Hey all! This is my very first post here, so I apologize in advance for any posting faux pas!
My oldest is a junior and is very likely to be National Merit. (He scored a 222 on the PSAT, and we live in KY. His first and only ACT composite score so far was 34, and he has all As.)
On paper, we think Alabama sounds like a great fit for him, and we love the possibility of the package they offer to NMFs.
We’d love to take him to visit. Do you think we’d be better off taking him this school year (and doing the campus tour, info session, etc.) OR waiting until next school year when University Days are offered again?
I’d suggest going now. He can start visiting colleges now in his junior year and get an idea of places that appeal to him. No need to do this all in the fall and feel rushed to get it all in before applications are sent.
Our district south of Nashville - had days set for college visits or job shadowing. That’s the day my son went. Not sure if yours has something similar.
You don’t want to miss too much school. At the same time, what sounds good on paper isn’t always good - and if you saw UL or UK as examples, Bama is vastly different…larger and spread out.
So if you see and you love - then great. But if you don’t love, then you can eliminate it and other like schools.
If he might like smaller, as an example, you might hit UAH on the way up or down. It’s got incredible auto merit. And for elite - if that’s an interest - Vandy too - then you can see several types - if any of the other sizes/types interest you. Of course, the cost equation there might not work - but you’d see a size at least -if you decided Bama was too big (after seeing in real life).
Best of luck in your journey and congrats to your son on his great score.
Now, spring break and summer are great times to start college visits. Senior year can be quite busy and overwhelming.
A variety of campuses are good to see: small, large, rural, urban, etc. While repeated tours might get redundant, it will help highlight how they are different and what is right for you. We toured a few colleges we weren’t really interested in just for comparison sakes.
I suggest you reach out to your Alabama regional recruiter and let them know you are interested in the school. Most set up a personalized tour which may include visiting with department heads, visiting with students in interested majors, lunch with a student, meeting with the honors college, meeting with a fraternity, and a meeting with the office of scholarships.
Congrats to your student! I would say visit this year. Senior year gets really busy really fast!
Alabama offers a terrific package to NMFs. In case you haven’t found it yet, here is the thread that lists and describes many of the schools that offer big merit, including Alabama:
Thank you so much for the great suggestions! Yes, I think he’s still in the stages of “I don’t know exactly what I want.” Seeing and evaluating different schools this year should help. I love the idea of seeing Vandy and/or UAH on the same trip!
I found our early visits helped S23 think about things he wanted to ask about and see on our later visits or revisits when things got more in depth. It helped him form a picture of what he was looking for even if the places we toured weren’t the right fit.
