Why Bama ? It is ranked 170 and keeps dropping

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously why are people looking or choosing OOS Alabama? It’s one of the lowest ranked schools and keeps declining. What am I missing?

High levels of merit aid for academically qualified kids. Especially if your kid is planning on graduate school (where they can chase a "name"), getting through undergrad for less money is a huge draw. There is a good honors college, and a motivated kid can get a good education there.

Is it Harvard? No. But it's not a clown college either, and it's not like they lock you in the state after graduation.

But this means kids and parents are just incredibly lazy in looking at schools. LSU, Oregon, Iowa, Iowa State, South Carolina..the list is actually fairly extensive...they all give high levels of merit for academically qualified kids.

Not automatically, like Alabama. And the idea that a student is "incredibly lazy" for applying to a school that advertises its aid policies clearly instead of applying to every state school in the nation in the hopes that something will stick is pretty much diametrically opposed to the usual DCUM standard trope that "fit" is all that matters. Is a family "incredibly lazy" if they haven't visited Iowa, Oregon, Louisiana and South Carolina to decide if they want to go to school there? Get real.

I didn't go to Alabama, wouldn't send my (not white) kids there, and low key hate the SEC, but this anti-Alabama trend on DCUM seems like sour grapes to me. If you put all of your eggs in the T25 basket, anything outside of those schools getting attention takes away from what you perceive as your kid's superiority. You want your choices to be universally recognized as the right ones, and since you wouldn't choose a big state school in the South, people who do must be wrong. It's childish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously why are people looking or choosing OOS Alabama? It’s one of the lowest ranked schools and keeps declining. What am I missing?

High levels of merit aid for academically qualified kids. Especially if your kid is planning on graduate school (where they can chase a "name"), getting through undergrad for less money is a huge draw. There is a good honors college, and a motivated kid can get a good education there.

Is it Harvard? No. But it's not a clown college either, and it's not like they lock you in the state after graduation.

But this means kids and parents are just incredibly lazy in looking at schools. LSU, Oregon, Iowa, Iowa State, South Carolina..the list is actually fairly extensive...they all give high levels of merit for academically qualified kids.

Not automatically, like Alabama. And the idea that a student is "incredibly lazy" for applying to a school that advertises its aid policies clearly instead of applying to every state school in the nation in the hopes that something will stick is pretty much diametrically opposed to the usual DCUM standard trope that "fit" is all that matters. Is a family "incredibly lazy" if they haven't visited Iowa, Oregon, Louisiana and South Carolina to decide if they want to go to school there? Get real.

I didn't go to Alabama, wouldn't send my (not white) kids there, and low key hate the SEC, but this anti-Alabama trend on DCUM seems like sour grapes to me. If you put all of your eggs in the T25 basket, anything outside of those schools getting attention takes away from what you perceive as your kid's superiority. You want your choices to be universally recognized as the right ones, and since you wouldn't choose a big state school in the South, people who do must be wrong. It's childish.

I don’t know everything in life but that one I do. There are sour grapes re bama. Come on PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously why are people looking or choosing OOS Alabama? It’s one of the lowest ranked schools and keeps declining. What am I missing?

High levels of merit aid for academically qualified kids. Especially if your kid is planning on graduate school (where they can chase a "name"), getting through undergrad for less money is a huge draw. There is a good honors college, and a motivated kid can get a good education there.

Is it Harvard? No. But it's not a clown college either, and it's not like they lock you in the state after graduation.

But this means kids and parents are just incredibly lazy in looking at schools. LSU, Oregon, Iowa, Iowa State, South Carolina..the list is actually fairly extensive...they all give high levels of merit for academically qualified kids.

Not automatically, like Alabama. And the idea that a student is "incredibly lazy" for applying to a school that advertises its aid policies clearly instead of applying to every state school in the nation in the hopes that something will stick is pretty much diametrically opposed to the usual DCUM standard trope that "fit" is all that matters. Is a family "incredibly lazy" if they haven't visited Iowa, Oregon, Louisiana and South Carolina to decide if they want to go to school there? Get real.

I didn't go to Alabama, wouldn't send my (not white) kids there, and low key hate the SEC, but this anti-Alabama trend on DCUM seems like sour grapes to me. If you put all of your eggs in the T25 basket, anything outside of those schools getting attention takes away from what you perceive as your kid's superiority. You want your choices to be universally recognized as the right ones, and since you wouldn't choose a big state school in the South, people who do must be wrong. It's childish.

