Why Roll Tide?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
141

I won’t go into their exact majors but neither is STEM and neither are they “cupcakes”. I already told you that 20 ACT best friend took O Chem. Best friend two is in a very rigorous major and is in the honors college. And yes he has a 4.0. STEM is not the only rigorous major.

@LucieTheLakie are you insinuating only STEM is rigorous?

@Mom2aphysicsgeek I applaud your son, but this is in no way a normal comparison. At least not in my world. Your user name says it all. He was taking high level college courses in high school and grad level classes in undergrad. That’s awesome but not the norm.

142

@LucieTheLakie The 25/75 ACT for UA is 24 and 31.

That’s one of the highest differences between 25 and 75 I’ve seen. Obviously, the merit scholarships are driving up the 75th percentile score. Apparently, the 25th percentile score has stayed relatively constant, but the 75th percentile score has gone from around 28 to 31 since they started their drive for high stats students.

143

I was an English major, myself, and it nearly killed me, @bhs1978, so, no, I am emphatically NOT implying only STEM is rigorous! :slight_smile:

I asked because my son is in engineering, and I have been an admin of a UA engineering parent group on FB for a few years now, and I have yet to hear ANYONE claim their student’s curriculum was “VERY EASY” - even the ones with perfect GPAs, so I’m just trying to understand what the two best friends are majoring in, because, while I’ve heard of some pretty easy majors at UA (and, yes, I’d classify them “cupcakes”), none were in STEM.

I’m now trying to understand how a “very rigorous major” is easier than high school. Mind you, my son has a better GPA in engineering than he did in his high school, where many of his teachers had PhDs and the humanities ones expected their juniors and seniors to write as well as college upperclassmen, but he’s an outlier in my experience. And I don’t think he’d claim his high school classes were harder; he’s just better suited to doing problem sets than writing thesis statements! Also, that rigorous high school education prepared him well for college, so maybe that’s the situation with best friend #2 as well.

And, yes, you told us the student with the 20 took organic, but you also said it was the only challenging class he took, so that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the chosen major. Just asking for clarification.

FWIW, while I, personally, would be disappointed if my son chose a cupcake major, I know of plenty of folks whose kids did take them (majors like hospitality management and general business), and they still felt the overall UA experience was worth it for the contacts they made, etc.

@gusmahler, thanks for the updated stats. I think the 25th percentile remains relatively low because UA, to their credit, still makes educating Alabama students a priority. The State of Alabama, unfortunately, isn’t known for the quality of its public education, a few high-income zip codes notwithstanding.

144

Your son/daughter’s friend could apply to take graduate level classes as an undergraduate at UA too if he finds his current classes insufficiently challenging.

145

@bhs1978 You miss my point. He has taken plenty of courses outside of math and physics (the only area he entered at a really advanced standing.) He is a very strong student across all subjects, just didn’t enter with lots of credit for those subjects. He would not say that Bama courses are “VERY EASY.” It is the reason I posted. Some easy courses? Absolutely. Some easy freshman courses? Absolutely.

But, “as a junior he has yet to be challenged in any class he’s taken. He says his high school was much more challenging than Alabama,” hard to believe.

And I strongly do not agree with, “But anecdotally speaking if your student wants to be challenged it may not be the best.”

ETA: @LucieTheLakie’s post about succeeding in college courses is excellent. And @AlbionGirl’s point should be noted. UA allows top students to take grad level courses as UGs and even earn their masters alongside their bachelors. Nothing special about it. Plenty of UA students are following a similar path b/c, believe it or not, there is a high percentage of top performing kids on campus.

146

“The definition of anecdotal is something that is story-like or something that is based on stories and retellings, not based on provable facts”

@Mom2aphysicsgeek you can disagree with my above Satement but the reason “anecdotally speaking” was used in that sentence was because it was based on stories of two people I know. Not any fact. And I also stated that both are loving their college experiences and are not being hindered in anyway.

The “VERY EASY” comment were his exact words and the emphasis was his not mine. I know his major and I know he’s in honors. I also know many of the classes he is taking. Some of these classes are ones he claim are VERY EASY are some of the same classes my higher stats kid is taking at a different university, and he is struggling and quite challenged.

Maybe the best friend just has a higher aptitude in these areas than my son does. I was only repeating an actual conversation I had last night with best friend two.
Both best friends have reiterated that they would not trade their experience, just as my son has stated he would not change his experience at his university.

147

Not friend of friend reference but direct insight from DD who is in full scholarship. Don’t think she went in to college unprepared and she would disagree wholeheartedly that UA is a cakewalk or VERY EASY as reported here. I shared these posts with her and she laughed then texted it out to a group chat of kids from school, guys as well as girls, who all said they would love to see this person’s GPA and courses.

