Would I be settling if i went here?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>I have a very high GPA and SAT score. My unweighted GPA is a 3.8 and I have a 2120 on the SAT. This significantly exceeds the 25th- 75th percentile of scorers. I really don’t want to go to a school where I would be settling. I really appreciate academic discussions and I fear that I wont get that here (25% of students have below 490 on the critical reading section of the SAT). This is startling to me. I live in Buffalo, so i would be an out of state student. I would be attending for scholarships mainly. So will I be a fish out of water if I attend this school? Thank you! </p>

<p>Also, what is there really to do in Tuscaloosa? Im from Buffalo, so will there be a huge difference in the availability of activities? Also, i am really big on sports. I know tickets are expensive, so what is it like tailgating there? Do you have to pay for it or do you have to already be part of a group of people?</p>

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<p>I think that you need to visit to be comfortable in making any decision this big. Honors College with over 2000 students have an average ACT of 31 or SAT of 2100. Sports is really big at U of Alabama from soccer to gymnastics to Football…BTW, did I mention NCAA Football, Anyway, national championships in Football, Gymnastics, Men and Women’s Golf, Women’s Tennis, and countless SEC Championships in other sports…Go Visit, you will not regret it…ROLL TIDE</p>

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<p>@wvacupuncture‌ Well, I’m just talking about applying. I haven’t exactly applied yet. :wink: I’m just considering whether or not it is something I should consider.</p>

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<p>My DS had very similar scores and applied to UA because 1) scholarships 2) safety 3) our local recruiter talked it up. He still didn’t have a huge amount of interest in it but we insisted he visit when they offered him a place and scholarship. He fell in love with it and the people there. Immediately made me cancel the appointments we had at other schools interested in him. He is ?6? weeks into his freshman year and loves it so far. He has so many opportunities there. For instance, he is in a program where he is going to be doing research his second semester. he felt that at a school like UA they had many programs and opportunities that allow you to stand out and personalise your experience. He felt like in other schools he would be one of many and to be frank many of the schools kind of treated him like he was lucky to be offered a place. He wanted to go somewhere where they thought they were lucky to have him. UA manages to make their students feel that way. </p>

<p>There are many many bright kids there. He wanted to go to a school that had great student pride, which UA has in spades. He loved the campus, it is very pretty and has amazing facilities. He loved that there are people from all over, 50% or so of the school is from out of state, he rooms with other students from all over the country. He is in an honors dorm so all the kids there are smart/hardworking.</p>

<p>As for sports, he was not big on football but has gone to every home game so far, he bought a package of three student tickets for $30 and the others have been free in the student ticket lottery and apparently has had a blast.</p>

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<p>I’ve read your other posts/threads very thoroughly, and I appreciate that you need to find an inexpensive option for yourself. UA is incredibly generous with its scholarships to high stat students. Please do not assume that you will be ‘settling’ at UA based on your stats: that kind of attitude/mindset from the get-go, without having visited, without having looked deep enough into the school to apply, for heaven’s sake…really is insulting IMO. </p>

<p>Free tuition is not the same as tuition with no value. There is a great deal of value to a UA education, and you should familiarise yourself with the wealth of opportunities that are at UA before even questioning whether you would be ‘settling.’ Reading through any number of threads on this forum should demonstrate to you why students are so happy and successful at UA…and why we families (whose students come from a complete range of academic abilities, and yes, some in the ‘startling’ category of below 490) can get rather passionate about defending the school when insulted. </p>

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<p>@aeromom I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I wasn’t assuming that I would be settling. I was asking whether or not I would be settling because of the low test scores are there and so far, it seems as if that would not be the case. I was making an inquiry. I apologize if I offended anyone.</p>

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<p>Do your own homework on how great UA is, is all I ask of you! :wink: </p>

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<p><<<
have a very high GPA and SAT score. My unweighted GPA is a 3.8 and I have a 2120 on the SAT. This significantly exceeds the 25th- 75th percentile of scorers. I really don’t want to go to a school where I would be settling. I really appreciate academic discussions and I fear that I wont get that here (25% of students have below 490 on the critical reading section of the SAT
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<p>You have a 1400 M+CR</p>

<p>I don’t mean to offend you, but your stats are quite good, but they are not impressive for Alabama. Both of my kids had significantly higher stats that yours. Many people who post here have stats (or their kids’s stats) are higher than yours. When you wrote that you had a “very high” GPA and SAT, I was expecting higher than what you stated. Your stats aren’t unique for Alabama…AT ALL.</p>

