That’s probably what impressed son the most @Gator88NE. We enjoyed our time at peer advising. Very helpful.
It was perfectly clear to me what you were saying, @SouthFloridaMom9, but I now understand why @ClarinetDad16 segued into discussing how much better (in his mind, I guess) UF is to UA for a Jewish student. I really can’t speak to that, but I know plenty of Jewish families with happy kids at UA, even a few pretty observant ones. It wasn’t a priority for my son, but I was happy to see the brand new Hillel on campus, even though my son will probably never venture over there.
Personally, I know kids fixate on dorm amenities, but I think it’s pretty silly. When I was a student, the better the school, the worse the dorms. Honestly, the fixation on fancy on-campus apartment living at UA seemed a little odd, but I realize in retrospect that fancy housing isn’t all that fancy (just big!), and that it’s a real moneymaker for the university, so why not offer it if families are willing to pay for it? Even then, it was still cheaper than housing at the fancy LACs my son was interested in attending. He got shut out of the fancy honors apartments, and it worked out fine for him. The upside with older dorms (and shared bedrooms and bathrooms) is that it forces a lot of kids to be more social. Not saying it’s not important to have a good living arrangement, but problems in that area tend to have more to do with bad roommates than private baths and/or kitchens.
It sounds like your son will have a tough choice when the time comes, but it doesn’t sound like he can go wrong either way. Keep us posted! 
Would be interested in seeing this thread and the comments if it were also posted in the UF forum.
Thank you @LucieTheLakie! Your comments are always helpful and informative.
I hate to get side-tracked with the dorm issue too (especially when he will probably move off campus after freshman year no matter where he goes). On the other hand our son has been homeschooling for so long, it’s hard not to worry - at least a little - that the adjustment curve freshman year will be more steep than it would be otherwise. I like the idea of him having his own bedroom where he can retreat and get some quiet time. That being said, I think he would enjoy the social aspects of dorm living, especially if he’s around like-minded guys. He enjoys having friends over.
H and S and I decided that we may make one more trip to UA. And we want to really drill down on the numbers for both schools- total cost of attendance, credits which will transfer from DE, career placement, etc.
We may run out of time before finals, but if we can pull it off we will go up there again.
You’re right @jym626! I should post it over there. I just know that - on paper - UF is the obvious choice (DS can get Bright Futures).
We also really enjoyed our time with Jeff Gray at UA (CS Dept). He and our son hit it off.
I don’t have a good read on what the calculus and physics sequences are like at UA. Son will have completed Calc 1 by the end of this semester as a dual enrollment student (through UF online). It’s a tough course, but he’s holding his own so far. Thinking that he will have to take Calc 2 at UA.
Some UF students told us that the required physics sequence at UF is some of the toughest stuff of the engineering requirements. We are wondering how that compares to UA.
If anyone wants to chime in on that front, feel free.
Finding one’s tribe is important. :-c Whenever you visit UA, try to arrange to speak with and meet with as many students as you can, including student ‘ambassadors’. Each college/department seems to have them (in addition to the official Capstone ones who give the larger campus tours). Another place to interact is with any of these: http://cs.ua.edu/organizations/
I would definitely post on the UF forums and get some feedback.
Re calculus, you’re likely going to get a range of opinions about what to take (or re-take) and where to start. I can’t speak for UF (although I’m guessing it’s likely more competitive there gradewise if classes are being graded on a curve), but Engineering Advising at UA generally recommends starting at Calc 1. Plenty of kids come in with 4s and 5s on their AP exams and skip to Calc 2 or Calc 3. (I think the latter is actually the easier route from what I’ve gathered). But I would only recommend that IF your son is a VERY strong math student. Aside from the need to establish a strong foundation in the subject (a MUST for engineering), you want to start off your college career with a strong GPA, especially when maintaining a scholarship.
In retrospect, I think my son would have been fine starting at Calc 3 (he got an A+ in both the honors version of 1 & regular version of 2), but his HS didn’t offer AP classes, and he wasn’t willing to prep on his own. He has no regrets, though; there was no real way for him to know how well prepared he was for college level work until he took the classes. And it’s nice to have those high grades banked if he ever hits a speed bump in the future. He’s going to need four years of classes to graduate just with an engineering degree, so it’s been a pretty straightforward path for him. (And I’ve seen enough kids struggle at UA in all three classes that it’s clearly not a slam-dunk decision by any stretch of the imagination.) Where I think it’s a harder to decide how to proceed is when you’re coming in with a lot of credits and starting in Calc 2 or 3 might enable you to tag on a minor or second major (or earn a master’s degree in year 4).
I can’t speak to how hard physics is at UA compared to UF (and nobody can, unfortunately, unless they have identical twins at the two schools 
), but my son felt his HS physics preparation was pretty lame, and he’s aced all his physics classes at UA. He’s a mechanical engineer and was always more of a physics guy than a chem one, so again this is something you sort of have to evaluate for yourself.
Re “tribes,” my kid is a member of both of those discussed in this thread, although not a conventional one. He’s agnostic and has lots of other interests besides gaming. He also grew up sharing a bedroom with his younger brother, so even though he would have preferred to have his own bedroom freshman year, he got along well with his roommate in Blount and they made a wonderful group of friends on their floor. (The Blount kids have really been my kid’s “tribe” more so than “engineering,” even though he loves his studies.)
SFM–when my kids met their “tribes” at their respective schools it was a totally done deal for them. The doubts disappeared. They knew they’d be happy attending. They felt like they had found a new home with like-minded sibs.
FWIW, my son used AP Physics credit for both of his intro physics courses (8 credit hours), and never looked back; but, like AP Calc, I’m not sure that skip would work for everyone.
@chesterton - a couple of nights ago I was re-reading my husband the responses from this thread, and we wanted to send you a special shout-out to thank you for your thoughts! Very helpful. For some reason it didn’t click in my brain that you guys were also homeschoolers from Florida.