What in the heck is happening at UA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

<p>I joined CC about 6 months ago…to get info for my D (a junior) on how to navigate through the college rapids. I was pretty lost before I came here…and a few months into it, I realized that I was really really lost. :slight_smile: So CC has been an eye-opener. </p>

<p>My D is looking at elite schools (with Georgetown being the one that she’s built a shrine to with an eternal flame burning in front of it…against all CC advice :slight_smile: but as I bounce around the site, I see more and more people talking about UA…i have to be honest and tell you that I grew up in the South and did not think well of UA…but I left the south many decades ago and perhaps I have not kept up with matters. Then I was just on the overall college list and UA has <em>7000</em> separate thread discussions!? And that puts in at the top 10% of CC ratings.</p>

<p>So what is going on? Is it an honors program that is pulling everyone in? Or merit aid? I’m just trying to keep an open mind so i can be educated. :slight_smile: </p>

2

<p>I think both, merit aid plus honors program and of course Football. </p>

3

<p>Funny, football wasn’t even a factor for us : ) We found out about UA on CC also…knew our flagship would be 30K a year…DS applied/was accepted/received no scholarships there at all…as a NMF/top scores/rankings/gpa/ec’s. We had hoped for $$ but weren’t surprised when it wasn’t awarded. He applied to some other great schools with good scholarship results…but not as great as UA.</p>

<p>UA’s merit scholarships were our starting place. We figured it could be a safety school at the very least. We became interested enough to visit after researching due to the Honors programs departments offer and the focus on Engineering students/professors/facilities. Then we learned DS’ dual credit classes will transfer in, there are Masters in 5 offerings, great housing, and family from UT Chattanooga told us about strong research opportunities. </p>

<p>DS is pretty sure grad school is in his future…so having no debt from undergrad will be huge. A current Smart Ranking (findthebest) listed UIUC, TAMU, and UA at 94, 93, and 92…all very close! UA is first choice now and DS will start Fall14. </p>

4

<p>Even tough Football was mentioned, the lack of focus on football during our visits was a big factor for us. On our first visit it was only a couple of months after they had won the national championship. There was some hype at the beginning of the session and talk of football for a couple of minutes and after that is was all academics, getting the students graduated WITH a job, student quality of life etc. Honestly we were shocked at the lack of football bragging.</p>

<p>We know some people that visited UGA and it was football football football…oh yea we have some academic stuff and btw you should feel lucky we are even talking to you…</p>

<p>When you visit UA they truly make you feel like you are the only one there and they appreciate you as a student and want to know what they can do best for the student, both academically as well as quality of life while you are there. They appreciate you choosing to look at them vs some schools that make you feel like they might lower themselves to talk to you.</p>

<p>We went to visit UA on a whim, we thought for sure our son would prefer a smaller school. After the first visit we all liked what we heard and then we started to find out about the merit scholarships. After the second visit with the honors college he was pretty much hooked.</p>

<p>UA is also a lot more home school friendly than a lot of other schools. We live in GA and homeschool. IF my son went to UGA I would have to pay the first year out of pocket until he “proved” himself and then the GA HOPE scholarships would kick in…even though he took the same SATs and ACTs that everyone else had that was not good enough for GA schools. </p>

<p>One visit to the campus and meeting some of the faculty and you will see why so many students are choosing UA!</p>

5

<p>I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but my first exposure to UA was when a picture of the awesome outdoor pool at the Rec Center with slides and lazy river came up on an non-college related google search. My oldest was just a HS freshman at the time and we hadn’t given much thought to college. I had to click on the pool picture and check it out, and then I had to check out the school where that pool was located. I saw the generous scholarships and had to look further. The more I looked, the more I liked the school and thought it would be a nice fit for my D. She applied and visited to humor me, as she did not want to go that far from home and didn’t like hot weather. Fast forward five years and D is a happy sophomore at Bama. And FWIW, I’m not sure she’s ever been in that outdoor pool at the Rec Center that started it all. </p>

