My son is NMF from TN. Both UK and UAlabama offer generous full scholarships for NMF. Anyone care to compare and contrast these 2 schools? We have never visited the UK campus but plan to visit next week. My older son is a student at Bama so we know it well. Any information that would sway us to pick UK? Your opinions would be appreciated.
Last year, I believe there was a whole thread on the Bama or National Merit CC pages devoted to this topic. If you can’t find it, I can try to look it up. At least last year, the Bama scholarship may not have been the entire “full ride,” but offered the 5th year of tuition that could be used to start some grad work. They are both great schools. The Bama threads are much more active than the UKy threads on CC.
We live closer to Ky than we do to Bama, by MANY hours. That was a big draw for us. It was a much easier commute for breaks or to visit. They have transportation to Chicago and some other cities for a reasonable price. Lexington also has direct flights from Chicago daily. The trip to Bama would have added considerable cost and time when needing to go back and forth for us.
Lexington is more of an urban feel. The campus, in my opinion, is not as beautiful as the Bama campus. UKy felt like a mixture of Midwest and South. Bama was definitely Southern. The dorms at UKy are all getting replaced, so a big plus there. Bama had easier access to their Honors Program, and is much more generous with AP and CLEP credit. You can’t go wrong with either choice.
The people at UKy are hands down the nicest people! We had actually driven from Bama directly to UKy during the summer before her senior year, so the visit was very fresh when we visited. Although Bama was nice, when D saw UKy, she “just knew” it was the school for her. It did not hurt that her boyfriend, who was not NMF, was able to get a good scholarship that made it affordable, similar to what an in-state school would have been for him.
Do look up that old thread. There were a lot of different thoughts on more topics than what I have mentioned above.
@NaperMom, again I’m struck by the similarity between our daughters. We first looked at UK because she could pursue Pharmacy and her boyfriend could pursue Engineering. That boyfriend and Pharmacy are both gone; UK remains.
I think this may be the forum you were referencing. It discusses UK vs. UA and other NMF scholarships.
Yes, that is it. Thanks for posting it for others, as there are great details specified, as well as various perspectives from many people. Both schools are great options. Both scholarships are fantastic. It really comes down to personal situation when comparing the two as to fit for a future student.