The University of Alabama

Public · Moderately Selective · AL

Photo: Andrea Wright (CC BY 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationAL · South

SettingUrban

Undergrads33,227

Student:faculty19:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate56.6%

6-yr grad rate73.4%

Drop-out rate10.5%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$12k

Out-of-state tuition$34k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity29%

Gender diversity56.2%

International0.8%

Identity—

Overview

The University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, is the state's flagship public university and one of the most recognizable brands in college sports, built around Crimson Tide football and a deeply traditional Southern campus culture. It has also grown rapidly into a major destination for out-of-state students, drawn less by football alone than by generous merit scholarships and a large, well-resourced honors college that has reshaped the university's national profile over the past two decades.

Academics

Business, engineering, and communication are the most heavily enrolled and best-regarded programs, and the honors college offers smaller classes, priority registration, and priority access to research and internship opportunities for high-achieving students. The university has invested heavily in expanding its honors and merit-scholar offerings to compete nationally for top students who might otherwise choose a private university, and specialized living-learning communities reinforce that push within specific majors.

Campus & student life

The antebellum-style Quad is the physical and symbolic center of campus, and football season dominates the social calendar in a way few other schools match, with gameday traditions like walking through the Quad before kickoff drawing enormous crowds. Greek life is one of the most prominent in the country and shapes housing and social life for a large share of students, though a sizable and growing share of students build campus life entirely outside it too.

Getting in

Alabama is known for aggressively recruiting high-achieving out-of-state students with automatic, stackable merit scholarships tied to test scores and GPA, making it a common value pick for strong students outside the Southeast who might otherwise pay full price at a private university. The application itself is relatively straightforward compared to holistic-heavy peers, with academic numbers doing most of the work in both admission and scholarship decisions.

After graduation

Business and engineering graduates have well-established regional and national recruiting pipelines, and the university's scale gives it an extensive, tradition-bound alumni network with strong football-driven loyalty that translates into real career networking, particularly across the Southeast. Communication and journalism graduates also benefit from a well-regarded program with connections into Southern media markets.

Worth knowing

The scale of the merit scholarship program is a genuine differentiator: many out-of-state students pay close to in-state rates once scholarships are applied, which is a major part of the university's national appeal and a big reason its out-of-state enrollment has grown so quickly. Students who want to opt out of the football-and-Greek-life culture can still find a full college experience, but should know it is not the dominant social current on campus.

ua.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate76.6%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1170–1400 · ACT 24–31

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through Common App or Own application.

Priority / scholarshipDec 4

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