She took honors level courses at UA this semester and found them to be VERY challenging. She balanced a lot in HS and learned to juggle many obligations, but was amazed at how much work she needed to do this semester to keep her grades up. She had wonderful professors and she found them very accessible. She went to office hours and review sessions and she needed it. She took 18 credits and ended with a 4.0 but by the skin of her teeth and she put hundreds of hours in reading and studying, just like everyone else that she knew. She didn’t find anything overly easy, even the filler gen. ed. courses she thought would be a breeze. She is in a suite with 3 other amazing students on scholarship, all different majors, all from OOS from 4 different states, all studied like they have never studied before and all felt it was very challenging. These are kids with dual enrollment credits, IB diplomas, and many APs. She was in study session with smart, driven students (many upperclassman because she came in with so many credits) and they all worked - a lot. She has many groups of friends through clubs and organizations and so far all are committed to their studies. Sorority sister and friend of my dd turned down Harvard (and was a Wendy’s Heisman National Finalist last year), is making her own major with some type of neuroscience focus but with a twist and she studied like crazy and also commented about the level of work required. Bio and Chem are weeding out kids like crazy, the nursing students are all studying and working all the time, the engineering classes are the same across the country - challenging everywhere, the accounting and busisness school classes have been tough. None of these freshman have found it to be easy or less challenging then any of their friends’ schools.

For every story about the kid who took the ACT 5 times and couldn’t break a 20 and is thriving, I am sure there are many more stories about above average kids on partial scholarship with a 30 - 32 ACT who is in danger of losing it because they underestimated the coursework or overestimated their abilities. This is a story repeated over and over from all levels of schools.

I absolutely believe that friends of friends may sit around and brag about how easy they have it, that they are excelling and killing it at school. My dd was out with HS friends last night and they were all sharing how prepared they were and how easy their first semester was (mostly Penn State, some PS Schreyers, one Ohio State, one Temple, some Pitt, Leheigh, Lafayette, some other LA schools from around here, etc…) and especially if kids are coming home and sharing with their parents about a friend who may have a better GPA or seem to be having a better experience - there can be lots of “well their school is not as good/tough as my school”. I am certain that my DD didn’t share with her friends about all of the study sessions, office hours, extra work, the 4 chapters every class period, all nighters - she likely shared about the friends she has met, the clubs she is in, funny stories, football games, etc… If they ever figure out that she ended with a 4.0 I am sure the stories will swirl about the ease of her courses or the low level of rigor at her school, all without one shred of truth.

148

My story was not “a friend of a friend reference”.
It was direct insight from an actual conversation with 2 current students at Alabama.

Everyone has different experiences. I’m glad your children are challenged. That’s great to hear. But just because your kids are challenged doesn’t mean that someone else who thinks it’s easy is lying, or taking easy courses or in a “cupcake” major. I guess he is just a very bright kid. I have no reason to believe he is lying.

149

Finally, someone said it :-). I have been contemplating to get DD attend as I suspect the school work at UA is easier (obviously, not knowing for a fact) and it is one of the reasons I told DD. (Again, thinking out loud on why Roll Tide for my DD). I consider DD “average” even she got As in her AP Chem, Physics 1, currently with Physics C and a 35 ACT, but I think an easier curriculum may suit her better. (As aside, I didn’t bring up the “easy” factor myself as I am concerned it can be viewed as negative)

I also have no reason to believe @bhs1978 is lying or the student did not feel that “it is very easy”. In a big state flagship where the ACT for the middle 50% is 24 to 31 (per post #141), I think it is reasonable to believe that someone may find the courses easy (or very easy). OTOH, it is difficult to imagine the many “high stat” kids find the courses very challenging and at the same time can’t believe someone can find UA very easy, if true (again, a question to myself), what happens to those “low stat” kids ? How can they survive?
As far as kid #1 in @bhs1978 ‘s post, we do not know what the kid’s major is.

150

Things are becoming conflated here I think. To clarify…

Are some UA courses and majors easier than others? Yes, this is not unique to UA

If you take a majority of these easier courses and/or an easier major and you are a high stat student will you find yourself insufficiently challenged? Yes

Does that mean that a high stats student cannot find a challenging curriculum or major at UA? No

Do high stats students who have availed themselves of the challenging curriculum offerings and majors at UA find themselves at a disadvantage when searching for job and graduate school opportunities? No. See the Bama Brags thread.

When these high stats students enter their graduate programs or start work do they find themselves at a disadvantage as a result of their undergraduate study at UA? No. See the Bama Brags thread.

What happens to those “low stat” kids ? How can they survive? They get weeded out of the harder majors and pick another major, just as they do in any university.

151

^^ thank you. A reason why I believe the 2 kids in @bhs1978 's posts.

Boy !! do I hope this applies to my kid as well LOL

152

Just be aware that what I wrote in post #149 is true of any university. If this is what you are expecting…

Be prepared to be surprised by the competition and rigor in the demanding courses/majors.

153

Exactly. Not sure whether I have misread the responses, but I was surprised by the some of the responses of bhs1978‘s post (#135) as I thought what she brought up about the 2 kids can happen in any university.

I have been paying attention to the “advice for future students” thread, but I have been hoping it would be easier based on the ACT standard for the incoming students.