I don’t wanna make this too wordy, so I’ll get to the point.
a) How is the city of Huntsville? How are the store options (grocery, shopping, etc etc)? Weather? I’m not too concerned about the 'naders, provided that UAH has basements and such (I’m from Oklahoma and am living in Kentucky right now.)
b) Why is UAH’s graduation rate so low? I would assume it’s mainly due to the fact that a lot of students attend for engineering and discover that it’s not for them or ‘too hard’.
c) Is the campus nice? I’m planning on doing a tour early next year, so this isn’t as important.
d) How is the sports scene at UAH? I’m not too concerned about this, but I think it would be fun to at least have a homecoming (I’m from Stillwater, OK. Therefore, I’m used to that big sports scene, provided by OSU lol.)
e) Is the city walk-able? Or is a car required? I’ll most likely be on campus for a majority of the time, but it would be cool to walk to shops and such on the weekend.
Hi, my son recently graduated from UAH, so I can answer some of your questions…
- Huntsville is a mid-sized city. Bridge Street is one of the newer shopping malls with lots of restaurants and stores. But there are other malls in the area, too. As for grocery stores, you have Publix, Aldi, Target, Wal-Mart and other options. My son liked the weather. You even can get some snow in the weather.
- The UAH graduation rate is low in many cases because many students do co-op or have internships, especially in the STEM fields. So they may extend their time there by a semester or two.
- The campus is nice. Very walkable.
- You need a car to go most places.
UAH is focused on building beyond its reputation as a college for locals to commute to. It is many years into this transition, and seems to have made great strides in building a real community for its students. The guaranteed merit aid is the best I have seen anywhere. You get the grades and the test scores and you get the aid. (Assuming you apply and get accepted before all their money is gone.) OOS students are flocking to get this money, and that balances out the local students nicely.
It is NOT the powerhouse flagship in Alabama, and if you can make that mental switch (from OSU), you might find the athletic spirit at UAH draws students together for a common interest. This is one of those campuses that you really need to visit and spend more time at, in order to decide for yourself if the vibe is right for you.
The STEM majors are strong, co-op jobs are plentiful, and local companies seem to be lined up waiting to hire you at graduation. The other majors may not be as strong or have as stellar of a reputation, so ask questions when you visit.
Hello, @powercropper. I plan on applying as early as possible, so I should get some sort of aid money as I fall into the Charger Distinction merit criteria.
Additionally, I’m going to be majoring in mechanical engineering; I’m most allured by the fact that UAH has many internships/co-op opportunities.
Further more, UAH has an atmosphere I’d love, seeing that I’m very much into Magic: the Gathering and tabletop role-playing (Dungeons and Dragons), which seems commonplace at UAH.
Thanks!
My DD is a self professed “nerd”, she was awarded a very hefty merit package and we leave in just a few days to take her to UAH. The Merit is guaranteed, while she did apply early, when we attended accepted students day, they told us the merit is guaranteed as long as one applies withing the time lines. DD went to high school in Central TX and had no desire to stay in Texas, she wants to explore but in the end, money talked and UAH gave her the best package from the schools she was considering.
There were so many things about UAH that she liked. She liked the size (not too big, not too small), the lack of the “football sports culture” was huge for her, she does not like the big sports culture but does enjoy hockey, the internship and study abroad opportunities really appealed to her, the dorms are some of the best we have seen and the town of Huntsville is diverse and somewhat progressive due to the tech sector there.
My DD applied to and was accepted to the Honors College, this gives her even more study abroad options as well as a bit of a more individualized education plan.
The town of Huntsville has a very diverse population, due to the influx of both domestic and international military folks coming to train at Redstone Arsenal. So, although Alabama as a whole has a stereotype of a typical southern state, Huntsville itself has a wide variety of types of people, art, music, theater, etc.
So the town is very accepting of new people, and you will find all kinds of restaurants, stores, groceries, entertainment, etc.
@SnowflakeDogMom One of the factors to why I love UAH is the fact that they offer really good guaranteed merit aid, which is not common to most state schools. I definitely do think Huntsville is very different from other towns and cities in Alabama; I know when I passed through 'Bama on my way to Oklahoma, I hated the state so much. But after seeing Huntsville, my opinion has changed. Furthermore, I don’t really care what the political climate is like on campus/in town, as long as people treat others as humans and not political objects, I’m fine. Additionally, I will apply to the honors program, seeing that I have the sufficient scores and GPA. Thanks!
@powercropper I’m a big sucker for grocery stores, so this is good news lol.
We found a well stocked Asian grocery store near campus. My DD loves Asian grocery stores
That’s awesome. I hope to find a good Spanish store around town, too.
My son is half Filipino, so that’s great news about the nearby Asian grocery store!
We are from the West Coast (San Jose/San Francisco) and were surprised to find good Thai and Vietnamese. Our one foray into Chinese was disappointing but we didn’t know where to look.
We also enjoyed a wonderful Indian lunch one day.
The tech diversity has spread in the local food options!