6

<p>SouthernHope - If you search through the other threads on the Bama page you will find the same story as yours, and the ones above, over and over. I cant tell you how many of us had elite schools targeted for our kids and only looked at Bama as a safety. I mean after all, our DS was a NMF, had perfect ACT’s,perfect GPA, had the EC’s, what elite college wouldnt want to have him on campus? As the search goes on and you realize the $$ for the elite schools and the almost complete lack of merit, schools like Bama start moving up the list a bit. Eventually you get to the point that you decide to at least visit and once you get there the picture really starts coming into focus.</p>

<p>The posts you read are true, Bama is not a small school but they make the student feel like they are the most important recruit for the entire college. Do some have bad visits? Sure. But, from what I can tell it is a small percentage. The really amazing thing to me is that it doesnt end once they have you on campus as a student. I have heard stories of students getting face to face meetings with the College President, numerous times where kids were invited to a Dean’s or professors house for dinner and other similar things.</p>

<p>I have said it on previous threads…If you read through a number of threads you will see that there are a very large number of happy parents singing the praises of Bama. Are we happy because of the merit dollars? Sure. But most of us are happy because our kids are happy…and thriving. There is no better feeling as a parent than to know that your child is somewhere that cares about them and that they are happy and successful.</p>

<p>BTW, DS is a second semester student double majoring in Chemincal Engineering and Biology and is starting the process to also get his Masters in Biology. So at this point I have almost 2 years experience in being a happy Bama parent. Only complaint so far would be hotel costs on game day :frowning: </p>

7

<p>To add one more point that has been kind of echoed in this thread…My son was also looking at Emory, but even with $$ from them it would still be $20K or more per year and he would end up with $50K+ in student loans for an undergrad degree. After doing some looking and thinking with a few exceptions what advantage does one have graduating from a school like Emory with $50K in loans vs a school like UA with 0 debt. Will you really get a job with your degree to make up that $50K in a reasonable amount of time? That is a LOT of debt to start with.</p>

<p>Not sure what degree your D is looking at but here is one thing you might want to do…
Add up the total cost of attendance (tuition, room, board, books, etc) for each school
Factor in a swag at what kind of $$ she will get from each school
Determine how much debt there will be for each school
Look at potential jobs & salaries associate with her degree</p>

<p>Then you can figure out what the loan payments will be based on current terms and see what that impact has on the students live style once they graduate, get a job, and have to start payments on the loans. </p>

<p>And then if you want to go to grad school on top of that the $$ in loans are just going to add up.</p>

<p>We did this and Emory fell off the list real fast…As I said for some degrees it might be worth it, but for many it is not.</p>

8

<ol>
<li> Merit attracts you to take a closer look</li>
<li> The growth of OOS students changes the “feel” of campus so those outside of the South lose the misguided assumption that they will be the odd man out.</li>
<li> Planned Growth of school translates into new dorms and new facilities – Don’t discount the big beautiful dorms in the mind of a 17 or 18 year old.</li>
<li> Planned Growth of school has also included plenty of research areas available starting freshmen year. The high stat kids may get into some “elite” schools, but upon high school visits the Professors in these schools aren’t taking one-on-one time to explain what the kid can be doing in their first year.</li>
<li> Extremely personable Deans who can sell the school with a soft-sale, personalized approach. Half the parents here were wanting to return to school after a one-on-one family sit down with Dean Sharp.</li>
<li> Did I mention the personalized attention? Bama goes above and beyond with directing Facebook groups, e-mails and other correspondence to Parents to make them feel comfortable sending the kids out of home region.</li>
<li> Very well maintained campus grounds and buildings.</li>
<li> The growth has attracted Professors at a time when many of our states “financial safety” schools are cutting departments.</li>
</ol>

<p>There are certainly negatives we found for our family at Bama, but the positives and money end out-weighed it and it was worth taking the plunge. Our family’s feel was worst case, it did not live up to the hype and DS would transfer. Since out of pocket cost was low, the worst case transfer seemed to put my kid in the same financial position then if he did not try Bama.</p>

<p>The large number of posts on CC are parents who found a gem and want to spread the word. It was the parent of a junior and senior who is not a big CC poster who convinced me that the “hype” is not marketing but real experiences her kids received.</p>

