :P</p>

12

<p>^^^</p>

<p>No problem :)</p>

13

<p>OP-I’m from PA as well and i LOVE bama. Although i’m leftist in political thought.</p>

14

<p>I think many college kids are kind of left of center. </p>

<p>That’s just my experience.</p>

15

<p>Compared to living up North I will say this.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>When it comes to Southern Hospitality, the term is just broad. When I visited Atlanta, I rarely noticed any racism but when it came to places like Augusta, Valdosta, Macon and Statesboro, I received a lot of racist flak for being Asian. Currently I have an Indian who attends Georgia Southern and he gets terrorist jokes thrown across his way all the time. </p></li>
<li><p>Generally, the college towns and bigger cities down south tend to be more appreciating of diversity and new people, the smaller cities and smaller towns? Not so much, especially if you are a minority like Hispanic or Asian. </p></li>
<li><p>Compared to the North, the south can be boring for most college students in my opinion, here at Armstrong Atlantic I have a friend from New Jersey who regrets coming here because there is little to do. The south is better for the older people who want peace in life.</p></li>
<li><p>I went to high school down south and currently I am a college freshman at a southern college (which I plan on transferring out of), I heard five times as many racial slurs and I have been bullied by kids for being the race I am. I have seen kids who were Hispanic being called “beeners” and all of those racial slurs, I have seen Middle Eastern kids get beat up and ragged on (they call it “jiving” down here) for being who they are.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I have not really been to Alabama so I will not speculate on anything. I have been to Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia and I will say that Southern Hospitality is not prevalent everywhere. </p>

<p>Usually the visitors get to experience southern hospitality the most while those who stay usually have bad luck with it. Eitherways, you will be at a college town so you don’t need to worry too much. Have fun.</p>

<p>I have noticed myself that in most colleges, people do not give you flak for being a certain race at all. I rarely get it at my college (we still have those who bring it up) but it is in the form of jokes.</p>

16

<p>From my experience, Southern Hospitality is very common in Alabama. Yes, there are many conservatives, but there are many liberals too. I am definitely not from the South, but that fact becomes a novelty most of the time. It does help if you do like some stereotypically southern things and also respect people.</p>