The First Official Campus Visit

What can I say? I really liked UNA. It is a very easy 90 minute drive from our home (even shorter when you're not driving during school zone hours). The campus is tucked off US 72 and is beautiful. The very first part of campus one encounters is the habitat of Leo and Una (the mascots) - yes, the school has two lions right on campus. Students were friendly, smiling and making eye contact. There were few students hanging around outside buildings smoking.

The campus has lots of stairs so one will stay in shape esp if MJ is in the Honors Dorm where there is no elevator.. but they were kind enough to give the gals the 2nd floor and make the guys hike to the third. All dorms have controlled access; you can only get into the one in which you live unless you are escorted by a resident. There are rules about hours that opposite sex can be on the floor. In the freshman female dorm, guys are not permitted in the stairwells - they must use the elevator. Campus security uses Segways to get around (not sure how that works with all the stairs we used during our tour). The actual dorm rooms are standard 12x15 rooms for two people - two beds, two dressers, two closets and two desks with shared baths down the hall. Nothing fancy. The Honors dorm is the same setup except the rooms are carpeted, have mini blinds and come with a fridge/microwave.

Our tour guides were very friendly and helpful. Ross (from Decatur) gave us the campus tour - he's a senior marketing major. And our guide for the Residence Halls was Winn (from TN) - a senior Radio/TV major who is also an RA in the honors dorm. He talked to us a bit about the honors program. MJ is definitely applying to the program.

We talked briefly with Admissions... based soley on her grades and SAT scores, MJ automatically gets a $4000 yearly scholarship. If she is able to do a little better on the ACT this Saturday, she'll get full tuition (up to 16 credits per semester).

There is a Catholic church 1.2 miles from the university. We stopped by but the secretary was out running errands. We did check the bulletin in the display case and there is campus ministry on Wed evenings. We wrote down Father Andy's email address so Madeleine can contact him about the program.