College Visit #3 with Abigail

Today Abigail and I got up bright and early (not really) and headed to Florence (Alabama not Italy) to visit UNA. We started with a campus tour by Gavin Best (sorry cousin Kevin but he doesn't have family up north so you're probably not related) along with three high school seniors and a mom. The campus is compact but beautiful with green areas and lots of trees (and squirrels). The Honors dorm is in the center of campus so students have easy access to academic buildings. Parking is an issue (but no surprise) but they do have perimeter lots with security and buses running every 15 minutes to get students (and staff) to the main part of campus. It was a very pleasant hour with a nice young man.

Then Gavin turned us over to Housing and we were able to see a standard double room for freshman. It's a traditional dorm room for 2 with community bathrooms down the hallway. We found out later from Caitlin that if you live in the Honors dorm (same style of dorm) you get a fridge and microwave included.

We also met with an admissions counselor and found that Abigail is eligible for $8000 yearly based on her current ACT scores which is more than tuition/fees.  If her PSAT scores are high enough for Semi-Finalist, she'd get tuition, room and books. If she makes Finalist, it would be tuition, room, board and books. 

Overall, we liked the campus and as Abigail said there are things she likes more about UNA than Auburn and vice-versa so thankfully she still has time for those decisions and some may come down to scholarships and finance.

Positives: In-state, excellent scholarship program, great pass rates on NCLEX (comparable to Alabama and Auburn), Honors college, small town, beautiful campus, campus housing available for upperclassmen, only 60miles/90minutes from home, preference given to UNA students for Nursing program acceptance, no required summer courses
Negatives: football school, smaller hospitals for clinicals?, Catholic student organization not very active (but then Abigail could change that)

Questions to Ask/Things to Consider:
Clinicals - location/distance from campus, size of hospitals
Would any clinicals require one to compromise Faith? (abortion, sterilization, etc?)
Honors college - how does it fit with Nursing? and with courses already taken through Early College?
Study Abroad- what opportunities for Nursing students?

FYI: For non-Alabamians here is a pic of the resident lions (seriously they live on campus): Una and Leo III.