You are incorrect...places like Iowa and Iowa State are even more automatic and transparent. The other schools anyone that spends two seconds researching it will determine that they offer merit aid to most kids based on different metrics

Look, if a kid wants to go to Alabama that's great (and they likely didn't visit either but only applied because of what you describe as the transparent aid), but yes they are lazy if in fact they really wanted a school ranked much higher but didn't bother to spend anytime to see that other schools are equally and even more generous.

BTW...I mentioned LSU and South Carolina which last I checked...are in big state schools in the South.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously why are people looking or choosing OOS Alabama? It’s one of the lowest ranked schools and keeps declining. What am I missing?

High levels of merit aid for academically qualified kids. Especially if your kid is planning on graduate school (where they can chase a "name"), getting through undergrad for less money is a huge draw. There is a good honors college, and a motivated kid can get a good education there.

Is it Harvard? No. But it's not a clown college either, and it's not like they lock you in the state after graduation.

But this means kids and parents are just incredibly lazy in looking at schools. LSU, Oregon, Iowa, Iowa State, South Carolina..the list is actually fairly extensive...they all give high levels of merit for academically qualified kids.

Not automatically, like Alabama. And the idea that a student is "incredibly lazy" for applying to a school that advertises its aid policies clearly instead of applying to every state school in the nation in the hopes that something will stick is pretty much diametrically opposed to the usual DCUM standard trope that "fit" is all that matters. Is a family "incredibly lazy" if they haven't visited Iowa, Oregon, Louisiana and South Carolina to decide if they want to go to school there? Get real.

I didn't go to Alabama, wouldn't send my (not white) kids there, and low key hate the SEC, but this anti-Alabama trend on DCUM seems like sour grapes to me. If you put all of your eggs in the T25 basket, anything outside of those schools getting attention takes away from what you perceive as your kid's superiority. You want your choices to be universally recognized as the right ones, and since you wouldn't choose a big state school in the South, people who do must be wrong. It's childish.

You are incorrect...places like Iowa and Iowa State are even more automatic and transparent. The other schools anyone that spends two seconds researching it will determine that they offer merit aid to most kids based on different metrics

Look, if a kid wants to go to Alabama that's great (and they likely didn't visit either but only applied because of what you describe as the transparent aid), but yes they are lazy if in fact they really wanted a school ranked much higher but didn't bother to spend anytime to see that other schools are equally and even more generous.

BTW...I mentioned LSU and South Carolina which last I checked...are in big state schools in the South.

We are from PA and have a couple of friends who have kids that are going to Alabama. Both are smart kids and will graduate in 4 years with a masters (one in aerospace engineering and other with some sort of business/cs degree). They both got a lot of aid to go there. They aren't into greek life but they both love attending football games and the school spirit that is present at Alabama.

Sorry, but Alabama is a much more desirable school than either Iowa or Iowa State if you can tolerate the distance from home (and both of my kids applied to one of the two). I think South Carolina is more desirable but a much tougher admit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Full ride for NMSF? Kids who want a big school in the south? Generous merit? Kids who don’t have the stats to get into T10 schools? Space force is moving there along with lots of large DoD employment options?

Why not Alabama?

+1

Not for my kids. But many use it as an affordable school with great school spirit. In Illinois where it's damn near impossible to get into the state school (and there is only 1 worth attending), if you have the stats for U of Illinois, your kid will get excellent merit.

Both of my kids would have had current tuition of only ~$6K. That's $20K all in for a year. Easy affordable school with good programs.

that is why kids do it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alabama doesn’t play the USNWR game. Their admission rates are high, and as a result retention low. Scholarships are public and the same standards for everyone. Professor to student ratio is less favorable because they let their professors focus on research and teach fewer classes than higher ranked schools (e.g., Yale requires profs teach 4 classes a semester, Alabama requires 1). Professors can avoid teaching lower level classes. The prestige of the faculty at Alabama way outweighs the general student body. They pay professors very well and research funding is high. Their research is excellent and their grad programs ranked high - med and increasingly law. It is undeniable the opportunities for motivated and academic kids at the school. Upper level classes are fantastic and rigorous and small. Med, grad and job placement is notably high among the program kids. For people focused on “rankings” or social prestige, probably not a good fit.