<p>I think Bama is worth a visit thru the Honors College for every student who could get merit, esp if that student would need loans elsewhere.</p>

9

<p>I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if it weren’t for the 2 plane trips to get there, my NMF, highly interesting (aren’t they all?? :slight_smile: Ds would be pursing this option in a heartbeat. We’ve got $15K at Pitt, $44K at UNC and somewhere in there is Darthmouth. We didn’t find out about Bama until later in the game (I am new to CC) and it’s right during hs musical season leaving us no time to spare on top of the other college visits we had already commited to. I honestly have dreams/nightmares about not pursing this option. </p>

10

<p>For me personally, my college search began with “Colleges with Speech Teams.” That, plus the great QOL and scholarships, and I was locked in. </p>

11

<p>Ditto much of the above.</p>

<p>All the other schools my son applied to were in the top 10 in either engineering or specificially in civil engineering his intended major. We ‘discovered’ Bama while searching for merit scholarships and he applied as a financial safety.</p>

<p>We toured 10 schools and he opted to apply to 6. </p>

<p>When it came time for him to make his decision it was definitely the personal attention from Bama that swayed him. Our final decision was between staying in state and attending Purdue who offered no merit aid, or attending Bama with the full scholarship + engineering award. I was annoyed that Purdue didn’t think he was worthy of any merit aid, but left the final decision in his hands. He chose Bama primarily because they made him feel special and wanted. From our local recruiter to the honors college staff the people we met with took the time to ask him about his interests and remembered and referred to him by name. I can’t envision that happening at any of the other schools we toured.</p>

<p>Even after he made his decision, I questioned if it was the best one we could have made, but now in his second year I don’t believe any other school could have offered him any more.</p>

<p>He was able to start with 35 hours of dual credit and AP completed (which is significantly less than many of other CC’s posters students), but that enabled him to complete the honors requirements as well as a minor. He started his freshman year with the opportunity to participate in outdoor action, then he got to move into what are probably the best dorms at any college, his first semester he earned a spot on the President’s list with a 4.0 GPA, he ended his year with a trip to Ecuador with Alabama Action Abroad, and then spent the summer working at an internship in his field. This year he will be returning to Ecuador as a student leader and was just offered a co-op position, which if he chooses to accept will enable him to graduate with over a year of work experience in his field (and instead of loans to repay, money in his bank account when he graduates). (He’s still waiting to hear about a summer internship which might cause him to turn down the co-op). All while having the memories of going to The Strip after the football team won the national title and being able to take pictures outside wearing shorts while we’re still shovelling snow up here 500 miles to the north. </p>

<p>When I reflect now, I really can’t envision what those much higher ranked schools could have possibly provided to make them worth $40,000+ more over 4 years. I’m definitely getting my money’s worth! :)</p>

12

<p>This ^^^ teared me up ^^^</p>

<p>Roll Tide, Roll!!!</p>

13

<p>Add another probable NMF (my DS) to the list of those that have UA at the top of his list…in fact we’re heading to the airport in about 1 hour to visit the campus for the second (and hopefully last “fit” visit). We’ll have the pleasure of a one on one visit with Dean Sharpe, whom we haven’t had a chance to meet. DS is ready to sign on the dotted line in July and is actively recruiting his friends to visit/attend.</p>

14

<p>I currently have 2 students at Bama and hopefully they will both be third generation Bama grads in the near future. As both of my kids had always dreamed of going to Bama, the OOS tuition, plus sacrificing the HOPE scholarship in Georgia made their dream look financially impossible.! However, the merit scholarships allowed them the opportunity to pursue their dream and to hopefully graduate without any debt.</p>

<p>With all of that being said, I was concerned that their “dream” school would not meet their expectations as they were both raised as “Bama kids”. I am happy to say that both of my kids have had awesome experiences at Bama. The Honors College, Alabama Action, the dorms, intramurals, their church and just the amazing atmosphere has been wonderful. They were already huge football fans, so I really can’t count that. The Career Center has provided my senior daughter with all of the networking tools she has needed and fortunately she is in the process of making decisions about her future job. My freshman son will get to continue his love of community service as an Alabama Action leader and has even gone to several gymnastics meets (to my surprise). Also, many of the Bama grads in our family are successful engineers, so I feel really confident that he is getting a great education as well.</p>

