Chicago Alumni Association - So helpful!

buzymom3 · August 16, 2011, 1:57pm

Hi All - Just wanted to let any anyone from Chicagoland area that the Chicagoland Alumni Association is a great resource! I reached out to their general email thru their webpage and within a day I had a response full of great insights and information.

We have been emailing back and forth and they have even invited my DD to come to their 'bar' to watch a game. I guess they all get together at the Houndstooth in the Lincoln Park area of the city to watch games. We were told to come to a day game, since it is in a bar DD would not be allowed in the bar at night. But during the day would be fine.

We are looking at the game schedule and going to pick one of the early ones. We will be able to talk to alumni and soak up some school spirit at the same time!

They are even going to put us in touch with a local student who won a scholarship from them and is going to be an incoming freshman this year and his family.

Cannot tell you how excited DD is about this and just wanted to pass it on if it would help anyone locally.

Now we are just waiting {{impatiently}} for the acceptance -

ahpimommy · August 16, 2011, 2:01pm

Ditto form Kansas City...our Alumni Association is fantastic....Game Day Watch..Fox and Hound on Metcalf....PM me if you need more info. Incoming students and parents. there alums are very valuable resources and some of the friendliest folks around. If your DD or S is planning on going Greek contact them. We found that many of them had been part of the Greek system and were more than happy to help with recs ect.

beth_s_mom · August 16, 2011, 3:02pm

Thanks Buzymom, that's good information to have.

AL34 · August 16, 2011, 5:22pm

Also a good crowd at Another Round Bar and Grill in Downers Grove, that's the satellite Bama bar for those out here in the burbs. Let me know if you plan on going down any time and we'll meet you there :)

Cuttlefish123 · August 16, 2011, 5:24pm

Good luck to you and your DD. I hope you get your acceptance soon.

acs494 · August 16, 2011, 5:27pm

Hey buzymom, I was just wondering what kind of info. they gave ya? Would it be good for students as well as parents?

buzymom3 · August 16, 2011, 8:33pm

Hi acs494, not really anything that would help a student who is there now...more about the whole transition from Northern ways to Southern ways. Cultural and social differences. Things that I have brought up here on the board earlier this summer. How the Southern culture is just so polite and kind and the pace is a bit slower and how if you are a wise cracky sort it might not always be received as you intended. More things that parents (me) worry about. I guess we mostly talked about finding your place, and how it really does not matter if you are 2 hours from home or 12 hours from home...you will still be a bit homesick and lost. You will still need some time to find your 'place'. But it does happen, no matter where you go. I think that bit of wisdom helped me the most...

Wise words from the wonderful Alumni in Chicago! Really made me feel better. Also made me feel better to know that so many come back to Chicago. DD is the baby and I like to think that maybe she will come back to Chicago after college.

AL34 - Oh yah that would be wonderful! I will take you up on that bar meeting in DG for sure! I think that we are going to try to hit Houndstooth for one of the first couple of games, so maybe we can meet there sometime in late September or early October? Hubby works in DG so I know the area a little bit.

ANYONE in Chicagoland area that wants to join us just PM me and I will let you know when we are heading up to either of the two bars. Alumni did tell me that afternoon games are fine, but minors will not be welcome to a night game as they get a bit umm rowdy! ahaha

acs494 · August 17, 2011, 1:07am

That's awesome, I'm actually going to be a senior in a burb HS so that would help a lot. Ps the Houndstooth is awesome, great food and even better atmosphere

BAMAMom2Be · August 17, 2011, 8:27am

Our local alumni chapter was fabulous, too. They were able to arrange a very special campus tour for my daughter and her best friend the spring of their junior year in high school. They set up appointments with Dr. Caldwell (head of bio dept, for my D) and the flute and trumpet instructors. My D even ended up having a mini master class and playing a duet with the flute instructor.

Every person we came in contact with made the girls feel welcome and wanted. We were all treated to lunch, had tours of the Honors College, and the girls were even given a small gift. They left feeling as if Alabama really wanted them there.

The trip was on a Friday. The girls were ready to quit high school by noon so they could move into a dorm the next day!

This program is called Discovering BAMA. To take part in it, a student must be recommended by an active member of the National Alumni Association. We didn't know anyone, so we just emailed our local chapter (turns out one of the officers works for the same company as my husband, but they don't know each other). We gave them a brief description of then girls' stats, and they were very happy to arrange the tour for us. More info: alumni.UA.edu/discovering-bama.

The National Alumni Association also offers some fabulous Crimson scholarship packages that are very similar to the NMF ones. My daughter was lucky enough to receive one of two that were endowed to sere students from our county whenever possible.

I can't say enough good things about the alumni association. If you go to the link I gave above, you can find contact information for chapters all over the country. Just be prepared: after our initial visit, we started receiving a TON of recruitment material. My D just didn't understand why they seemed to want her so badly! (UA was the only school to which she'd apply, so she had no experience with what other colleges do.)