UA Honors College and CBHP: What are they looking for in a candidate?

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>We are visiting UA on July 25th and after reading all the posts regarding the Honors College and the CBHP, I am excited for my DD to at least consider this program. In other threads I have read that the program is looking for the whole package; not just great marks and scores. my DD is a bit shy and can get tongue tied in an interview situation. She is great with computers and had already taken intro classes for Python and JAVA and has participated in the dreaded group research projects in her gifted research class but only took two years of that and instead replaced it with more AP’s and computer classes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as this program sounds perfect for her and would be a great incentive for her to give UA careful consideration. I can share her specifics if necessary. She is interested in Astrophysics/ Engineering. </p>

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<p>They are looking for:</p>

<p>Someone who can present information in a professional manner.</p>

<p>Someone with good writing skills.</p>

<p>Someone who is mature.</p>

<p>Someone who will be part of the team (frosh CBHers do the CBH Homecoming display which is a big fun project. CBH has won/placed in the past, so this is a big deal)</p>

<p>Someone who isnt texting all the time. </p>

<p>someone well groomed and well-spoken</p>

<p>Someone with a long history of academic performance…not just a good test taker.</p>

<p>Someone who will like to do research and may have already demonstrated that effort (altho many high school students have not). </p>

<p>Bama is still a Southern school and that means GOOD MANNERS. That means greeting with a handshake and eye contact and a pleasant expression/smile. It means not looking sloppy/disheveled. That means opening doors for others, helping others, and saying Yes ma’am, No sir, etc.</p>

<p>Dr. Sharpe is an excellent role model in dress, grooming and manners. Follow his lead.</p>

<p>CBH expects its students to treat EVERYONE with respect, including the secretaries/aides, etc. When going to the interview weekend (if selected for this), everyone in the CBH office (even secretaries) get a say in who gets selected. They all get to write in YOUR file about their experiences with you. Were you rude? Were you polite and respectful? Were you seen texting/playing with phone during the weekend? (if you have to text or use the phone, excuse yourself, go to the bathroom, and then proceed). </p>

<p>CBHers represent the university at conferences, etc. Dr. Sharpe wants those students to be excellent reps for the school.</p>

<p>You do not have to have prior programming knowledge…many/most CBHers do not have any prior experience with programming. My son had ZERO prior experience.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the very helpful and specific information! !! I will share this with her.</p>

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<p>From listening to our student who participates, I would say CBHP also requires a student who does not shy away from hard work and has academic interests that inspire them to deeply investigate problems and projects. Interpersonal skills and working very well with others is a given also. This doesn’t mean a student in this program has to be outgoing and extroverted necessarily though. </p>

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<p>saismom - My very dear friends used to refer to my son as ‘The Mute’. :slight_smile: Clearly, CBH has no problem selecting the, shall we say ‘reserved’ types. Two years in CBH and my son can now speak with poise and confidence in front of an audience. Miraculous. I would highly encourage your DD to apply. Programming experience is not necessary for the program, but NRDSON was glad he had it.</p>

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<p>Thank you all for the input! UA has been a tough sell for DD as she has been email and snail mail targeted by some very high level schools but they are not affordable and I am not so sure she would be a good fit for some of them. She started out wanting Cal Tech and MIT and now I think reality has set in but she still wants a challenging program where she can actually work on interesting research. Our state school, UF, has gotten so big and has been turning away some very deserving kids so I don’t think it is even a safety anymore. I also heard that you have to be an really outgoing, in your face, kind of kid to get any undergraduate research opportunities so that would not bode well for my kiddo.</p>

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<p>@saismom You might want to tell your daughter that in the last 8 years, UA ranks second nationally in Goldwater Scholars, an award given to top science students. UA is tied with Arizona State University and just one behind Harvard U. MIT by the way had the fourth most in that span. This year UA had 2 and last year all 4 nominated by UA won the award.</p>

<p>Here’s the link: <a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2014/04/two-ua-students-named-goldwater-scholars-for-2014-15/”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2014/04/two-ua-students-named-goldwater-scholars-for-2014-15/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As you might have guessed most of the UA Goldwater Scholars are also CBH students. Those CBHers are smart. We had our UA campus tour given by CBH students and we were impressed beyond belief. The experience confirmed that UA is more than just a “safety” school and deserves to be much higher on one’s list of schools. </p>

<p>Not to sound like a broken record, but seeing is believing.</p>

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<p>@saismom - Please also let your daughter know that I would be more than happy to talk to your daughter about my decision-making process. Feel free to send me a PM and I will give you my email. I chose UA and the CBH program over many more “prestigious” schools, including Dartmouth and UChicago. I just had my Bama Bound today and met with a couple of CBH seniors. I can say quite honestly that out of all the places I’ve visited, these students are the most engaged in research and involved on campus. This program really seems to open doors.</p>

