Last Tuesday my H and I visited UAH with our D17, who has been accepted there for fall '17 in aerospace engineering. H and D had gone last year for an engineering open house, but we wanted to explore other aspects of the school.
In the morning we met with Dean Wilkerson of the Honors College. Dean Wilkerson was very enthusiastic, informative, and really made the Honors College-only classes sound attractive. His office is in one of the two dorms that house honors students, and we were able to see a suite on the same floor as his office.
Next was a campus tour. The facilities are nicely spread out, with a lot of green space and trees. There didn’t seem to be many students wandering around on campus – something that proved to be true throughout the day – but we later learned that many times classes are grouped so that a student doesn’t have to travel all over; therefore, they may spend part or all of their day in the same building.
We had lunch in the Charger Cafe. There was a taco bar that day, and my H and D both really liked the food. I wasn’t impressed with the soup, but my salad was fresh and tasty. D had ice cream that she loved. The thing that struck us was the size; the area was smaller than her high school cafeteria, with fewer options. However, she thinks she’d be fine.
H and D went on an engineering tour, including what they described as a really amazing machine shop and some wind tunnels. They found out that, other than one introductory class, engineering majors don’t have any classes led by TAs!
Mid-afternoon we attended a junior level course in one of the larger classrooms. Afterward the instructor, Dr. Daniel Armentrout, took us to his office and graciously answered all of our questions, including topics like co-ops, internships, the length of time engineering courses are pretty much the same (and by when you need to make a decision on which type of engineering to pursue.)
By that time we were all pretty tired, but we took a half hour to drive around the area around campus and the downtown area. One of the roads at the edge of campus was filled with fast food and sit-down restaurants, other stores, and a few “adult” shops. The downtown area was nice, and we also ran across an art museum and a cluster of medical professionals around a conveniently-located hospital. We headed another direction later that night for dinner, and found even more options in restaurants and stores. During last year’s visit, D and H went to a movie at what she described as a “really cool” off-campus theater, and we saw a trampoline center nearby.
As far as on-campus activities, there’s a very nice rec facility, there are movies on campus, and we were told of bus trips to other cities. There are quite a few organizations on campus, and starting a new one requires only five students and an advisor.
D is down to two schools, and her visit to UAH made the choice much more difficult. We all walked away impressed and assured that she’d get a great education at UAH.
