My first thought was “wow, cute boys to show D17” :))
Second thought was the kids were all fairly well spoken, not a lot of vocal fry (frybabies) or heavy regional accents.
The whole southern versus northern culture thing-eh, I grew up in MA, have lived in GA for 20+ years as an adult. There are good and bad people everywhere. The people who say “thee-ay-tuh” are not going to shun you because you say “lobstah”. From what I’ve read about Bama, the amount of non-local kids is huge. Which is very cool. I love the south.
15 My son also says the same thing (he's been there since Fall 2014) .... sees more Confederate flags in IL than he does in the Tuscaloosa/Northport area!
I’ll explain what BettyBoop means. You see, New Englanders never leave that god forsaken place. As someone who grew up in Boston, and left at 36 years old, NorthEasterners are elitist when it comes to the rest of the country. I moved first to Scottsdale AZ. Was it as cultured as Boston? Absolutely not. You go to the Nutcracker ballet and there isn’t one person dressed up. But I absolutely loved living there. I loved being able to finally buy a pistol without hassle. Not having to get an inspection sticker every year for my car, and getting a license that lasted 25 years.
I missed the ocean and moved to the San Francisco area. I got my culture back, but a bunch of new hassles that California loves.
So Betty’s friends hear Alabama, and they immediately think redneck inbreeders. Don’t get offended, everyone in New England thinks people outside of that zone are uncultured sloths. It is who they are. I’ve asked my daughter to consider MA, NE, IN, NC, SC, AL and LA for schools. So many rich experiences to be gained outside of that frozen wasteland known as the NorthEast.
I know several people from Connecticut who–living 2 hours drive from Boston, 3 hours from NY–have never even been to those cities. Some of the towns there remind me of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” LOL. All are fine in Tuscaloosa.
There was a fairly recent article I believe by the UA student newspaper The Crimson White answering some concern about no Jewish woman sorority (I believe there has been a Jewish fraternity since the early part of this century). There is a Jewish Temple on Campus (Temple Emmanuel). There may be some Jewish student organizations.
There is a religion ‘Quad’ on campus - and these facilities are in that area: Baptist Campus Ministries; St Francis University Parish and under construction the new Saban Catholic Student Center, Canterbury Chapel Episcopal Church and Student Center, University Lutheran Chale, Wesley Foundation, and Disciple Student Fellowship Center.
The media talked about over 3,000 Catholic students at UA with the groundbreaking ceremony with the new Catholic Student Center.
In the south, a public university may have more of a faith presence than a northern/eastern/western school. We are in the ‘Bible Belt’ so it is acceptable that Christianity and one’s faith is more freely and openly discussed.
There is some kind of a service that the entire football team goes to at the beginning of the year - I believe the church invites them, and I believe it is a Baptist Church. Not sure if that goes back in team history, or how long that has been going on.
Students can self report on religion, and obtain information from the campus ministry organization of their faith.
Alabama as a state has the highest percentage of Protestants of any state in the US, so I would imagine that would be a significant presence on campus as well.
“In the south, a public university may have more of a faith presence than a northern/eastern/western school. We are in the ‘Bible Belt’ so it is acceptable that Christianity and one’s faith is more freely and openly discussed.”
Isn’t that precisely the culture shock that people from elsewhere, esp the NE, are concerned about? That it’s odd that religion / one’s private faith or lack thereof are anyone’s business, and that the default assumption that everyone is Christian is troubling?
One can only wonder, unless you actually ASK the person what their concerns are. They could be referring to SEC football or Greek life or the fact that folks in the South tend to be more formal and mannered.
And it’s not like the South is the only place where the “default assumption” is “that everyone is Christian.” The fact is, the majority of Americans self-identify as Christian and unless you live in an area with a significant number of non-Christians, people generally assume you’re at least nominally Christian too.
It’s just not a big deal in my experience, unless you’re easily offended.
Growing up in the Northeast, it absolutely was not a default assumption. People were Catholic or Jewish. Or they self identified as Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc. They didn’t call themselves “Christian.” That term arose later and has been largely hijacked by evangelicals. It tends to descrIbe a particular subgroup of “those who believe in Jesus Christ.”
My D had an informational interview at a college where being (Reform, secular) Jewish was clearly a novelty. I would think that would be a significant concern for kids raised in areas with a lot of diversity. It’s not about being “offended” - it’s about a certain kind of sophistication about life that is missing when you are raised to assume everyone is default Christian.
Greek life is bigger / different / more life-defining in the south, but it’s by no means confined to there. The religiosity of the south is unique to the region.
As someone from the NE whose present HS senior is seriously contemplating UA, I thought I would add my two cents. While we are Catholic, we do not practice and the last worry is whether a school in the south is overly religious. Maybe it is because my DD survived 12 years of catholic school already or maybe we are ignorant to the influence. Our worries and impressions of the south are two-fold: Greek life and “formality”, for lack of a better term. The stereotype is that southern girls dress to impress and are typically very formal/overly polite where my DD prefers t-shirts and sweatpants, and, as a kid from the NE, speaks her mind often (sometimes to a fault). It is no secret that the culture is different and I believe that parents of kids from outside the Southeastern US are just worried that our children will have a difficult time finding their “niche.” I believe it is a fairly simple worry and not as deep as a religious divide. I also think that guys likely have an easier time than girls in this regard.
All of that said, we are traveling to UA for an extended visit at the end of March so that we can answer these questions for ourselves. I am looking forward to the trip.
My DD wears sweats and T-shirts while also enjoying dressing up at times. When we visited, it seemed like kids wore a mix of both but more of the sweats and t-shirts/casual wear. I certainly didn’t notice it seeming more formal in dress than what I would expect at a Big 10 school. I believe girls (and boys) dress up for football games as a tradition and I suspect the girls dress up for formal events and sorority rush, etc. but on a regular school day I doubt you would notice much of a difference.
On the religion front, DD attends church but wasn’t really focused on that at schools.
