<p>I’ve been really looking into this school, and i’m wondering if anyone has actually visted the school, and can tell me what the campus really looks like, because we all know pictures on the internet can be quite deceiving ;).</p>
<p>My D will be starting at UAB in August. S toured the UAB CS dept in April the day before our UA tour. Both of my kids love the urban vibe of the UAB campus. I think UAB did a great job taking a downtown location and turning it into a real campus as opposed to a collection of building like the GSU campus in downtown Atlanta.</p>
<p>How would you describe the quality of buildings, and the overall atmosphere of the location( like the nightlife, restaurants, etc…)? I really want to go because of the diversity, and because i heard the medical program is amazing!</p>
<p>UAB is still growing. Most of the buildings are new. A new student center is being built. There’s a fabulous recreation center. Dorms - a lot of students are local and live at home, and a lot live in apartments across the city. There are not as many students on campus as in a non-urban setting, but the dorm presence is definitely growing.
Very nice campus, easy for walking, and if you’re in a medical field, the hospitals and clinics are right there, too.
The main center for nightlife is 5 Points, on the edge of campus.
Sounds like it might just be what you want.</p>
<p>I need to mention that Birmingham also has several other 4-year colleges - Samford, Birmingham-Southern, Miles, and Montevallo is just a few miles away. Jefferson State is the local junior college.</p>
<p>Would you say UAB is a commuter school? I’ve heard that term floating around. I know the social life here won’t be as good as bama’, but i just wanted to know if birmingham is an interesting city, and if there’s alot to do at night?</p>
<p>Bump 10char</p>
<p>i heard the medical program is amazing!</p>
<p>Do you mean if you get accepted to the BS/MD program?</p>
<p>Oh no, i just heard their pre-medical advising and courses are very good, and there’s a university affiliated hospital within a short walk of the campus.</p>
<p>Commuter school? Yes…somewhat…not as much as it used to be. There is plenty to do in the Ham.</p>
<p>Yes, part of the campus includes UAB hospital, which is huge. Kirklin Clinic, the VA hospital, Children’s hospital, Spain Rehab, the dental school and the Eye Foundation hospital.</p>
<p>Commuter school? Kind of…60% of undergrads at UAB are from the Birmingham metro area. That figure jumps to 91% if you include undergrads from the rest of Alabama. Take that fwiw.</p>
<p>Lord have mercy, that’s a high percentage. Well, i guess i’ll just have to be friends with the people in my dorm then! I’m just praying that the campus isn’t dead on the weekends</p>
<p>Well when your campus is in a big city like Birmingham, it’s not hard to find things going on even if the campus dies down on the weekend. Unless you can’t leave, of course.</p>
<p>That 91% is a little misleading. Many of 31% non metro Alabamans live further away from UAB than my OOS D. My D is looking forward to UAB dorm life and being in downtown B’ham. She has no intention of coming home multiple weekends a month, and frankly won’t be able to, considering the evening and weekend time commitments she will have as a Design/Stage Management/Tech Theatre major.</p>
<p>my son is a senior at uab, if you would like any info, feel free to pm me anytime. there are about 11k undergrads, 5 dorms with about 2500 people living on campus, many students live just off campus in the southside area. they have plans to build another dorm, should be finished 2014-2015 as the dorms are at 100% capacity. as feenotype said, there are many things going on on campus all the time.</p>
<p>the hospitals surround the campus basically, about 5 of them. while certainly not a old college, old architecture feel, i like the urban vibe of the campus. and they have a big green area that is in the middle of most of the buildings you would go to.</p>
<p>Hahaa thanks for all the information concerning UAB. Anyone have any idea how the student body is, and how the academics are at UAB?</p>
<p>Bump 10char</p>
<p>Student body - it’s been awhile since I worked with our sorority chapter there, but it’s a somewhat typical urban student body. Average age is a little older than a “traditional” campus. Students are more likely to work full time. Students are more likely to be financing their studies on their own. For instance, it’s the only campus I worked with that had classes on Sunday night - because people working full time often have that night free.
In the sororities (at the time), the girls were more likely to have piercings and tattoos than at a traditional campus. That’s no longer true, but it kind of indicates that the typical student is a bit more mature and often more “edgy” than a traditional student.</p>
<p>Medical areas: academics are top notch. I’m hearing good things about engineering and the theatre program. I don’t hear that much about the liberal arts, business, and education programs…doesn’t mean they’re bad, just that I’m not as attuned to those areas.</p>
<p>IMHO, as far as student life - you’re going to have to go out there and seek it more than you would at a traditional college. It’s there, but way fewer students partake of it, proportionately, than at a traditional campus. To do that, get involved in on campus organizations - political, racial, fraternal, whatever.</p>
<p>Have you visited the campus?</p>
<p>We visited UAB about four years ago. Loved the rec center and Blazer Hall. Fantastic honors programs. Good engineering program. In fact, many of the interns my son worked with last summer at an automotive company in Tuscaloosa area were from UAB, not just UA. Have heard nothing but good things about their medical programs. Several kids from my area, Louisiana, go there for grad school for physical therapy. Like that they have an optometry school, if you have an interest in that. Green area was starting to be formed and landscaped at that time, and is probably more lush by this point. I loved the arts center, where we had orientation/info sessions. Seems to be a good place for concerts. UAB basketball’s team has been known in the south as being awesome, and local kids we met on our tour were very excited about attending basketball games. They were in Conference USA, which is an excellent conference, if you’re interested in sports. Don’t know if they’ve changed conferences, but that’s what they were when we were keeping up with them. Great baseball opponents in Conference USA. But medical education, can’t beat it. Good luck!</p>