University of Alabama updates

[atlanta68]

Originally Posted by chadinhsv

I don't care if we increased the admission standards to Harvard's level, our reputation will never get better to the elites that come up with these ridiculous metrics. I guess I have more sympathy for the lower "qualified" students because my test scores were really low and I doubt I would have made it in if I applied now. I worked my butt off in school and got a good job and now making more money than the really smart people who I came in with.

Of course this is all my opinion and believe you have great points, but I think if you take a chance on people they may just surprise you and go all out.

You are correct that test scores are not the be all and end all. And many smart folks do under perform on the tests relative to their actual IQ. However, the correlation between test scores and student success is still very strong, and is still the best proxy we have to gauge student quality. I applaud you for your hard work. Even had UA not admitted you your first year though, you could have transferred there and been just as successful, after proving yourself at a community college like Shelton.

[chadinhsv]

Originally Posted by atlanta68

You are correct that test scores are not the be all and end all. And many smart folks do under perform on the tests relative to their actual IQ. However, the correlation between test scores and student success is still very strong, and is still the best proxy we have to gauge student quality. I applaud you for your hard work. Even had UA not admitted you your first year though, you could have transferred there and been just as successful, after proving yourself at a community college like Shelton.

It probably would have been beneficial for a semester at Shelton but I would have been devastated at that point in time when all my friends were attending my dream school and getting to experience football season. I would have gotten over it eventually.

[Packer16]

My two cents on the changing of names on UA academic buildings. When I was in school, I never knew (nor cared, at the time) who the names on the buildings represented. I know that sounds dismissive, but, it is true. Now, after learning that Knott believed and promoted his theory that black people were sub-human and Morgan wanted all ex-slaves to be shipped out of the country to the Congo or the Phillipines, I think their names should be removed from buildings on campus. In my opinion, Honors Hall is a much more appropriate name for the old Knott Hall. And I think it should stay the name as long as it is home for the Honors College. As for the old Morgan Hall, I think the appropriate name is Harper Lee Hall (she is an alum who wrote the American Classic). A lot of young people don't even know she went to school at UA. This would be a great reminder. OK, My two cents are spent. Thank you for your time. ROLL TIDE FOREVER!!!

[atlanta68]

Originally Posted by Packer16

My two cents on the changing of names on UA academic buildings. When I was in school, I never knew (nor cared, at the time) who the names on the buildings represented. I know that sounds dismissive, but, it is true. Now, after learning that Knott believed and promoted his theory that black people were sub-human and Morgan wanted all ex-slaves to be shipped out of the country to the Congo or the Phillipines, I think their names should be removed from buildings on campus. In my opinion, Honors Hall is a much more appropriate name for the old Knott Hall. And I think it should stay the name as long as it is home for the Honors College. As for the old Morgan Hall, I think the appropriate name is Harper Lee Hall (she is an alum who wrote the American Classic). A lot of young people don't even know she went to school at UA. This would be a great reminder. OK, My two cents are spent. Thank you for your time. ROLL TIDE FOREVER!!!

You do realize don't you that Lincoln never stopped wanting to send American Blacks to either South America or Africa. Modern historians pretend he had some change but they can never present any evidence to support this contention. Lincoln was just as "racist" as Morgan.

However, I am more upset about the removal of the plaque honoring Confederate soldiers who died protecting the UA campus. We don't dishonor Veterans of wars like the Vietnam, and Iraq Wars that were based on lies, so why dishonor fallen Confederate soldiers?

[Packer16]

Well, I've had this debate with others, before, so I'll just lay out my point of view and let others have theirs. I have ancestors on both sides of the Civil War, but, basically the Confederates were at war against the United States of America. If the Confederates would have won, we would all be hieling Hitler and be a much different world, today. I proudly choose the United States of America. A lot of countries or groups have fought the USA based on their ideals through the years (most recently, Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban). Do I respect them? Not really. If my ancestors were members of the Mob, I wouldn't become a mobster or tell my kids stories of our great ancestors who repeatedly broke the laws of the land. I choose to be a American and a law-abiding citizen. Museums are great places to learn history, good and bad. College campuses should not revere people who do not have the best interest of this country and it's people in mind. I'm proud to be an American, not a Confederate. ROLL TIDE FOREVER!!!!

