University of Alabama vs Auburn University for STEM major

<p>Not hard to find if one is truly interested.</p>

<p>A quick search of “Auburn social problems” mostly turns up links to Auburn’s sociology and social work department.</p>

<p>Perhaps more was required than a “quick search.” The incident involving Delta Sigma Phi was reported by national news organizations at the time. Is Auburn the only place where such events occurred? Clearly not, but when a nationally prominent alumnae makes an observation about it, I notice.</p>

<p>Here’s the bio for Tim Cook, CEO of Apple: </p>

<p>Cook grew up in Robertsdale, Alabama, near Mobile. His father was a shipyard worker, while his mother worked at a pharmacy. Cook graduated from high school at Robertsdale High School, earned a B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University in 1982, and his MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 1988.</p>

<p>Just wanted to take a jab at mom2collegekids. ;)</p>

<p>Still took some digging - LW are you referring to a Halloween party from 2001 - that’s all I could dig up. If so, AU took action and that was 12.5 years ago? Something more current not related to Frat or Sorority? Is your comment related to race issues/concerns?</p>

<p>Just to share ds’s experience. He met with the deans in both of the universities’ depts and there was no comparison between the 2 meetings. Getting a feeling for the individual depts might be the best option all around for making a determination.</p>

<br>

<br>

<p>lol…uh yes…IF THE STATE gave the schools the money…THAT was my point. The money isnt coming from the schools, it is coming from the state. if the state were to stop providing, the schools would be SOL. The UCs and the CSUs could not order the state to cough up the bucks. </p>

<p>You seem to be purposely ignoring the point. </p>

<p>You keep harping on Bama’s inadequate aid for low income, when it is the state’s fault, not the school’s. that said, it really isnt the state’s fault since the state has opted to provide univs sprinkled across the state so students could commute.</p>

<p>this idea that states should be providing a sleep-away experience is just silly. </p>

<p>@‌LakeWashington
I did not assert anything. I did not say that Auburn had no social problems. Thus there is nothing to “disagree” with. </p>

<p>I made a request, not a statement. I just asked for some documentation of what you are talking about. Thus far you have provided… um… nothing other than innuendo and telling us that we should figure it out for ourselves. I suggest that you get explicit about your assertion, so that we know what you mean.</p>

<p>I would suggest that vaguely referencing sorority or fraternity misconduct is hardly an indictment. Many, if not most, state universities have problems with greek life. Again, I consider it your responsibility to provide the details.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>You obviously don’t get it. State universities are part of the state, and they are integral to state higher education policy, as is financial aid. Financial aid at state universities ultimately comes from the state, whether it is labeled as state aid (like Cal Grants) or is dispensed by the state universities. What you are arguing about is an artificial distinction in terms of labeling the financial aid money provided by the state.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>A strawman argument, since California mostly does not. Perhaps if it makes you feel better, California only does to an extent limited to the smaller number of UCs, which have higher admission standards, so it is kind of like a “merit scholarship”. Even then, the net price is higher than for the commuter CSU for those who live in range of one.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It is not like racism in the Greek letter organizations is unique to Auburn. After all, Alabama had the “racist meddling alumni vetoing black sorority pledges” incident much more recently than 2001, so it is not like going to Alabama over Auburn would necessarily avoid such issues at the Greek letter organizations any better.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>M2CK that seems a bit low. Does that take into account that many of the 2/3 OOS scholarships get turned into 100% for engineering students? I would also think more 2/3 OOS scholarships are being offered than full OOS scholarships (30–31 ACT or 1330–1390 SAT score vs. a 32–36 ACT or 1400–1600 SAT score). I believe the state has put about $120 million aside for UA scholarships (it shows as an expense in the state/universities budgets). A significant % of this would be for OOS scholarships (simply based on OOS scholarships being worth more than in-state scholarships, $9.5K a year vs. $24K a year).</p>

<p>I can’t find anything about the % of OOS that receive scholarships, but NCES data does give averages and such. For example, for all undergraduates, the total amount of grants and scholarships is about $117 million (which matches up with what the state had budgeted). For incoming freshmen, 47% (2,688 students) receive Institutional grants or scholarships (for a total of $26,831,226 or an average of $9,982 per student)</p>

<p><a href=“College Navigator - The University of Alabama”>College Navigator - The University of Alabama;

<p>By the way, Auburn’s numbers are comparable to UA. For all undergraduates, the total amount of grants and scholarships is about $104 million. For incoming freshmen, 69% (2,875 students) receive Institutional grants or scholarships (for a total of $28,665,976 or an average of $9,971 per student). The recent state budget increased Auburn’s budgeted scholarship/grants fund by 20+%. I can’t find anything explaining this recent increase.</p>

<p>I blame Threeofthree for making me spend 1/2 hour trying to answer the question…silly turtle… ~X( </p>

