Who's applying from HS Class of 2017?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
61

@novicemom23kids and @MichiganGeorgia Great info. The more I read, the more I want to get down and visit. Will try to fit it in the budget.

@musicgirl131 Looking forward to reading about your visit. Sounds like it was great.

@MichiganGeorgia Dorms: I’ve written in other threads that I will strongly suggest my son live in a corridor style room for his freshman year. More communal, easier to make friends, and probably just enough alone time with only one roommate.

62

57 @novicemom23kids - great to hear about your visit! You experienced the Bama that I know, as a parent of a current student who has visited the campus several times!

63

@stem2017 - oh one more thing that my son liked about UA… There are more girls than guys there. :wink:

64

Hi, I’m from the suburbs of Pittsburgh and am looking at UA. I just have a few questions that hopefully someone cab answer:

  1. Is admission to the honors program somewhat guaranteed if you have good scores and can write a decent essay? Or is it very difficult to gain admission like penn states? Also, how competitive is honors housing?
  2. How is the social life for GUYS that don’t plan on joining a fraternity? I like to have fun but don’t think Greek life is necessarily for me.
  3. It looks like the forms for housing, not the actual selection, open very early. How does this affect those who don’t know where they are going to until like April?
    I’m sorry if any of these were already answered but I didn’t have time to read through all 60 posts. Thanks and any info is greatly appreciated!
65

@pitt2021 hi! I can answer some of these!

  1. They said if you have a 3.5 GPA (W or UW) and a 32 ACT (idk the SAT), you're automatically in. After that, you just maintain a 3.3 GPA. As far as the essay, they said that it's just there to get to know the honors student before they arrive on campus. About 60% of honors kids live in the honors dorms. Don't forget that there may be Greeks who live in their house, others who don't live in honors dorms to live with their non-honors friends, upperclassmen who live off campus, etc. if you're in the honors program, housing opens two weeks early for you, and you have the opportunity to move in a week early and do community service with other honors kids.
  2. I'm a girl (and most likely not a Greek), but I can maybe give some insight. I was told that the honors kids all have tailgates together before football games, and there's the Strip right off campus, which has a ton of bars and restaurants. There's also a ton of clubs, like over 400. Downtown Tuscaloosa can also be fun. They have a cool vibe there. From what I've read previously, Greeks and non-Greeks seem to be friends and there's not that huge segregation between them.
  3. They told me that I would just pay my enrollment fee, and I could do that at several colleges. If I decide not to go to Alabama, I can get some of that money refunded. Enrollment fee is $200 and housing app is $300. If you decide not to go, I think $275 is refundable. I won't hear back from a ton of my colleges until February, but I'm still going to complete my housing app the day it opens, so if I do decide to go, I can get the room that I want :)

Also, they said that the Alabama application will not be on Common App, but their application is only about 10-15 minutes long with no essay.

66

Here are the Honors College requirements: http://honors.ua.edu/honors-q-and-a/
Note that ACT req is 28 (not 32).

67

^ahh sorry I was thinking the presidential scholarship. Thanks for catching that!

68

@pitt2021:

  1. Guaranteed (with no essay requirements) as long as you meet the stat requirements and apply. There are some more competitive programs within the Honors College (Computer-Based Honors, University Fellows Experience) that are more akin to Schreyer in terms of competitiveness, but you have to have been admitted to the HC to apply to those.
  2. My son is not Greek and he's had a great experience socially. He met most of his friends freshman year in Blount. (He's an engineer.)
  3. If you want to guarantee you get specific honors housing, accept your offer of admission and pay the housing deposit early. If you wait until April (as my PA son did), you will likely be assigned to Paty Hall. (My son put in a room change request and was offered Blount over the summer. No suites were available.)
69

^ They told us at the Honors info session that there is an essay for the Honors college application. But to not stress about it.

70

@LucieTheLakie @musicgirl131 thank you both!

71

68 @MichiganGeorgia - In recent years, the "essay" for Honors College has been basically like a "tell us about yourself" paragraph - short and sweet. At least that's what I remember my son telling me when he applied....

72

Yes, @amy9998 is right about that. Sorry, I forgot about the paragraph. Honestly, though? My son received his acceptance to the Honors College in the fall of 2014 within a day or two of his acceptance to the university and the College of Engineering. He still filled out the forms, but it was all pretty pro forma.

73

Visited this past Thursday…son is definitely applying. He loves it. When leaving the school he said “This is where I’m going”. Had previously visited 5 other schools, we are from Illinois.

74

Question for all the experts: If we visit in the fall, do we come on a football game weekend or do we avoid game weekend?

75

Does anyone know when the application will go up?

76

@chargers312 The official word from admissions is August 1, but last year it was open on July 8 or 9. Most people suggest checking in occasionally starting in mid July. If you are a regular CC browser, you’ll know the minute it opens, I’m sure.

77

@chargers312 the honors rep said that it opens within the first three weeks of July and to start checking it regularly starting July 1

78

@STEM2017, I think that might depend upon your budget (will you be staying in town?) and tolerance for very large crowds and lots of traffic. Personally, I wouldn’t want that to be my first exposure (too overwhelming for moi), but I’m sure others would disagree.

79

For anyone who has already applied, are you able to check your application status on mybama? D is having trouble, and not sure if it’s just too early in the process, or if she needs to call. I’m mainly concerned with whether admissions has received transcript and scores yet. She did get her CWID and was able to submit the scholarship application.

80

Further to my post #49 above, SWA just recently opened up flights through March 8 2017. So, you can start searching for return flights after winter break, for those of you who fly SWA.