No envelope for us either!
No envelope in Ohio, ugh
I just got off the phone with David Bolus, the new assistant director for the Fellows program. He and program director Jacqueline Morgan are aware that a very large number of students have not yet heard anything back yet as to whether they have, or have not, been invited to attend the finalists’ weekend later this month. They have made the decision to start making phone calls to all students who interviewed, to let you know of your status. They have begun making calls already, and will be continuing throughout the day. For anyone they are unable to reach by phone, they will be sending an email later today.
For those of you who want to call the office directly, you are welcome to do so, but be aware that because they have the lines tied up with outgoing calls, you may reach voicemail. Leave a message and someone will get back to you. The phone number to the program office is (205) 348-5558.
And to all of you who are still waiting, David wanted you to know that ALL the letters - to both those who were selected as finalists and those who were not selected - went out at the same time last week. That many of these letters apparently never reached their destinations was the result of some kind of unexplained glitch with the mail . . . but it was NOT because anyone intended for some of you to be notified before others. It was expected that you all would have received notification at about the same time. They deeply regret that this did not occur and are now doing their best to make sure that all of you receive notification by the end of today.
@dodgersmom Thank you for the information. I know you have a UFE student and have made informative posts in the past.
What prompted you to call the office? This year’s thread seems to have a typical amount of people who haven’t received an invite. Is it that no word has been received either way?
@123field - I don’t know what’s “typical”, but I was aware of several people both on and off this forum who hadn’t heard anything yet. It just didn’t feel right . . . and I was certain it wasn’t what the Fellows director and assistant director had intended.
And, yes, I guess you’re correct - it’s that people hadn’t heard anything either way. Everyone should have heard something by now, whether it was “yes” or “no”.
@dodgersmom Well, again - I appreciate your action in speaking with the UFE folks. It has been nerve wracking to wait – seemingly longer than what you’d expect from priority mail postmarked on Feb 3rd. I forwarded your earlier message to my D at school and she is relieved that she’ll know something (either way) today.
Yes, thank you @dodgersmom! I’m so glad they are calling the kids and kudos to Bama for taking the time today to let them all know!
S just called, didn’t make the cut for finalist. He created his own app to save lives, started his own LLC, was the only person in the state to write, teach and implement an after school complete technology curriculum for inner-city kids, participated in a program that was featured on CNN (and chosen as the leader of all the students there), and was the only kid in his school chosen to work with the faculty. Not to mention sports and other community service for years, amazing grades and scores. It was an honor to be considered but it must be very competitive, we thought we had it all, although he was a bit nervous the first few minutes of the phone interview. Best of luck to those moving forward and Bama is a great school. S will go there anyway and carry on the family tradition! Congrats to all and at least we all know the status before the weekend! Roll Tide!
Wow! I am impressed!
Me, too! @bhammom12 With those accomplishments, energy, and focus your son is sure to go far!
@bhammom12 - So sorry your son didn’t get an invite. I can’t even imagine the criteria they use to choose the finalists . . . but I guess it’s always possible they just got a really impressive group of applicants this year! In any event, your post certainly puts things in perspective for the other kids who didn’t get invited . . . they’re in very good company and certainly shouldn’t be discouraged that they didn’t make it.
And if all these kids who weren’t selected still choose to attend Bama, won’t it be a remarkable place next year? 
Follow up to my earlier post regarding notifications:
If you missed David’s call today, check your crimson.ua.edu email account (accessible through MyBama), not your home account. But I’m no longer certain they’ll be sending status info by email . . . I’m hoping they’ll do that, but it’s possible you’ll just get an email asking you to call on Monday. 
Update again:
For those who weren’t able to connect with David today, he will be replying to emails over the weekend! So check your crimson.ua.edu account, and shoot him an email if you need to.
@dodgersmom My D received an email from David apologizing for the delay and indicating nothing about status. The email basically said “we tried to reach as many as we could - those that we didn’t - hang tight until Monday”. It was sent at 5:00 pm.
I saw my daughter’s crestfallen face as she read the email aloud to me - realizing she’d have to wait through the weekend. I have to say that I feel like the UFE office should have sent emails to all semi-finalists today indicating whether they were finalists. What was lost in snail mail were letters so what is the difference with email?
If they weren’t going to send a letter via email then I kind of feel like they should have kept calling folks throughout the evening. After all semi-finalists were in school all day so how realistic is it to have expected to reach many during the day today or for that matter tonight?
Frustrating. Sometimes being more in the know by being on this board is great - other times not so much. If wasn’t on the board - we’d still be waiting blissfully unaware of invitations received or rejections I received.
@dodgersmom Thank you for the additional update. I’ll pass along the info to my D that David will respond to emails throughout the weekend. Your last update while I was composing my message above (was called away in the middle of writing) so I hadn’t seen your latest post. Hopefully she’ll receive an answer soon. Once again thank you for all the info.
I still find it really weird that the (Horribly-Named) Computer-Based Honors Program and the Blount Initiative both sent notifications via email, but University Fellows didn’t.
Update-We received our denial letter today, white envelope, letter dated February 6, postmarked February 8th.
@dfbdfb Blount is not run by the Honors College, so they have no control over their messaging. UFE notifies their finalists by mail–with a very, very nice “wedding style” invitation to campus as a recruiting tool. Its a long standing tradition, and UFE has many long standing traditions. CBH notifies their students by e-mail because, well, its a computer focused program. There is a method to the madness. Unfortunately the US Mail has had a snafu in the UFE notifications, but the UFE office is very focused on getting the kids to campus that need to be there for Fellows Weekend, as well as letting others know.
@bhammom12 Your son has impressive credentials. There will be many opportunities outside UFE to showcase those talents next year. Our daughter, who is UFE, has said it is a very competitive year this year.
Thank you, @swim4school! I will tell him! It’s just tough because everyone felt he was such a good fit and he’s had his eye on this for years. He asked about a reserve pool and they said they didn’t have that but we wish they did! He’s Bama bound and continuing on with his community service projects regardless. It’s a great school and all of the semi-finalists will go on to do wonderful things, I’m sure!