<p>Gator, yes it does. If you see, I mentioned the 2/3 scholarships.</p>

<p>’‘You obviously don’t get it. State universities are part of the state, and they are integral to state higher education policy, as is financial aid.’’</p>

<p>lol…yes I get it. if a state univ could order the state to provide better aid, dont you think Bama and the rest would do so. you dont seem to get it.</p>

<p>AU is higher tuition from the start - Tuition increased after my son enrolled and before school started - no scholarship increase; tuition increased again (so did housing) this year with no increase in scholarship. UA has Auburn beat hands down for freshman scholarships by a mile (100% tuition
plus the $2500 for engineering for 4 years at UA and $15k for 4 yrs at AU) however, I cannot speak to Departmental or other types of scholarships…perhaps that is where AU is catching up but not in the freshman scholarships. </p>

<p>Sorry I made you work so hard but I still don’t get your numbers - I know what was offered to my son and many of his friends at both schools.</p>

<p>There is also a higher bar to get the scholarships at AU than UA</p>

<p>^^^ In-state AU is about the same as UA, it’s OOS where we find the difference.</p>

<p>Back to guessing how many OOS are rewarded 2/3 to full scholarships.</p>

<p>Using the latest common data set for UA:</p>

<p><a href=“http://oira.ua.edu/d/content/reports/2013-2014-common-data-set”>http://oira.ua.edu/d/content/reports/2013-2014-common-data-set&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>We know that 60% of incoming freshman has a 3.5 or better GPA, and that the average was 3.6. Lets say 60% of freshman meet the GPA target for 2/3 or full OOS scholarships.</p>

<p>Next, lets look at standardized test. Here we find 30% of freshman had a 30+ ACT score. Lets say about the same % of SAT takers would also qualify for the better OOS scholarships (2/3 or full).</p>

<p>The freshman class was 6,454 (in 2001 it was less than 3,000, which gives you a sense of UA’s recent growth). We know 4,048 are out of state(60%). Assuming 30% qualify for 2/3 or full OOS scholarships, then we’re talking about 1,200 OOS students. I would think the percentage of OOS with qualifying stats is higher than in-state, so that number (1,200) seems conservative. We would still have thousands of OOS students with less than 2/3 scholarships. </p>

<p>For AU (whose OOS scholarships don’t compare to UA), they had 3,696 enrolled students, 37% are OOS, 28% had a 30 or better ACT, 73% had a 3.5 or better GPA and the average GPA was a 3.74. It’s interesting that UA enrolled students have a higher % of 30+ ACT scores, while AU enrolled freshman have a much better average GPA. The average freshman student at AU (in-state and OOS) has better stats, than one at UA. </p>

<p>Some confusing numbers - assume you are correct. I can tell you it was very, very hard to say no to UA, not just for the money, but they do a lot of marketing right. However, there is something about AU that just captures you and they got my boy (and me too now)…it’s a lovely place and when it fits, it fits. </p>

<p>I don’t know how anyone can give GPA credence when you see that some schools give extra points for Honors classes anywhere from .5 to 1 and additional extra points for AP and IB anywhere from 1 to 2 points and some schools don’t give any extra points at all for anything. How in the world do you have a 4.6 gpa and a 1120 on your CR+M or 23 on your ACT? GPA is meaningless unless you look at the school.</p>

<p>I don’t doubt that UA would have betters scores - they are courting the right people. I wish them well - no reason you can’t have 2 good engineering schools in the state. In fact, UA should teach UGA how to market their Engineering school because all anyone in Georgia heard was “UGA President Michael Adams says civil, electrical and mechanical engineering degrees are needed at Athens to give more options to students who can’t get into Georgia Tech.” Yeah, that really makes my kid want to go there. Son turned down Honors College, free tuition, plus another $2000 / year at UGA - would have chosen UA over UGA for engineering in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>Mo3, I didn’t realize it had been that long and I didn’t realize that the Opelika-Auburn News story published in 2006 as a “looking back, 5 years later story” about the racist party at Deta Sigma Phi at Auburn.</p>

<p>Anyway, as I said, these type of incidents have happened at places in addition to Auburn University, but as I recall Tucker’s article, it seemed as though this type of thing occurred at Auburn more than once or twice. But since she has agreed to speak at the school in recent years, perhaps she has noticed a change for the better.</p>

<p>UGA wants to build an engineering department to help them get invited to the Association of American Universities(AAU). It’s not a coincidence that the last two schools invited to the SEC (TAMU and Missouri) are AAU members (and now give the conference 4 voting members). After Georgia, UA and AU would be the next potential members. It’s another reason UA is building it’s engineering school. </p>

<p>Alabama = Auburn. Go with whichever is cheapest to attend.</p>

<p>Visit first - then decide.</p>