IsleofJD

Also, do not listen to the garbage rankings from Princeton Review. Any big SEC school will be perceived as "conservative" or "Most Nostalgic for Reagan" as Princeton Review likes to put it. I will admit that the whole myth of Alabama being nothing but neo-con's scared the hell out of me. However, from what I have gathered from my friends who go there and from my visits, the political scene is very balanced. Hell, the Student Government Association president is a registered Democrat! UGA gets the same type of bad rap yet, Athens is a VERY liberal town. You quite honestly need to visit the campus yourself and talk to students and come to forums like this rather than read some list published by an Ivy. The Ivy's always have a bias to southern schools. I am from a long line of northern yanks but I will still admit that the Ivy's are full of themselves and feel as though they can pass judgement on the "other" universities of America. UA was constantly getting shafted in the rankings but now it is changing tremendously.

Ethre

I've only seen the google satellite imagery, but that looked pretty.

momof3boyz

I drove to campus after flying into Birmingham's Airport. The first exit (#73) brought us into town on the far east side. For the most part, it looked like any divided state route with fastfood, gas, strip plazas and a small shopping mall with a few anchor stores (Sears & Belk's). My son was disappointed because he thought it would be a bigger city. (He did not see the "Downtown" district until today on our departure to Atlanta (Emory University visit). I am very pleased with the campus, programs, dorms and athletic facilities. Campus was very clean. We ate in Lakeside dining hall which had a Starbucks coffee and mini market on the street level. The dining area was on the lower level but the building was built on a hill allowing the lower level to be surrounded by two walls of glass and the ceiling was two stories high. There was plenty to select from and serving stations are well spread out so waiting was only two or three deep at the salad station and grill (burgers/sandwiches made to order).

I struck a conversation with a freshman student that was waiting in the lobby. I asked her how her first year was. Even though she will probably transfer after this year (personal reasons) I asked her to share a high point of her time at Bama. Early last fall she became very ill, requiring a trip to the hospital by ambulance at 3AM. She said that her RA rode in the ambulance with her and stayed until she had to go to a 9AM class. She also said she had unexpected visitors the following day from two Bama administrators.

Our meeting with a professor was welcoming and not just a sales pitch. The professor took the time to listen to my son's interests and was told that class sizes for Mathematics have 60-30 students the first two years and get smaller 20-10 in the later two years. There are also LOTS of computer labs all around campus.

We met with the Dean of the Honors College. We were told that Dean Halli had reserved 45 minutes for us. An hour and a half later, we were on our way. Dean Halli is a caring man and so fun to visit with! My son got such a kick out of the visit saying "Could he be my grandfather, He was so much fun!".

The coaching staff also made the visit very welcoming. He arranged for my son to stay the night in one of the new dorms in a suite with four guys from the team. I felt the new dorms (we toured Lakeside) were very spacious. The common room had comfortable furnishings and each bedroom has it's own deadbolt. The kitchen area was limited but had a full size fridge, sink and microwave. Painting the walls is not permitted but the low tack stickers (10" squares, circles, wide borders) available a Lowes can be used to create wall murals and such. My son met me at the campus admissions office for the bus tour (after an early morning 10 mile run-he's nuts!).

All in all, this visit moved Bama up on the short list. We will know by MAY 1st just like everyone else. Hang in their HS Seniors, it will be here before you know it. Best to all of you.

Momof3

BBfromNC

FLVADAD:
I wrote a rather lengthy long overdue reply to your original question this past Saturday and for some reason it was never posted. I am trying to resurrect my thoughts, as I put a lot into it.

But to keep this brief, I graduated from Bama in the late 70's and the campus has always had a soft spot with me as I thought that it was a tremendous experience and a very beautiful campus. I have since been back many times, and interestingly my latest time back was at last years A Day game. I arranged to tour the campus with my daughter (a HS junior at that time) and my son (a HS freshman). The tour was excellent and the tour guide did an outstanding job fielding my daughters questions. After the tour, we even went into one of the buildings that housed the field of study she was interested in and the staff, faculty and grad students that we talked with rolled out the red (crimson) carpet, and genuinely were interested in talking with her. That impressed her.I have never pushed my daughter towards even applying to Bama, but on the drive home, she told me "that it was the best tour that we had been on and that the University had a lot to offer her".

I definitely agreed with her and I cautioned her to do more research into Bama. She did and while she was accepted to all school's she applied to, (still waiting on Wake Forest), she has decided to go to Bama. She will be in the honors college and my wife and daughter went down there in January during scholars weekend, my wife and daughter was extremely impressed with everybody associated with the honors college.

