University of Alabama?

[SkateLeft]

In a recent email from the regional admissions counselor at the University of Alabama, I received the following statement:

 

"As far as requirements for home schooled students, as long as the home school program that you use is accredited, her high school transcript, community college transcript, and ACT scores will be sufficient."

 

Our homeschool program is *not* accredited. :) I know several of you have had students who've applied to UAL and been accepted, so I'm wondering what your application experience has been. Did they actually want an accredited transcript? Or were they happy with your homeschool transcript?

 

She qualifies for their full-tuition scholarship, and considering that the community college she's attending for her junior and senior year is regionally accredited, I find it hard to believe that they'd make an issue over accreditation of her 9th and 10th grade mommy grades!

 

Thanks for any advice!

[creekland]

We had no problems with just our diploma. They didn't bat an eye and we're not accredited. We do come from a regulated state, so I suppose that could make a difference, but I'm not sure it did.

 

Alabama is a nice safety school when one qualifies for their full tuition. My guy might have gone there had he not had an essentially equal offer (slightly better, but essentially equal) from U Rochester and Pittsburgh. Don't limit your applications based upon their guaranteed offer (unless you're a Roll Tide fan, of course). High stat kids are valued at many schools. I'm glad we didn't limit apps, but it sure was nice having it in the bag. It took a lot of stress out of the whole process.

[SkateLeft]

Awesome, thank you! I was hoping it was just misinformation on the part of the regional rep. Our state requires us to register with the local district, so I'll make sure to put that on the transcript.

 

We actually hadn't even considered University of Alabama until we found out about the guaranteed scholarship. She's really not into big liberal arts universities, and she really wants to go to a school that's primarily STEM based, but she wanted me to look into it anyway. We just figured we might apply for comparison's sake when all the financial numbers come back.

[creekland]

We actually hadn't even considered University of Alabama until we found out about the guaranteed scholarship. She's really not into big liberal arts universities, and she really wants to go to a school that's primarily STEM based, but she wanted me to look into it anyway. We just figured we might apply for comparison's sake when all the financial numbers come back.

 

That's what we did too. UA is doing a great job at improving their rep, etc, by offering their great merit aid. It's attracting a lot of top students who can't easily afford elsewhere. I've no regrets having middle son apply there, but he also has no regrets choosing a school with more to offer for what he wants SINCE the finances came back great. Without the financial offers from the other two schools, he'd be heading to UA.

 

I've seen people get allured by the $$ and stop considering elsewhere (easy to do when college apps seem overwhelming and this one is in the bag). Then they've been disappointed when others have choices and they don't, esp if those choices more align with fit. They might still choose UA, but it's nice to have a choice. Hence, my comment from earlier.

 

UA is doing some smart marketing by offering the $$ and early in the process.

[SkateLeft]

I've no regrets having middle son apply there, but he also has no regrets choosing a school with more to offer for what he wants SINCE the finances came back great.

 

Thank you so much for the advice! You made a great point about considering what the school has to offer, in addition to the finances. I try to keep that in mind, but sometimes the numbers overpower other concerns! I appreciate you helping me keep it in perspective. :D

[creekland]

Thank you so much for the advice! You made a great point about considering what the school has to offer, in addition to the finances. I try to keep that in mind, but sometimes the numbers overpower other concerns! I appreciate you helping me keep it in perspective. :D

 

We were there too! The financial numbers definitely speak volumes and there's a mom on cc who endlessly praises the school (perhaps beyond its actual value, but that can be debatable pending path desired). When all numbers were in, my guy got to pick from affordable schools based upon what he wanted and visiting U Rochester made all the difference to him. There's a totally different vibe between the two schools. A student can do well at either one, of course, but there's a huge difference in feel.

 

UA is big on sports, emphasizes non-academic perks like their all singles housing and new gym as well as treating us to a great little restaurant for lunch (NOT campus dining FWIW). Students talked about how great it was living there. Classes were almost a side deal even when we specifically asked questions about them. Contrast that with UR and they emphasize loving to learn and research. Dorms are more traditional as is their gym, but every student we talked with said they enjoyed living there, then talked about academics and, if they were doing it (76% are), their research. Some even added that sports teams often give away free food and/or t-shirts to get students to attend games (and students DO attend games for the perks - or because their friends were playing ;) ). Many students participate in intermurals and talked about that, but at UA they mainly talked about how their football team (and gymnastics team) did. At UR students proudly showed us their library and study rooms where they have white boards students can put problems up on for group homework or studying. They talked about different experiences with this. One guy told us his group had a problem put up, went to lunch, came back, and someone (nicely) had put the solution up for them. They were thrilled. None of that type of talk happened at UA.

 

Pending your student's preference, one school or the other fits better (or even something in between).

 

Had finances not worked out at a more academic school, my guy would have gone to UA and very likely could have found some similar minded students to succeed with. It's a big school attracting all types. But he prefers being in an environment of (mostly) like-minded academic students and I'm really glad he's getting to go to one. Then too, for him with wanting to be pre-med, it's awesome that there's a top medical school there too and undergrads can do research there as well. At UA, their medical school is in Birmingham. They had a building at Tuscaloosa where they were doing some medical training, but it's just nowhere near the same.

 

Then too, the non-financial numbers just plain are better at UR (but that's not worth going into oodles of debt for IMO).

 

Freshman retention rate of 96% vs 85%

4 year graduation rate of 75% vs 38% (and UR has a 5 year double major program some purposely use - free tuition the 5th year)

 

Anyway, that all played into our final decision. But I still have no regrets applying to UA and having that safety as a backup and if my son were going there I know he would still do well in life. I just feel fortunate that something better for him was equally affordable for middle son. That doesn't happen for everyone. It's worth it to apply to "better fit" schools (if there are some) to see if it will happen though.