<p>Hello! My son is interested in an engineering major (not sure exactly which one yet), and we are thinking about adding Alabama to our visit schedule. So engineering students and parents, tell me what you like and don’t like about the engineering programs at Alabama. We have several family members who have graduated from Alabama, so we know a good bit about the school generally, but none of those family members majored in engineering. He has a 3.7 UW GPA and 32 ACT, so I know we would get a great scholarship package, but I would like to know why your student chose Alabama for engineering and whether you feel the program has lived up to your expectations. As a point of reference, he is looking at other Southern schools that traditionally have been known as primarily engineering schools (Virginia Tech, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Texas A&M, North Carolina State).</p>
<p>My younger son just graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree from Bama. He really liked Bama’s College of Engineering. He liked the profs, he liked the facilities. </p>
<p>If you know people who graduated a few years ago or more, I can tell you that Bama has changed a lot in recent years. </p>
<p>Do try to visit Bama…I think you’ll be very impressed by all the new facilities.</p>
<p>If you do visit, first set up the campus tour online…try for an early morning time! Don’t bother with the “info session”, you’ll get that info here pretty much on the Alabama forum on College Confidential which is VERY active.*
<a href=“http://talk.college-confidential.com/university-alabama/[/url]”>http://talk.college-confidential.com/university-alabama/</a></p>
<p>In the email include:</p>
<p>Student’s name and contact info</p>
<p>Date and time of the Campus tour that you’ve reserved.</p>
<p>GPA and test scores (include likely NMSF if applicable)</p>
<p>Likely majors*</p>
<p>Career interests (including med, law, etc)</p>
<p>Anything particular that you want to see. *If you have an interest in seeing the new Science and Engineering Complex, let them know.</p>
<p>Honors Recruitment
Allison Verhine
Coordinator
269 Nott Hall
205-348-5534
<a href=“mailto:allison.verhine@ua.edu”>allison.verhine@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Susan Alley
Assistant Coordinator
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
<a href=“mailto:susan.alley@ua.edu”>susan.alley@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Allison and her assistant will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with faculty, honors people, touring honors dorms, etc.</p>
<p>Sometimes mail goes to their SPAM folders, so call them if you haven’t heard back within a few business days. These ladies do an excellent job and work very hard</p>
<p>[The</a> University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences “This is How College is Meant to Be” - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13186247-post50.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13186247-post50.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1156069-bama-area-restaurant-guide.html?highlight=restaurants[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1156069-bama-area-restaurant-guide.html?highlight=restaurants</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1342479-things-see-do-around-ua.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1342479-things-see-do-around-ua.html</a></p>
<p>[Things</a> To Do](<a href=“http://visittuscaloosa.com/things-to-do/]Things”>A WINTER WONDERLAND - Visit Tuscaloosa)</p>
<p>Hello! My son is interested in an engineering major (not sure exactly which one yet), and we are thinking about adding Alabama to our visit schedule. So engineering students and parents, tell me what you like and don’t like about the engineering programs at Alabama. We have several family members who have graduated from Alabama, so we know a good bit about the school generally, but none of those family members majored in engineering. He has a 3.7 UW GPA and 32 ACT, so I know we would get a great scholarship package, but I would like to know why your student chose Alabama for engineering and whether you feel the program has lived up to your expectations. As a point of reference, he is looking at other Southern schools that traditionally have been known as primarily engineering schools (Virginia Tech, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Texas A&M, North Carolina State).</p>
<p>My younger son just graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree from Bama. He really liked Bama’s College of Engineering. He liked the profs, he liked the facilities.</p>
<p>If you know people who graduated a few years ago or more, I can tell you that Bama has changed a lot in recent years. </p>
<p>Do try to visit Bama…I think you’ll be very impressed by all the new facilities.</p>
<p>If you do visit, first set up the campus tour online…try for an early morning time! Don’t bother with the “info session”, you’ll get that info here pretty much on the Alabama forum on College Confidential which is VERY active.*
