My wife and I both graduated from CSU and it’s a great school however I feel CU Boulder would be a better experience overall and is recognized as a better school. Whenever I tell people I went to school in Colorado they always ask if that’s the Buffalo’s. Quite frankly it’s annoying and it speaks to the fact that CSU is ranked 400 and CU is ranked 175 by WSJ. Now, we live in California and quite frankly we’re more comfortable sending our son to Colorado because of the overall experience and that’s where we went. My son also drives a BMW 5 series and has his own credit card and we live less than a mile from the beach in San Diego. I guess he’d be tossed into your spoiled bucket but I think he’s o.k. with that. Go ahead and try to convince yourself that there is less partying at CSU vs. CU. I can tell you that it’s the same and quite frankly it’s the same from CU to SDSU. A vast majority of people will make their decision based on money and in that case CSU is a better price.
Now that’s funny…less partying at CSU than CU…I used to go to Ft Collins from Boulder for College Daze. Now that was a party! \m/
@stc9991 Ummm, US News has CSU Nationally ranked at 124th and 58th in Top Public Universities. While CU is Nationally Ranked at 90th, and 39th in Top Public Universities. Fairly close rankings actually and with a 4 year cost differential of $30,000 to attend CU over CSU it’s not worth the additional expense given the fact that graduates make, on average, the same compensation from either university.
CSU - https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/colorado-state-university-1350
CU - https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/cu-boulder-1370/overall-rankings
@ChazRink clearly you love CSU and think its the best place to go, but…CU will always be better than CSU. >:/ :-h [-X :D/ <:-P :-@
@CU123 I’m just trying to get all you Liberals to stop drinking the odd tasting, figurative Kool-Aid being served up by CU so that you make the best decision for yourselves or your children. Don’t get me wrong, CU is a good State University but it’s far from being an elite school. It’s right there in the middle with many other State Flagship Universities such as Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Arizona. Some here think or are desperately trying to believe that CU is an Ivy League school which is very humorous actually. I know first hand what an Ivy League school is and the product they produce, believe me, CU is no Ivy League school. A tough pill to swallow for the alternate fact crowd, but in the end you’ll see for yourself once you walk out of CU or another comparable University and into the Real World, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do with your degree and how much “Fire in the Belly” you have to make a good life for yourself and a positive difference in the World.
@ChazRink Well you obviously have not read any of my diatribes on public vs private universities and there differences (at least at the undergraduate level). :)>- I actually agree that it will make little difference which large public university you go to and that includes the better ones like Cal, UVA, UM etc. The only real difference is that you will be recruited by local companies.
BTW I’m fairly conservative.
I was between some of the top colleges in America and CU Boulder and chose CU because of its great, top ranked academics and awesome college life. There really isn’t, in my opinion, a better balance in the U.S. Do i want to ski? yes! Do I want to party in college? yes. Do I want to learn a lot? YES! Why not do it all at CU Boulder. You can’t fault young people for wanting to enjoy their college years. Say all you want about how “liberal” CU is, but it has been very successful and will continue to rise in the rankings, especially given the top engineering and business programs and the sweet startups coming out of the campus.
@ChazRink Wall Street Journal has CSU ranked number #319 and CU ranked number #174 nationwide. For outcomes CU is ranked #105 while CSU outcomes ranked #291.
You’ll need to be a member of the WSJ to review their rankings.
https://www.wsj.com/graphics/college-rankings-2018-tool/
Again, I went to CSU and liked it and wouldn’t change a thing however I believe for my son that CU is a better choice. If money is a big driver for you then you’re making the right choice however that is a decision you must live with forever.
@ChazRink CSU offers somewhat easier tests and somewhat more AP/IB credits than CU Engineering. The CSU degree is worth less in state than a CU or Mines degree I would say. Companies prefer CU Engineering grads and/or Mines grads. Mines is the hardest curriculum, CU Engineering number 2 and CSU is the least difficult in fields like EE, chemical eng and mechanical engineering. Many international students are discovering CU Boulder’s rigor in chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering physics and physics as well, which are all ranked much higher than the equivalent programs at CSU.