<p>The most exciting thing to us right now is that their college scholarships have allowed us to apply their college funds to my husband’s retirement! Bama has been a win in all areas for our family! Roll Tide!</p>

15

<p>My husband just asked me…how did this whole cycle of OOS/in-state guaranteed scholarships to attract the “best and brightest”, expansion of facilities etc. business model begin? Was it a previous UA President who had the foresight? Was it the state that somehow found the funds to funnel to their flagship? (not happening in VA!) Was it a massive alumni base that decided to support the school? We’ve been the happy recipients of all of this Alabama largesse (still hoping DS will commit in the next couple of weeks). Just curious about how this all occurred when so many state schools are struggling to find the resources to keep tuition reasonable.</p>

16

<p>UA’s current chancellor and former president Dr. Robert Witt is credited with enacting a lot of the scholarship changes at UA by starting a large capital campaign and making sure that the University was financially stable in the event of an economic downturn such that it could afford to expand while other schools were having to do the opposite. UA’s expansion of facilities was started by Dr. Witt’s predecessor Dr. Andrew “Bow Tie Andy” Sorensen, who abruptly left UA to become president of the University of South Carolina. </p>

17

<p>Okay, we’re convinced. :slight_smile: We have Tufts & BU coming up this weekend but will slot in a visit to UA in April…</p>

18

<p>I think the giving of UA alumni, perhaps inspired by football success, has been crucial. US News regularly has UA ranked number 1 for percentage of alumni giving to their alma mater. Plus, the football success has allowed the Athletic Dept to give millions each year back to the university. </p>

19

<p>@VAmomof4, the article linked to below provides a really good history of the business model UA has employed over the last decade or so to get to where they are today. I found the whole thing really fascinating, and it was ultimately what convinced me to seriously investigate the school for my son. </p>

<p><a href=“http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/blogposts/2013/playing_the_merit_aid_game_at_public_universities-83896”>http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/blogposts/2013/playing_the_merit_aid_game_at_public_universities-83896&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

20

<p>SouthernHope, just make sure you set up your visit per the great directions provided by m2ck, copied below (PS my NMF son, who will graduate from UA in a few weeks, also got into BU. His 4-year experience at Bama has been phenomenal. I’m a UC Berkeley grad and the quality of his education at Bama has been every bit as good as mine at Cal):</p>

<p>HONORS COLLEGE CAMPUS VISITS (for those who will likely qualify for the HC)</p>

<p>Welcome: Do try to visit Bama…We think you’ll be very impressed by all the new facilities and the beautiful campus.</p>

<p>If you do visit, first set up the campus tour online…try for an early morning time! Don’t bother with the “info session”, you’ll get that info here pretty much on the Alabama forum on College Confidential which is VERY active. By skipping the Info Session, the people in the HC will have more time to schedule meetings with profs, etc.</p>

<p>Set up your tour here: <a href=“http://tour.ua.edu/”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama;

<p>Don’t delay setting up your campus tour! The tour is a mix of walking and riding in a small bus, so each tour is strictly limited to the number of seats on that small bus.</p>

<p>In the email to the below listed people, include:
Student’s name and contact info
Date and time of the Campus tour that you’ve reserved.
GPA and test scores (include likely NMSF if applicable)
Likely majors
Career interests (including med, law, etc)
Anything particular that you want to see. If you have an interest in seeing the new Science and Engineering Complex, the TV or radio stations, the B-school or what-have-you, let them know.</p>

<p>Honors Recruitment</p>

<p>Susan Alley
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
susan.alley AT ua.edu</p>

<p>Neil Adams
neil.adams AT ua.edu</p>

<p>They will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with faculty, honors people, touring honors dorms, etc.</p>

<p>Sometimes mail goes to their SPAM folders, so call them if you haven’t heard back within a few business days. They do an excellent job and work very hard.</p>