<a href=“http://talk.college-confidential.com…rsity-alabama/%5B/url%5D”>http://talk.college-confidential.com…rsity-alabama/</a></p>
<p>In the email include:</p>
<p>Student’s name and contact info</p>
<p>Date and time of the Campus tour that you’ve reserved.</p>
<p>GPA and test scores (include likely NMSF if applicable)</p>
<p>Likely majors*</p>
<p>Career interests (including med, law, etc)</p>
<p>Anything particular that you want to see. *If you have an interest in seeing the new Science and Engineering Complex, let them know.</p>
<p>Honors Recruitment
Allison Verhine
Coordinator
269 Nott Hall
205-348-5534
<a href=“mailto:allison.verhine@ua.edu”>allison.verhine@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Susan Alley
Assistant Coordinator
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
<a href=“mailto:susan.alley@ua.edu”>susan.alley@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Allison and her assistant will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with faculty, honors people, touring honors dorms, etc.</p>
<p>Sometimes mail goes to their SPAM folders, so call them if you haven’t heard back within a few business days. These ladies do an excellent job and work very hard</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13186247-post50.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13186247-post50.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1156069-bama-area-restaurant-guide.html?highlight=restaurants[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1156069-bama-area-restaurant-guide.html?highlight=restaurants</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1342479-things-see-do-around-ua.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1342479-things-see-do-around-ua.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://visittuscaloosa.com/things-to-do/[/url]”>http://visittuscaloosa.com/things-to-do/</a></p>
<p>My S just finished his freshman year in Civ-E, we primarily chose Bama because of the scholarship, but also because my S liked the idea of spreading his wings and getting a bit farther from home than some of his other options.</p>
<p>We primarily viisted schools ranked in the top 10 for Civ-E (UIUC, Purdue, Georgia Tech, MIT) and other top engineering schools (Rose-Hulman, Cooper Union), but those which he chose to apply and was accepted would have been a stretch financially. And ultimately HE chose Bama over other options such as Rose and Purdue because they were far to close to home, although he was told we could make the finances work. By choosing Bama we were able to get though year 1 without borrowing any money and had enough money for him to travel to Ecuador with Alabama Action Abroad to end his year.</p>
<p>Pros: The facilities - from the brand new engineering buildings and labs to the new dorms the facilities are comparable to any other school out there (and far surpass most schools, especially other publics, many of which are facing budget issues)</p>
<p>The honors college (although not directly related to engineering) - EVERYTHING about the honors college is outstanding. After an awkward initial campus visit, it was the meeting with the honors college that convinced me to give Bama a second look, from their recruiting, through their communications with families and students, to the events they arrange, to the priority registration, to the courses they offer there is nothing negative with the honors college. </p>
<p>The scholarships - as noted above, this was the only option we had that allowed us to finish the first year debt free with the hope of completing the remaining 3 years in the same manner. </p>
<p>Neither pros nor cons;</p>
<p>The courses - this could be swayed to a pro or a con when my son gets into his upper division courses, but so far taking basic requirements, they do not vary much between schools… calculus is calculus is calculus whether you take it at MIT or your local community college. Also as an ABET accredited engineering school the degree requirements will be VERY similar to every other ABET accredited school.</p>
<p>The faculty - like ANY large school, there are some VERY good and some to avoid. Other threads recommend checking ratemyprofessors before registering. We’ve run across both since we began looking at the school.</p>
<p>Cons:</p>
