<p>Daughter who is a junior in high school received an invitation to UA Special Reception which is to be held at a nearby country club. Can anyone tell me more about this? Do these just go out to all juniors or is it by referral or ACT score? What could we expect if we attend? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>YES! Go to this!!! This is how we found UA in the first place. I do believe it is most often targeted at high stat kids (but not sure where they get that list from or what the cut-off is). It will have great food, great hospitality, and you will meet many alumni and fellow parents of other great kids. There will be at least 1 high-flying official/administrator from UA, your local rep, and both a parent and a current student speaker. Dress nice (but not formal by any means). Go early…get a free t-shirt…drink the Koolaid. (JK) Hope you can make it, seriously. It will be worth your time, if UA is already on your radar and you think it will be a plausible fit for your D.</p>
<p>Last year my D was invited to a special reception in the Chicago area. My D was a senior and had already visited (junior year) and applied at the time she received the invitation. There were a couple juniors we know who received invitations, but I believe they had already been in contact with UA. I don’t know if they also sought out students who had not had any contact with the school based on scores or whatever.</p>
<p>I enjoyed the reception and thought the main speaker (Dr. Karr from the College of Engineering) was informative and entertaining.</p>
<p>Do go to this. They are very informative and as stated above they are a great way to meet potential parents and students. The local recruiters from your area will be there. they generally give out a shirt and big packet of info. Usually a rep from the Honors college speaks, the local recruiter, a rep from UA and sometimes there are other UA administration there as well. Last year I was the parent speaker for two different locations and my daughter was the student speaker. Both the parent speaker and the student will stay around to answer questions and talk with you…use them they are a valuable source of information :)…</p>
<p>I highly recommend going to this event. We went two years ago when our oldest was considering the UA. The one in our area was held at the Coca-Cola headquarters in downtown Atlanta. Dr. Witt and Dr. Sharpe both attended the event and answered questions from parents and potential students. I’m guessing there were 700 or so in attendance. It was a very nice catered event and a pleasant evening.</p>
<p>I would definitely go. The ‘Dessert Reception’ hosted by UA was the very first time they made our radar and it has to be by test scores because we had no other contact and son was the only Junior at the event. I pressured son into attending, because I was intrigued by a college that seemed so personally interested, (you’re welcome, DS) and though he only agreed for the sake of pastry, it prompted a visit to UA, which pretty much sealed the deal. Also, though the speakers were great, a bigger impression was made for me when talking with UA parents who literally glowed with enthusiasm about the University. The pastry was good, too. :-)</p>
<p>If nothing else, it will be the ‘gold standard’ against which you will thereafter measure all other college recruiting sessions! Don’t tell your daughter too much about it ahead of time, tho, is my advice - let the feel-good creep up on her all by itself.</p>
<p>UA caught our son too using this approach. The reception was held at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. It all sounded too good to be true (and still seems that way).</p>
<p>Yes, do go to the “Special Reception”, these are usually held at nice hotels or country clubs and the food is quite good. The speeches will be short, about 3-5 minutes each, but will be informative and entertaining. They will do their best to give you as much information as you need or want. Generally there is a question and answer segment but sometimes that is skipped in lieu of individual questions. </p>
<p>My son was also selected as a student speaker during his freshman year and in addition, he had the opportunity to visit with local guidance counselors to discuss the university. The counselors kept asking how long he had worked for the university since he seemed young, they were amazed that he was a freshman student. (lol)</p>
<p>There are normally other parents at the reception along with the parent speaker who will stay to answer questions from a parent’s perspective. I have done this for the past few years and I have enjoyed helping prospective parents and students. I am currently scheduled to be the parent speaker at one of these events, this November, in my local area.</p>
<p>The event lasts approximately two hours but will put you in touch with the right people to answer your questions. I always give out my e-mail to prospective parents, so they can stay in touch.</p>
<p>Students should dress nicely (sometimes they wear school uniforms) because you never know who you will meet. At our local reception, Dr. Witt had been the keynote speaker for the past several years. Imagine being a prospective student and meeting the UA President (then, now Chancellor) of the university! </p>
<p>Enjoy the event and Roll Tide!!</p>
<p>One of these events will be held tomorrow, Thursday August 30th, at 7:00 pm at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It’s a perfect location to use just before Saturday’s big game! My D will be the student speaker and I will do the parent portion.</p>
<p>^^^How nice, momofonly1! Roll Tide</p>
<p>Student speaker was my favorite speaker - congrats!</p>
<p>Thanks! She is very excited and we are too. I think the Stadium will be a big draw. I imagine the reception will be in one of the club areas. My biggest fear is that my face will be on that giant video screen!</p>
<p>Quick! Toner!</p>
<p>These receptions are definitely worth attending. Great information and meeting current Bama students, parents and staff helps reassure wary (i.e. northern) OOS prospectives and their parents about going to Bama. We decided that night we would be visiting Tuscaloosa. </p>
<p>Last year there was a major “college fair” in downtown Chicago on the Columbus Day Holiday. Tens of thousands of students and parents. Bama was hosting its Chicagoarea reception about 10 days later. The regional representative (Bethany) gave a postcard and invited interested persons to attend. You may want to reachout to your regional representative. Don’t be affraid to ask if there will be a reception in your area.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the feedback!! We will definitely be attending now. My daughter is actually very interested in going to UA. We have received info from other schools but this is the first invitation. Hoping for lots of scholarship information!! Thanks again!!</p>
<p>In the meantime, check out this link, dbmom23.</p>
<p>[Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)</p>
<p>We went to the one in Nashville about a week ago. It was by far the best college session we have been to yet. Since then, S has really wanted to tour campus. We will be headed to Tuscaloosa next week for a visit.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of a session of this nature occurring in south Florida by any chance?</p>
<p>carimama: Check on these links for FL and the recruiter for your area - click on their name and below their info is information on where they will be in the upcoming months. It is a good idea to make contact with your recruiter to be aware of programs.
[Undergraduate</a> Admissions - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://gobama.ua.edu/staff/state.cfm?state=FL]Undergraduate”>http://gobama.ua.edu/staff/state.cfm?state=FL)
[Casie</a> Tate - Undergraduate Admissions - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://gobama.ua.edu/staff/counselor.cfm?id=78]Casie”>http://gobama.ua.edu/staff/counselor.cfm?id=78)</p>