<p>Hello all, my daughter has been admitted to UA Honors and we just found out she was admitted to UF (non-honors). She will be getting a nice scholarship to UA, about a third tuition. She will probably get something from UF but not that much I assume. We live on Long Island in NY. Can anyone help us to make our decision? I am not that familiar with UF and I just want to look at this from all angles. THANKS!</p>
<p>Welcome</p>
<p>What is your D’s major? </p>
<p>Congrats on her scholarship. Which one was she awarded?</p>
<p>Have you visited Bama’s campus? </p>
<p>What do you want to know?</p>
<p>Just curious…when did your D apply to Bama?</p>
<p>Because Bama accepts so many OOS students, Bama will have more regional diversity. </p>
<p>You’re right that you probably won’t get much from Florida, since it relies heavily on Bright Futures for its merit awards and those are only for instate students.</p>
<p>catinhat95…congrats on both, UF is very difficult to get in OOS as you may know. UF was my son’s first choice when applying a few years ago but he did not get in. It was quite disappointing since he was born there and we bought the Florida Prepaid plan when he was a baby. After doing some research, it looked like only about 100 freshman admitted that year were OOS. Over 50% at UA were OOS at least the last couple of years. He is so glad he did not get in now, he loves UA and has many friends from other states. He also said he had not heard great things about UF through the grapevine. There are good perks for Honors students at UA (like picking classes earlier) and the dorms are really nice. If your daughter hasn’t seen the campus, she needs to visit.</p>
<p>We live in FL and my son has FL prepaid. He got into UF, FSU, and UA with the Presidential S.
He made it into the honors program at all three schools. He is a Chem E. major., in the CBHP, and in the STEM MBA program at UA. He loves UA and has never regretted his choice.
A visit to all three schools was the deciding factor. UA won hands down.</p>
<p>Hi! We are from long island too and UF was orginially my son’s first choice. We used to have a second home in Florida and UF was only a 3 1/2 hour drive but when we researched the flights and airports to come home to NY it would of been a nightmare. Birmingham is managable and the travel has not been a problem but I think UF would of been a mistake for us. Housing is a bit of a problem at UF and we did not find the administration too friendly as far as meeting with professors and advisors. All in all for my son UA was the best choice and he is very happy there. He knew no one and was the only one from his high school to go to the university and he is happy. The only down side to UA is that it is difficult for me to visit and he is so happy he doesn’t want to come home! But that’s actually a good thing. I wish you luck in your decision. Please feel free to PM me, I am going to PM you about the travel from Birmingham.</p>
<p>This is where DS is in his decision making process right now. UF (he is petitioning for Honors-missed the SAT score by a smidge) and UA honors. He wants to do Mech Engineering/Aerospace Engineering and UF has double major laid out for that combination that only requires an extra 9 credit hours. He is really torn! He loved UA (as did I) and all it has to offer but around here, UF has a much better reputation and it’s engineering school is more highly regarded. If he remains in state after graduation a UF degree will be more valuable. (defnitely a good ole boy network around here.) </p>
<p>We are making another trip to UF to compare exactly what they offer to underclassmen. We love UA’s commitment to co-ops and undergraduate research. Additionally, UF is getting a reputation of it being difficult to get the classes you need and having to take online classes. This is something we want to explore with the school. The kids I know who go there haven’t had this issue but they aren’t engineering majors. Not sure if it’s true or not. </p>
<p>I will say the UA campus and dorms are MUCH nicer than the UF campus and non-honors dorms. But for us Gainesville is a 2.5 hour drive vs. a plane ride so we would get to see him more. </p>
<p>He does like the idea of going out of state because so many folks in state do go to Florida schools because of Bright Futures and the prepaid plans so it’s kinda like the 13th year of high school. For us, we have a Florida prepaid and he will get Bright Futures(not as big of a perk as it used to be) but UA would still be less because of the scholarships he would get and we could have his Florida prepaid transferred to UA. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision! I would definitely recommend visiting both campuses.</p>