<p>After a year, most of my concerns were alleviated and my S has had a very good experience, but the one con that is still very apparent to me is the lack of emphasis on work experiences they have in engineering. In all of the top 10 schools we visited one of the first things they talked about was how critical it was for engineering students to get work experience and the companies they worked with to secure internships and co-ops for students. At Bama - there is a very good co-op program, but it is not exclusive to the engineering school and students must make an effort to seek it out, there is no requirement for any work experience as some other schools do have and there are no requirements for students to even attend a presentation to hear about the benefits or of how to get involved. For students that don’t want to or can’t complete a co-op for some reason, the internships are coordinated by a completely different office and it is mostly inefective - during our first campus visit I asked a prof about the ability of students to get internships, after staring at me for a few moments like I was speaking a foreign language he finally responded “some students that have personal connections are able to get internships”… I again asked our honors ambasador who was leading our tour if he or any of his friends had gotten internships…once again I got that blank stare and then heard “Oh, you mean a summer job, I need to find one of those”. My son went to both (fall and spring) engineering career fairs, but found very limited companies looking for civil students and of those only 1 or 2 looking for interns. The Civ-E department sent out occasional opportunities (maybe 4 or 5) over the course of the year (for a department with hundreds of students) most of which required older students or students that had completed specific coursework - none of which my son was qualified to apply to.</p>
<p>That said, I took some initative and began scouring the web for any and every opportunity that he was qualified for - I searched job sites such as careerbuilder, monster, and indeed, internship specific sites, and simply googled civil engineering internships, summer engineering internships, summer 2013 civil internships, and many other combinations. I found new opportunities almost daily. I had my son apply to any opportunity that was in an area near home or a close family friend or relative. He interviewed for 2 positions and is now currently spending the summer with his grandparents and working at one of them. </p>
<p>Especially in a field such as engineering, work experience is CRITICAL. My only disappointment with Bama so far has been the lack of emphaiss they devote to it. My recommendation would be for them to begin a work experience office specific to the school of engineering that deals with both co-ops and internships. I would like to see them be as concerned with the number of students that graduate with work experience as they are about the number that travel abroad.</p>
<p>^^
I wonder if the push for “work experience” varies by discipline? My son regularly got emails featuring internship opps. </p>
<p>Have you tried writing to both Dr. Karr (chair of eng’g) and to the Dept Head of CivE and voice your concerns? When I had a suggesting for eng’g, I wrote to Dr. Karr and he sent me a hand-written 2 page letter back (hand written!). Very nice and detailed about how he’d address the suggestion. Oh, and he did implement the suggestion!</p>
<p>I am a current student finishing up chemical engineering. I looked at going to Auburn and Alabama. Alabama offered me better scholarships and I loved the campus when I toured it. I found Auburn’s to be nice, but I just found Alabama’s to be incredible. I knew that Auburn was more known as an engineering school, but I feel that that has recently changed some and is continuing to change. I think last fall’s entering engineering class was bigger at UA than Auburn. I do not think that rankings all that important in engineering either, even though UA’s are improving. It seems that individual GPA’s and work experience matter a lot more as long as the school is ABET accredited, which UA is. </p>
<p>I have had a great experience. My professors, quality of education, and overall experience have been excellent. I have found that students have an easy time pursuing whatever they want to do and are actually encouraged to do so. It was very easy for me to secure undergraduate research. I’ve heard it is pretty difficult at some schools. The new facilities are amazing. Professors in my department have said that the facilities are so nice and that the school has invested so much money and resources into engineering recently that they have been able to basically hand pick which young professors to hire. They implied that UA has pretty much been able to “outbid” other schools on top professors recently as well. I know that our department has been hiring professors that are incredible. </p>
<p>The dorms, extracurricular activity opportunities, and social scene also led me to UA. There has been so much to do and I have had the time of my life. From mentoring freshman engineering students, joining a fraternity, to attending national championship football games, I have had a four year experience of a lifetime. The Honors Program is incredible. UA is really able to provide a small school feel with the resources of a huge university. I know that many schools probably tout that line, but UA really delivered it (in my experience at least) throughout the whole four years. Really, these aspects of UA are what really made me fall in love with the school. It’s not only a great education, but also a great college experience. </p>
