Thanks, I figured as much. We just won’t be able to make a decision until we get merit scholarships from other places in March, but I figure we may be putting down several mostly refundable housing deposits along the way.
Yep - this you have to do - we lost a couple hundy but in the grand scheme of things - until kids start eliminating schools, you either secure your place in line - or take a risk of living in an older, more crowded dorm…or no dorm at all.
If they’re in the Honors College - and you make check, there might be some type of assurance for Ridgecrest regardless of date - there are several halls. Not sure if there is - but you can ask - but even within Ridgecrest, kids have preferences. Mine wanted South for some reason - wasn’t the newest I don’t think.
You can look at the Facebook or Instagram pages for the past years housing updates. Last year on Day 6 they had empty suites in honors still.
I would for sure put down by Feb 1 or whenever the cut-off to get a pick date is. If you don’t think you will narrow it down more between now and then, put it down now and get an earlier day.
And even if you wait, there is an opportunity to pair up with someone with a pick day and that person can pull you in to their room/suite.
My daughter applied to UA in early August, but her hs transcripts were sent in about a week and a a half ago. Her application status in the applicant portal was updated to
“ Your application is complete and currently under review. Please be patient as we work though a large volume of applications. Should additional information be required, you will be notified by email and see an updated status here.
Most first-time, main campus freshmen applying for summer or fall admission who meet the January 15 priority deadline can expect an admission decision by late March, if not sooner.”
Is this a typical status update or do you think she was deferred? Has anyone else had this message?
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My son also applied mid-August and his transcripts were received about a week and a half ago. His portal has the exact same message!
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For what it is worth, my daughter went to UA and had no interest in Greek life. She’s absolutely loving it and living her best life. There is no limit to what a student can experience at UA! She had an amazing internship after her freshmen year, and her company offered for her to stay on part-time and extended her an internship offer for next summer. I can’t say enough positive things about her experience, and I am happy to answer any questions.
My son has been accepted for fall of 2024, and I would be shocked if he ended up anywhere else!
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I would recommend setting up a tour now. Our view of UA changed completely after our visit. We found that UA gave the best and most personalized tours. We did the general campus tour, the engineering tour, met with a Chemical Engineering professor, and had a two hour lunch and tour with a Randall Research and Blount Scholar (two programs that interested my daughter).
We are in the process of setting up a campus visit for my son and are going to request the NMSF visit for him.
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We keep going back and forth about submitting ACT scores for admission. I know they are required for merit and they do. not superscore for merit. But will superscore for admission. His math score is just below the 50%, but everything else is close to or above the 75% and he is not wanting to do a STEM major. Composite is just below the 75%. Thoughts?
I think I would send the scores in your case. Its another piece of data showing that he is definitely in the top half and since he is not stem I wouldn’t worry about the math, which is still good anyway.
Bama is a relative easy admission. If you have merit avail based on score, then send it in.
See the table here. If you have a 3.5, you’ll get this much with a chance for $4k more after filling out the scholarship app after acceptance.
Thanks. In the end he decided to submit and have superscore considered for admission. Then they will use the composite from his April sitting for merit.
I mean if he has a 3.5 and a corresponding ACT to the table, you can of course do what you are doing but he’s not getting turned down regardless. Not to worry.
Fine school. Many top and not so top students. Top because they buy them in.
It’s a similar large college experience to a UF, UGA etc but not close in selectivity.
Best of luck.
Congrats on NMF! It’s very hard to turn down that package!
I would tour later. Just my opinion. But especially depending on where you live.
My kid also was not excited about Bama. Was going to Pitt until April 17. That’s the day he relented and went on a tour of Bama - a last-minute “get Mom off my back” visit with his dad. He called me from Blount, where he’d just spent an hour with the director, and said, “Mom, pay the deposit, I’m going to Bama.”
The weather - a gorgeous spring day, when it was bleak back home - did not hurt.
Can’t help you with NMF; my kid wasn’t one. But even if there aren’t NMF-specific tours, your regional recruiter can set up a VIP tour for your kid. Find out that person’s name and request everything you think your son might get excited about and they will make it happen. Request sit-downs with profs or department heads. Request the specific honors college visits and interviews relevant to your kid’s major. Request visits to dorms and rec center and the stadium, the cafeteria, the quad, they will fit it all in. We managed to do this within the space of a week’s notice, but I would not wait that long. Set it up for early April, after all your other offers are in, but start the ball rolling soon so they can really customize the day.
There’s no comparison between those tours and the generic tours at every other college. Which is also a reason to make Bama the last tour on the list.
(Also, as other parents told me, if you do NOT want your kid to go to Bama, don’t let them visit. 
)
Fast-forward to a month into the school year, and he texted me: “I love this school mom. I’m very happy.”
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My kid just did the normal bus tour - and just to meet a school requirement- had to visit a school or job shadow that day.
It made the previous year of visits all over a colossal waste. Was game over. It’s amazing how quickly the previous long developed plan can unravel.
When you’re on the main quad it’s easy to see why.
But I personally get that feeling at a lot of schools. Va tech is another.
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What programs at Alabama should we be researching? I started looking at Blount. The application has some interesting questions! My son is not sure what he wants to study - likely STEM related.
Well I was thinking we’ll wait till April as you say, but then what a waste of time and effort (and heartache when those rejections roll in) if Alabama is as amazing as you all are saying?
Then again, this exercise of writing supplementals explaining why he wants to study X at Y university is forcing him to answer some very important questions. He’s a happy go lucky, live in the present kind of guy. We’ll let him keep going and visit later.
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Well, there are STEM peeps in Blount. The other roommates with my kid are all STEM.
Other honors programs: Randall Research Scholars and STEM to MBA and McCullough (premed I think) and University Fellows and EPIC and then just the generic Honors College. Maybe more. I forget. I only know about Blount, which seems like the one most tailored to humanities - my kid is not STEM. But Blount is not only humanities, as you can tell from its web pages, though you end up with a liberal arts minor if you stick with the program all four years.
Blount has its own dorm. The way my kid describes it to me is: if Blount had the same apartment-style dorms as Pres and Ridgecrest, everyone would want to live there, because it’s the best dorm other than “only” having suite-style rooms with 4 people sharing a bathroom. Blount has no living/kitchen spaces in the individual dorm rooms, but it does have a kitchen, and common areas and places to play pingpong etc, plus classrooms for the Blount classes. Blount also has another building on the quad - great for tailgating, as it’s right there.
The Blount curriculum satisfies the Honors College requirements, so I’m not sure what all the HC people have to take. Blountees have to take some rigorous classes with a LOT of reading and writing. My kid loves it but it’s not something to shrug off.
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For us, it was about budget and fit. We visited a half dozen of the 12 acceptances he got. It was like Goldilocks, and only Pitt “fit” him, until Bama. Two more different schools, you could not imagine. I was stunned when he called me; never thought it would happen.
Yes, the supplementals are useful for honing focus! And when he gets to the Blount one, it’ll be so refreshingly different!
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Great list, thank you! We’ll take a look.
I don’t think living in shared suites is a negative. He’s pretty happy to be on his phone or computer in his room all the time so a little built in socialization is fine by me.
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Yeah, and they tout this as a benefit at Blount: It forces the kids to get out of their rooms and socialize, moreso than if they’re in an apartment-style setup where they can just veg in front of the TV with the kitchen right there.
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