<p>My son is looking at Minnesota and Wisconsin, but I recently became aware of UA’s scholarship program.</p>
<p>If I understand correctly, as an OOS with a 32 ACT and a 3.76 GPA who will be studying computer science, he will get free tuition for 4 years, plus an annual engineering scholarship of $2500. His total out of pocket expenses will be about $10,000 plus travel from Wisconsin.</p>
<p>At Minnesota or Wisconsin, we will be paying about $22,000 so going to Alabama would be about a $40,000 savings. Not bad.</p>
<p>How do OOS students do at UA, especially non-southerners? How good is the engineering school, especially the computer science program? Are the academics generally okay?</p>
<p>Yes your son would get those scholarships if he applies before Dec 1.</p>
<p>Non-southerners do fine at Bama. Bama has a VERY large OOS population. Many of your child’s classmates would not be from the south. That said, southerners are very friendly, so that shouldn’t be a worry anyway. :)</p>
<p>I posted in your other thread about CS and ECE and who you should contact with questions. Hopefully others who know more about those programs will answer.</p>
<p>You should visit…that will put your concerns to rest. Your son qualifies for the Honors College. We can tell you how to set up an Honors visit.</p>
<p>Your son should also consider applying to the elite Computer Based Honors Program.</p>
<p>The academics at Bama are very good…especially in STEM.</p>
<p>It mentions that the UAB scholarship for OOS students is only for 12 credits per term. So, it may be a little more to attend UAB if you take 15-18 credits per term.</p>
<p>Operadad- UA- Tuscaloosa allows up to 20 credits for honors students under their scholarship. I believe that is the campus that riprorin is talking about, but not 100% sure. </p>
<p>I remember reading somewhere else that UAB did limit the credits a student could take under their scholarship, but I did not realize it was limited to 12, that seems a little low.</p>
<p>riprorin - DS is in BioChem Eng at Bama so I don’t have any first hand knowledge of the CS classes but, I work in IT in a large southern company. We recruit from across the eastern side of the US and I can tell you that the kids from Bama are some of the most impressive interviews that we have year after year. This is not just my biased opinion, I speak with many of the other Managers that conduct interviews and everyone is consistently impressed with the kids from The Capstone. They do a great job of geting the students prepared to enter the workforce.</p>
<p>Riprorin, my D is a freshman from Illinois (just south of the WI/IL border and a Packer fan, so I’m sure she’s still fuming over the poor officiating last night). Madison was her close second choice of college. I can’t speak much to the academics at UA, as she’s been in class for barely a month, but she certainly seems to love the school. She’s made friends from all over, she’s always busy and when we just saw her for Family Weekend she seemed genuinely happy with no regrets about her choice. She likes most of her classes and teachers (said one class was boring, but I think that’d be the case anywhere). Our experience with the school so far has been outstanding - it has a small feel for such a big school. I was expecting that any big state flagship would be rather impersonal and have big classes, but D’s largest class has 75 students and she has 3 classes with fewer than 25 students. It’s certainly worth a visit!!</p>
<p>Did you apply to Alabama (the Flagship) or did you apply to UAB? Those are 2 different schools.</p>
<p>UAB’s tuition scholarship covers up to 12 credits per semester.</p>
<p>Alabama’s tuition scholarship covers up to 20 credits per semester. And, if you’re an Engineering major then you also get 2500 per year stacked on top.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, thanks for your reply. My mom is from Nashville and I have relatives in GA and TN. I’ve always enjoyed my travels south. I’m sure my son will be able to adapt to the nice weather and pretty girls!</p>
<p>Another concern I have is that my son will be 16 when he starts college. He’s pretty mature, but he’s still awfully young. I’m wrestling with sending him so far away when two Big 10 schools are 1.5 and 3 hrs away by car. I think the key for him if he goes to UA is to get involved in a campus ministry where hopefully he will have a good support structure and have people that can watch out for him.</p>
<p>can tell you that the kids from Bama are some of the most impressive interviews that we have year after year</p>
<p>My H says the same thing. He interviews eng/CS students from: GT, Auburn, Purdue, UTenn, Vandy, etc, and he’s very, very impressed with the Bama grads.</p>
<p>FWIW, my S (freshman from NY) has two suitemates from St. Louis, and his best friends so far are from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. Plenty of midwest representation at UA.</p>
<p>Rip - I cannot say enough positive things about UA and UA’s engineering program! (Do your own research and obtain hard facts about reputation of this school’s programs - you will find greater joy in that than just a gut feel you get from a public forum. My fave site for this is ASEE.org where you can get tons of data from their online profiles of engineering schools…)*</p>
<p>We are from IL as well…son is on the young side, at 17, so understand that.