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<p>My son was a rather shy kid. He was never one to raise his hand to answer questions in class unless he HAD to for Participation Points. However, he has never had any trouble presenting stuff or speaking during interviews. </p>

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<p>THANK YOU ALL!!! I am so fortunate to have stumbled upon the BAMA honors site. DD is a probable National Merit semi-finalist ( fingers crossed) so we thought we should at least consider the schools that are known to give big $$$. We are looking forward to the visit and I showed her Dr. LeClair’s web site and she gave me a big grin. He seems very engaged and interesting. She will meet him and another Professor ( Shen in engineering) and will tour the engineering facilities as well as take the honors college tour.</p>

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<p>@saismom…Your DD and my DS sound very similar in many respects (and we’re all from Florida!). DS and I met w/ Dr. Sharpe on his second visit to UA this Spring and we were very impressed (I’m sure he says this to all students that he meets with, but he asked my son to apply to the CBHP at the end of our meeting. That has stuck with us and solidified his decision to apply), including the wonderful young lady CBHP who also showed us around the program. As a probable NMSF/NMF and Chemical Engineer/Med School student we had the same questions until we visited (twice) and researched on CC. The University choice won’t be difficult, but I think the Major and Programs might be as there seem to be so many good ones to choose from. All good problems to have and as a real due diligence kind of family, UA seems to us the closest thing to a slam dunk for many reasons. Good luck with your visit and PM me if you’d like to compare notes on due diligence topics. …Roll Tide…( as a University of Arizona Wildcat alum., that is a little difficult to say out loud, but I could certainly root for them).</p>

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<p>Thank you @BocaTerp‌ for the insight about the programs. Now we have another thing to think about since we found out that National Merit scholars in Florida beginning with the class of 2014 will be getting full cost of attendance for any Florida public university or college and can even apply the full COA for a public toward a private like U Miami. Choices can increase stress too! Full cost includes whatever the estimates are posted on the school’s website. For UF it is currently about $21,000 per year.</p>

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<p>^^ Wow, UF for free is a great option. Choices are good!!</p>

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<p>Hi @saismom…yes the Florida Incentive Scholarship Program (signed into law in June I believe) looks like an attempt to keep our best an brightest instate. It’ll be interesting to see what this does to UCF’s NMF package. We didn’t get a good feel at UF at all…looked threadbare and the students all seemed burned-out to us on our visit and no one seemed to care that we were there. Switch over to Alabama and we were welcomed with open arms, Students and Professors/Admin. were energetic and engaging with easy access and very informative. They “sold us” very well and the University appeared on the upswing as opposed to other campuses. The Florida Scholarship has a stipulation in the fine print that states that each year, funding needs to be put in place by the state to fund the program, that sounds a little dicey to me. We, like you I’m sure, have been exploring options for our son to take as best advantage of the position he has put himself in. I get the feeling that he would be “looked after” a bit more there than other places we visited. A little protective sounding maybe, but comforting to any parent I’m sure. Opportunity and fit point boldly to UA and I look forward to hearing about your family’s journey in the decision making process. </p>

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<p>Well we took the advice and contacted Susan Alley at the Honors College and asked her if we could possibly speak with Dr.Sharpe or Mrs.Baston about the CBHC… She very kindly arranged for us to see Dr.Sharpe at 10:30 and she mentioned we might need to slip out early from our 8:30.campus tour. Now I wonder if we will be stuck on a bus and not be able to get all the way to Nott Hall in time? Any advice?</p>

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<p>If your tour starts at 8:30, then I would think that you would be off the bus before 10:30. </p>

<p>The tour starts on the bus, then stops around the Quad for the walking tour. When on the walking tour, you could leave and go to Nott Hall, I would think.</p>

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<p>In addition to all the qualities mentioned by others, I think that having a lot of AP/IB/dual enrollment credits makes a CBH candidate more viable. CBH is a 4-unit class each semester, and many of the CBH kids are also in the STEM-MBA program, which is an additional 1.5 units. Having some wiggle room in your schedule to accommodate those 5 -1/2 units without throwing your graduation timeline off is really helpful.</p>

<p>DS will be part of this year’s incoming CBH family, and I couldn’t be more thrilled; UA really seems to nurture these kids. I was blown away at Bama Bound by the warm welcome DS received from Mrs. Batson, Dr. Sharpe, and several older CBH students who remembered him from the interview weekend. Additionally, all incoming CBH-ers are paired with a mentor based on personality and interests. Because of CBH, I have absolutely no worries about my son feeling lost at his new school; the friendly, personalized feel makes all the difference. Roll Tide!</p>

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<p>@westcoastmomof2‌ After the first year, the CBH classes are only 3 hours a semester. The students meet once a week for one hour in their seminar groups (led by Dean Sharpe) and also participate in their research based on the schedules they set up with their research professor. Regardless, coming into the university with lots of credits is certainly helpful. It’s allowed my D to double major/double minor (including CBH), work and do internships. </p>