University of Alabama - Honors College - our visit report

[creekland]

As promised a month or two earlier, here's our assessment of the University of Alabama as seen from the perspective of a high stat future doctor wannabe...

 

As much as we thought we'd be going to look at the University of Alabama right after we dropped my oldest son off at Covenant College, we honestly didn't know if we'd have the funds or time to do so until literally the day we left. Therefore, this left little time to set anything up on Alabama's end. We knew this going in... and, it mostly didn't matter! They quickly set meetings up for us with the Honors College and a Microbio professor. Thanks Alabama! Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us to talk with a Pre-med adviser, but we don't blame them due to our late request. Besides the meetings, they gave us an Honors College Student Ambassador to show us around and take us to lunch (Newk's is awesome). Then we took their regular bus tour at the end.

 

The University of Alabama is a large state school (30,000+ students, 20,000+ who are undergrads) located in Tuscaloosa, AL. It is a research university that is actively looking to move up in prestige rankings to compete with the well known "big dogs" of academic college powerhouses and to do so, they've thrown out really nice merit aid money and an Honors College to attract the top students (starting back in 2003). It works, after all, we went there to look at it intrigued about the $$ (as do many others). Big note: This is NOT my opinion. We freely talked about this with the powers that be who we met - they mentioned it to US (though I knew about it ahead of time). The specific wording is mine, but the intent is the same. They said they use the $$ to draw high stat kids in, then the kids come there due to what they see and how appealing it is.

 

At the moment they have 31% of students from out of state. I suspect most of these are in their Honors College, but I don't know those specific stats.

 

Anyway, their biggest draw is their merit aid. Anyone who scores a 32 or higher (at this time) on the ACT and has a 3.5 GPA is guaranteed free tuition. Anyone with a 3.8 GPA or higher can also compete for a free ride + more. The merit aid speaks to the parents. They also work to draw in the kids. Their Honors College students (minimum 28 ACT) get the opportunity to live in their own dorms with their own bedroom (not shared) in a 4 person suite. The dorms looked great and each suite comes with a full sized refrigerator and microwave. There are also kitchen facilities and laundry facilities in the building. Halls are co-ed, but each suite is not. There are two bathrooms in each 4 person suite. It's a really attractive set up.

 

Honors college students (roughly 5000 of the undergrads) get the opportunity to take small classes designed just for higher academic students. These are taught by their "best" professors and are generally "outside the book" meaning the prof talks more about ongoing aspects of the subject (including research at UA) instead of just teaching the text as their normal classes would. The text is still learned, but Honors classes go more in depth and at a quicker pace. Kids are encouraged to participate in research - some do, some don't - their choice. Students we talked with loved the Honors classes.

 

Otherwise, like other large schools, classes can be huge, but higher level classes often are smaller. They also break up larger classes into smaller labs. We've found this to be very typical of a big school.

 

Being a large school, they have all the bells and whistles a student could ever want, and more/better than many other schools have. It's a place one would want to live. The only "weird" thing is that students are not given a post office box. If they want one, they have to rent one. That's a first for us with college visits. If I understand them correctly, they do have a package system that works outside of the post office box though, but forget getting magazines or snail mailed letters without the box.

 

They are huge into football. Greek life is just 27 percent of students. There are oodles of clubs.

 

Campus setting is quite nice. The buildings are mostly brick, and while in Tuscaloosa, it doesn't have a city feel as much as a college town feel. Practically everything is within walking distance, but they provide free bus service anyway. The people were very friendly and the town/city loves its college. Students we talked with said they felt perfectly safe and didn't know anyone who didn't.

 

If there are questions, feel free to ask as I'm sure I've left some things out.

 

So, is it for us? It's definitely a consideration. Middle son has decided he prefers UA to Pitt due to the fact that UA really seems to want HIM and Pitt didn't really seem to care. More than that, he loves Tuscaloosa over Pittsburgh (prefers the college town feel over the larger city feel). The Honors College is really appealing with its classes and college life and sort of the chance to have a smaller college within a larger university. Part of their Honors College (a competitive part to get into) is Computer Based Research. If he makes it into that (or another section he's interested in) he just may end up coming here. At that point he would be in the top of the top with the best opportunities within the University.

 

The pros? He loves the setting and the friendliness + for a pre-med, being somewhere where he's still near the top of the top for stats ought to help him get a decent GPA (VERY needed for Med school). Yet, he should still have peers academically when in the Honors classes. They have research opportunities. They've had students win national awards and get published. And, one can't overlook the financial aspect. We need finances to work out, but even if we didn't, with med school looming, saving $$ at the undergrad level makes sense.