For him, attending far away and attending a large school were never issues - he does not see these as obstacles. In fact, you will find that for such a large school, UA treats you as a person, not as a number or a statistic. </p>
<p>A personalised tour of UA will certainly allow you to address any concerns you have. It will be well worth your while to visit. Compared to the other schools you have mentioned - yes, those have good reputations - but you just have to visit UA to feel the magic. Be sure to sit in on classes (esp upper division ones), talk with as many staff and students as you can in the program you’re interested in, and take time to wander around aimlessly and soak up the great Southern hospitality, which is extended to everyone, not just those from the South.
The 2011 data are out!!! I notice a large up-tick in Comp Sci enrollment for 2011 at UA. That would be current sophomores, I believe. Data are 1+ year old. Watch this space: UA Eng’g is GROWING in a very positive way.</p>
<p>You nailed it! We visited a recommended church when we came for Capstone Scholars Weekend last year. My D liked it and decided that was where she would go to church. When we brought her in August for Alabama Action (you’ll have to check into the Action programs for Honors students) we went to the church again. They were so welcoming! We even met a professor from the Honors College who gave me her cell number in case our D got sick or something and needed some chicken noodle soup and TLC! We left town with such a good feeling about where we were leaving our daughter.</p>
<p>Just looked at the ASEE profile. One thing that jumped out was the huge drop in CS majors from freshman to soph. Basically half the class switched out of CS major. All the other engineering majors were more stable. Looks like lots of kids went for CS figuring it’s the hot major, and quickly realized it’s not for them.</p>
<p>Sorry. My D was accepted to UA (Tuscaloosa). I didn’t mean UAB (Birmingham). Being OOS, we are easily confused.</p>
<p>After re-reading the other thread, it seems I was mistaken, and that Birmingham has the 12 credit limitation (25 per year), and Tuscaloosa is more generous at 20 per term. Seems like Huntsville has the best package that includes room and board.</p>
<p>Kids on the east coast are regularly sent to boarding schools for High School. The HS will have more structure than a college, but the kids are still away from home. Also, quite a big difference with a campus of 1,000 kids vs 30,000.</p>
<p>Still, if your kid is mature, I think it would be better for you that you can’t rescue him from every little thing.</p>
<p>16 is young. Did your son skip grades, or will he be turning 17 shortly after the semester begins? Will he be in the Honors College?
If he is a “mature” young student, I would not foresee any problems just because of his age. However, I would encourage him to get to know the Honors College staff, to get involved with a few activities and perhaps join a ministry group (if you are so inclined). I would probably keep a closer eye on him and his adjustment via frequent calls and Skype.I would also want access to his grades and to his medical records. The age of majority in Alabama is 19, so you will have to set up a bank account in both your names if you want him to bank locally. He will also not be able to purchase many OTC medications till he is 19. Personally, I would not encourage him to join a fraternity. (Is there a minimum age requirement?) I think the students would be too involved in “older” activities. Most of the freshmen students will be a bit older, but will still be first time college students with all the same concerns that he has.</p>
<p>The age of majority in Alabama is 19 except for voting and being tried as an adult, so most freshmen aren’t adults until the spring semester or even sophomore year. I have two friends who started college at UA just after they turned 17 and I often forget that they are 1.5 years younger than other freshmen. If your son isn’t planning on going to bars to listen to music or picking up a tobacco habit, there isn’t much he can’t do that those aged 19-20 can. Granted, if a club decides to rent a mechanical bull or bouncy house, he would need a parent or guardian’s signature to participate.</p>
<p>Provided that one can find a supportive group of friends or is reasonably self sufficient, there is really no difference in sending them 20 minutes away to live at college or 20 hours away. Tuscaloosa has all the amenities of Northern or Midwestern cities apart from snow plows as it rarely snows and even then it’s usually 1" or less. I like to point out that those of us from larger states can spend roughly the same amount of time and money travelling to one of our in-state universities as we do UA. </p>
<p>I would also caution against pledging freshman year, especially if he tends to go along with whatever others are doing. This is not to say that there aren’t similarly aged people at fraternity/sorority events as many invite high school aged siblings of members and other prospective pledges to events. </p>
<p>Confusing UA, UAB, and UAH is like confusing UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCLA in that the only thing they really have in common is their name and part of their governing body.</p>
<p>He’ll be 16 when he starts but will turn 17 in late September. He started school a little bit early because of his birthday and skipped 8th grade. We moved to WI, but if he had started school there, he would be a high school sophomore.</p>