CSU offers some research work though, but the students are just a bit weaker up there, and the facilities are not as comprehensive for some engineering fields. Aerospace is not offered up at CSU. CSU is very good at biomedical engineering though, given the vet school and anatomy classes are strong at CSU. CSU has a wide variety of science and biology classes, too, and some start up companies in chemical sensors, small lasers and the Center for Disease Control and department of Agriculture are located near the CSU campus.
I think you are not understanding just what Fort Collins is all about. I think Colorado State has the HIGHEST binge drinking problem in the USA. Look that up. Colorado State has full access to drugs too, its in the state of Colorado.
Fort Collins is largely Democratic as is the entire front range. If you want your child to avoid drugs, send him to Kansas, not Fort Collins Colorado.
I lived for ten years in Fort Collins, working for HP and also volunteer in the IEEE Visit program with Colorado State’s electrical engineering program. And I worked directly for U of Colorado Boulder, so I am very familiar with both universities.
Its not at all how you are portraying it, Boulder is not that much richer than Fort Collins students. Boulder is not really that liberal compared to anything on the east or west coast. Drugs are available throughout Colorado and I expect magic mushrooms will become legal here soon. It will be on our next ballot, to vote on legalizing other types of drugs, including hallucinogens.
Colorado is not for a student who is afraid of a liberal atmosphere. Its a liberal place, except on the eastern plaines or down in Alamosa, Adams State, may be what you are looking for! But again, drugs are legal and available even in Alamosa Colorado.
@ChazRink Here is a link to the article about Fort Collins having one of the most serious binge drinking problems in
the USA. Its way worse than Boulder’s drinking problem. Boulder is a very serious physics and meteorology campus.
Boulder offers a lot of programs that Colorado State does not. If you want your son to drink Colorado State
is the place, though for binge drinking. I hope to get more California parents aware of this very serious drinking problem.
https://www.coloradoan.com/story/money/2017/11/21/alcohol-abuse-drunkest-city-every-state/884359001/
Drugs are even I expect all over Colorado, for certain drugs are very prevalent in Fort Collins. Do not fool yourself into thinking that Boulder is somehow more “liberal” than Fort Collins. Its not true, I have lived in both places, worked
at both and Fort Collins has a lot more drunks, but drugs are the same in both cities.
If you don’t like CU, don’t go there. It’s that easy. Don’t try to justify it by saying everyone drives a BMW. My nephew’s girlfriend is one of those horrible IL kids. She’s lovely, doesn’t drive a BMW (I think it is a Subaru), in majoring in Environmental Engineering, doesn’t do drugs (which, by the way you need to be 21 to do, just like alcohol), is graduating in 4 years and continuing on to an MBA. Her 3 sisters have all gone to CU too, and the family has ties to Colo and has for 30+ years. Not exactly carpetbaggers. And I know many like her, and many instate students who drink and do drugs and are privileged.
Many years ago, the state legislature was going to make CU accept every instate student with a B average and some score on the ACT, somewhat like Texas does. There was a lot of negotiation, and a gentleman’s agreement that CU would always have at least 50% instate and shoot for 55%, and they have. No one ever seems to criticize U of Vermont that charges as much as CU and has 35% instate students.
One also has to understand the tax structure of a state to know what kind of a deal its residents are getting. Colorado only has a 5% income tax rate. Property taxes (which mostly go to the counties and not the state) are also pretty low. Ask the people of NJ what they pay in taxes, or California. Colorado instate tuition rates are higher because tax rates are lower. Wyoming funds its one and only university at about $15k per student while Colorado Mesa is at less than $5k per student. Wyoming gets a lot of tax money from fracking and strip mining, and people don’t like that. My Colorado resident kid goes to Wyo for less than what it would cost at CU Boulder (she could go to Greeley, Mesa, Metro for less).