[atlanta68]

Originally Posted by Packer16

Well, I've had this debate with others, before, so I'll just lay out my point of view and let others have theirs. I have ancestors on both sides of the Civil War, but, basically the Confederates were at war against the United States of America. If the Confederates would have won, we would all be hieling Hitler and be a much different world, today. I proudly choose the United States of America. A lot of countries or groups have fought the USA based on their ideals through the years (most recently, Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban). Do I respect them? Not really. If my ancestors were members of the Mob, I wouldn't become a mobster or tell my kids stories of our great ancestors who repeatedly broke the laws of the land. I choose to be a American and a law-abiding citizen. Museums are great places to learn history, good and bad. College campuses should not revere people who do not have the best interest of this country and it's people in mind. I'm proud to be an American, not a Confederate. ROLL TIDE FOREVER!!!!

1) There were five Union slave states. 2) Lincoln promised to keep slavery legal in the South, via the Corwin Amendment 3) Lincoln was hard core racist. He did not believe in racial equality and he believed in segregation. Read his own words in the Lincoln Douglas debates. 4) Native Americans allied with the CSA, not the Union. It wasn't the South that committed genocide against them. 5) The South did not go to war to destroy the United States. It defended itself from invasion after deciding to secede. Founding fathers said states had the right to secede cause the states formed the Union, not the other way around. 6) I wonder if Benjamin Judah, the Jewish Confederate Sec of State would agree that his nation's descendants would support Hitler.

[Packer16]

Good grief, dude.

[Packer16]

BAMA BLITZ success!!

The third BAMA Blitz ended with $2,150,834 raised for several different areas of need on campus. I need to go back and look at the numbers of the first two, but, I think the money raised has increased each year.

I would like to see how the Endowment navigated the choppy waters of the recesion. I've heard we have navigated it well, so far.

[atlanta68]

Originally Posted by Packer16

Good grief, dude.

Are you quoting Charlie Brown?

Not going to crap on my Confederate heritage. Roll Tide!

[atlanta68]

https://scontent.fatl1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...0d&oe=5F8EAA71

The pic in this link is of Hewson Hall under construction. It was taken in May. Anyone have an updated pic? Looking forward to seeing this upon completion. It is going to really complement that part of campus.

[atlanta68]

https://www.facebook.com/toddmedia/p...8408335229761/

The pic in the link above, from Todd Media, shows the new Tutwiler Hall under construction in July.

[Packer16]

Cool!! The triangular area to the north of Tutwiler, that was and will be again a small parking lot, is a huge underground cistern for catching and slowly draining rainwater that was a problem in that area. Kudos to UA Engineering students for coming up with that solution. Also, the Nursing School addition construction is underway. ROLL TIDE!!!

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by Packer16

Cool!! The triangular area to the north of Tutwiler, that was and will be again a small parking lot, is a huge underground cistern for catching and slowly draining rainwater that was a problem in that area. Kudos to UA Engineering students for coming up with that solution. Also, the Nursing School addition construction is underway. ROLL TIDE!!!

Wow! I didn't know that. That's an excellent idea considering how easily Tuscaloosa floods.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by Packer16

BAMA BLITZ success!!

The third BAMA Blitz ended with $2,150,834 raised for several different areas of need on campus. I need to go back and look at the numbers of the first two, but, I think the money raised has increased each year.

I would like to see how the Endowment navigated the choppy waters of the recesion. I've heard we have navigated it well, so far.

The University is very fortunate to have a large, diverse array of holdings. Any school take a hit of some sort during a recession, but UA has a lot of flexibility other public schools don't have to help it weather some harsh storms.

[atlanta68]

Originally Posted by SpawnOfVulcan

The University is very fortunate to have a large, diverse array of holdings. Any school take a hit of some sort during a recession, but UA has a lot of flexibility other public schools don't have to help it weather some harsh storms.

Which is why UA alumni should demand that UA admin take steps to change UA's reputation for being the Wal Mart of higher education. Of course, that is an exaggeration, but it speaks to the far lower admission standard UA has relative to the top half of even SEC schools.

A Clemson alumnus friend recently said he was watching some show on Netflix, and he said one of the characters made a snide comment about Alabama being a school where "anyone can get in." We must change this, otherwise, we will never improve much in the rankings. I don't know why so few are upset about this.

[MdtwnATL]

Originally Posted by atlanta68

Which is why UA alumni should demand that UA admin take steps to change UA's reputation for being the Wal Mart of higher education. Of course, that is an exaggeration, but it speaks to the far lower admission standard UA has relative to the top half of even SEC schools.

A Clemson alumnus friend recently said he was watching some show on Netflix, and he said one of the characters made a snide comment about Alabama being a school where "anyone can get in." We must change this, otherwise, we will never improve much in the rankings. I don't know why so few are upset about this.

To be fair, we have to fight the name "Alabama" too. Even though we have an acceptance rate of just above 50%, people will make ignorant assumptions. Schools like Auburn and Clemson get to avoid that.

