Now that decisions are in, I was hoping for input from students/parents who chose the National Merit Scholarship at the University of Alabama over an Ivy League or T-20 school. My daughter was accepted into an Ivy and also another really highly ranked school, which would be full pay for us, and we are considering UA as I really liked the school for her, as well as the scholarship.
I want to preface that we can afford to pay the Ivy tuition, without any undue hardship, although it is still a lot of money that I could potentially use for graduate school for her etc. I’m not really looking for opinions on how much smarter it is to not do full pay for a bachelor’s degree, etc. What I am really looking for is opinions of how kids did at UA after passing on an Ivy/T-20. Were they happy? Did they regret the decision? Did they find the school culture was OK? Do they think they were at a disadvantage in the job market or in the graduate school application process? Any input along these lines would really be appreciated.
My S22 is at Bama on an NMF. It was the right choice for him. In addition to the scholarship, he started with enough hours to classify as a sophomore. Originally, he wanted to do the STEM Path to MBA program. After a semester, he decided it wasn’t for him. So, he switched to a Computer Science/Geography double major. With the extra credits he already had, the switch has not cost him any time. Many T20 schools do not offer as many, or as many useful credits as schools like Alabama (I am not just saying Alabama here). Additionally, he is on the EcoCar team. There was no competition to join. He just joined. At many top schools, to join a competitive engineering team involves a competitive process. He is now an integral part of the CAV sub-team and has been enjoying the work. He has been invited to participate in student government. He has been invited to assist in research on campus. Could you do that elsewhere…sure, but, he is doing it at Bama. Oh…my son is gay. The vast majority of his friends at Bama are also gay. By and large, it has been a welcoming atmosphere for him. Has he attended any sports this year…nope. He is making his own way. His favorite professor, in geography (a field he never studied before), asked him to join a summer study program in Ireland. So, he’s doing that, too. College is what you make of it. You can have a great experience anywhere. Your daughter has to choose where she thinks she will have the easiest path to make the most of her college career. Best wishes on her decision, and Roll Tide.
Save your money for graduate school, and go to Bama. I know several kids who have graduated/are graduating from there with business degrees, and have had no trouble landing jobs in NYC and other large urban areas.
The kids who went there with whom I have spoken have had no regrets about having attended. And if you are not from Alabama, you should know (if you don’t already) that most of the undergraduates are now from out of state.
When we visited, it was a beautiful campus and the people were great. My daughter, like a lot of kids, has been fixated on getting into an Ivy for a long time so I just wanted to try to get input from kids who passed on this option and went to Alabama. Thanks for the input.
What does your daughter think? Since you say all the colleges are affordable for you, I guess I think she should decide.
Alabama is a fine college. You knew about her scholarship likely when she applied. Did you tell her she has to take it, or that she could choose amongst her acceptances.
Congratulations to her on some wonderful college acceptances.
I will add, my DD received a very substantial scholarship to a college. But we had not put financial constraints into her college search. Our daughter actually liked the big college scholarship school…it was her second choice.
She matriculated to a college that was easily three or more times the cost annually. But it was her choice and a good one. We don’t regret the cost one bit.
DH was like … but that $$$$… for a minute and my argument was the same - we did not tell her she had to chase merit, so it was not fair to do so at that point.
This jumped out at me. You liked the school. Did she? If you allowed her to apply to the other schools and they are affordable, it should be her decision. She could be very resentful if you force her to go to a school she doesn’t want to go to because of money if you didn’t say that was an issue earlier in the process.
that’s quite an enviable position to be in. well done to you all! here’s my first thought - do you have more kids in the pipeline? if so, what precedence does this make?
My DS was a NMF and the scholarship is very attractive. To test out the school, he did a 6 week summer on campus at UA taking 2 classes with normal students. He hated it. He is the type that doesn’t like to stand out. So when one of the professors announced to the class that a junior in high school got the high grade on the test, he didn’t like the attention. One of his RA’s had turned down Princeton to go to UA and she liked it there. So, there isn’t simple answer. But for my son, the only thing he has to say about his experience is that he has two extremely easy A+’s on his transcript if he decides to apply to law school. He also, took a similar class at his T10 to one of the summer class at UA. When I asked him to compare the two, is answer was that they were not even close.
I can tell you another story. My co-worker’s son chose a T-10 over several full pay offers as a NMF, including Alabama. Very strong kid. He is flourishing at the T-10 based on his dad. Will be doing an internship this summer (competitive). Other kids in his cohort are from all over. I don’t think the kid regrets his decision one bit. His dad is on the other hand is puzzled by the fact so many of his son’s peers are from “ordinary” schools. Although, he is very proud of the fact that his kid goes to a T-5, as he should be.
I guess what I am trying to ask here is that what is the end game?
