<p>I love being lectured about the academic mediocrity of UA in grammatically butchered sentences.</p>
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<p>Hmm, let’s see…by this mystical calculation my son is surrounded by 1,500 peers who can compete with the best of the best and kick the butts of the average joes not only at Bama, but at the top tier schools. That sounds like way more than a handful of top flight peers to me. He doesn’t need a few thousand more to derive the benefit. And the average joes do not detract from the quality of teaching, infrastructure, support, opportunity, and stimulation he’s experiencing, all of which are excellent. Guess what, wahoo, the profs at Bama don’t dumb down the curriculum for anyone, including those who are grammatically challenged.</p>
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<p>Actually, it is. See above.</p>
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<p>The college guidance counselors from my son’s high school, a top tier college prep academy, visited and evaluated Bama. They are professionals. This is what they do. They have a huge responsibility to make accurate assessments upon which they advise academically strong students and their families. They found UA to be excellent, not average. Sorry to burst your bubble, but compared to these professionals you sound like an average joe when it comes to evaluating the quality of education at the University of Alabama.</p>
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<p>You can rank at the top, but not in the top. Didn’t they teach you that at whatever precious university you attended? Apparently not, but thanks for playing. ;)</p>
<p>New and refurbished buildings = great university? That’s terrible logic. Building new buildings just indicates the school has money to spend. UVA is constructing new buildings and facilities as well. Does that mean we’re a great school too? No, of course not. True measures of a school are there faculty and students. </p>
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<p>You are overlooking a couple of facts when making this statement.
2. UA has 26,234 undergraduate students.
3. NMF is somewhat dependent on your state.
Alabama’s NMSF cut-off was 209 for 2013 year. Nearby states where Alabama probably gets a high OOS yield, Mississippi - 204, Tennessee - 210, Georgia - 214, Arkansas - 202, Louisiana - 209.
Virginia’s NMSF cut-off - 217.</p>
<p>Considering Alabama and its surrounding states all have lower qualification standards than the state of Virginia, a more qualified NMF hopeful in Virginia is knocked out of contention much earlier than less qualified hopefuls from other states. Your NMFs may not be the most qualified students at the end of the day. Furthermore, you are able accommodate a much larger student body. You should a larger amount of NMFs just by the numbers. I am sure if you went by PERCENTAGE UA would not be at the top. </p>
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<p>So your view of academic superiority is determined by how well a person speaks and writes? What if I asked you to create a linear model, find the invariant probability vector for a recurrent class of a stochastic process or write a proof that 1/(ad-bc) x [d,-b]
[-c,a]
is the inverse of a 2x2 matrix? I might not speak good and everythang but i can do maths real good. Guess I be dumb, huh? </p>
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<p>26234*.05= 1311.7. Pretty mystical if you ask me. Looks like you gave UA too much credit, just like this entire thread. I’ll round up to 1312 to help you out =p .</p>
<p>Anyway, I love how all of you make the assumption that I think that UVA is a great school. I’ll be the first to tell you that we have our fair share of problems over here at Virginia and that I think Virginia is highly overrated. What I can say with certainty though is that UVA, by the numbers, is stronger than Bama. Some of the people over here need a reality check. You people are acting like Bama is better than the true greats like HYPMS, Cal Tech and Berkeley. It’s just Bama. Nothing all that special, just an average state school. This is supported by the numbers.</p>
<p>If you did, UA would still be providing our kids with a superb education. ;)</p>
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<p>What’s mystical is your invocation of 5%. You have no idea what percentage of UA’s student body can compete with the best (and neither do I).</p>
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<p>You missed the point. UVA’s numbers could be through the roof and it wouldn’t detract one iota from the fabulous experience and education our kids are getting at UA.</p>
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<p>Nah. Been there, done that. Seen it first hand. Love it. </p>
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<p>Oops, you missed the point again. We, the people, are simply expressing our joy that Alabama is providing all that our kids need and more. A lot more. It has nothing to do with any other fabulous school out there. By the way, I graduated from Berkeley with honors, so I’m in a position to compare the educational experience my son is getting at 'Bama vs mine at–how did you describe it? Oh yeah, “a true great.” Sorry to step all over your unpersuasive numbers, but he’s getting every bit as good an education as I got, if not better. Bums you out, doesn’t it?</p>
<p>As parents, we are bound to feel happy about the choices our children make! UA is a good university and it is trying to go up the ladder and match the other public universities which enjoy better perception among the parents of the prospective students. Is there anything to fight about? In my opinion, it would be fair to say that UA is not as good as Berkeley,Michigan or UVA in terms of academics/success in placement to grad schools for business/law/medicine. But how does it matter to a student who is enjoying his years in UA?</p>
<p>110percentwahoo, first, congrats on getting into UVA, no small achievement given how competitive it is and the number of top-notch students in Northern Virginia and elsewhere in the state. Second, I think I speak for most of us in the UA family when I say that we wish you success and happiness in the years ahead; many of us are parents and appreciate the magic of raising children, and we understand how difficult the future will be for your generation. You are obviously smart; now put that ability to work in a more positive direction and you will lift others up with you. Good luck.</p>
<p>Aaaaaaamen Mom2collegekids! If this young person’s sense of manners is typical of a UVA student, that’s another reason I’m glad my son is Bama bound, where much more will be expected of him. Sounds like someone needs to talk to “there” mama because she didn’t raise them right…bless their heart indeed!</p>
<p>Now, to get this thread back on topic.