<p>UA does push for Co-Ops. I know that many companies do internships in engineering (I did a summer engineering internship), but it really does seem that most companies prefer or are on the move to entirely doing co-ops. Jrcsmom, the head of the co-op department came and spoke to all of us during my first chemE class. I assumed they did that for every department? I wonder if Civil dropped the ball or something on that one? Anyway, she gave a great presentation and really tried to persuade every student to pursue a co-op. It seems that every one of my classmates that have wanted to get a co-op have been able to do so also. I pursued an internship because of an opportunity that I came across. Many of my classmates also did internships instead of co-ops. They seem harder to get than co-ops because there appears to be less of them offered (I assume that is a national trend). Also, the school probably pushes co-ops because it develops a better employee-university relationship (basically locking UA students into great companies for years). I have been to career fairs at UA and there were many companies wanting to hire engineering interns, but there were even more at the co-op interview day. I’m sorry if I rambled for a bit. To wrap it up, I’ll say that you son could either get an internship or a co-op if he wanted (just obtaining the internship may require more work and persistence because the positions are usually more competitive due to lower openings). I know you said that your son is undecided on which engineering he wants to do. Alabama is a great state for engineering. Mercedes is around 20 minutes from campus (they do co-ops) and hyundai and toyota are in Alabama also. Huntsville (home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and many federal government weapon research and manufacturing centers) is probably one of the best cities for an aerospace engineer to reside in. Being near the gulf coast, there are countless chemical engineering possibilities. It just seems like a great state to be in with a B.S. in engineering. If your son would like to work outside of Alabama after school, I don’t think he would have a problem at all in finding a job anywhere. I know so many people that have gotten jobs outside of AL (in all regions of the county-- California to New York to Alaska). On a side note, I worked with many engineering students from Texas A&M, UT-Austin, Georgia Tech, and UMichigan, and always felt as prepared or more prepared than them in my education. I actually had a Texas A&M student comment about how well we were taught distillation (he saw some notes I had pulled up from one of my classes while we were doing a project). </p>
<p>I really don’t have any negative experiences to talk about that aren’t normal at every university. For example, many students complain about parking… Tell me one major university that has great parking…</p>
<p>Also, students need to stay alert and read their emails.</p>
<p>In the past, we’ve had parents post that their child didn’t know about X or Y, only to find out that their child wasn’t reading their emails. I know that inboxes can get full, but students need to be alert to figure out which emails might include internship/co-op info.</p>
<p>i will echo jrcsmom on the lack of attention to internships.</p>
<p>we are from another state, and around here, most students do internships, not co-ops. in fact, i do not know a single kid that goes to one of our big state universities that has done a co-op. i am sure there are some, but i haven’t heard of any. PLENTY of them do summer internships, and, around here, MANY companies hire a bunch of summer interns.</p>
<p>of course, co-ops are good experience, but not every student wants to add an additional year to their schooling to do one. if that works for you, then great, but it is not ideal for many students. if a student wanted to and was able to work an internship each summer, he would have experience with three different companies doing, possibly, three different things, rather than three semesters with one company in one industry. of the kids i know at UA with co-ops, most would not be interested in working for that company after graduation. it is nice experience, for now, but not seen as a long term thing. </p>
<p>i have had similar experience as jrcsmom - blank stares upon the mention of internships. i even emailed the person who is supposedly in charge of engineering internships, only to be told that UA absolutely does arrange internships blah blah blah. when i asked this person to send a letter to a potential employer for an internship that we found on our own, she refused. um, what? her reasoning is that she didn’t “know” my student and she couldn’t recommend her. um, she is a UA student with a near perfect GPA, and your job is to advocate for UA engineering students …</p>
<p>anyway, no help at all from the career center in finding an internship. none. </p>
