<p>Well, my mistake</p>
<p>Goldenboy, you DO have a right to free speech on CC, but CC and its mods have no obligation to publish/ keep anything you post.</p>
<p>Better?</p>
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<ul>
<li>the VERY first sentence in this thread is “So we are Michigan residents…”</li>
<li>nobody seriously cross shops a non-peer SEC school with the U of Michigan</li>
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<p>A few points if I may chime in…
If you are granted one of the OOS scholarships at Bama you are good for 4 years, and not affected should they change their automatic scholarships.
With those scores your kid may well qualify not only for full tuition, but also room and board via academic elite scholarship
If kid wants to go into academia…He needs to go to grad school…that is what will count not where he went as an undergrad
Bama has a great honors program and there are many great smart kids so he would be challenged and have fun…kid would definitely be part of honors
My D applied to Bama just for the scholarship originally, but then REALLY loved it when visiting. she ultimately decided to go to a smaller school, but it was a real close decision. my youngest son also now applied to Bama and we will see where he will ultimately go. He wants to go into medicine, so saving on undergrad would be tremendously helpful. Finally, we are from CA… So we have supposedly much higher ranked instate options… However, given the cuts we have in C A and how crowded classes are and how difficult it isto finish in 4 years, I believe a Bama education would be preferable…after all the premed classes are pretty much the same regardless where you go.<br>
On a final note, Many posters here have obviously never visited bama campus and checked out honors program. it’s a gorgeous campus, incredible nice staff, who actually want you ! Never got that feeling visiting UCs…Btw, I have not even mentioned football once…because I really don’t care about it…but my son probably would.</p>
<p>“Finally, we are from CA… So we have supposedly much higher ranked instate options… However, given the cuts we have in C A and how crowded classes are and how difficult it isto finish in 4 years, I believe a Bama education would be preferable.”</p>
<p>The state of affairs of the UC system is not germane to this conversation. Michigan is not struggling financially as an institution and its students are not being shortchanged.</p>
<p>rjkofnovi, however Calmomofthree makes an excellent point about going to grad school or med school. It really doesn’t matter that much where you get your undergrad, if you are going to have to keep going to school. Then your undergrad really needs to be a place that leaves you with little or no debt. My hubby teaches at a small public university that is not very well known, but their acceptance rate to med schools is very, very high (and good, very well-known med schools). So why pay full instate tuition at UM, when you can get free tuition at a place like Bama (or even where my hubby teaches - which is free for my children), if you have to keep paying for grad school or med school? </p>
<p>It really depends on what one wants to major in. All of you that keep arguing seem only to be thinking about those that major in things like business or economics, etc., but for those that are premed or wanting to teach at the college level, they can really go anywhere and be in fine shape to apply to grad or med school.</p>
<p>“All of you that keep arguing seem only to be thinking about those that major in things like business or economics, etc., but for those that are premed or wanting to teach at the college level, they can really go anywhere and be in fine shape to apply to grad or med school.” </p>
<p>In that case, Alabama for free over Harvard! Roll Tide!</p>
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<p>With those scores, and if it “will not count where your child goes to undergrad,” why doesn’t the Michigan Mom OP just send her kid to one of the in-state schools like Grand Valley, Oakland, Hope, et al. that will no doubt offer her child full-merit (and I’m sure MSU would come close)? I’m almost convinced there are Alabama employees on these boards spreading word of these scholarships.</p>
<p>I think the “it doesn’t matter where you go to UG” crowd are people who can’t get in, barely get in and are therefore unsure if they can compete against the top students, or can’t afford the elite institutions. If you can’t afford your kid’s dream college–that’s O.K.–but don’t embarrass yourself and claim it doesn’t matter. Because odds are, this move is more financial than anything, and if you had the means to send them anywhere, you’d push your kid into the most competitive program he got accepted to.</p>
<p>“I think the “it doesn’t matter where you go to UG” crowd are people who can’t get in, barely get in and are therefore unsure if they can compete against the top students, or can’t afford the elite institutions.”</p>
<p>So not true - you obviously aren’t a music major, or you would know that on the music forum, it is stated over and over and over again to NOT go into debt for your undergrad! Even an instate school will cause one with a middle class income to have to take out some loans, so if you are offered a good education for free for your undergrad, we music people almost always advise you to take that option.</p>
<p>For my family, Michigan IS the cheaper option…and my D was good enough to get in (they only take 5-7 sopranos a year…that’s it…way harder to get into than Ross or LSA). However, if we had lived in a different state, we probably would have gone with the best public school in that state. And IF she had been offered full tuition somewhere OOS, you can bet we would have encouraged her to do that, because she could always go to Michigan for her masters or doctorate. She was offered scholarships at several OOS schools, but it just put their tuition on par with Michigan, so that didn’t really help much.</p>