D1 was sick this week. Strep, again! While being examined by the doctor she was asked if she already knew where she would be going to school next year. Upon hearing D1 would be attending Alabama the doctor responded, “That is a great school. Congratulations!” It is nice to have others realize what a great school the University of Alabama really is academically.</p>
<p>I know that DH and I were both highly impressed with the academics of UA upon our visit. D1 has been in a G/T program since kindergarten and attends an IB magnet school. We had already visited the likes of Stanford, UCLA and Pepperdine. That is the order in which I rank those three schools. I was not impressed with Pepperdine. As a matter of fact, it moved completely off my list of schools for D. She had already scratched Duke and Wake Forest off her list as they did not “click” for her. Penn was also in the running and she had no desire for Georgetown after hearing their information meeting when they came through. UCLA is on the top of her list for med school when that time comes. Based on the other schools many current and future UA students have considered, I’d say Bama is rocking it academically. </p>
<p>TXNewCollegeMom,
We can go you one better; we mentioned to our doctor that our oldest boy was going to attend Alabama and he was delighted; it turns out he is a Bama grad!</p>
<p>Definitely glad I found this forum months ago and had my son apply. UA will be less expensive for my son than SMCM (the only in-state school to which he applied) even with the transportation costs.</p>
<p>momof3 - you can always contact UA and see if they will consider your daughter for merit scholarships even at this late date. Not sure it’s possible but it never hurts to ask.</p>
<p>Well, before my son went down for a visit, he had friends who explained to him, in painstaking detail, exactly why he shouldn’t waste his time visiting Alabama. Their expertise on the subject of not visiting Alabama came from . . . . you guessed it! . . . their never having visited Alabama!!!</p>
<p>Sheesh.</p>
<p>And, yes, Berkeley is on my son’s list also . . . and, frankly, I hope he doesn’t end up there. Anybody who says a prospective engineering student would get a better undergrad education at UC than at UA is outta their mind! Grad school? Maybe. But undergrad? With all the recent budget cuts in California? Engineering students at UC are lucky if they can actually get the classes they need to graduate in four years . . . and forget about anyone actually knowing their name. (Or giving a damn!) But, hey, if you want to pay $50k+ for the first four years (plus whatever that 5th year ends up costing!), go for it. Just please don’t try to drag my kid down with you!!!</p>
I love the enthusiasm for Alabama on this thread and it sounds like a great option for some high-stats kids who need merit aid but I think claiming that its more undergraduate focused than Berkeley is way over the top. Neither of these schools is known for coddling their students but Berkeley is one of the most elite schools in the world and arguably the best in engineering.</p>
<p>U of A cannot provide the same caliber of education that Berkeley can to a truly motivated student. You would be doing your son a grave injustice by having him pass up UCB for Alabama.</p>
<p>UVA and UCB are both fantastic schools. My son didn’t apply to either one, but he does have friends who attend both schools and current HS classmates accepted at each. These kids are getting a great education, and are paying $50K+/yr for it because of virtually non-existent OOS merit aid (not talking about need based aid).</p>
<p>My son has similar stats to his UCB and UVA friends and could possibly get into either one - not a sure thing but he does have good stats.</p>
<p>The estimated cost for him to attend Alabama next year…$14.5K including travel. </p>
<p>The four year cost difference ----- roughly $140K.</p>
<p>He can focus, take advantage of opportunities, and get a great education at Alabama. He can easily double major and still graduate in 4 years because of their generous AP and CLEP credit. If he works hard he will get into a great graduate program (possibly even at UCB or UVA) with no debt and some of the $ we set aside for his schooling still in the bank and available to help pay for grad school.</p>
<p>Well, that would be an interesting argument, I’m sure. Thank goodness it’s off-topic for this thread!</p>
<p>As for “coddling,” I’m not sure what you mean. Providing personalized attention? Providing undergrad research opportunities? No, I guess UC probably wouldn’t be known for that. UA, on the other hand, is.</p>
<p>Look we’re not talking about what either of these schools was 20 or even 10 years ago. We’re talking about today. And, today, California is slashing its budget for post-secondary education at the same time that Alabama’s is one of the highest, per capita, in the nation. And that makes a very real difference in the undergrad experience of a student attending one of these schools today.</p>
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