Tour booked for next week: tips?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>After visiting the UA CC forum for about two years now, I’m finally taking my D (HS junior) to visit next Thursday, Feb. 23.</p>

<p>We are meeting Allison Verhine in honors at 9, doing campus tour at 10, info session at 11:30, then she is making appointments for us to meet with honors and musical theatre (my D’s major) reps in the afternoon.</p>

<p>I have learned so much from all of you about Alabama thus far, I wanted to know what tips you have for a campus visit. What are some things y’all think are must see/must do on campus and in T-town?</p>

<p>As I’ve mentioned on previous threads, but I’ll repeat here: My D’s stats are 30 on ACT (retook Sat); 4.0 GPA UW, 3 APs this year, 3-5 APs next year (depends on schedule). She took SAT and got 1290, but feels ACT is easier for her. She plans to retake it until she gets a 32 and gets the full tuition scholarship.</p>

<p>We plan to apply for admission as soon as online app is available…</p>

<p>Many thanks!!</p>

2

<p>Just saw that touring a residence hall is not included in campus tour, but there are sample rooms available at Ridgecrest South. Then read that honors housing is at Ridgecrest North and West. Would sample room at South be representative of the honors wings???</p>

3

<p>The sample room is NOT representative of all the honors dorms, just those in Ridgecrest South, North Tower (honors), South Tower, and North Bluff (both non-honors). There is a large sign in the living room that reads “Lakeside Residence Hall Opening Fall 2007” that shows the floor plan for the other honors and non-honors super suite dorms.</p>

<p>As for things to do around campus, I suggest walking around and doing whatever looks interesting. There is a thread about visiting campus and popular Tuscaloosa restaurants that another poster will probably link.</p>

4

<p>The doors are open at Ridgecrest South during the day so you can just walk in and ask the desk assistant for the key to the sample room while you are walking around campus. It can be confusing, but the name of the building is Ridgecrest South and then it splits into two towers known as North (honors) and South (non honors). These two towers share a common lobby and front desk as well as an area on the second floor. Ridgecrest East and West are across from RCS. RCS is the only building I am aware of with a sample room open for touring. I agree with the post above, not all suite style honors dorms are comparable between buildings. Which one is better depends on what is most important to a student, appearance and age, amenities, location, etc.</p>

5

<p>As I’ve mentioned on previous threads, but I’ll repeat here: My D’s stats are 30 on ACT (retook Sat); 4.0 GPA UW, 3 APs this year, 3-5 APs next year (depends on schedule). She took SAT and got 1290, but feels ACT is easier for her. She plans to retake it until she gets a 32 and gets the full tuition scholarship.</p>

<p>===============</p>

<p>Although the sample room at Ridgecrest South is not a perfect rep of the other honors dorms, it will give you somewhat of an idea…4 separate bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, livingroom, and kitchenette. The layout in the others is different, which you can see on Bama Housing if you click on the Layout links.</p>

<p>this link will show you how the Lakeside and Riverside Honors dorms have their floorplan
<a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/halls/floorplans/rvr_rdg_floorplans/RSE_FP_Rendering_12-22-09_be-FOUR.pdf[/url]”>http://housing.ua.edu/halls/floorplans/rvr_rdg_floorplans/RSE_FP_Rendering_12-22-09_be-FOUR.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Ridgecrest South is different because instead of having all 4 room down one hall, it had 2 BR and one bath on each side of the living room. And the Kitchenette is more open to the LR.</p>

<p>Restaurant guide
<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&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hotels
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13186247-post50.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13186247-post50.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Things to do…</p>

<p>Visit Paul Bear Bryant Museum</p>

<p>Walk/visit/drive by The RiverWalk…which is on Jack Warner Hwy along the Black Warrior River…very pretty area to walk, jog, sit, drive by.</p>

<p>Walk thru or drive by “The Strip”…on University Blvd…immediately West of the<br>
Stadium…many student hangouts, restaurants, stores, cafes, a major grocery store (Publix), etc.</p>

<p>Visit the front of the Stadium (north end)…see the statues, and the floor plaques on the Walk of Champions. The south end of the stadium is new and has some restaurants and other new stuff there. </p>

