Our first college visit was really fun. Sam and I traveled up to UAH in Huntsville during a campus event for potential students. It was an early morning leaving the house before 6am, and our tour began around 9am that morning. Luckily it was not raining, but it was a lot colder than Sam and I were thinking, and neither of us were thinking that the tour would be mainly outside. Really cool small campus 1 mile from the Space and Rocket Center, and surrounded by every engineering super power in the country. He would be close to Uncle Marcus, close to Uncle John, and could be at Granny's for supper during the week. A lot of pros that we talked about on our drive back home.
We also got the opportunity to walk around some booths for the different schools on campus. He was able to talk with some students in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Electronic Engineering. And the cool thing to me is the cooping opportunities that are right in Huntsville, so he could stay on campus for work. We added this to the list of perks. It was also fun to pick up some swag while we were here...he scored 2 UAH t-shirts, and I got 1...and some knick knacks for the sisters.
On our campus tour, we went to one of the residence halls, and saw the living quarters. And he would have his own room, which was nice, and I am sure they had the show room on the 6th floor because of the cool view of the Saturn V rocket visible from the window. But as a Dad that would be paying for this, I started being overwhelmed at college in general. For some reason, my mind had not started processing costs above and beyond tuition...so when I heard $4700 for housing I was blown away, then they said per semester, and ... well, I think that was when Sam helped me up to my feet.
Later we enjoyed the all you can eat cafeteria, which was really nice and me and sam ate way too much. I went to get just some bacon for a waffle and the lady thru like 12 pieces of bacon on the plate. No way I can eat that much, but then it was gone, and I probably could have eaten another slice or two. Sam got to chat with some of the students that sat at our table here as well, which was fun. Then later we found out about the required $1700 meal plan and I was blown away, then they said per semester, and ... well, I think that was when Sam helped me up to my feet again.
After lunch, we ran through the rain back to the "Union" and watched a slide show from a student on the benefits of UAH. Really good presentation, and hit alot of the highlights Sam and I had already spoken about. But I was disappointed there was no hype video. That to me should be key in a prospective student tour. I remember my Mississippi State tour where the key message was "And we beat Alabama last year".
And on our own, we went over to the Mechanical Engineering Building and gave ourselves a tour, which was pretty neat. The Engineering Building was somewhat separate from the rest of the campus, but still a short walk away. And when you are this close to the Space and Rocket Center, and your dad is a space nerd, then you at least have to go into the gift shop, and that was all we did, but we can say we went there now.
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