@mom2collegekids - OK, you’ve convince me to put Bama back on the list (but only as a safety - we are full pay, but would only pay for a few select schools that are by no means assured). In fact, I think Bama is visiting our school this week or next and I will tell my kid (likely mathematics major) to check it out more closely.
Congrats to your son and best wishes for his continued success!
@dropbox77177 I have some opinions about and experience with math at Bama; I don’t want to clutter this thread but feel free to DM me.
I agree with you that the drop will probably have some effect on applications, but also with others that it shouldn’t really for high stats students (and possibly for others, but I don’t really know). The opportunities for high stat students at Bama are really quite good, and they have not been reduced in recent years.
That is good to here, just remember that so far, there is no sign of UA being less attractive to top students. 256 National Merit Scholars in this Fall’s freshman class, and highest avg GPA in school history, even with a big increase in in-state enrollment, speaks volumes. The irony is that UA goes out of its way to give students with less impressive stats a chance, and is being punished for it by the same folks who now place need based aid above merit aid and claim to care about “diversity.”
Also, I think a tour of the relatively new or renovated Science and Engineering facilities will show you that UA can compete with the best schools in terms of facilities.
Would be helpful to know the realities of the Honors College versus the rest of the university. For example, are Honors College courses only open to honors students ?
@Publisher You can find info on the honors college at it’s website.
https://honors.ua.edu/academics/courses/
Some classes, like Departmental Honors are limited to honor students. Keep in mind that not ever class an honor student takes will be an honors class. Especially once you get into your upper division classes (junior/seniors).
For an excellent cohort of top students, @dropbox77177, I would look into RRS.
A quick search of LinkedIn, will give you a good view of where alumni work and live. Search for the school and then select the alumni tab.
A lot of UCLA alumni (over 1,500+) work for PwC, EY and Deloitte, many studied “Economics”, “Accounting” or “Business/Managerial Economics”.
At UA, about 1/2 that number of Alumni (750+) work for the same three companies. However, keep in mind that UA’s enrollment was historically much smaller, until recently, hence UCLA has about twice the number of Alumni registered in LinkedIn.
I really recommend this tool.
This is a very important point. Plus, it’s only been about 10-15 years that Bama has aggressively recruited high stats, especially high stats OOS, students.
The good news is that once Bama started to recruit and graduate so many high stats students, those people are making their marks across the nation.
Maybe that’s because Alabama doesn’t have an Industrial (or Industrial Systems) Engineering Department? Clearly Michigan’s is better since 'Bama doesn’t have one. Now, Auburn has one and it if fairly good. Honestly, how can you claim to make a point on comparing schools when the data just doesn’t even exist?
Well yes it does. This is their main branch that seems everyone from the Midwest is going to for merit. We can take another discipline if you like. Heh, it’s an up and coming program and I think it’s great they are trying to raise their profile.
https://catalog.uah.edu/undergrad/colleges-departments/engineering/
I understand. It’s what came up when I searched the subject.
??? You mean you understand that UA-H is not university being discussed? UA does not offer industrial engineering. https://catalog.ua.edu/undergraduate/engineering/
So I might if misspoke and I apologize. It was mechanical engineering at Alabama as an example. My son’s in Industrial and I had that on the brain.
You can look at the faculty if you would like and compare.
I hate to say this, because I do not want to stir up controversy. But I’m bothered by it. Ever since my child has shown an interest in UA, we have gotten the most horrible reactions from work acquaintances. “Why would they want to go to school in the RED state of ALABAMA?” My answer is that we do not discriminate geographically or politically. So naturally when I see this thread, my instinct is to guess that their rating is influenced by geographical bias in this extremely toxic political environment. Hope I’m wrong. But doubt it.
To be clear, first you got the engineering disciplines wrong, then you got the universities wrong?
That’s Werner von Braun’s University, not 'Bama.
Let me begin by stating that I am not and have never been from Alabama.
What city has the highest per capita number of PhDs in the US? Please, guess.
If you said Huntsville, Alabama, then you were correct. Most people have never heard of Huntsville, but it is integral to the US space industry. It is also one the Tombigbee River, one of the largest civil engineering projects in the southeast (thanks TVA!). Auburn and 'Bama are excellent universities. UA-B has a good regional medical school. The state even has beaches! It has a low cost of living that some companies are starting to recognize. Does Alabama have some troubling racial history. You bet. So does my hometown (Memphis). Those that judge the region based upon what happened in the past are missing the opportunities existing now and in the future. In my experience, every region has its issues. The question is not what are the issues, but what is being done about them. Perhaps that is what your colleagues should ask.
For every colleague who says “Alabama? Bunch of Red Necks” I could offer you a colleague who’d say “Boston? All those liberal snowflakes” or “New York? I wouldn’t live there if you paid me a zillion dollars” or “San Francisco? What about all the homeless people” or “Philadelphia? U Penn is in the middle of a slum” or “Smith? I didn’t think your daughter was gay”.
If you make life choices based on other people’s reactions, you’d hunker down and eat survivalist meals from Costco. Every choice is contrary to someone else’s worldview.
You’re probably right, Blossom. I just think that in this heightened political environment, people’s opinions have a greater impact. It’s not right. And I completely disagree with the attitudes I’m seeing… either way.