<p>Downtown…an area that has been renovated (and still some reno going on) …on University Blvd…west of campus…west of Queen City Blvd…many shops, restaurants, civic center, etc. </p>

<p>Midtown Village…on McFarland and 15th St…It’s an “outdoor lifestyle mall” that has shops, restaurants, etc…there’s a Best Buy and Barnes and Noble there as well. There are two stores there that sell Bama spirit wear: Bama Fever…and…Alumni Hall.</p>

<p>The new Tuscaloosa Outdoor Amphitheater…located on the river by Lurleen Wallace Blvd.</p>

6

<p>I deleted this. You are right M2CK. I was answering the wrong person!!</p>

7

<p>^^^</p>

<p>I think her D is Musical Theater.</p>

<p>===========</p>

<p>As I’ve mentioned on previous threads, but I’ll repeat here: My D’s stats are 30 on ACT (retook Sat); 4.0 GPA UW, 3 APs this year, 3-5 APs next year (depends on schedule). She took SAT and got 1290, but feels ACT is easier for her. She plans to retake it until she gets a 32 and gets the full tuition scholarship.</p>

<hr>

<p>If she only took the SAt once, she shouldn’t give up on that. Scores can vary based on CR passages and vocab selections on each exam. </p>

<p>What was the breakdown of her ACT?</p>

8

<p>M2K:</p>

<p>She took SAT twice:<br>
10/11: R 640, M 680, W640 CR + M= 1320/1960
3/11 : R 680, M 670, W 580 CR + M = 1350/1930</p>

<p>We focused on SAT last year to prep her for PSAT, but we know she didn’t make NMSF. That score was 197.</p>

<p>So we switched to ACT in December. The 30 composite was made up of 35=E, 32=M, 29=R, 24=S. So before the Feb test, she focused on Reading and Science and got 32s on practice tests on those just days before test on Saturday. So hopefully she increased to a 32 composite!!</p>

<p>But thanks for the suggestion about SAT. We’ll see how she does on this ACT…</p>

<p>And thanks for all the other info you share on Alabama!!</p>

9

<p>Ahhh…that Science Reasoning…it gets so many kids!</p>

<p>One tip is that the answers are in the charts, so don’t panic when the questions are about unknown topics. </p>

<p>others may have some other tips.</p>

<p>And, I don’t think there’s any penalty for guessing on the ACT, so don’t be afraid to try to narrow down and guess at various questions.</p>

<p>BTW…I think an ACT 30 is equivalent to a SAT 1330 or so, so your D isn’t really weak in the SAT since she’s gotten a 1350 so far.</p>

10

<p>Well, our tour was great. Alabama is awesome…the campus and T-town are so beautiful. I can’t get over how big the buildings are, yet campus didn’t seem overly crowded.</p>

<p>Allison Verhine in Honors is a doll and had everything set up for us, including lunch with an honors ambassador at Lakeside Dining hall who gave us a tour of the Ridgecrest South sample room. She also arranged for my D to sit it on a private voice lesson with a musical theatre teacher, whose tips helped her with an audition a few days later.</p>

<p>We also drove around Tuscaloosa a little and saw Midtown Village, ate at Iguana’s Grill (delicious margaritas!), saw the strip, as well as downtown.</p>

<p>AND we got D’s ACT scores at midnight last night and are thrilled because she got a 35 composite!! We are quite proud!</p>

<p>All in all a good visit. Thanks to everyone for the info!</p>

11

<p>Congratulations to your D on her fabulous ACT score. Glad the visit went well!</p>

12

<p>^^Congrats to your D! Great score. Glad your tour of UA went so well.</p>

13

<p>Glad things went so well with your visit.</p>

<p>And super ACT score! Your D may get offered more than Presidential…she should apply EARLY…in July!</p>

14

<p>Congrats to your D on her AWESOME ACT score!!!</p>

15

<p>Thanks everyone. Yes, she will apply early…as soon as application gets posted!</p>

<p>I’ll need to make sure I have what I need from her school at the end of May so we can mail transcripts, rec letters, etc. as soon as we can. </p>

<p>We are very proud!</p>

16

<p>What is your D’s likely major? Vocal performance?</p>

17

<p>BA in Theatre, musical theatre track which is by audition only.</p>

<p>The private vocal class we sat in on was an MT professor working with an MT student.</p>