<p>The two senior-most college counselors from my son’s high school paid their first visit ever to UA this week. They are both Asian-Americans, keenly aware of diversity issues, wedded to academic rigor, and they were blown away by Bama. </p>
<p>Just thought I’d share that with y’all.</p>
<p>Roll Tide.</p>
<p>Very cool!</p>
<p>Nice to hear, can’t wait for our visit. My sons GC has said “Alabama??” wayyyy too many times to me.</p>
<p>vlines … You WILL love it! We regularly receive the same quizzical comments. I wrote a glowing letter to our GC office, and the department head forward it to all the GCs in our 2 HS district. It would be great if they sent a few on a field trip. :-)</p>
<p>I certainly appreciate the healthy debate, but I cannot stop from thinking about the 97% of the things that we love about Alabama, that our son loves about Alabama and that our junior daughter now loves about Alabama…! I cannot stop focusing on the amazement we feel for this special place. It’s not perfect…no where is…the intelligent students we have sent there will figure things out for what is now their culture to mold and grow…! How cool is that…!</p>
<p>The sky in my world tends to be very blue…Alabama crimson is the nicest shade of blue I have ever seen.</p>
<p>Roll Tide friends…!</p>
<p>*Nice to hear, can’t wait for our visit. My sons GC has said “Alabama??” wayyyy too many times to me. *</p>
<p>Pack 'em in your suitcase and take 'em with!</p>
<p>Maybe Bama needs to have a couple “GC Days” and invite some targeted schools’ GCs.</p>
<p>* but I cannot stop from thinking about the 97% of the things that we love about Alabama, that our son loves about Alabama and that our junior daughter now loves about Alabama…! *</p>
<p>I think if you can find a school that you like 97%, that’s about as good as it gets. I can already find more than a couple things that I don’t really like about my son’s grad school…and he’s only been there 5 weeks.</p>
<p>They are now offering personalized tours for GC’s, much like they do for the potential Honors College students. My D, as an Honors College Ambassador, is helping out with one in a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Thanks Malanai. I want positive change at UA more than anyone, but I am so tired of people making assumptions about the South, and ignoring the reality of de facto segregation in most of the North and West. Why does the South get all of the negative attention? Because of past crimes, that we had NOTHING to do with. Again, I wish folks would look at the percentage of AAs at UA and ask why so many would be there if it was a racist place or unfriendly to AAs. No place is perfect, and if the folks want to make a difference, they should pass a petition around instead of rehashing this tired discussion. Don’t just critique, do something!</p>
<p>I wish my D’s GC would visit Bama. He tried to dissuade her from applying! Her school has 9 NMSF’s this year and not a one of them is even looking at Alabama. Based on Naviance, the only kids from D’s school who have applied in the past several years (and there are only a handful) are those with relatively low ACT scores and grades. Auburn, on the other hand, gets a nod from the GCs, and many more kids apply/attend there. With all Alabama has to offer to the higher stats kids, and with the generous scholarships that are offered, I don’t know why our GCs aren’t pushing it (or at least suggesting it), especially to kids who need merit money. The only thing I can think of is ignorance - they don’t know what it has to offer.</p>
<p>Atl … Careful, this new post is about the positive effects visiting UA has on GCs or anyone else lucky enough to visit and see all that UA has to offer. No surprise to any of us who have been there! Let’s not resurrect the dead horse. :-)</p>
<p>lol, good point Dad</p>
<p>vline, are you close enough to come to Columbus October 13th? President Witt will be addressing prospective students and parents at a special reception. My middle son at UA will be coming with Pres.Witt to address the audience as well. I hope to see you there.</p>
<p>*They are now offering personalized tours for GC’s, much like they do for the potential Honors College students. *</p>
<p>Are they getting many who travel a distance…or mostly those who can come in a few hour drive?</p>
<p>Bama needs to cough up some travel money and fly in a few from a few well-chosen locations…or at least film a video from the perspective of what a GC is wondering about and send those DVDs out for them to watch. </p>
<p>* Her school has 9 NMSF’s this year and not a one of them is even looking at Alabama.*</p>
<p>Well, it may still be too early for some. some of their families may not have yet “done the math” to determine how much it will cost to send Susie or Johnny to their dream school. Bama may snag a few yet. </p>
<p>Last spring, Bama snagged a few extra NMFs when their FA packages from other schools were dismal.</p>
<p>The tour my D is helping with is for her very own GC from Texas. She attended a private k-12. Luckily, the GCs have a decent budget and get to travel some.</p>
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<p>I think ignorance and preconceived notions lie at the heart of the resistance. My son is the first top scholar in the 170 year history of his school to attend Bama as far as I can tell. His school had 25 NMFs in 2010, 18 last year, and has 32 NMSFs this year. The conventional wisdom has always been that UA is beneath students of this caliber (or maybe any caliber). </p>
<p>We’ve grown accustomed to that condescending look that folks cast in their thinly veiled pity when they hear our son has chosen UA. And we’ve learned to simply flash them a Chesire Cat smile in response.</p>
<p>I’ve been relentlessly bending the ears of the college counselors for a year now about the UA renaissance. Rick Funk then worked his magic on them last Spring during his 2nd recruiting visit to the islands.</p>
<p>I think they finally agreed to visit to shut us up, never realizing they’d discover gold on the other side of the rainbow.</p>
<p>It’s a process. Roll Tide. (Beat Arkansas!)</p>
<p>Our son has taken the time to send emails back to his GC and two of his favorite teachers giving them some details on his great experience at UA so far. I think that kind of feedback is very helpful for the GC’s.</p>
<p>Quote from Coach Nick Malanai: *
It’s a process. Roll Tide. (Beat Arkansas!) *</p>
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<p>yea, I don’t even try to defend at this point, at the end of 4 years when my son graduates with masters, and no debt, we will see who made the best decision. I know that this is the best for him/us. And that is what matters.</p>
<p>Momof3- we are close to Baltimore, so Columbus is a little far (I am assuming it’s Columbus, Ohio). I would love it if they would do a program in MD or DC. Even Northern Va would be nice !</p>
<p>We are off to the BAMA reception in Denver on Tuesday Wonder who the speakers will be?</p>
<p>Also, on the GC front, my daughter keeps hearing from other students that the GC’s can’t believe that bama came to visit, and keeps sending stuff “just” because Samantha might go there. </p>
<p>Funny thing to me is, maybe they should have spent less time laughing and more time reaching out to kids that meet bama’s stats and maybe my daughter would not have been the only student in attendance, and maybe a child could have been “guided” to a great school with great merit money.</p>