Today we started out visiting Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama's largest city. Turns out it is even more beautiful during the day. We were greeted by a very jovial Ricky Thrash and Larry from admissions. Ricky is the admissions director who deals specifically with South Florida. It was great to have him take us around and tell us about Samford and for him to get to personally know our students. It was his goal to get to know a little about each student and he used a very creative way to do that. More than just asking name and intended major he wanted to know each person's favorite ice cream flavor. Sounds silly but it was just what our students needed to wake up as everything was beginning to blend together. We all knew at that point this was going to be a very exciting tour. Ricky spent a couple of hours telling us about the great programs Samford has to offer. They have 3,500 undergrad students with another 1,300 in graduate programs such as the Law school, Pharmacy school (accelerated 6 year program) and Business school. Turns out our Governor, Charlie Christ, graduated from Samford Law school. Their average class size is 26 with a student teacher ratio of 12:1. Their business program is very good with the majority of undergrads earning a degree in this field. Also the school has free printing and will be 100% wireless in December. Housing is pretty good for freshman at Samford. They live in suite style apartments only a short walk from their classes. After freshman year they move to the East side of campus and also live in apartment style housing. Parking is also very convenient with students given a space next to their apartment. Turns out 68% of students live on campus. Greek life is also a big part of school here as 40% participate. Lastly we found out that the average SAT score for admission is 1160, ACT is 26 and GPA is 3.6. Tuition is $19,500 and with everything else included it totals $28,500, a bargain for all that they offer.
Graduate Chapel at SamfordAfter some lunch at what turned out to be everyone's favorite place to eat on the trip, Jason's Deli, we headed to Auburn. If you ever visit any of these cities or see one elsewhere stop at Jason's Deli, you won't be disappointed.
Samford University
Toomer's Corner-where everyone celebrates after an Auburn victory and their tradition of toilet papering their own trees...bizarre...I know.
Samford Hall at AuburnWhen we arrived at Auburn we were treated to a bus ride into campus from their very own Museum on Art. It was a nice touch for them to advertise the museum and also show us how easy it is to use the buses on campus. All the buses are tracked by GPS and students can search online to see just how close the bus is to their dorm before heading out and waiting too long in the heat.
When we got to the Admissions office we were greeted by a very friendly staff and offered us some waters before we met Dr. Scebra, also know as Mr. Auburn...to our group at least. This guy is 76 years old and has been at Auburn for over 40 years. And boy let me tell you he was sharp! He didn't start out by telling us about acceptance numbers, scores you needed to get in or any of that stuff. What he did was really unofficially closed out the tours for our students. He was trying to make our students think instead of just listen to facts about Auburn. He started out by asking the students what they want to do with their lives and what type of salary would you make doing that. I thought it was quite interesting and hearing all the stories he had to tell the students. The first one he talked about was how they send 400 students home each year b/c they lose sight of the first question he asked our students. They forget why they are at Auburn. He said there are tons of student activities to get involved with here and that you just have to be good at saying no to them. Otherwords, don't get involved in too many things that will effect your school work. He also mentioned a little of what only goes on behind the scenes in the admissions process. He said that Auburn looks at what the university needs. He said they admit the numbers that the deans are looking for in their schools plus 10%.
Once you are a student at Auburn you are one of 4,000 freshman whom the average were accepted with a 3.65 GPA, 25 ACT and 1160 SAT. You also will enjoy free tutor sessions, career development services where they help you find any type of job you are looking for, internships, prepare your resume and do mock job interviews to name a few. Basically he was saying that the only reason why you would not make it at Auburn is YOU! The last thing he talked about was part of the typed packet he printed up himself to give to our students, "Secrets of Straight A Student." I am just going to give you the headings.
Here are the 11 things he had listed:
1. Set priorities
2. Study anywhere or everywhere
3. Get organized
4. Learn how to read
5. Schedule your time
6. Take good notes
7. Clean up your act
8. Speak up
9. Study together
10. Test yourself
11. Do more than you're asked
Now I know this seems like any list you can get from anywhere, but you just had to be there and experience his personality and how he communicated to our students. Not only that but like I said it was the perfect way to end the trip and our last school visit. After we talked with Dr. Scebra our tour guides came in the room and gave us a virtual tour of campus due to the lightning and rain. We found out that they are almost finished the new student union and in the process of completing the new on campus student apartments. They said 22% of students live on campus and that Auburn is also the only school in the world with a wireless engineering program. Overall Auburn looked very impressive.
Auburn University
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