<p>As a lifelong southerner and a Longhorn who lives in GA, I would say you aren't comparing apples to apples.</p>
<p>UT is far more cosmopolitan, UA is more of a college town. UT isn't a beautiful campus, UA is very attractive. </p>
<p>UA is far easier to get into (neighbor's child got in last year with pretty pathetic grades, then flunked out) than Texas but the honors program at UA is competitive. Lots of local kids use UA as their fallback college, again that doesn't make it bad. UT Austin is almost impossible to get into from out of state. </p>
<p>Alabama is known for having lots of access to professors who actually teach. I found the same at UT once I got past the intro classes but I was in a small major.</p>
<p>UT is more diverse then when I went -- thanks in large part to the top 10 percent rule -- but neither campus is particularly diverse. I would guess that UT is a more varied population in terms of student interests.</p>
<p>jolynnesmith........i suggest that you be sure that the admissions rep assigned to your area knows that your son is planning to visit and see if they can assist in arrangements.......maybe a more personal tour......roll out the red carpet type, since your son is already admitted and at least at u of a.......has the merit aid coming his way. is your son nmsf or nmf ? maybe u of a would even throw some $$$'s his way for making the visit ? never hurts to ask. maybe some travel reimbursement $$'s ? when visiting, see if he can sit in on some classes and/or meet with department chair and/or profs.</p>
<p>i second southwest airlines and visiting both on the same trip. makes a lot of sense. the weather should be good and a nice change. </p>
<p>We first visited UT in mid-February last year. It turned out to be a beautiful day. They were predicting mid-50's and the temp hit mid-70's. We were wearing the type of clothes you wear in the midwest when the temp is in the mid-50's and we were too hot. Dress in layers. The campus was prettier than we expected - we had heard it was crowded/crunched and were expecting the worst. Be sure to see the outdoor pool and hot tub at the Gregory Gym complex. When my D saw kids outside swimming laps and chilling in the hot tub on February 12, Texas was bumped up on her list. Gregory</a> Gym Aquatic Complex</p>
<p>We actually did two formal tours of UT, one in Feb shortly after D was admitted and one about six weeks later when we were in Texas for spring break. Both times, there were separate information sessions for admitted students and we were able to ask very specific questions. Both times the information sessions were great and both tours were very nice. On the second tour, the tour took us through the trophy room, which reminds me of the Faberge egg exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Football trophies behind glass, security guards, a hushed atmosphere. Longhorns love their football team.</p>
<p>My daughter said to tell you that she knows a boy from NJ and a girl from NJ who are at UT, and she can hook you up with them by email before you come if you have any questions. Her roommate is from the DC area and always takes Southwest Airlines in and out of Austin; she says it works really well.</p>
<p>^^My D had the same reaction when she auditioned at Rice in February of her senior year. Flip flops and shorts......bumped it up to first on her list.</p>
<p>Definitely get in touch with the people at Alabama's Honors Program to set up at visit. They do a superb job of setting up specialized visits and can often get you in touch with students and professors in the HS student's area of interest. Alabama knows how to roll out the red carpet to Honors students, so be sure to take advantage of that and work with them to plan a trip. </p>
<p>From my own experience, large, impersonal things like Scholar's Days aren't very useful since you only see the campus and the students as part of a larger, organized event designed to recruit you; they're very similar from school to school. </p>
<p>And don't believe everything you read on this board about Southern schools; give Southern hospitality a chance first and come to your own conclusions based on what you see.</p>
<p>I agree with vig180's advice: give UA a chance....their honors program is incredible and the Alabama experience is next to none, IMO! I am a graduate and my son also attended there. Yes, there is a large Greek presence, but you don't have to go that route to enjoy your college experience. I happen to love SEC college football, and completely loved that part of my college experience (as did my son....we were both members of the Million Dollar band). </p>
<p>I look forward to hearing about your visit to both places! Best of luck!</p>
<p>Just be aware of the fickle weather of Texas in January and February and watch the weather forecast closely. Although yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, today is just above freezing and wet. We had one day lately when it was 80 during the day and then sleeted that evening! Hope you happen on one of the good days so you know why winter is so nice here. It would be great if you could hit a few of the highlights of Austin (the Drag, Barton Springs, etc.). Otherwise you will just see a city with city traffic. Our airport often has live music, which is very cool.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for those great insights! I was (frankly) completely in the dark about those 2 schools, not to mention states (although I had a freshman college roommate from AL -- she was wonderful and kept a picture of Bear Bryant in our dorm room!! [We lost touch or I'd be calling her now...!]).</p>
<p>Based on some posts here a while back, I called U of AL admissions & asked about travel reimbursement -- definitely nada (firmly!). Maybe I should call the honors program & check into things (tours, etc.) from that route. Great idea.</p>
<p>Son does enjoy football (as a spectator & playing pick-up). He says he'd like a school w/spirit & good sports teams...I'm just not sure about the 'bigness' of it all. Plus for AL--he's admitted to the honors, which can make it 'smaller.' Just hoping if he goes the U of TX route that the comp sci dept provides a certain amount of 'smallness' within the vast university.</p>
<p>Something we did with our kids when visiting the OOS schools is to have them do all the travel navigating. They took the lead in checking-in, getting through security, finding the gates, checking the board for connections and finding ground transportation. This helped build everyone's confidences in the student's ability to get themselves back and forth to school. I even let #2 lead us onto a DC metro headed in the wrong direction, and was then able to see him realize his error after one stop and figure out how to correct it. They all attend(ed) OOS and were very comfortable with the travel logistics from the get-go. I think these trial runs helped.</p>
<p>To really get a feel for life at these schools, don't just concentrate on the campuses, but venture out into the surrounding areas. We always try to eat at local hangouts and visit a shopping center. Good luck and have a great trip.</p>
<p>Great idea, my-3-sons---wouldn't have thought of that, but how helpful for building (everyone's) confidence! Interesting, hookem168, glad to hear that perspective.</p>
<p>Texas has wonderful programs called FIGs that will make the large university small for new freshmen. These are Freshman Interest Groups that put small cohorts of freshmen in two classes and a seminar together. (And the students would take one or two other classes outside of their FIG cohort.) </p>
<p>Last year there were two in the College of Natural Sciences specifically for computer science students, but some of the others might have worked out too. Not all FIGs are residential (FIG members live together in the same dorm) but my understanding is that if you are in a residential FIG, you get to live in Whitis Court, which is one of the nicest places to live on campus and open only to those in the FIGs.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"First Byte FIG"
C S 305J Intro to Computing
C S 301K Foundations of Logical Thought
NSC 001 First-year Interest Group SMNR </p>
<p>"Input/Output FIG"
C S 307 Foundations of Computer Science
SOC 302 Intro to the Study of Society
NSC 001 First-year Interest Group SMNR
<p>Wow, that's great, MidwestMom! Sounds like the perfect thing to scale down the 'huge-ness' of the campus! </p>
<p>Hope son would go for it. On tours of other schools, he's adamently refused to consider a dorm of, say, all engineering students. Although, I think that might be because he envisions a bunch of guys and little contact w/girls. :-) The FIG doesn't sound that restrictive--more the best of both worlds (common interests + variety).</p>
<p>As exciting as I thought Big 12 sports were when I was in Texas for 28 years, it can't even compare to SEC! I wonder if it's because a lot of the schools are closer together- TN, GA, Ala, Vandy, KY etc. There are fans from every school in every city in large numbers. It's so much fun! </p>
<p>Austin has great food, too. Town Lake (now Lady Bird Lake) is a great place for running and it's right downtown.</p>