<p>Your GPA isn’t spectacular either for Alabama. 42% of frosh have a 3.75+</p>

<p>I’m not being blunt to slap your face. I’m saying this to dispel this idea that you seem to have that you are “too smart” for Alabama. </p>

<p>Who cares what the lower 25% of students have? If you are selecting a challenging major, guess what??? Those students will NOT be in your classes.</p>

<p>Are you under some odd idea that students are equally spread out amongst all majors on a campus? NO! Absolutely not. Those with lower stats are going to be largely found in the lesser-demanding academic majors. And, some may be in the more right-brained majors (the artistic or performing majors) where they have talents that the rest of us can only dream about. Do you really care that those students will be in classrooms across campus from you? How does that affect you…at all?</p>

<p>Your test scores are 1400 M+CR. That is the bottom of what qualifies for the Presidential. Last fall, Bama enrolled 600 frosh with an ACT 32+. The top 30% of the school has an ACT 30+. That top 30% are your academic peers. These are the kids who will be largely concentrated in about 15 or so majors… Engineering, math, bio, chem, physics, business, English, The Classics, and so forth. If you choose a challenging academic major, top students will be your classmates.</p>

<p>Again, I know I was rough with you, but when someone is holding onto an idea that is so “out there” and wrong, it is best to blow those misconceptions right out of the water from the get-go. Now that you know the truth, you can make more educated decisions. I am glad that you posted your question. It provided us an opportunity to correct your thoughts.</p>

<p>@USCHopeful2015‌
Your parents have a very high income (over $200k per year), yet they will only pay $10k per year. You really have no choice but to identify schools where there will be a good number of academic peers AND lot of merit. </p>

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<p>Most tickets for sports at Alabama are free for students. Football tix are $10 for students…not expensive.</p>

<p>People tailgate with friends. Adults sometimes rent tents, but I don’t think students do. I think students just gather with their friends and tailgate.</p>

<p>BTW…you will like the weather MUCH better than what you have in Buffalo…MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better. :)</p>

<p>I see now that you are an English major. That is a very challenging academic major. You aren’t going to find academic lightweights in that major. You have nothing to fear.</p>

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<p>Your interests are in English and Creative Writing, so I would suggest looking at both the English course offerings and the Honors College course offerings (I am guessing that if you apply to Alabama, you will also apply to the Honors College so that you can take the English Departmental Honors courses as well as the amazing HC classes.)</p>

<p><a href=“http://english.ua.edu/content/undergrad_fall_14.pdf”>http://english.ua.edu/content/undergrad_fall_14.pdf&lt;/a&gt; <<< here are the English course offerings this fall.</p>

<p>Also, look over the Honors College and its offerings:
<a href=“http://honors.ua.edu”>http://honors.ua.edu</a></p>

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<p>Oh if 1400 M+CR is the bottom of the presidential then my DS is higher than that too. He concentrated on ACT so I’m not sure how they compare. </p>

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<p>@momtaxi your son has an ACT 33. That is equivalent to a 1460 M+CR. :)</p>

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<p>Again, I did not mean to offend anyone. I’m not sure why this has turned into an attack on me. I just asked a question based on the low statistics that I saw.</p>

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<p>If you are a high stats but low income student, UA is worth a look. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t be as worried about the low score fellow students so much as the differences between Bama and where you live now, and the overall feel of the campus, whether it fits you. I am not dissing Bana either, just noting it might not be what you want. Visit if you can and talk to current students. </p>

<p>It won’t be super urban. It will be a great college town, very focused on the university and the students. There will be lots of school spirit—I hope you aren’t a cynic. (fwiw one of my husband’s tests of whether students are happy and proud of their schools or not is how many of them wear school shirts; Bama would pass with flying colors.) The weather will be hot. The culture will be different from what you are used to. It will be a classic Big U with lots of sports and traditions. You can partake or not. </p>

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<p>I’m not sure why there is a need for prickly responses to her questions. The reason she went on this forum was to get quick answers to her questions, and unless she had background information, Bama stats might come off as confusing. You really are too sensitive about Alabama if you find her questions insulting. </p>

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<p>My son applied with a 4.0 unweighted (after accepted, he ‘slacked off’ a little and had 2 Bs the 2nd semester of his senior year) and had s 31 ACT and although I forget his cumulative SAT had a 700 math <- and those are not really impressive stats for the contributors in this group, many of whom have students who were National Merit finalists, but we come from a very small, rural area, so from my son’s class of 74 students, those are VERY impressive numbers.</p>