 

The cons? It's a big school and it's way more into sports (esp football) than is appealing at this point to him. As a big school, it's easy to get lost and one really has to be proactive to get opportunities they want. It could be easy to graduate from here having a bit of fun, but missing out on some great educational opportunities if one gets too much into the college life and overlooks what's out there. His first preference was to be a neuroscience major - they don't have that here, so it would be microbio here. It also isn't as highly regarded as some other colleges he is considering. They are working to get there (successfully), but aren't there yet in the minds of others (subjective, I know, but... it's what I've seen/heard asking around and life works off subjectivity at times). He'd need to stay at the top here to have the best options for med school whereas at an already recognized academic powerhouse he could finish middle of the pack and still have good options for med school just due to the name and recognized level of education.

 

Still to be considered: We need to have an e-mail conversation with the pre-med adviser to see where students have gone on to med school in the past year or two.

 

Expected: In another 10 years, if they continue attracting top kids, profs, and research money, Alabama will be a name that is well-known academically outside of the south (where they already have a good rep I think). They are on that path and are doing well IMO. In 10 years they may not need to dangle the money to attract top kids from outside the south.

 

In the end, I think this is going to be a tough decision for middle son. There's no question he was drooling over his academic opportunities elsewhere. If he gets in there with decent aid (not a given) it'll be a tough call for him. The two possible experiences are totally different. He'll need to see who's doing what for research and maybe need to spend a night at each place to compare.

 

No matter what, Alabama gets a thumbs up from us as a recommendation for others looking - esp if the finances matter. They dangle the money to attract top kids, but they do have a worthy product there worth investigating. We had planned to cut Alabama from our consideration due to word of mouth. I'm glad we didn't. Middle son might end up coming here. While we're not yet dropping Pitt (they have the neuroscience major he loves), at the moment, this is his favorite of the big schools. Whether either big school beats out his other choices is yet to be seen.

 

Stay tuned. We have Furman scheduled on Monday.

Edited August 21, 2011 by creekland
typos

[Barbara H]

That was a fantastic and interesting to read review. I think it is great your son is seriously considering this option and there is a lot to be said for a school that is committed to making college affordable for serious students and who will go out of their way to make it a good experience. Ultimately at a big state school it really is on your kid's shoulders to make it happen. They have to have the initiative, but if they do the opportunities should be very good. Best of luck to your son as he makes his decisions.

[FloridaLisa]

I've seen Alabama luring several *top* kids we know from Florida schools that also offer lots of merit aid.

 

Lisa

[creekland]

That was a fantastic and interesting to read review. I think it is great your son is seriously considering this option and there is a lot to be said for a school that is committed to making college affordable for serious students and who will go out of their way to make it a good experience. Ultimately at a big state school it really is on your kid's shoulders to make it happen. They have to have the initiative, but if they do the opportunities should be very good. Best of luck to your son as he makes his decisions.

 

Thanks. I fully agree with you and think Alabama is going about "moving up" in the right way. To some extent, they're recruiting top students in a similar manner to how many schools attract top athletes. Not only do they let you know they want you (in words and deeds), they also are providing them with a great environment (both academic and otherwise). There's no doubt in my mind that they'll move up. Probably their biggest obstacle will be overcoming the stereotypes that exist (maybe especially in the northeast) since peer review is such a biggie in the rankings. But as their students win awards, write publications, and show their stuff in grad schools, they'll have to be noticed I would think.

 

I've seen Alabama luring several *top* kids we know from Florida schools that also offer lots of merit aid.

 

Lisa

 

This definitely isn't surprising after having been there. ;) My guy is going to have quite the choice to make if he makes it into his other favorite school(s) with affordable aid too. At this point, I'm comfortable either way.

[mooooom]

and we have been "courted" from Alabama, by mail, flyers, brochures and Honors cds - all three kids. They are obviously spreading far and wide trying to get attention. None of mine are interested in that deep South experience, however (I went to LSU, and am not pushing it either).

 

Great review though!

[In The Great White North]

Anyone who scores a 32 or higher (at this time) on the ACT and has a 3.5 GPA is guaranteed free tuition

 

Do they have a cut-off score for the SAT too?

 

Do mommy grades count for the 3.5?

[Create Your Ritual]

Just wanted to keep updated.. thanks!

[creekland]

Do they have a cut-off score for the SAT too?

 

Do mommy grades count for the 3.5?

 

1400 (M/CR only) is the minimum for the SAT.

 

They haven't questioned my mommy grades at all, but my guy also has 2 cc classes (both As) and a 5 on the AP Stats test (his only AP) to help back them up and he's not all that close to the 32 minimum cut off. I would expect SAT II tests would also make a nice confirmation, but we didn't do any.

[Jan in SC]

If you are visiting Furman, you might want to drive the extra 30'minutes and check out Wofford, as well.

