While I was a student at UAB, there was a strong air of superiority permeating the campus climate. My first week there, I realized very quickly that UAB was no Auburn. As my first semester wore on, my realization proved correct countless times.
I would wear my Auburn sweatshirt hoodie (not intending to be disrespectful to UAB, it was just my most comfortable, beloved article of clothing) and hear ugly comments downing Auburn. I would be loaded down with books and whatnot, trying to enter a building, only to have a person eighteen inches in front of me let a door slam in my face. I would hear the groans in Freshman and Sophomore level classes the first day when professors announced we would be writing a three to five page paper by the end of the semester. I would deal with drivers who didn't know how to yield to pedestrians. I would hear comments describing how UAB was such a wonderful institution, focused on academics over football. I did my partying in a bar and my shopping by myself. I wasted a good portion of my day with a full back pack and, usually, an additional bag to carry all my stuff I needed for the day, waiting around for the next class to start.
Well, UAB, suck on this: Auburn was just named the best research university in the state by TheBestSchools.org.
Not only does Auburn excel at football, we also do in academics.
I didn't have the best GPA while I was at Auburn. (Although, it was steadily increasing, following a rough first semester.) I didn't party all the time, but when I did, I really threw down. I always had a shopping buddy on hand. I witnessed many an Auburn man fall over himself sprinting to open a door for me, and other ladies, from 30 yards away. Football was interesting. Classmates were cordial and pleasant. When we did see someone wearing an Alabama item, we just assumed they lost a bet and didn't address the situation. And walking back and forth to my apartment during breaks between classes, I never once had to question if a car would stop for me while I was crossing the street.
My GPA at UAB skyrocketed. First, I've been writing three to five page papers since I was in junior high, if not late elementary school. Second, those rigid academic expectations at Auburn that were GPA killers for me? UAB had nothing on them. Everything was a breeze.
Liberal Arts academics at UAB were such a joke, in some classes, when I got my grades back at the end of a semester and found a B staring at me for a class I rocked, I couldn't contain the panty wadding. I made A's on all of my tests (one was something like a 98 or 99, and I was marked off on a technicality). I read all the books. The final was a freaking take home, open book final. I showed up for class more than the professor. I also had to force myself not to answer too many times during discussions, when only the first two rows of students seemed to participate. So, imagine my increased blood pressure when the professor emailed me back saying s/he generously gave me a passing participation grade for showing up on discussion days, but not actively participating. Um, said professor acknowledged my comments every discussion. When I went to our meeting to go over my final, I was told my final might have been graded a bit harshly, which, upon further inspection by the professor, I was given some extra points to make the total semester grade an A. But, still, to this day, the whole discussion and attendance thing pisses me off.
And don't even get me started on my grad school professor who, also, didn't show up for class very often, and even though I didn't complete all the assignments, blessed me with a stellar passing A or B. And that was from someone who is training the future educators of this world. Oh, the irony.
So, in summation, Auburn rocks. Both at football and academics. Rant over.
