<p>Last night, my friend and I were discussing Emory’s yield management strategies and I decided to look up college yield rates. According to USNWR University of Alabama has one of the highest yield rates of any school in the country [National</a> Universities Where Most Accepted Students Enroll - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/01/28/national-universities-where-most-accepted-students-enroll]National”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/01/28/national-universities-where-most-accepted-students-enroll) with 59.4% of accepted students deciding to enroll. While it makes sense that Alabama, as the state flagship in a state with poor private colleges, would get a higher instate yield than say, UC Berkeley or Binghamton, the majority of Bama’s students come from OOS, unlike comparable schools such as UAlaska - Fairbanks or University of North Dakota. Since OOS students typically have a much lower yield than their in state counterparts, owing to all the usual factors, I was wondering how Alabama still manages to convince almost 60% of accepted students to enroll. </p>
<p>For comparison, University of Oregon, which attracts so many Californians that my tour guide called it UC - Eugene has a 24.7% yield. This in spite of the fact that it has great sports, rabid school spirit, and offers the flagship experience to wealthier students who might not be able to get into one of the mid to high tiered UCs. The main differences between UOregon, and Bama are the automatic merit scholarships (which most OOS students don’t qualify for anyways), and a slightly higher cost, which may be partially offset by the lower cost of flying into Portland, a much larger city than Birmingham, then taking a train down to Eugene.</p>
<p>There are great things about Bama, but so many of them are true about so many other schools. The one huge difference that I have seen (2 sons and 2 nephews gone through college hunt with me being the driver/tour guide/advisor) is that Alabama makes the kids feel the love. My son was recognized and greeted by name on his first visit. Yes, he was wearing a name tag, but the person immediately made a comment to him about one of his activities so he knew she knew who he was. And this was at a fair type visit with 1000 other prospective students. After the visit, a thank you for visiting note with a handwritten and personal note at the bottom. Then on our next visit he got an hour of one on one time with the dean of the honors college and of course, and hand written thank you note from the dean the next week. And so on. </p>
<p>Alabama keeps it VERY personal and just wins their hearts.</p>
<p>On top of everything that tjmom said, for my son it was the way UA personalized EVERYTHING. From the emails, recruitment process, Honors visit including a great chat with Dr. Sharpe beforehand at the Honors info session to the follow up on every question we had. I also bet that a large portion of that 60% visited the campus. A huge sell in itself. Add a football game day experience and it all over. You’ll sign on the dotted line ASAP.</p>
<p>I don’t know…my S got nearly zero personal attention (I think we must have done something wrong in the process) but still chose Bama. I think the sweet suites may have had something to do with it. (Also, the beautiful campus, new engineering complex, weather, etc.)</p>
<p>My DD narrowed her choices down to Bama, Georgia Tech, and UNC. While I graduated from UNC, as did both my parents (who were also professors in the UNC system), there was no money offered and we couldn’t do out of state tuition. That left Tech (where my husband received his Master’s Degree) and Bama. There were many reasons to chose Alabama, but I’ll boil it down to this. Tech was disorganized in the extreme as far as deadlines and communication and sent a subtle message that she should be so grateful that she was being considered that the poor treatment shouldn’t matter. Bama, specifically the Honors College staff, gave her the totally opposite impression. Like an earlier poster mentioned, the visit was so personalized and welcoming that it made her feel wanted for the unique contributions that she could make to the school. As a mom, I just felt like she was going to be cared for and that her talents and skills were going to be nurtured. 3 semesters later, that has definitely proven to true.</p>
<p>I think one of the reason that so many accepted applicants decide to go is because of their very generous scholarships. They have a scholarship where if you have a 3.5 GPA and a 30 on the ACT, you get a scholarship for 3/4th of the tuition. They have another one where if you have a 3.5 GPA and a 32 on the ACT, you get free tuition. There are a few students from my daughter’s high school that are taking advantage of these scholarships. They will basically be able to graduate from college with either very little debt or debt free. We are from the Midwest, and the only reason these students considered Alabama was because of their scholarships. It wouldn’t have even been on their radar because the school is so far away. But once they visited the campus they completely fell in love w/it. So I think that Alabama does a really good job w/recruiting OOS students w/their scholarship offers, and once the students visit, they see all the great things Alabama has to offer their students. I wish my daughter would have considered applying here because she would have gotten one of their very generous scholarships as well, but she did not want to go to college so far from home.</p>
<p>Ladyham - that is exactly the case with us, we needed the merit money, and never ina million years would have even looked at Bama if it werern’t for CC searches on schools with best merit money for OOS students. (S got full tuition Pres Scholarship). The visit then sealed the deal.</p>
<p>Binghamton would have been his top choice here in NY (based on COA), but visiting the two campuses and all I can do is (as the kids say), SMH. Granted Binghamton is an excellent school, and actually there would have been better internship potential with Big 4 firms (acctg major), the 5 yr ms in acctg would have been a plus, as well as with travel costs and a higher R&B at Bama will cost nearly the same overall. But regardless, I think Bama will offer him a better overall experience, which I think is critical. I think they foster an environment where students can create their own opportunities given all that is there. </p>
<p>Oh and they have a pretty good football team :)</p>
<p>While the scholarships may be the initial factor drawing attention from some, it was a feeling that made our daughter’s choice easy. Aside from the academic opportunities available at Bama and many other schools, I believe many people are looking for the same thing, a beautiful, welcoming campus with amazing dorms and countless opportunities. Bama fit the bill. In our opinion, Bama is the real deal. The scholarships were just the appetizer. Roll Tide!:)</p>
<p>We loved the TRADITIONAL culture and the SEC spirit.</p>
<p>I took a picture of DH holding DD’s 'BAMA acceptance certificate while wearing his OU cap and Sooners tee and bugging his eyes out. Posted it on my Facebook with the caption:</p>
<p>Come on Honey, say it; ROLL TIDE !!!</p>
<p>That post got more likes/comments than any I’ve ever posted! Lol</p>
<p>I thought that the certificate was a nice gesture, most schools send an acceptance letter, I thought that the certificate was a little more thoughtful. However letter or certificate, it really doesn’t matter too much, it is what The University of Alabama does after you are accepted that makes it so special.</p>
<p>whenhen: First, let me say, welcome, and second, thank you for such a thought-provoking thread topic. I hope you will stick around and feel the love, too. Let us know what YOU think of UA in your college selection process.</p>
<p>My daughter applied on a whim. With the early application date and having an answer a few weeks later, she decided to give it a try. She really had no intention of going to Bama but thought it would be nice to possibly have an acceptance very early in the game. I started to be convinced it might be worth a look after reading everything on CC. She’s a big football fan, so the successful football season didn’t hurt;-) </p>
<p>My D wanted to be in warmer weather and I thought it would be good to experience a very different part of the country. I went to college in the midwest and it was an eye opener for me.</p>
<p>We were fortunate one of her friends has a cousin who went to Bama and still lived in the area. He gave them a personalized tour and raved about the school. That was enough to make it her new home.</p>
<p>I made my son apply because of the great merit aid and also to kick-start the application process with the simplest option out there. He was quickly accepted, applied to honors, and again was quickly accepted. UA remained a bottom choice for him, but the more correspondence he received the more intrigued he became. We finally toured the school last week and it is now firmly in his top 2 schools. Bama has been the most welcoming, has followed up personally and most consistently, and was the most beautiful and somehow small large camped we have seen. I am guessing my son will end up at Bama and have already made reservations fir OA move in and parents weekend.</p>
Roll Tide!:)</p>