No, it’s our only child. And yes, she really liked Alabama. However, she went to a competitive high school, so the social pressure is all about the Ivies. I want her to make a choice that is a good fit and not based upon social pressure from high school. She hasn’t been to the Ivy yet, but the visit is very soon which is why I am looking for input. If she likes the Ivy, it is most likely going to be the choice, but I was interested in the experiences of people that passed on that option. For example, Peruna1998 noted the ease of joining clubs, etc. and the ability to do dual degrees (graduate) in the same amount of time, which are both things DD discussed with me. DD actually had multiple merit scholarships, but Alabama was the only one she liked when she visited, which is why it is still on the list. DD is looking at business type undergraduate to go into consulting, finance, etc. with the option of going to to law school.
If DD likes the Ivy (or other T-20) after visit and prefers either school, it will likely be the choice. If she chooses Alabama or is strongly considering, then I want to be sure it is something she will be happy with. I personally did like Alabama after visiting; more than I thought I would. But it is her choice.
First of all @Pirc congrats to your daughter on obtaining such amazing choices. You’re being extremely open-minded about the process and that’s great. With that in mind, start off by considering the career goals of those who blew off the ivies to attend, we’ll say, “non-target schools.” You say your daughter wants business for possibly consulting, finance, perhaps law school. I do think when weighing a situation like this, you need to ask a few questions.
Can my DD get into a Tier 1-2 law school from the non-target school?
Do Big 3 consulting firms recruit at the non-target school?
Top-tier finance? I remember spending time at the Penn State career fair 2-3 years ago and Goldman Sachs was nowhere to be found. I would check with Alabama admissions and ask about a contact at their career center, then ask specifically about career fairs, possibly try to obtain a copy of the most recent company attendance list at the fair. My personal belief is that Alabama is not going to be everyone’s OOS, high-merit safety forever, but I know certain kids are having a blast there. I also know that those kids aren’t competing with T-10s during Superday weekend interviews in NYC.
So, yes, while there are some kids who “take the deal” vs taking the prestige of a T-10, you also need to have an idea if your daughter has a desire for a career that caters primarily to T-10 students.
For the record, I, personally went to SMU in the’90’s. I also earned a Fulbright to the UK and went to law school at Georgetown. One of my classmates at Georgetown attended App. State for undergrad. You can get into a T14 law school from anywhere if you make the most of your undergraduate degree. The question is where will you stand out?
I thinks this brings up an often misunderstood statement made on CC. We are frequently told that Alabama has more NMF students than any other school. This is true only of schools that track or provide NMF scholarships. Stated differently there are lots of schools that have more NMF qualified kids than UA, just UA recruits, counts and offers scholarship to this cohort as a marketing tool while elite schools do none of the aforementioned. They don’t need it as a marketing tool. To put a fine point on it based on publicly available statistics it is easy to conclude that all of the high stat, elite, etc schools have higher numbers of NMF “statistically qualified” students in attendance it just isn’t a “thing” that these schools publicize, pay for or care about
All NMF students can go to Alabama on merit aid but a relatively small percentage of total Alabama students (in spite of the NMF headlines) are academically “elite”. The average student at UA is for lack of a better term average.
On the other hand not all NMF kids (and even far fewer UA kids) can get into super elite schools like your kid did. The “average” or most representative student at an Ivy will have significantly higher stats, academic background and ECs then the student at UA. The Ivy kid typically got in because they had the stats, the LORs, something else to offer and stood out in a sub 5% acceptance rate pool versus those at a school with a 79% acceptance rate. Both are great groups of kids but different in what makes them tick.
I would encourage your kid to seek out and engage potential classmates at both schools to see with whom they “fit”.
If money isn’t going to drive the decision I would allow your student to decide if they would prefer to be surrounded by students of similar academic background and credentials or to be at Alabama where they self proclaim to have to pay smart kids to attend. All comes down to the environment your student is seeking and whether or not they will leverage a schools resources and enjoy the academic and social community. When deciding between UA and an IVY these differences are extreme and personal.
Either is a great option and congrats to your kid.
Great options for your daughter. I have replied on other threads but we have two kids who have both graduated with engineering degrees. Our daughter attended Alabama, graduated top 5% of her high school class and got into several T-20 schools but decided to attend Bama. She graduated at the top of her class, had great internships at NASA, and ended up with a job at a top aerospace company. Her brother, same stats, went to a T-15 school. He graduated middle of the pack. It was a lot harder for him to stand out. The cut-throat nature of his classmates and the weed-out environment was tough the first couple of years. He graduated and is working at an aerospace company but if he wants to go to grad school it might be a bit more difficult.
Our daughter is going to grad school this fall at a top 10 university with a full-pay fellowship. Her academic record along with many of the opportunities offered by Bama helped her application stand out. She also has several friends who are doing research at top universities and several who have gone on to law school at Harvard who graduated from Alabama.
I understand the quandary of IVY vs Alabama. We had several people question her decision given where her classmates ended up attending. She loved her college experience and found a great group of like minded kids. Whatever school your daughter decides on attending will be the right one, but there is more to a college than USNWR rankings.
Her little brother will be attending Bama in the fall for engineering as well. He looked at both his siblings and decided to save the money for grad school.
I disagree. Our daughter had many friends at Bama who were high stats kids that got into some top schools. Maybe it was because engineering attracts a certain type of kid but that was not her experience with the kids in her classes.