<p>Hello all and thanks for all of your replies. This is great information. Her scholarship is for out of state students and she got another one but name of it escapes me at the moment! We did visit the UA campus and were blown away by it. My husband and daughter visited UF (I wasn’t there) and they said it was nice but UA was nicer. My daughter wants to be a dietician. mom2collegekids, My daughter applied to Alabama back in October I think. The regional diversity is a big draw to us as you say. SignalMtn, I did not know it was that hard for OOS students to get into UF but I have just read that this week. My daughter’s scores were not the greatest (superscore 1810), weight GPA 98, zero leadership but a strong musical background including marching band, and an essay that the UF northeast rep told me she remembered and scored very high when I spoke to her last week. Savanna, my daughter also applied to those three schools. She is still waiting to hear from Duke, Vanderbilt and USC but those are extreme reaches for that and she is not too excited about them, probably no money coming either from them. cardbucfan, I totally agree with you, the UF reputation is hard to pass up. But I do believe that the way BAMA is working at it, they may be similarly regarded in the future. BAMAmamafromNY, thanks for the PMs, I am not allowed to write back yet because I haven’t been a member long enough! ~Lana</p>
<p>^^^if your daughter has an interest in UA’s marching band, which is a large time commitment, there are CC members on here who can speak to that option. I know there is a small stipend and kids love being in it.</p>
<p>I believe that we have a member who has a daughter in the " nutritional" sciences (I don’t remember the name of the program), sorry.</p>
<p>As for being accepted to a school that rarely takes OOS students, mine was accepted to UNC Chapel Hill and turned that school down, along with other colleges (about 15 with scholarships too), for The University Of Alabama. No regrets at all, it has been an amazing experience.</p>
<p>Each student has to fit into their new college home in order to thrive. Of course finances play a role as well. The Honors College at UA is truly a unique place.</p>
<p>cardbucfan…My son is a mechanical engineering major. He has had no problem getting classes he wants, honors kids are high up the list for choosing. He is a sophomore and is doing his first coop semester at the Honda plant in Lincoln, AL. So far so good, great opportunity. I know what kind of score you need for UF honors (he missed by a smidge too) so I know your son must be eligible for the Presidential Scholarship. We also had the Fl. Prepaid so was able to use it for everything Presidential didnt pay for (probably will last 4 semesters or more). He is also in the STEM MBA program which I’m sure your son would also be able to take advantage of. As for being more highly regarded as an engineering school, I agree, that’s one reason my son wanted to go there but UA is doing everything it can to change that. Have you seen the new engineering buildings??</p>
<p>robotbldmom, thanks for that info. I am going to investigate all of these things. It makes me feel so much better with all this support!</p>
<p>SignalMtn,</p>
<p>That coop sounds amazing, what an incredible experience!! My daughter would not normally be eligible for UF honors but they told her to petition for entry. She has had a series of medical issues and her grades suffered a bit because of it, she missed quite a few opportunies by just a smidge. At UA they have been kind enough to take her illness into account. The rep at UF basically told us her essay really helped push her app through and that she should petition for entry into honors. I don’t think she will petition though, I think she is mentally done with the whole college application process and was mesmerized by UA. We are waiting to hear from Duke, USC, Vandy, Delaware. I don’t think here chances are good for the first three and she seems uninterested in them now that we have visited UA but I told her not to make any decisions until we hear from everyone.</p>
<p>I made this decision myself, albeit as a Florida native (Fort Lauderdale area). I wasn’t even serious about UA (I applied only because of the National Merit offer) until my mom forced me to visit, but I fell in love. UF didn’t even come close. The dorms at UA are much nicer, the campus is orders of magnitude better (Gainesville is very urban - I find there’s really one place on the whole campus where you get that college campus feel), and I got a really good feeling about the staff and their interest in the students.</p>
<p>Ultimately, I went to the place I loved rather than where my friends were going. I’ve been back to UF several times and even sat in on a couple lectures. I don’t regret it. Money was a little bit of a factor, since UA’s National Merit scholarship is much nicer than Bright Futures and I still bill for Florida Prepaid. I had a classmate that had so much trouble deciding that she came up with her own version of a coin flip: she would go to whichever school won the SEC Championship Game (this was 2009). I actually had no interest in college football when I arrived…needless to say, I hit the jackpot in that regard.</p>
<p>What I can tell you is this: Florida is a more highly regarded institution academically and you should be proud that she got in OOS. However, you won’t find many employers that will make a big deal of that. UA degrees continue to appreciate in value as the school has taken major strides under Dr. Witt. He’s not the president anymore, being promoted to chancellor of the entire UA system, but Dr. Bonner is essentially his protegee. The degrees will be valued almost identically 10 years out of college, so I wouldn’t suggest trading a great experience or savings for a better academic reputation. Keep in mind that “great academics” is essentially just code for “more work” because at the end of the day the curriculum is pretty much the same across the board.</p>