CSU is fine. I think CU is better for most things (not for agriculture, certain types of engineering). Go to the one you like but no need to trash the other.
The reality of Colorado colleges is substance abuse is rampant and easy to obtain at age 18. Both older
kids buy this stuff and fake IDs are used here like any other public school in the USA, but drugs are much
more available here, at stores that sell all sorts of cannibis products ! Its easy and normal to use marijuana here, and easy to obtain, and high school students easily get a hold of marijuana if they want it. But I do NOT find it
to be a problem, at all, if a student does not want to smoke, there is not a lot of pressure from the marijuana crowd so much. Some schools are a little more druggy than others, so College of Music seems that way to me, more so than
College of Engineering for instance.
U of Denver, a school not being discussed in this thread, a smaller private school in south Denver, set up
a substance free dorm, so that private school is a tiny bit better if your child can get into a substance free dorm.
Locals are pushing for these substance free dorms at our big well ranked flagship universities and I expect
they will form them soon with more pressure from out of state parents.
There are colleges out there that police drug and alcohol use for freshman. mostly
in the deep south and some religious schools in Texas and the midwest.
CU and CSU Fort Collins are not those types of schools. If parents or students want to avoid exposure to substances, I really do not recommend Fort Collins or Boulder, period. Yes, CU Engineering is a serous school with lots of international students, many of whom are Muslim and not abusing substances. Many kids who want an education and do not abuse anything go to both schools.
Its best, as a freshman at CSU or CU to get into a themed freshman housing, Residential programs that are by major and require additional applications, where students are more seriously focused on studying.
Look at four year graduation rates to understand why private schools are typically more of a sure bet.
Both CU and CSU have smaller 4 year graduation rates than schools with higher ranks like U of Michigan
or any private school with a good rank.
@stc9991 US News has CSU Nationally ranked at 124th and 58th in Top Public Universities. While CU is Nationally Ranked at 90th, and 39th in Top Public Universities. Fairly close rankings actually and with a 4 year cost differential of $30,000 to attend CU over CSU it’s not worth the additional expense given the fact that graduates make, on average, the same compensation from either university.
CSU - https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/colorado-state-university-1350
CU - https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/cu-boulder-1370/overall-rankings
@ChazRink US News Magazine information has little substance and most of the information is from CSU’s website. It is not as thorough as the Wall Street Journal rankings and engagement surveys. You should really review the WSJ information.
Fort Collins is more isolated job wise though and some students do not get job offers or struggle to find something, without a masters degree. The placement office is actually a little weak at both CU and CSU, but because CU is closer to jobs in Boulder, Broomfield and Denver, CU students often do find something local. CU is also well connected to aerospace jobs in Colorado Springs and Denver. CSU grads struggle a bit more to find jobs. One student we know in chemical engineering, a very top CSU student, one of the best students his year, got into UC Berkeley for a masters degree and he struggled in grad school, a lot to keep up as he felt his chemistry background was too weak as well as his math background , after a bachelors in chemical engineering from CSU. Still he did get into Berkeley from CSU and did graduate with a masters and find a job in the Bay area after it was all said and done.
Average salaries do not really tell us much, as they are just averages. You may want to compare the salaries in the major you are thinking of, but again, starting salaries vary a lot by degree program and what state you get a job offer in. California offers are much higher than Colorado job offers for instance. Cost of living is also higher in CA.
If you do not like CSU, you can transfer to another school from there, so don’t feel locked in.
$30K is really not that much in the scheme of a four year education, and many students can learn half that
over one summer, after junior year and something close after sophomore year. Ask your student to get a summer job may help with the cost differential. It can be hard to find summer jobs from both CU and CSU though, so students use parent contacts or Indeed on line job searching.
Sounds like your whole family is a bunch of dorks. Thank god you’re not going to CU.