I took a side visit to Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama while in Atlanta for a conference. I did not know that Auburn is only a 2-hour car ride from Atlanta! But, important to note: unlike Atlanta, it's in the central time zone. Auburn is large public institution with yay rah sports and a strong alumni network, and it's becoming a very "hot" school. With 26,000 undergraduates and 33,000 total enrollment, it's smaller than I realized. In fact, although there are Tiger Transit buses operating 7am-7pm daily, one can walk from one end of campus to the other in 20 minutes.

Greek life is big here with 48% of females and 27% of males participating. Here's something to know that might not occur to northerners: freshmen who want to rush must come a week early in August to do so. Here's something else to know: housing at Auburn is neither required nor guaranteed for freshmen. In fact, they only have space on campus for half of the freshman class. While it's true that there are many options for student housing immediately adjacent to campus, and these freshmen are on university meal plans, I, for one, would be uncomfortable sending my child off to their first year of college without a room in a residence hall. As such, students should apply to Auburn as early as they can and put a housing deposit down ASAP if they think there's a chance they may matriculate.

Auburn's test policy has been a topic of discussion among college counselors recently, so I'll clarify it here. They say they are "test -preferred" with a test-optional pathway. Let's decipher that: with an overall acceptance rate of 43%, only 10% of students who applied without a score were accepted last round, and in order to apply without sending scores, students must have a minimum weighted GPA of 3.6. Also, only students who submit scores are considered for automatic scholarship consideration.

Make no mistake, Alabama is H-O-T in June, when I visited. The campus grounds, while not stunningly beautiful, were extremely well maintained with lovely, manicured flowers and bushes.

A lot of high school students are looking for large, southern, and big game-day. Auburn offers all that as well as a great education. But I predict Auburn will become increasingly selective, so strong rigor, grades and scores will continue to be important to be competitive in this applicant pool!