My daughter just finished her junior year of high school, and her grades and scores are good enough to give her full tuition at Mesa. But, of course, she wants to go out of state, since we’ve lived in Colorado her whole life. She may not have a choice, but I want to find out about the academics there. She’s always been a straight A student and is serious about school. She will not like a college where the students are always goofing off and not serious about their grades. She wants to major in marketing with a graphic design minor. Anyone have experience at this school, particularly in this major?
It’s a nice state school. She’ll find some serious students and a lot of students who are there because of sports or because it’s instate.
I’m afraid she’ll run into kids at every school who aren’t serious students and are always goofing off. Even some of the serious students goof off.
Why doesn’t she look at CU or CSU?
I know plenty of serious students that have attended or graduated from Mesa. They usually attended due to the generous merit (especially in comparison to CU and CSU.) Also, my county now has a 5th year HS program where students can go to Mesa at a significant discount (for at least the first year or two) so many serious but financially strapped students are taking advantage of the free money.
However, if your daughter is a very strong student with solid test scores, she should check out schools that participate in the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) and she will find significant savings. There are also plenty of schools that don’t fall under WUE but offer very generous merit for the right GPA/test scores. Start looking now because some of the WUE awards are limited in number and the schools are rolling admissions.
Good luck!!
We have a friend’s kid who did his undergrad there and is now at University of Michigan in dental school. But doesn’t Western State have a stronger art and business school than Mesa State? Also a lot of kids that like Western and Mess also like Northern Arizona. I agree that it might be worth looking at the WUE colleges.
Strong grades and test scores could mean money at WUE schools. I know a lot of Colorado kids who went to the University of Montana (Missoula is a great college town!) or Montana State for less than the cost of going to Boulder or CSU.
Mesa has a really strong graphic design program. My daughter currently goes there (pre-nursing) and my husband has done work with the design program and is super impressed. It’s a nice school and academically, it really is what you put into it. They offer pretty good scholarships and it’s smaller than the other state schools. I’ve been pleased.
We know students to drop out of Mesa as it was too easy for them. Weaker students from our high school go to Mesa
and some may find themselves but plenty drop out. Some do go for the generous merit or to play
sports, and are disappointed. Grand Junction may feel isolated if she grew up on the Front Range, in a city.
If she hopes to get a job back in a city like Denver, then any of the larger state schools may have better job connections and offer a better business program.
Look also at bigger schools with great merit like UT Dallas, Arizona State,
and U of Arizona, as well as schools in Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma are all less expensive compared to CU Boulder, if expenses are the problem.
Arizona state offers very good out of state merit, and a strong marketing program:
https://wpcarey.asu.edu/marketing-degrees
I would not go to Mesa for a marketing degree, unless she really likes to be in a small rural town.
Might as well explore the well known larger business programs and try for a scholarship at one of those.
U of Denver, a private option, offers A students with good test scores about $80,000 over four years, and also she can work as a resident assistant in year 2,3 and 4 to save money. U of Denver is one of the top business programs in the state of Colorado along with Leeds at CU Boulder. Leeds is expensive, but she may qualify for Esteemed Scholars awards at CU, and the business colleges has additional merit money available.
I infer from your tone that you don’t care for Mesa. And who cares if “weaker” students find a home at Mesa? My kid was a classic underachiever and is rocking college. She didn’t want CU or CSU because they were too big and also didn’t offer nursing. She was supposed to go to UNC in Greeley but changed her mind at the last minute. Fine with me. I didn’t like UNC at all. And DU? Literally less than a mile from our house. No thanks. If you want difficult, choose Mines where an equally large amount of kids drop out because it is too challenging.
How does she feel regarding gen ed classes targeting kids with SAT scores in the 400s?
If she’s got AP credits for some, is fine with it for thevrest of Gen Ed (or being one of the few who’ve done the reading or upon whom the group work rests - there are no general education honors sections) and if she can take several upper level classes classes through Business Honors, she’d be ok.
I always find it interesting when people talk about how generous DU can be. Who cares about how often they hand out $20,000 - $25,000/yr awards given their COA is well over $60,000 now? Choose DU for other reasons maybe but not because they are generous with merit.
The smart kids I know that attended Mesa had enough DE/AP credits that they were able to graduate in 2-3 years. For some kids, it is a good fit. For marketing, I just can’t imagine that GJ would provide a ton of internship options but the only way to find out is to talk to the school’s career/internship department.
But whatever you do, do not assume staying in-state is the only affordable option if you have a high stats student. S19’s instate CO options are all his most expensive so he is looking elsewhere.
Good luck!
- WUE is a good option to explore
- will you need merit or financial aid? If your EFC is relatively low, aim for “meet need” colleges.
- marketing majors nowadays need a thorough grounding in statistics or analytics.