<p>so i think UA needs a LOT of work in this area. they can say and think that co-ops are the only way to go, but it is just not true and not the way things are done around here at all. maybe they need to build relationships with more companies that do offer internships, because a student like mine (and a few others i know from this board) with very good grades and a good resume should not have any trouble landing a summer internship if they want one.</p>
<p>btw, mine is working at an internship now. she found it through a professor, not the engineering contact at the career center.</p>
<p>those of you who will want an internship for next summer, they recruit for them really early (like in the fall!). for example, almost every oil company has made their offers by the first of november. there will be exceptions, but if you want an internship for next summer, go to the career fair in the FALL (NOBODY was looking for interns at the spring career fair.)</p>
<p>Both of my kids did summer internships and they’ve both done REUs. One internship was with a defense contractor, and one was with the US Army Corp of Engineers (that one was for 3 summers plus Christmas breaks).</p>
<p>The REUs are another great source for summer internships. Both of my boys did those - and they learned about them thru school emails (again, students need to go thru their emails). Each STEM student should go to the REU website to identify ones that they’re qualifed to apply to for next summer. REUs pay well and provide lodging. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/index.jsp[/url]”>http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/index.jsp</a></p>
<p>That said, those who have issues with communications of internship opportunites, need to contact Dr. Karr and their discipline’s dept head so that they can take action to correct any deficiencies.</p>
<p>Great information and advice. Thanks for the detailed responses.</p>
<p>If your son has not decided on his engineering major, he might be interested in attending SITE at UA (Student Introduction to Engineering). There are three sessions in July. I don’t know if space is still available, but it is reasonably priced $700 for the week including all meals and lodging in UA’s beautiful suite style dorms. It might be a good way to get a feel for campus.</p>
<p>Current engineering student. I like that there are so many opportunities here. To the best of my knowledge the combination of things I am involved with here are something I couldn’t do anywhere else. That is also why I chose to come here. The University has something to offer to everyone, even if that involves getting support to do things on your own that aren’t offered yet.</p>
<p>The down side is that the, for a lack of a better word, quality of some of the activities when evaluated alone are below what they are at other Universities. I am comparing this to Universities my friends are attending, most of which are ranked higher than here.</p>
<p>So at the end of the day I may miss out on a few courses that I would like to take, and I will have a bad professor or two (that happens everywhere). There are the resources here to make the experience what ever you want it to be. Even you have to fight a little to get it sometimes.</p>
<p>Maybe the moderator can merge these two threads by the same name?</p>
<p>If you’re looking for engineering degrees in that area, check out Auburn too! I know its engineering program is stellar.</p>
<p>You may find this interesting regarding UA Engineering
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1510629-ua-one-first-five-us-universities-offer-engineering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1510629-ua-one-first-five-us-universities-offer-engineering.html</a></p>
<p>If you’re looking for engineering degrees in that area, check out Auburn too! I know its engineering program is stellar</p>
<p>My H has been hiring Bama and Auburn grads for over 10 years now. He has NOT found the Auburn grads to be better (at all). Besides, Auburn’s scholarships are not nearly as generous.</p>
<p>@Avita01 </p>
<p>Quoting: “Perhaps I’m too much of an educational elitist in that aspect, but there are plenty of northern schools with prices comparable to Alabama.”
Source: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1437103-hows-ua-south.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1437103-hows-ua-south.html</a></p>
<p>Pray tell Avita01… as an “Educational Elitist” and student who is transferring OUT of Auburn would you mind elaborating on your opinion of the Auburn Engineering program?</p>
<p>but there are plenty of northern schools with prices comparable to Alabama."</p>
<p>No there aren’t. But since it looks like you didn’t get much/anything from Auburn (were your stats too low), that the price difference may not have seem as much (3.3 GPA 28 ACT). Those stats aren’t even in the upper quartile at Bama.</p>
<p>for someone with high stats, the prices certainly aren’t comparable.</p>
<p>BTW…there are plenty of kids at Bama and Auburn who have much better stats than you had.</p>
<p>^ and I would expect someone with those stats might struggle with engineering at any school.</p>