I’m a high school junior living in North Carolina. My SAT (new version) is 1470, my ACT is 32, my PSAT is 1490. I’m pretty certain I’ll be a national merit finalist. I’m considering the University of Alabama because of their national merit finalist scholarship. Does anyone know if that scholarship can be used to pay for the University Scholars Program (the four year MBA program)? Can I extend the USP to five years instead of four? I think I want to earn my MBA in financial engineering. I can find work with that major, or maybe attend law school (not at Alabama).
Another question: to anyone who’s enrolled in the honors college, what do you think of it? I don’t have any specific questions about it, I’m just wondering if it’ll be a factor when I consider attendance.
Thanks
I don’t think that an MBA is included in the University Scholars program. However, financial engineering is one of the curriculum tracks for the MS in Finance, which could be pursued under the University Scholars program. My understanding is that the national merit scholarship now covers 10 semesters, so you if you need five years to get a bachelors and masters, you should be able to do that.
As for the honors college, my daughter was in the honors college, fulfilled the requirements and graduated with University Honors. The honors college offers small seminar classes taught by some wonderful faculty members, some community service classes, and a variety of activities and social events. On a percentage basis, though, the honors college seminars you take won’t be signficant; the vast majority of your classes are taken outside the honors college. Being in the honors college gives you the ability to take departmental honors classes, though. You can be as involved or uninvolved in the honors college as you choose, and obviously the more involved, the more you’ll get out of it. If you fulfill the requirements (I think it’s 18 total honors credits of which 6 are UH seminar classes), you get the distinction on your transcript. If you don’t, it’s not a big deal. There are perks to being in the honors college, most notably priority registration. It’s been scaled back in the past year, but it’s still a nice perk to have. You can also live in honors housing freshman year if you choose. I would definitely advise you to participate in the honors college if you attend Alabama, but I’m not sure I’d make my decision to attend or not attend based on the honors college.