[creekland]

If you are visiting Furman, you might want to drive the extra 30'minutes and check out Wofford, as well.

 

We actually don't have extra time or funds to extend our trip, but thanks for the idea. I had never heard of Wofford before. They may have sent middle son a brochure, but he never took interest enough to add them to his list. Just looking quickly at their stats now, I think they'd be a bit smaller than he's looking for. In our previous visits he's already decided he likes more medium sized schools. Furman will be the smallest of the schools he's actively considering at this point (after eliminating Davidson on size). There's nothing "wrong" with small schools (my oldest is at one smaller than Wofford and loves it). It's just not the "fit" for this guy.

 

We drove by Furman today to scout it out. It's gorgeous! It'll be interesting to see what middle son thinks of an LAC vs his research U's that he knows he loves. Time will tell. Even if he doesn't love it, it's well worth checking out based on our drive by. After our visit I'll give them their own thread as I have a chance.

[TravelingChris]

D is in her second day of classes there. So far, here are some comments about U of A honors college= the suites are absolutely fabulous. D is living in Riverside and not only is that suite very nice, but there are a lot less problems living in an honors area. She was talking to a guy living in one of the non honors area at the gathering for out of state students. Apparently in his dorm, someone already was kicked out before classes started for drunken brawling.

 

She applied and was selected to a program called emerging scholars and it means she will be assisting with research this year. She not only will get two credits for this, but also $300. The first semester they meet once a week to learn how to conduct research and meet with researchers who discuss their research. Then in the spring semester, she will work with a specific researcher. She will probably have a choice since most of the students who signed up for this are bio or engineering and she is interested in social science research.

[creekland]

D is in her second day of classes there.

 

Glad to hear she likes it there! You'll have to update after a month or so to let us know what she thinks of the Honors vs regular classes.

 

Middle son is still mulling the top three places he's visited - so different with differing pros and cons - but each could be right for him. (Wash U in St Louis, Alabama, Furman)

[debbiec]

Thanks for the report! We just contacted them last week (and missed the local reception for Honors College interested parties here in Nashville last week) to schedule a visit, only after making a visit to Western Kentucky Honors College. DS had no interest at all in a large university, so we have not even looked. Since WKU was close, we drove up there for the morning and did the formal Honors College visit. Although he not interested in attending there, it did open his eyes up to the "small school within a large school" possibilities. Thus we are looking at UA due to the $$ incentives.

 

Wonderful report, Creekland! Many thanks for the time you take to do this.

 

DS is likely headed to med school as well (and we discuss Enlglish major/pre-med type minor), but wants to major in English with a science minor, thinking he has graduate school time be more focused. HOwever, more than one college has suggested a double major, but we are concerned about GPA for grad school. We did make it down to Berry and Covenant, but just did not have time to fit in UA at the time.

 

Again, many thanks for your report. We have been borderline on making the visit to UA, but am now glad we are going.

 

Debbie in Nashville

[creekland]

Thanks for the report! We just contacted them last week (and missed the local reception for Honors College interested parties here in Nashville last week) to schedule a visit, only after making a visit to Western Kentucky Honors College. DS had no interest at all in a large university, so we have not even looked. Since WKU was close, we drove up there for the morning and did the formal Honors College visit. Although he not interested in attending there, it did open his eyes up to the "small school within a large school" possibilities. Thus we are looking at UA due to the $$ incentives.

 

Wonderful report, Creekland! Many thanks for the time you take to do this.

 

DS is likely headed to med school as well (and we discuss Enlglish major/pre-med type minor), but wants to major in English with a science minor, thinking he has graduate school time be more focused. HOwever, more than one college has suggested a double major, but we are concerned about GPA for grad school. We did make it down to Berry and Covenant, but just did not have time to fit in UA at the time.

 

Again, many thanks for your report. We have been borderline on making the visit to UA, but am now glad we are going.

 

Debbie in Nashville

 

If you get to speak with a med school adviser there, I'd love it if you could update. One of my biggest concerns is the MCAT changing in 2015 - the year our students are likely to take it. There are different things that will be covered on it and I want to be certain any undergrad college is proactive about it. Some seem to take the "let's wait and see what happens after the first couple of years" approach. Um, yeah, like that bodes well for my guy who is IN those first couple of years!

 

Otherwise, I do still think UA is worth checking out. It may, or may not, be for any particular student, but my guy is more interested in potentially going there now after seeing it for himself. This is a good thing if they end up being the best choice for us financially.

 

My personal thoughts are that a double major might be near impossible if new courses are "preferred" before being "mandatory" by med schools (something a couple of advisers have told me they expect to happen). When less than 50% of applicants make it into med school, I want my guy to have everything that might be "preferred" as well as his major.