So Bama is becoming an institution that prioritizes research over undergraduate instruction? Cal and UCLA are described this way and the conclusion is nearly always negative, better for grads than undergrads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously why are people looking or choosing OOS Alabama? It’s one of the lowest ranked schools and keeps declining. What am I missing?

High levels of merit aid for academically qualified kids. Especially if your kid is planning on graduate school (where they can chase a "name"), getting through undergrad for less money is a huge draw. There is a good honors college, and a motivated kid can get a good education there.

Is it Harvard? No. But it's not a clown college either, and it's not like they lock you in the state after graduation.

But this means kids and parents are just incredibly lazy in looking at schools. LSU, Oregon, Iowa, Iowa State, South Carolina..the list is actually fairly extensive...they all give high levels of merit for academically qualified kids.

Not automatically, like Alabama. And the idea that a student is "incredibly lazy" for applying to a school that advertises its aid policies clearly instead of applying to every state school in the nation in the hopes that something will stick is pretty much diametrically opposed to the usual DCUM standard trope that "fit" is all that matters. Is a family "incredibly lazy" if they haven't visited Iowa, Oregon, Louisiana and South Carolina to decide if they want to go to school there? Get real.

I didn't go to Alabama, wouldn't send my (not white) kids there, and low key hate the SEC, but this anti-Alabama trend on DCUM seems like sour grapes to me. If you put all of your eggs in the T25 basket, anything outside of those schools getting attention takes away from what you perceive as your kid's superiority. You want your choices to be universally recognized as the right ones, and since you wouldn't choose a big state school in the South, people who do must be wrong. It's childish.

You are incorrect...places like Iowa and Iowa State are even more automatic and transparent. The other schools anyone that spends two seconds researching it will determine that they offer merit aid to most kids based on different metrics

Look, if a kid wants to go to Alabama that's great (and they likely didn't visit either but only applied because of what you describe as the transparent aid), but yes they are lazy if in fact they really wanted a school ranked much higher but didn't bother to spend anytime to see that other schools are equally and even more generous.

BTW...I mentioned LSU and South Carolina which last I checked...are in big state schools in the South.

We are from PA and have a couple of friends who have kids that are going to Alabama. Both are smart kids and will graduate in 4 years with a masters (one in aerospace engineering and other with some sort of business/cs degree). They both got a lot of aid to go there. They aren't into greek life but they both love attending football games and the school spirit that is present at Alabama.

Sorry, but Alabama is a much more desirable school than either Iowa or Iowa State if you can tolerate the distance from home (and both of my kids applied to one of the two). I think South Carolina is more desirable but a much tougher admit.

South Carolina is a different thing. Alabama has the highest number of NMFs attending next year and the school caters to these kids. South Carolina has a very good honors program, but it doesn’t focus on the top students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alabama doesn’t play the USNWR game. Their admission rates are high, and as a result retention low. Scholarships are public and the same standards for everyone. Professor to student ratio is less favorable because they let their professors focus on research and teach fewer classes than higher ranked schools (e.g., Yale requires profs teach 4 classes a semester, Alabama requires 1). Professors can avoid teaching lower level classes. The prestige of the faculty at Alabama way outweighs the general student body. They pay professors very well and research funding is high. Their research is excellent and their grad programs ranked high - med and increasingly law. It is undeniable the opportunities for motivated and academic kids at the school. Upper level classes are fantastic and rigorous and small. Med, grad and job placement is notably high among the program kids. For people focused on “rankings” or social prestige, probably not a good fit.

So Bama is becoming an institution that prioritizes research over undergraduate instruction? Cal and UCLA are described this way and the conclusion is nearly always negative, better for grads than undergrads.

Yet UCLA and Cal are the top ranked public schools in the country by USNWR.

I honestly don't understand how Alabama "doesn't play the game". It's admission rates are actually lower than say Michigan State which is ranked #64. They are paying a ton to bring in all these kids OOS that in theory make their student stats look much better than you would expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously why are people looking or choosing OOS Alabama? It’s one of the lowest ranked schools and keeps declining. What am I missing?

High levels of merit aid for academically qualified kids. Especially if your kid is planning on graduate school (where they can chase a "name"), getting through undergrad for less money is a huge draw. There is a good honors college, and a motivated kid can get a good education there.

