Your kid isn't going to be hearing kids at 'Bama using the n word on the daily unless he's a black kid on the football team and they're allowed to. You're stereotyping and exaggerating. |
I guess it depends on where you are. I'm a Southerner and I heard it A LOT growing up in the 2000s. I still hear it sometimes when I'm home. |
It's only funny because it's at least partially true. And everyone knows that. |
Yea. One of my kids went to a school that fits that description and fit right in (except she's straight and married a straight classmate). She'd definitely laugh at it now. It hits very close to home. You gotta have a sense of humor about these things. Example: my sister was visiting when my daughter was home from college and she asked her how she liked it. She said "I really like it a lot. I have a great support system." My sister replied, "you know, back in my day we called them friends." LOL |
And basketball. Alabama is a Top 25 national program and has gone to an NCAA regional final. |
On the upside, OP, your DC is unlikely to run into this poster at the University of Alabama. |
This looks good: https://honors.ua.edu/apply/randall-research-scholars-program/ |
Without getting into an argument with posters on the specifics of their experiences, the Deep South has a different culture. It has changed a lot since I was a kid in Georgia decades ago, but it is still more socially acceptable there to make racist, comments there than other parts of the country. You don't have to drive far out of Atlanta to run into it. And the Confederate flag is a big part of the culture there. The paradox is that people in the South are some of the warm, friendliest and kindest people I have ever met. They aren't as reserved, and sometimes aloof, as people on the coasts. It is more socially segregated by race than the West Coast, especially more than the newer developments in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and the Inland Empire, but it is a matter of degree. There's plenty segregation out here, too. I live on the West Coast, and I knew a couple of families who had kids who were thinking about going to school in the South. I never said, no, that's a bad idea. I did say, it is different in ways that can't be experienced here, you might want to check it out before sending your kid there. Go there and spend some time to find out if it works for you. |
The schools most likely to lead to top MS/phD inhumanities are Ivies, top SLACs, UChicago, Duke and a few more top privates. Go to one of those. |
Are you trying to chase merit? Does the kid have any specific major interests?
Our family ruled out most southern states for political reasons. But if those things don’t bother you or your kid, a big state school in the south trying to draw people in with merit money could work. Trying to find the right mix of price and interests can be tricky. |
How about ASU for Engineering? Top 35 program, why wouldn't someone attend versus a URochester or 50+engineering school? Is there that much of a difference? |
OP said that their kid wants a PhD in the humanities -- very different from engineering |
Yes, but what about ASU Engineering, same concept, cheaper than mid-tier engineering private, worth it in the end? |
Hey OP, given the "want to buy a house" part of your post, I'm assuming you are looking for merit and hence looking at Alabama?
Alabama's has a ton of kids from OOS, and has done a great job of building up a strong academic cohort for top performers. Have you visited the campus? |
What is right. I am from the South. I went to college in Boston. I have never lived anywhere so racist as Boston. The South couldn't compete if it tried. |