While we wait for an answer from Alabama…
what other schools are you or your senior applying to?
what major are you interested in studying at UA?
where are you from? Somewhere in AL or out of state?
Oh, I just realized my kid’s portal also says “new first-time freshman.”
But I didn’t notice beforehand whether it ever said “pending decision.”
So I don’t know whether to do any portal astrology on that one.
Kid(from PA) is applying to tons of schools. Most of the southern flagships. Schools in PA, Texas, NJ. Kind of all over. Philosophy major. He’s not NMF, so I’m not sure Bama is going to be cheap enough. But we’ll see!
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Yeah, I’ve had all my stuff in for a bit, and the status on my app is still submitted, so I’m not sure what I saw was accurate.
And neat about your son! I’m considering philosophy as a major too. Does he like any of the southern colleges or Alabama in particular for philosophy?
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Interesting! I just looked and my daughter’s says “new first time freshman” too…hopefully a positive sign.
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He’s not at that stage yet, haha. The plan is law school, not philosophy as an end in itself. So he will assess programs once he has a final list of acceptances, and I’m sure that’ll figure in. (But cost will be just as important 
)
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Does Bama pull apps off their own portal first? D23 has been “submitted” in Common App for 2 weeks and hasn’t been downloaded yet. Can I blame this on Nick Saban? 
Blame everything on Saban. Always a good strategy.
My kid has a few apps in Common App that haven’t been downloaded yet. He applied via the UA app on their website and got a confirmation email the same day.
I think it’s a Common App bottleneck, tbh.
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Thank you! I reserve the right to say nicer things about Bama football in 12 months should D23 matriculate there but until then, freaking Saban screwed up the college admissions process! 
My daughter also applied directly through the UA website and it seems to have moved along pretty quickly.
Interesting. I should have guessed when she was getting emails from Alabama about applying in July through their portal that they would prioritize that. But they’ll get to the common app eventually! Unless Saban screws it up. 
I don’t think she is going to apply to any others. Unless something goes really sideways with NMF she has a hard time entertaining the idea of looking anywhere else. She really liked UA when we toured and the NMF is hard to beat.
DD is planning on majoring in Computer Science and getting her masters in 5 years. She has also looked at Stem to MBA but she isn’t sure if that is a direction she wants to go.
We are from the Houston, TX area.
Anxiously awaiting the admissions decision and NMSF announcements that should come in September. Ready to see things rolling.
Don’t do a one year MBA right after getting a CS degree. Congrats on being NMSF!
I’m curious why you say this. The STEM to MBA program is a 5 year integrated Honors program. If the student is a NMF, the 5 year program is essentially 100% free with the exception of the 5th year room and board. Why not go that route?
Why? Ms S22 is a NMF at Bama in this very program and is a CS major. From his perspective, the degree is free, so why not.
I’d recommend a MS in CS or other engineering discipline over an MBA. What would they make with the BS degree vs. the MS? Would their job prospects be greatly enhanced with the MS? More pay and better companies?
The value of an MBA comes from working for a few years after undergrad. You get one shot at getting an MBA, and since your kids are NMFs, they are the types that are qualified to go to a Top 10 program. After they work for four years or so as an engineer, top strategy consulting firms would be interested in hiring them out of Wharton/Columbia/Duke, etc.
I too went to college for free, and I recruited for an investment bank and Fortune 50 company at top MBA programs. If the free fifth year is the enticement, know that many top employers will pay for a local MBA or grad program. They’re becoming less generous but you’re earning a salary while getting the masters.
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Not to derail this thread, but I think it depends on your situation. The NMF scholarship at Alabama is different. For S22, he wants to do the STEM Path to MBA, then use his college savings to do an MS in CS elsewhere with a geographic reset. We are fine with that. So. with minimal outlay, he will graduate with three degrees. Again, special circumstances.
This is very good advice.
An Alabama MBA does little for the career prospects of a NMF student who majored in computer science. You’ll be interviewing for the same entry-level CS roles as everyone else. Or you’ll be interviewing for the same entry-level roles as kids who graduated with bachelors degrees in business. You will not be in the same candidate pool with MBAs from elite programs for consulting associate, banking associate, and tech product manager roles - it doesn’t work that way.
Seriously, it’s not worth a year of giving up $50,000-80,000 in earnings potential, even if tuition is free.
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Just FYI, my kid’s application is all green checkmarks for the portal checklist and it says:
We will be releasing decisions for the 2023 round after Labor Day 2022. Once a decision is released, notification will arrive via standard mail within 10 business days.
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So, now that Labor Day is (almost) behind us, maybe the acceptance letters will start rolling in! I did see on a UA Facebook page that a mom heard from an advisor that they had a record number of applications and that he thought maybe kids would start hearing in mid-Sept, but hopefully it’s sooner! 
No changes of status or anything I can see on my daughter’s app…
Hi all—Daughter is NMSF, I’d guess a shoo-in for finalist since we are in a relatively low-scoring state and she got a 1510 SAT, high GPA and great extracurrics, etc.
Had no idea these PSAT-based “free ride” programs existed. (Had no idea what she got on PSAT, for that matter). Not convinced they are really fair (go figure, the daughter of two financially comfortable parents with advanced degrees who goes to one of the best high schools in the state did well on a test—so free college for you!) …but goodness the deals are ridiculous.
Kiddo was only looking at what might be called “better” schools but as a guy with 3 degrees who’s taught at 3 different schools, and in that range are scrappy state college to elite private, “better” is eye of beholder. I personally love a big school with a great honors college. Small school experience, big school environment. U of A seems to be a great example of that.
Not even on radar screen until semi-finalist letter, but suddenly the reason top students in town occasionally head to random big schools like Alabama makes more sense!
So we are gonna visit, and we’ll see what she thinks! I’m definitely on the “I want you to be where you want to be” side of college vs “you’re going here because of this deal!” which I had to do as undergrad. Just different situation than my parents were in. That said, money matters, she’s the first of three and my wife and I would love to retire some day!
Is there a rush to apply? I suppose she could do it quickly before we visit if so. Any sort of “she’ll get a worse xxxx” type dynamic or something?
Thanks all! And good luck!
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