Auburn feedback & EA timing

Parents Forum
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  1. for EA applications, Auburn says mid-October for decisions. Have you seen this to mean before 10/15, on 10/15, or after 10/15?

  2. would love to know the good/bad/ugly of attending this school from CA. Are southern students nice to Californians?

  3. is transportation to/from airport easy? I’m not keen on sending my daughter on a long uber ride with a stranger.

  4. other schools of consideration include TCU/UGA/Baylor. Can you offer any opinion on how Auburn stands in consideration to these schools?

Thank you parents!

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My son attended Bama. We are Californians but he was in TN most of his life. Bama has 1500+ Californians. Not sure about Auburn but I don’t see friendliness or assimilation an issue. There are less than 400 undergrads from CA. I’m not a Southerner (although I’ve lived in Tn for 20 years) and I’m in Alabama regularly for work, and I don’t find racism, anti semitism, or jerks in general. Just nice people - occasionally ignorant but nice :slight_smile: Auburn is a cut above demographically.

In theory Auburn students from afar will fly to Atlanta but could also fly to Columbus GA or Montgomery AL which are both closer.

Auburn is more regional than a Bama, likely based on the lesser merit. But still has many OOS kids (just not as many and not as widespread), but most are in state and from Georgia (Atlanta where it’s really popular for the kids that don’t get into UGA or can but want to go away - I know a few).

Groome is one shuttle that runs daily service between Atlanta’s airport and Montgomery with an Auburn stop (that doesn’t mean the university) . Where they pick up and how you get there I don’t know. I would ask admissions - they will have transport to the airport info as I’m sure they are asked by folks like you regularly. Some schools charter buses at holiday time. I don’t see anything on their website though.

I also imagine there’s a ride board and you can find a returning or departing student for a lift for a fee. Or their friends, once they make them. The airport is on the way to the most affluent parts of Atlanta, where many will come from. Convenient - Auburn isn’t in this regard - air transport.

I don’t know what mid October means. You can call and ask admissions but it will be here soon enough.

Auburns campus is way smaller than UGA, which for many includes a bus it’s so large. The town is nicer than Athens but that’s subjective - Athens is bigger and some love it as a favored college town

As for Baylor, it’s religious and there is little in Waco. It’s a nice campus but not in downtown (not far) which is a good thing. Not a nice city. They’ll say you don’t need to be religious but I’ve worked at two companies with a huge Dallas presence - and all I know who have gone are very religious. As the top niche student comment says, it’s God’s school. TCU will be very different.

I’ve only driven near but haven’t seen TCU. I’m sure it’s very nice with lots and lots of wealth. The top 3 comments all say wealthy - with the top being wealthy intelligent party animals.

What major ? Is your student religious ?

How did they pick these four ? Just curious.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.

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Last year Auburn Early action came out 10/17. I’m from Texas and lots of people go there from here. It’s definitely been increasing OOS enrollment over the last few years and now nearly 50 percent OOS. Two years ago they stopped calling OOS merit scholarships “automatic” because they ran out of $$$ for them. So the OOS scholarship standards are still there, and you will likely get it if you get in EA, but no longer technically guaranteed because so many come from OOS now.

The biggest downside I hear from friends who attend Auburn is airport access. But everyone truly loves it, besides that. It’s unfortunately poor (IMO) airport access is probably similar to Baylor/Waco’s poor airport access. I will grant you that my standard for “easy” airport access is high.

TCU has easier airport access and Fort Worth is super friendly in general and a fun city. There are lots of Texans there as well but also 50% OOS. Plenty of wealth but also lots of not-wealthy Texans because they give great merit scholarships, especially to Texans, and reasonably good need based aid too.

Baylor is going to be mostly Texas people. I do have one friend whose son is there from OOS, but honestly not sure why. Waco is kind of a drab place IMO.

Have you considered SMU? It’s mostly people from Texas and SoCal (ha! joking a little). I would say SMU gives off a much wealthier vibe than TCU, but part of that is the difference between Dallas and Fort Worth. Both TCU and SMU are in great areas and each is about 30 minutes to DFW. SMU is super close to Dallas Love field - like 10-15 minutes away - and there are so many flight options to/from SoCal on Southwest and, if you are bougie, JSX…which is amazing.

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My daughter graduated 2024. She took the Groome Shuttle with ease to ATL any time she needed to fly home. Not an issue at all.

She was raised in Marin, and travelled overseas to join us at holidays while in college. People were welcoming and curious about her California life.

There were a few good ole boys. But there were far more students that were defined by their interests and intellect.

Highly recommend!

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They have AA flights - so while not frequent, it’s better. And they have two major airports - DFW and AUS a bit closer but then ATL is to Auburn again Auburn has Columbus and Montgomery within an hour.

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I’m not sure I understand from your post which school - Baylor or Auburn- you think has better airport access.

it’s true that auburn is “only” an hour from Montgomery…but you can’t fly there from SoCal without connecting…if you have to take a connecting flight I consider airport access lacking. And, Honestly, an airport an hour away is not great anyway IMO.

in any case, with respect to Baylor… DAL is a major airport about 20 min closer to Baylor than DFW and has a ton of flights daily to/from SoCal.

but overall I think Auburn would be way more fun than Baylor.

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Baylor has better access because AA flies to Waco (via DFW) It also (for purposes of airfare) has both AUS and DFW similar in distance that Auburn has to ATL. And yes, Love Field (per google maps now) is 4 minutes closer than DFW to Baylor.

I was just noting on the access - there’s CSG closer than ATL too and closer than Montgomery (which has several airlines - I flew from Mongtomery to CLT on AA).

But you are right - only ATL will be non stop and the previous poster noted the Broome shuttle works great. And I agree with you on the overall “vibe” of Auburn, vs. Baylor, unless a student fits Baylor (religious, etc.) - and yes, I agree, Waco isn’t a nice place and Auburn (the town) and Opeleika are nice.

I used to call on Texas for my company. I liked a lot of cities - Waco wasn’t one :). But that’s subjective, just like I said I find Auburn nicer than Athens (UGA).

That’s why I asked how OP put these four in the basket.

But I was just noting that Baylor would have the best airport access (10 miles from the school) - well best vs. Auburn (and UGA for that fact)…not vs. TCU which would be best of the four.

Thanks

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Four minutes. Ha! I would challenge that for sure. DFW is only a few miles further but if you land there and get a car, that alone takes 20 min longer than it does at love field. And then you have to get out the the airport, which is larger than manhattan. It’s definitely a longer process than love field.

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if you rent a car - yes - as you have to bus. Of course, getting our of the DFW terminal is the easiest. Driving out - not so :slight_smile: Anyway, hopefully OP has enough info.

The Broome shuttle experience I’m sure will be helpful to them. And like here, while in our area in Nashville, more choose Bama (I’m sure given the merit, which attracts top stat kids), those who go to Auburn have good experiences. My son’s two friends were less party animal-ish type, more academic/book smart types and were in the engineering program.