Typical liberal arts school...

Introduction
University of Alabama is a liberal arts school first and foremost. If you are not interested in the liberal arts, look else where. engineers, scientists, future doctors of america, there are better places to go.

Campus Life and Social Life
The social life is nonexistent if you are not into partying and drinking. They are trying to crack down, but they are doing a horrible job. If you like the party, actual parties not just bar hopping, it's a good place to go but it will drag your studies down. If you don't like to party, there is absolutely nothing to do on campus or with the vast majority of students. even the university sponsored clubs meet at bars and have *university sponsored* happy hours. Advertisement
Academics
Only the liberal arts are great. For anything else, go elsewhere. the profs are good, they pretend to care; the staff is about as competent as you're likely to find anywhere, meaning, they don't have a clue what they're doing but they will pretend like they do.

Student Body
There are 2 types of people at UA: greeks and artsy kids. anyone else makes up <1% of the population. If you don't fall into either one of these categories, learn to be a scene kid or just buy some friends. also, be prepared to get hit on constantly by guys reguardless of your sex.

In Closing...
Be prepared to be confronted with lots of drugs and alcohol. That's just how it is at UA and i'm not seeing it change. Also, all the apartments close to campus suck as there are parties every night and your car will get vandalized if you park it in your lot - not the school lot, the private apartment lots.