Is it Harvard? No. But it's not a clown college either, and it's not like they lock you in the state after graduation.

But this means kids and parents are just incredibly lazy in looking at schools. LSU, Oregon, Iowa, Iowa State, South Carolina..the list is actually fairly extensive...they all give high levels of merit for academically qualified kids.

Alabama gives merit to kids with lower GPAs than most schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alabama doesn’t play the USNWR game. Their admission rates are high, and as a result retention low. Scholarships are public and the same standards for everyone. Professor to student ratio is less favorable because they let their professors focus on research and teach fewer classes than higher ranked schools (e.g., Yale requires profs teach 4 classes a semester, Alabama requires 1). Professors can avoid teaching lower level classes. The prestige of the faculty at Alabama way outweighs the general student body. They pay professors very well and research funding is high. Their research is excellent and their grad programs ranked high - med and increasingly law. It is undeniable the opportunities for motivated and academic kids at the school. Upper level classes are fantastic and rigorous and small. Med, grad and job placement is notably high among the program kids. For people focused on “rankings” or social prestige, probably not a good fit.

So Bama is becoming an institution that prioritizes research over undergraduate instruction? Cal and UCLA are described this way and the conclusion is nearly always negative, better for grads than undergrads.

No, it’s not better for grads. Alabama Phd programs are weaker than the schools you reference. PhD placement from Alabama is great. The opportunities for high achieving undergrads in labs and other research is a benefit from having less Phds. The teaching at Alabama is also fantastic in the higher level classes — which may include both undergrads and grad students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a crap school, but it's notorious for Sorority Rush. In case you didn't know, that's a HUGE deal for a certain type of southern family whose goal in life is to get their daughters and sons married to other kids of well-to-do families of the south who are in sororities and fraternities in those types of institutions. They're the state politicians, business owners and company managers of the South, and their world is encompassed within those boundaries. The rest of the world does not exist. All blonde, all white, all Barbie, of course. Brunettes tolerated, POC need not apply.

Except they aren’t. Maybe a state politician and maybe somebody that owns some piddly business…but most of the folks with real money send their kids to the same top schools OOS as people everywhere.

There was a recent article about how some of the Bama sorority girls became famous online and earned some bucks as influencers. Nearly all mentioned how “great it was to not have to take any loans” and graduate debt free.

Not really. In the south, flagships are considered equal to private. I’m sure Bama parents own more successful businesses and have better political careers than you lol

First…most of the families at Bama are from OOS, so of course your premise is flawed. But it’s easy enough for you to look at the matriculations from top Alabama private schools and see most (like 85%) of the kids go to school OOS and most to private colleges. I work with one of the richest people in Alabama and his kids go to Vanderbilt and Princeton.

You don’t actually appear to know anyone in the south.

Anecdotal bullshit

[Anonymous]

who cares where it's ranked
who cares if kids want to go there
so glad people are different because would be a boring world if we were all the same

neither I nor my kid is interested in alabama but so glad some kids are

[Anonymous]

Some kids don't think they can find someone to marry unless then participate in the bama games and follow the bama rules. So be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alabama doesn’t play the USNWR game. Their admission rates are high, and as a result retention low. Scholarships are public and the same standards for everyone. Professor to student ratio is less favorable because they let their professors focus on research and teach fewer classes than higher ranked schools (e.g., Yale requires profs teach 4 classes a semester, Alabama requires 1). Professors can avoid teaching lower level classes. The prestige of the faculty at Alabama way outweighs the general student body. They pay professors very well and research funding is high. Their research is excellent and their grad programs ranked high - med and increasingly law. It is undeniable the opportunities for motivated and academic kids at the school. Upper level classes are fantastic and rigorous and small. Med, grad and job placement is notably high among the program kids. For people focused on “rankings” or social prestige, probably not a good fit.

So Bama is becoming an institution that prioritizes research over undergraduate instruction? Cal and UCLA are described this way and the conclusion is nearly always negative, better for grads than undergrads.

Yet UCLA and Cal are the top ranked public schools in the country by USNWR.

I honestly don't understand how Alabama "doesn't play the game". It's admission rates are actually lower than say Michigan State which is ranked #64. They are paying a ton to bring in all these kids OOS that in theory make their student stats look much better than you would expect.

They let in too many kids.

[Anonymous]

Hotties.