The Blount Undergraduate Initiative

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>DD received an invitation to apply for this program today. Is anyone familiar with it? Pros? Cons?</p>

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<p>It was what the Honors College is now before the Honors College existed. </p>

<p>The pros are that you live in the Blount Living-Learning Center (which doesn’t have quite the luster it did before the northern cluster of residence hall went up) and you have access to the Blount Academic Houses on the Quad, which have private study spaces, classrooms, and computer labs. I don’t know of any of cons, other than the seminars are tough work, from what I heard from my friends in the program.</p>

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<p>here’s my 2 cents…(but I could be wrong…LOL)</p>

<p>I think it’s a great program for those who miss being in honors because of stats, and who are liberal arts majors.</p>

<p>I think those who are in honors would rather take honors classes and be in the honors dorms.</p>

<p>But, maybe I’m wrong.</p>

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<p>MidwestPop…</p>

<p>Your D is NMSF? Right?</p>

<p>I would think that applying for University Fellows Experience (UFE) or Computer-based honors (CBHP) would be better for your D. <a href=“http://honors.cbhp.ua.edu/[/url]”>http://honors.cbhp.ua.edu/&lt;/a&gt; click on the links gray band</p>

<p>Both programs are rather elite and have competitive admissions. For CBHP, only 40 are selected. For UFE, up to 40 are selected. </p>

<p>Of course, your D would qualify for the Honors College’s University Honors Program (UHP) and International Honors Program (IHP), and of course honors housing (which the NMF scholarship includes.)</p>

<p>I think Bama uniquely offers 4 different honors programs ( a student can apply to all 4 and some kids belong to all 4 programs). The honors courses are amazing…very LAC-like with small classes.</p>

<p>BTW…the NMF scholarship can be confusing to some in regards to housing. YES, the NMF scholarship does include the cost of the fabulous honors super suites housing even though honors housing costs a lot more. When an NMF student selects honors housing, the scholarship is automatically increased.</p>

<p>Also…unlike the NMF scholarships of some other colleges, Bama increases its scholarship when tuition and housing increases. That can be problem at other universities that only give set amounts (such as $25k per year) for their NMF scholarships.</p>

<p>(I’ve noticed that some other universities that used to offer big NMF scholarships now only offer set dollar amounts when the student is a senior in high school. Typically tuition and housing go up every year, so by the time a student is a junior or senior, the increases in costs can really deflate the benefits of a scholarship that is just “set amounts.”)</p>

<p>Do try to visit Bama…the school sells itself. The people, the campus, and facilities are amazing.</p>

<p>If you do visit, after setting up your campus tour time, send an email to Jami Gates at the honors college. Give her the date and time of your campus tour, your D’s NMSF status, her intended major and basic stats. Jami will set up appts around your tour time with dept heads, touring honors and honors housing, and maybe arrange for you to sit in some honors classes or classes within your D’s major (f that’s desired, let her know.)</p>

<p>Jami is super sweet and helpful.</p>

<p>jami gates 205-348-5599 <a href=“mailto:jami.n.gates@ua.edu”>jami.n.gates@ua.edu</a></p>

<p>What is your D’s intended major?</p>

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<p>Admission into the Blount Program is competitive, or at least it was last I knew.</p>

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</p>

<p>[Blount</a> Undergraduate Initiative](<a href=“http://www.as.ua.edu/blount/index.html]Blount”>http://www.as.ua.edu/blount/index.html)</p>

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<p>Hello MidWest Pop, from the UA Office of Undergraduate Admissions, and thanks for your question! The Blount Undergraduate Initiative is a four year program focusing on a liberal arts curriculum and serves as a minor in liberal arts upon completion of the program. Freshmen entering the program live in the Blount Living-Learning Center and take special classes together. Because Blount is considered an honor program, Blount students receive priority registration with the Honors College. Students can, if they’re accepted, do both the Blount program and Honors College. The program accepts students of all majors, has a student-organized governing board and even offers intramural sports teams! The application and interview process is mildly competitive and the program challenges students to read significant amounts of difficult literature as well as write at an advanced level. For more information, head over to [Blount</a> Undergraduate Initiative](<a href=“http://www.as.ua.edu/blount/index.html]Blount”>http://www.as.ua.edu/blount/index.html). Hope this helps!</p>

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<p>It accepts all majors or just all majors from A&S?</p>

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<p>Welcome to CC, NicoleWyattUA! I really appreciate admissions officers who take the time to answer questions here–and you can tell from the number of views of a thread that you can reach a lot of readers through CC.</p>

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<p>Thanks to you all for your thoughts. It’s greatly appreciated. NicoleWyattUA, would you recommend that an incoming Freshman give up the wonderful Honors Housing option in order to participate in the Blount program along with the required Blount housing? I assume that they can move into Honors Housing for their Sophomore thru Senior years. Is honors housing guaranteed for Sophomores if they were not in Honors housing their Freshman year? Thanks for your info!</p>

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<p>As a rule, one must be in honors housing their first year in order to be eligible for honors housing in subsequent years. I don’t know if students in the Blount program are exempt from this rule, but it is a rule that UA strictly enforces.</p>

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<p>Would the Blount Living-Learning Center, where all freshman in the Blount Program are required to live, not count as honors housing?</p>

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<p>If Honors students cannot move from the Blount housing to traditional Honors housing in their 2nd year, that is quite a barrier in convincing top level Arts and Sciencesfreshmen to apply for the Blount program. It would then almost seem as though this is a “2nd tier” honors program for students who did not qualify for the traditional UA Honors Programs? Maybe NicoleWyattUA can provide further detail?</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>I sent you a PM and also included the housing phone number to find out if those who live in Blount can later move to honors. Be sure to speak with someone who really knows the answer…Sometimes colleges have work-study students answering the phones.</p>

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<p>MidwestPop, it’s not that it’s a second tier honors program, it’s just a different type of honors offering. As for the coursework, it’s very rigorous and challenging, and offers small, seminar based classes just for those students in the Blount program. The housing is apartment-style, but unlike some of the other honors housing, it is set up in suites. Two bedrooms and two baths comprise each suite, and four students are in each one. Between the classes and the living accommodations, it gives students a community feel, where they can learn and grow together. Also, students can be a part of Blount and the Honors College, if they get in. If you do have more questions about housing, you can check out their website: [Student</a> Affairs | Housing & Residential Communities](<a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/]Student”>http://housing.ua.edu/).</p>

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<p>I would still want to get something in writing from Housing stating that an honors student who is in BUI can move to honors housing for soph year. That isn’t clear from the website.</p>

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<p>i second what mom said.</p>

<p>i would definitely check with someone in housing (alicia brown maybe) to see if a blount student (who lives in blount housing) could move to honors housing in year two. my guess would be no.</p>

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<p>I don’t think you can move from Blount to regular Honors, which is pretty questionable in my opinion. My parents want me to apply for BUI and I have a couple of friends who are interested but we aren’t giving up literally the best freshman housing ever to live there. We know someone who lived in Blount his freshman year and apparently it’s just as awful as we feared (keeping in mind, of course, that “awful” to an incoming UA Honors kid just means “not perfect,” which Honors suites pretty much are to us).</p>

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<p>LOL…</p>

<p>The BUI housing certainly isn’t awful…they’re rather new. But, you’re right, compared to Honors Super Suites, they aren’t as good.</p>

<p>(205)348-6676 Email: <a href=“mailto:housing@sa.ua.edu”>housing@sa.ua.edu</a></p>

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<p>I’m seconding this LOL. What do the Lakeside/Riverside suites have that Blount ones do not?</p>

<p>Also, are non-honors suites not as good as honors suites?</p>