<p>All the other schools we looked at ranked in the top 10 in his intended major of engineering. He was accepted to Purdue, was accepted to Rose-Hulman with a substanial merit/need based award, was accepted to Georgia Tech, and was deferred from MIT during EA (but later rejected). </p>

<p>I encouraged him to apply to Bama as a financial/academic safety. </p>

<p>We’re not one of those families that fell in love during our first visit, in fact our initial visit over fall break was a little odd. But as acceptances came in, he found reasons that he didn’t want to accept offers from the other schools.</p>

<p>He began his career at Bama in Outdoor Action (a program through the honors college) and he felt like the group was comprised of students who were much higher performing that himself.</p>

<p>My son began his freshman year in Outdoor Action and ended his year with a trip to Ecuador with Alabama Action Abroad. After his freshman year he was able to get an internship in his field for the summer. He came in with enough credit from dual credit and AP courses that he can get an engineering degree and a Spanish minor within 8 semesters of classes. He stayed involved with Alabama Action Abroad and returned to Ecuador after his 2nd year as a student leader. Now in his third year he is participating in the schools co-op program and is alternating semesters of (paid) full time work in his field with semesters of classes, so will graduate with over a year of work experience in his field (1 year for co-op + his initial summer internship). This year he is working as a student director for the Alabama Action Abroad program and is currently working on developing the budget for this year’s program. And on top of that he had the opportunity to be in town during his freshman year as the football team won both SEC and National championships.</p>

<p>I admit to questioning whether Bama was the best opportunity for him, but when looking at all the opportunities he’s had, I honestly don’t think the higher ranked schools he considered could have offered more…and especially not enough to justify the additional costs. </p>

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<p>Well, judging from your name you should see how USC works out first.</p>

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<p>Gosh the nasty attacks on a 17 year old continue on the UA boards!!!</p>

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<p>OP, the question of whether going to Alabama would be settling is one that my D wonders about also - in terms of prestige (vs one of her reaches), in terms of weather (she doesn’t like heat and is terrified of the possibility of twisters), in terms of class size (the adcoms she spoke to was quite open that most classes will be BIG).
For my part, I would prefer her to be within a few hours drive, and UA is far.
Still there is a LOT of good things UA can offer beyond the free tuition.
But life is about compromises. When she gets her acceptances, she will be able to visit and compare which will work out best for her.
I would say apply now if you are thinking about it and decide later. It’s good to have options.</p>

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<p><<<
If you are a high stats but low income student, UA is worth a look</p>

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<p>I’m not sure why being a “low income student” matters. The OP is a HIGH income student, but parents won’t pay more than $10k per year. So, for that sort of high income student, Bama is not only worth a look…it may be one of a few ways to attend a well-ranked school. </p>

<p>Frankly, Alabama is very popular amongst families with good incomes that are too high for aid, but not high enough to easily fork over $40k per year. A good merit scholarship can slash the cost down to a level that many “good income” families can afford. </p>

<p><<<
I’m not sure why there is a need for prickly responses to her questions.</p>

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<p>I’m sure this was directed at me, so I will respond. The OP’s premise was so off-base that she needed to be shown “where the base is” (so to speak). She is never going to consider attending Bama if she continues to think that she would be some unique smart star amongst a bunch of low-stats students in her classes. Imagine the scenario that such thinking would create…an image of showing up for a Lit class and being the only one who read the book! lol</p>

<p>My point was that she will be surrounded by students like her. Now, if I had just said that, she probably would have thought that I was just blowing smoke. The “prickly approach” allows a quick and immediate tear-down of a false premise so that the real situation can be presented. If you notice, after correcting the misapprehension, my posts were more than helpful. </p>

<p>There is no doubt that the OP is a smart girl. The good thing is if she enrolls at Bama, especially as an English major, she will be surrounded by academic peers. She would be a smart girl amongst smart students. </p>

<p>@USChopeful‌ Review the English major req’ts and ask yourself…do you really think a low stats student could make it past the first year? No. It is too demanding of a major. (I don’t think a low stats student could make it past the first semester)</p>

<p>I know that you have your heart set on a USC-type school. As someone who is from Calif and who has 3 USC sib graduates, I don’t think you will find that the difference at Bama will be noticeable. They are both big schools with tons of tradition and big sports. You will have smart classmates. You will have excellent profs. And, the nice thing about Bama - its surroundings are so much nicer and safer!!</p>