The University is a very well kept secret for a number of reasons, and while I am so proud of the institution, I wish it would stay a secret. But I know what the plans are and hopefully it will work out for the University and the next few classes of students.

So in short, I don't think you will go wrong with the University.

FLVADAD

Thanks for all of your replies. Sounds to me like we really need to get there for a visit. D is even more interested based on many of the comments here. Her mother, however, needs lots more convincing. I feel that if I can at least arrange a visit she may come away with a different attitude. At the very least, our discussions about it will be more substantive. Right now the name alone seems to evoke automatic dismissal, which I think is a mistake, not to mention a bit close-minded.

There is indeed a bias IsleofJD. There's a bias against southern schools in general, but schools in AL, MS, and AR seem to be especially snubbed. Part of it has to do with the reputation of the public school systems in those states which feed into the universities. I think that is a fair point to make, but UA is clearly seperating itself from the pack. Undortunately, I keep coming across discussions that lump them all together.

Great review momo3! The fact that Bama made your son's short list says a lot considering he is also looking at schools like Emory. We spent a lot of time at Emory last summer, and although D eventually decided not to apply, we really enjoyed our time there. Your description of the people you encountered during your time there is encouraging.

BBfromNC, I'd say the same about your comments. D has also applied WFU and is waiting. She's expecting something from them tomorrow in fact. She's also been admitted to UNC at this point.

I think Bama might benefit from a Public Relations campaign of some sort. I think the biggest negative they have going is that people judge them very quickly based on old southern stereotypes.

samanthawho

I have to comment here, especially after reading the last post. I DO encourage you to visit the campus. I think your wife might be pleasantly surprised! My daughter chose UA even though she visited Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, Davidson, Furman, Columbia, Wash U, Vanderbilt, U of Chicago, and Northwestern; also other Alabama colleges (Auburn, Samford, Birmingham Southern, and UAB). Of those schools she only applied to Auburn, Samford, Wash U, Vanderbilt, and UA. She was accepted by all she applied for and received full rides from Auburn and UA, partial from Samford, and 3/4 tuition to Vanderbilt. My point is that she considered several "name brand" schools and received significant offers from all of them except Wash U. She chose UA because the National Merit offer was too good to pass up and mostly because she loved it! Granted, we live in Alabama and it is only 2-1/2 hours from our home, but UA is where she really felt she would get the best education for the expense. She will begin post-graduate work in 3 years with no debt. She has had many opportunities to get involved on campus and in the Tuscaloosa community. I understand the prejudice against southern colleges and to some extent, the prejudice is true. There is a lot of emphasis on Greek life (BTW my daughter pledged a sorority) and there are many distractions (football, partying, etc.) but your child can receive a quality education if he/she chooses to do so. As other posters have noted, UA is on the rise and it's a good time to buy in!!!

Lola3000

Hi! Try this website called LVUTV. It's a nice way to sort of virtually tour the campuses and get an insider look at the schools you're interested in. It's got interviews with students about dormlife, sports, greeklife, faculty, classes, etc. Here are a few videos where the students talk about what the dorms and campus are like at University of Alabama: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa : AL : Student Reviews & Ratings : Live Video U. Hope this helps, good luck!

IsleofJD

It's truly sad that the bias still exists to this day. Granted, I was guilty of it! I wanted nothing more than to go up north to Boston University, or anywhere in Boston for that matter, or to a Big Ten school. Alabama was never a serious consideration on my list even though everyone kept telling me it was by far one of the best schools in the country for Journalism. I just viewed it as a ton of George Bush worshiping Republicans who constantly drank (I'm a Liberal FYI haha) so it was a big turn off. I started to have a change of heart when I applied over the summer and was accepted. I went to visit and LOVED it! However, that love faltered a bit as months went on b/c there were no students there and the town was virtually dead. About two months ago I went back for the "University Day" and saw the whole campus and town in full swing and fell in love all over again. The myth of it being a ton of narrow minded people who lean right is just not true. Granted, nearly every university in the south gets a "Conservative" stereotype. Yet, when the president of the SGA is a self proclaimed Democrat and the majority of the student senators are Democrats, your perceptions begin to change.

Also, just as a side note, the mayor of Tuscaloosa is very young (Late 20's early 30's) and has done an enormous amount to expand the options for college students at Bama. He understands the entertainment that college students seek and has convinced the whole business community to revamp their focus on the college students.

FLVADAD

Thanks for all the info everyone.

Turns out D just got a full tuition grant from Washington & Lee the other day and we haven't seen it yet either. With vacation travel and visits planned to other schools I'm afraid we won't have the chance to see AU before May 1 deadlines come up for the others. Logistics won't allow it, unfortunately.