OP may love it there as a female engineering student. 
OP, sorry. I may be mistaken that you are female!!! My bad!!!
Yeah, Iâm not.
Hey OP, Iâm a current student at Temple who almost chose Bama and whose brother is thinking about applying to Bama, so maybe I can answer your questions about Temple. First, both are great schools and youâll get a good education at both.
- If you have the test scores, you are in at both schools. The requirements are a little different at Temple in that they only count your academic classes towards the GPA they use, and they weigh all honors/AP/IB academic classes as an extra .5 (A in an AP class gets you a 4.5, B a 3.5, etc.). Their scholarship GPA standard is higher than Bama's 3.5, and Bama accepts the highest GPA on your transcript, no questions asked. If you have a high GPA, neither should be a problem. The test score requirements, at least for the ACT--I never took the SAT-- are the same, except Temple doesn't require the writing section.
- As long as you don't have any extreme discipline issues, you'll be admitted no problem at both schools if you are in scholarship range.
- For Temple at least, there are no plans to stop it, and even if they did for some reason, they wouldn't strip it from students already offered the scholarship. I can't imagine Bama will be stopping either.
- Absolutely not! These schools know money is what will draw top students from more "prestigious" schools where they will be close to full pay.
- I'm not in engineering, so I can't really speak to that.
You would probably qualify for the extra $2500 Bama engineering scholarship, which isnât offered at Temple. However, Temple gives all its Presidentâs Scholars two $4000 stipends to use for study abroad, research, or to live on while working a summer internship.
I really liked both schools, but preferred Philadelphia to Tuscaloosa, for obvious reasons if youâre a city person. If youâre a college town person, you might like Tuscaloosa more. Temple really takes care of itâs Pres Scholars. I had the opportunity to take a seminar taught by President Theobald my very first semester, and the Honors advising and classes are a huge benefit. You should visit both and look closely at both engineering schools. Good luck!
So at both Alabama and Temple,they will calculate their own GPA to determine if you qualify or not? If someone has a sub 3.5 GPA and their school doesnât weigh grades, will these schools weigh AP classes in a manner that would allow that student to receive the full tuition scholarship at the school?
Thanks for the response too.
I think Alabama just takes whatever your HS reports. If your high school weights, youâre in a much better position than if it does not. Ours ⊠does not.
Well at least GPA shouldnât be problem anyways.
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So at both Alabama and Temple,they will calculate their own GPA to determine if you qualify or not?
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No. bama uses whatâs on the transcript, whichever GPA is higher on the transcript. Temple recalculates by only using academic subjects. Bama uses everythingâŠPE, religion classes, art, music, etc.
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If someone has a sub 3.5 GPA and their school doesn't weigh grades, will these schools weigh AP classes in a manner that would allow that student to receive the full tuition scholarship at the school?
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If someoneâs school doesnât weight grades and the GPA is too low, then they can ask their GC to write their weighted GPA on the transcript and Bama will accept that. Usually, itâs better if the student âdoes the mathâ for the GC, and shows the method, so itâs easier for the GC.
If youâre qualified for the Alabama scholarship that tells us you are very bright. Given that, if you are looking at money for college you may want to consider a paid internship this summer. Several of the larger companies may hire high school interns - look at the list of employers (Look up college career fairs) on colleges near you and you may find a great opportunity for this summer. At the very least youâll have a good idea of local internships to target while you are in college.
Best of luck to you! You canât go wrong with either S&T or UA.
We are from Missouri and were in your shoes last year! My son is at UA and is loving it! He is also a ChemE major. We took advantage of the Presidential and Engineering scholarships. As far as the costs, research all of the scholarships for MO S&T and MU, you will find that there are many inside and outside scholarships that will greatly reduce the cost of college. Look at each universityâs web site, thoroughly. Do it now, I think the MO S&T has a October application cutoff date for the top scholarship. Also, donât forget the Bright Flight Scholarship which is awarded to MO students with an ACT of 31 or above. This year my son was awarded 3,000/year for 5 years. It was cheaper for my son to stay in MO but, we felt that UA had more opportunities for our son. No regrets, I know its only been a month. 
Ok, thank you all.
For what itâs worth, Iâve never seen anyone who qualifies for a Bama automatic scholarship get rejected. (Iâve also never seen anyone get rejected by Bama lol). So to answer your first question, I wouldnât say itâs more competitive.
To the OP, we are from PA, and son qualified for Temple & UA. Temple is 3 hours away, AL is 15.
DS wants Computer Engineering. Templeâs presentation left us feeling it wasnât really a âprogramâ, few sentences about it and they moved on. The Honors College presentation was phenomenal at Temple, really invested in the students and the courses also seemed fascinating. So far at UA, DS had a really hard time even getting one Honors class. DS was adamant about not going to Temple. I preferred if he were closer, but couldnât argue w/ the inferior ECE program at Temple. I think the engineering facilities at UA are also superior.
Issues to consider when you are out of state. Do not underestimate the costs of travel, they can be significant. DS wonât be home until Christmas. Many of his friends were home for Labor Day weekend, and he missed that. He knew that going in, but it is a huge adjustment.
Yes, you can save money on the dorm if you go traditional at UA. Also, keep in mind that only a few dorms at Alabama are open during all breaks. So if you need to save money, consider the dorms where you donât have to leave for the breaks.
DS also qualified for fed grants as well as the Pres & Engineering Scholarships at UA. Even w/ that he had to take out the full $5500 fed loans. He could have saved some money w/ cheaper dorm, but he wanted a suite style. His books, for engineering, were $530, so close to those numbers listed. He did go w/ cheapest options available. So sometimes you canât really save all that much on books even going w/ used/rentals. Even w/ the loans, we are covering books & travel expenses.
I donât have the numbers in front of me, but I think the room & board at Temple was greater than UA, for us. Even w/ the PA state grants added to his aid money, UA was cheaper to attend, in that regard. The travel expenses to AL more than made up for that.
So look at you numbers carefully. You will have flights at either school, so that is a wash. I am thinking UA would be cheaper for you.
The overall admissions rate for Alabama is 51%, but admission to the Honors College is virtually assured if you apply by Dec. 15 with stats that make you eligible for an academic merit scholarship.
ETA: If youâre interested in applying for one of the Honors Collegeâs selective programs, Computer-Based Honors and University Fellows Experience, that will require a whole lot more hoop jumping, but it may be worth your while if youâre competitive because the opportunities there are pretty terrific, particularly for CBHP:
http://honors.ua.edu/computer-based-honors-program/cbh-admission/
http://honors.ua.edu/university-fellows-experience/university-fellows-admission/
Nice info, ty.