Colleges like CU Boulder

College Search & Selection
1

One of my dream colleges is CU Boulder. I love the mountains and the school itself but it is way too expensive. Even with the highest out of state merit scholarship. Right now I’m looking at University of Utah and Utah state as cheaper alternatives.

Could anyone suggest schools in the rockies area that are like CU Boulder but would be affordable with scholarships.

Anywhere around $15,000 tuition a year is doable.

I have a 3.97 weighted and 3.73 unweighted GPA and a 30 ACT.
My only notable EC is working around 20 hours a week. Since Sophomore year.

I’m going into Mechanical Engineering.

I really want a school in the mountains (summer activities and snowboarding), decently sized school, and a decent party scene / school pride.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

2

What about University of Wyoming? It’s only about 2 hours to Steamboat. With your stats, I think you’d qualify for that 150% of resident tuition which would be much less than $15K

http://www.uwyo.edu/admissions/scholarships/non-residents/rms.html

3

You should look at Utah State in Logan which is a beautiful part of the state and I think you’d get automatic merit. They have a chart you can check out to see what kind of merit you’d get. Logan is a very cute college town with lots of outdoor activities nearby.

4

U of MT, Boise State, Colorado School of Mines, U of NV-Reno, U of ID, Northern Arizona U (in Flagstaff, where its elevation makes the weather much cooler and the city has an outdoorsy vibe).

5

Look at Montana State in Bozeman for sure.

6

I think you might get merit at both U New Mexico and U Wyoming.

CSU gives out more merit than Boulder.

Fort Lewis might be too small for your tastes but it is cheaper and rates high for snow boarding and summer activities.

7

@Nathe2000 Do you live in one of the WUE states? If so, have you considered the WUE schools?

8

You could go to Mesa. The engineering degree is a combo with years 1 and 2 as a Mesa student and 3 and 4 as a University of colorado student (degree is issued by CU but classes are at Mesa). It is in Grand Junction, very close to Colorado and Utah ski areas. D2 sports.

CSU is good, but I’m not sure you can get tuition under $15k for OOS. Wyoming will be very inexpensive for you (tuition about $7k with the Rocky Mtn Scholars award, plus there are a lot of engineering scholarships that will stack) and has a good engineering school. Plenty of outdoor activities, D1 sports, undergrad population of about 10k.

9

“I really want a school in the mountains (summer activities and snowboarding), decently sized school, and a decent party scene / school pride.”

Don’t dismiss Utah, it definitely fits all of those requirements pretty well. The party scene is more lively than many might assume, there’s plenty of school pride and the outdoor activities are amazing.

10

Utah, Montana, Wyoming