[MdtwnATL]

Originally Posted by atlanta68

https://scontent.fatl1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...0d&oe=5F8EAA71

The pic in this link is of Hewson Hall under construction. It was taken in May. Anyone have an updated pic? Looking forward to seeing this upon completion. It is going to really complement that part of campus.

The renderings of this made it appear as if it was going to be set much further from the street.

[atlanta68]

Originally Posted by MdtwnATL

To be fair, we have to fight the name "Alabama" too. Even though we have an acceptance rate of just above 50%, people will make ignorant assumptions. Schools like Auburn and Clemson get to avoid that.

Unfortunately, UA's acceptance rate is not anywhere close to 50%. I know UA reported for years an acceptance rate of between 50 and 60%, but they have updated their stats, and the acceptance rate has been around 80% for years! See https://oira.ua.edu/factbook/reports...te-admissions/. Months ago, I emailed Admissions and politely asked them to explain this strange development, and I have yet to receive a response. I don't understand how they got away with claiming that UA had such a low acceptance rate for so many years, but regardless, as you can see above, UA is no longer making that claim.

I too was very proud of UA for becoming more selective, but once I learned that its claims of 50-60% acceptance rate had been either a lie or a mistake, it got me angry. Why are the caretakers of UA so self satisfied when the reputation remains sooooo bad? I know they are making strides to improve research programs at UA, but the most public steps they take to try to improve UA's rep, involve simple minded acquiescence to "diversity," which IMO just reinforces the narrative that Alabama is some bad place that must be punished.

UA Board can learn much from TPTB at Clemson, Auburn and UGA. The worst thing the UA board can do to overcome negative perceptions about UA is to let in many lower quality students.

[Packer16]

"Highlights of the 2020 freshman class include 42.3% with a 4.0 GPA in high school, 39.9% scoring 30 or higher on the ACT, an average high school GPA of 3.83 and 221 National Merit Scholars." from UA. I haven't heard any breakdowns of UGA, Auburn, or Clemson. Especially Auburn, who always waits until UA has released their numbers before fudging theirs. But, since our freshmen class and the total undergrad enrollment is 50% larger than Auburn, the numbers would suggest that UA's number of incoming freshmen with 30+ ACT scores would consist of 60% of Auburn's freshmen class. If that were the case (which it's not), Auburn would shout it from the rooftops. You see, we have a lot "MORE" incoming freshmen with 30+ACT scores and a lot "MORE" incoming freshmen with 4.0 GPA's than Auburn. And, it's been happening for over a decade. In other words, the numbers give us more alums (we graduated almost 10,000 students last year) who are smart and ready for the world. Just the facts. ROLL TIDE FOREVER!!!!

[atlanta68]

Originally Posted by Packer16

"Highlights of the 2020 freshman class include 42.3% with a 4.0 GPA in high school, 39.9% scoring 30 or higher on the ACT, an average high school GPA of 3.83 and 221 National Merit Scholars." from UA. I haven't heard any breakdowns of UGA, Auburn, or Clemson. Especially Auburn, who always waits until UA has released their numbers before fudging theirs. But, since our freshmen class and the total undergrad enrollment is 50% larger than Auburn, the numbers would suggest that UA's number of incoming freshmen with 30+ ACT scores would consist of 60% of Auburn's freshmen class. If that were the case (which it's not), Auburn would shout it from the rooftops. You see, we have a lot "MORE" incoming freshmen with 30+ACT scores and a lot "MORE" incoming freshmen with 4.0 GPA's than Auburn. And, it's been happening for over a decade. In other words, the numbers give us more alums (we graduated almost 10,000 students last year) who are smart and ready for the world. Just the facts. ROLL TIDE FOREVER!!!!

I never denied that. But when you have thousands more of the lower quality students than those other schools, it negatively impacts many of the factors that matter in the annual rankings. UA is under no obligation to have lower admission standards than Auburn University. Also, the quality of UA's freshman class has been at a standstill for the last four years. The average ACT was at an all time high several years ago, but decreased slightly the last two years. The six year grad rate is stuck at 71%, not a very good rate for a major school. That, as well as the even more important "expert opinion" and peer reputation factors are heavily dependent on the quality of the admitted class, especially the lower end of that class.

Auburn's homepage proudly informs visitors that it is the highest ranked school in the state, according to multiple rankings. When UA was ahead of AU in the USNWR rankings, I don't recall UA ever using it to the same advantage. Maybe if UA raised its standards it wouldn't have to give so much money to top students to get them to matriculate there.