<p>Please don’t be so offensive. I am very proud of my D for getting into Michigan, but it is attitude like yours that makes me wonder if she made the right decision. I hope that she meets people on campus that aren’t so fast to put down others.</p>
<p>Lake, MSU does not have automatic merit scholarships that come even close to Alabama’s. They’re not great for aid. From a quick search, i didn’t see any full scholarships at GVSU and Oakland’s full tuition scholarships have much higher requirements than Bama’s.</p>
<p>I could definitely see how Bama would be an option to an instate family. Especially if that 50k+ or so would later be put towards grad school.</p>
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<p>So Alabama is more transparent and has the most aggressive published requirements. Is Alabama the largest school with the most aggressive published full-scholarship requirements in the country? This Alabama scholarship chatter is in other forums too. Very surprising.</p>
<p>I have no idea. I don’t care about Bama (and frankly, the amount that it’s mentioned on CC makes me think it has a paid cheerleader on here) and I’m past applying for schools lol. But the truth is that they’re a viable option for those looking for GUARANTEED scholarships. </p>
<p>Not that it’s either here nor there but I would’ve qualified for the full Bama scholarship and got just about zero merit aid from MSU.</p>
<p>" For my family, Michigan IS the cheaper option…and my D was good enough to get in (they only take 5-7 sopranos a year…that’s it…way harder to get into than Ross or LSA)."</p>
<p>Michigan also has one of the finest programs of music in the country. It certainly would be worth some type of investment over other inferior schools.</p>
<p>But honestly, I would rather her go there for her grad work - you get much more individualized attention as a grad student. But it just worked out this way. :)</p>
<p>Bama is pulling high achieving kids out of the IVIES for heavens sake- they are investing heavily in high scoring freshmen. In my Ds elite prep school - increasing numbers are choosing Alabama over all else. It is a reasonable choice for full support.</p>
<p>The wrinkle here is in-state Michigan tuition - which is also tempting. And I agree that more might be coming his way, how about Chicago?</p>
<p>“Bama is pulling high achieving kids out of the IVIES for heavens sake…”</p>
<p>Why is that surprising in the least? FREE EDUCATION and all other sorts of perks are a huge incentive. Only a small fraction of these kinds of students would attend Alabama otherwise.</p>
<p>I just saw this on the new posts thread. It’s great that Bama’s getting all of the high scorers who want a free education. But you know who they’re screwing over? All of the instate students whose financial aid is now being redirected for the purposes of ensuring that some high scoring Californian gets plushy dorms and small class sizes for virtually nothing. Honestly, if I lived in Alabama I’d be infuriated by that policy.</p>
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<p>Your kid goes to Phillips Exeter, correct? The wealthy NE elite, the 0.01%, spend $36-46k a year…to condition their kids for the rigorous four years at a deep south public school that has a wide open admissions door? Please cite a source because that is the most absurd thing I’ve ever read on here.</p>
<p>It could also be viewed as a calculated long-term investment by Alabama. You increase the reputation of your state flagship and it becomes a more widely respected degree for your own residents. Some out of staters stay (maybe marry?), and there is the infusion of smart kids from all over the country into Alabama business, research and education institutions. The scholarship students serve at teaching assistants and it helps out other students. With more discretionary money, families come to visit/vacation from out of state and bring tourism. And of course donations from grateful scholarship supported alumni.</p>
<p>It is not a bad deal for Alabama.</p>
<p>@lakeforest
The MAJORITY (55%) of kids at Exeter are on financial aid - it has one of the most generous FA programs around. Tuition, room and board are completely free to any student with family income under 75K. The days of the top 0.1% filling the school faded over 30 years ago.</p>
<p>If an Exeter education translates into the test scores Alabama wants, as a family weighs their choices, full merit aid is good, and may trump lower need-based aid. Take a look at college matriculation data from Exeter - there is Alabama right in the mix. Other state schools are well represented too. Many of these kids are thinking of graduate and professional schools, and have the intellectual mileage to get there, so saving on undergraduate is smart.</p>
<p>Totally agree with 2prepmom…I was not smart paying full load for my oldest s at Georgetown if s could have received free ride… Now son still needs to pay Penn tuition for law school himself…he will be $200k in debt… My youngest would be financially far better off saving a bundle during undergraduate and then we would pay for medical…I just did not know in 2008 when oldest son applied that Bama and other great schools existed that would throw money at a smart, hardworking kid. I did not realize that the top schools do not hav merit aid, just needs based aid for which we don’t qualify.
Btw…my oldest son who went to Gtown was not that impressed with the intellectual curiosity of his fellow students… There were lots of spoiled trust fund babies…as he called them. I think, if my youngest did Honors at Bama, he actually would more likely zmeet more hardworking kids than at many elite schools, but probably not quite that loaded…</p>
<p>On a final note…cream will always rise to the top…I would take any bet that the Honors Bama kids will be very successful in life after a smart educational decision…
Some people will always be name driven…I learned my lesson. There are lots of great schools where you can get a great education…</p>