Just a prompt for discussion: is CU Boulder an elite university now that it continues to move up in the rankings and has recently hit the top tier in the world university rankings? #50 out of 1800 world university… IMO it is fair to say CU Boulder is now on the level of UCLA at least…
here is a link to the rankings: ( http://cwur.org/2018-19.php )
It may depend on the major?
I think that the relative isolation of Boulder is a disadvantage compared to UCLA. For instance, our Colorado medical school, *(there is only one in Colorado), is all the way down in Aurora, making CU Boulder less strong for premedical students.
The teaching and research hospitals are all in Denver, or Aurora. UCLA in particular has an amazing medical program so the premeds get a lot out of an undergrad UCLA education. They can work in a teaching hospital part time, for instance. CU students can work down at Anshutz Medical campus in the summers, and often move to Aurora for the summer to do just that.
CU Boulder has less impacted majors, compared to UCLA, and smaller class sizes, which is considered a great thing by many CA parents who send kids this way.
Also, I see a lot of CU students getting somewhat useless majors, such as Integrative Physiology a "catch all " major for premed, pre dentall, pre public health, pre PT type of career goal, and that major now the largest number of students in Arts and Sciences at CU.
Also the drop out rate in CU Boulder Arts and Sciences is still relatively high. Leeds School of Business undergrads
CU Music, and CU Engineering have lower drop out rates.
With that, undergrad physics at CU Boulder is probably a tad stronger than UCLA because of JILA and NIST.
Chemistry and Biochemistry very very strong at CU.
Computer Science is really doing very well in ranks at CU.
Aerospace and chemical engineering have been very strong for years now at CU.
With engineering, overall, UCLA has an edge on job placement, although CU students can and will get jobs in Los Angeles when they graduate. Los Angeles has now surpassed Silicon Valley for jobs, so its a bit like comparing apples and oranges, to compare UCLA to CU Boulder. Boulder is a about 100,000 person town. Boulder is 30 miles north of a city, Denver of about a half million, with a million in greater Denver. Its just very very small compared to LA.
I’m curious as to CU’s acceptance rate this past cycle? Anyone know?
“IMO it is fair to say CU Boulder is now on the level of UCLA at least.”
CU Boulder is a perfectly fine, pretty typical, non-elite state flagship school. Definitely some strong STEM programs (which is something that big state schools tend to be good at).
But come on, the numbers vs. UCLA don’t lie:
USNWR ranking: 21 vs 90
6 year grad rate: 91% vs 62%
Admit rate: 18% vs 80%
SAT range: 1160-1460 vs 1150-1330
ACT range: 27-33 vs 25-30
How is CU Boulder for Business? Can anyone give some examples of schools it is on par with for business?
Business school is very good, top 20 for public’s.
It would be difficult for CU to ever match UCLA across the board for one reason, population. UCLA has a huge in state population to draw on which they give a huge discount to. You can see those population numbers affect selectivity, scores for admits, etc. The one area which CU should address is grad rate, they admit almost 90% of OOS applicants (so they can get 50% of the class filled by OOS tuition payers) many who really can’t hack it and drop out. If you compared in state drop out rate to OOS drop out rate you would see a huge difference.
@CU123 thanks for the info. I got the sense that Business and Engineering are really strong there (we just toured the school last week and we all fell in love).
I am worried about my OOS son getting too distracted there though, with so much to do, both partying and just the great outdoors which is truly amazing. And if he is in the business school and his friends aren’t, will he have a hard time staying focused if his friends are in less demanding majors? He would not want to live in any kind of living and learning…he would want to be right in there with everyone else. He loved the vibe from the school as a whole.
There are distractions.
@collegemomjam CU Boulder offers really supportive living situations for serious business students-
Look at RAPs, Residential Academic Programs, such as LEEDS Business RAP. or Pre Business RAP,
if he does not get a direct admit to Leeds School of Business. (some students in Arts and Sciences are working
their way in, by getting a good GPA freshman year in key subjects ) .
RAP residents are serious students, have more faculty support and he will do well if he can live in one of the RAPs.
They offer a scholarship to every student, of $850/year to cover the extra costs over a dorm.
Roll down here to see details of Leeds RAP.
Another link:
https://www.colorado.edu/business/RAP
There is plenty of winter in Colorado. Yes, we say there is a lot of sunshine, but winter is pretty long here,
from Nov to May, almost! Downhill Skiing is also a distance away from Boulder, (Copper Mtn and Keystone are both almost 90 miles from campus! )
Eldora Ski Resort is only 21 miles from the CU campus, but not the preferred place to ski for CU students.
@collegemomjam Note that CU offers 12 RAPs so I believe thats a large proportion of the freshman class, in Living and Learning Communities.
That number of students in RAPS is going UP , not down, because parents and students in Colorado are demanding that sort of living arrangement.
If he does not want “Living and Learning”, there is Williams Village and other dorms where there is a fair amount of drinking and weed smoking if he prefers that, he does not have to live in the RAP.
Here is a full list of RAPS here–
https://www.colorado.edu/campus-life/housing-dining
RAP students can still join fraternities, and go to parties. Its not some sort of total nerd fest for students in RAPs.
Boulder is a nicer place to live than LA. At UCLA, freshman housing is all triples. CU has great food (even @Hanna says so).
People I went to school with in Boulder became doctors. They did their undergrad degrees in Boulder and then applied to medical schools. Boulder has very good biology departments
Many students commuted to Denver to do internships in other areas. I took a (free) bus to the state capitol twice a week. Couldn’t have done that from UCLA to Sacramento.
I like the CU Boulder dining option-- C4C, (Center for Community), offers great food, Italian, Mexican, Persian, Kosher etc.
https://living.colorado.edu/locations-hours
@Coloradomama and @twoinanddone thanks for all of that info.
@Coloradomama I love the living and learning idea but I see my son wanting to be in a more mainstream living situation. But something to think about.
I’m sure there are plenty of serious students there.
He would probably only go if he gets direct admit to Leeds and if he does he hopefully will take that opportunity seriously enough so that he can make career opportunities for himself. I just want him to be able to pay the bills and support himself when he’s out! In a lifestyle that makes him happy…
He will apply to many different types of schools and then we will evaluate his choices once we see where he is admitted. Every school has their pros and cons.
Although not ideal, when torn among or between great schools, it is often possible to experience one as a visiting student during summer sessions. Won’t help with snowboarding, but that can be done during Christmas/Winter break.
@collegemomjam One thing to keep in mind, its just a nine month decision, when it comes to CU and a lot of public colleges. Almost all CU students move off campus as sophomores. So its not actually that big of a deal between living and learning and dorms. It goes by quickly in fact. Housing is typically the least important thing for the education and the one thing that students may over focus on. They can and will move several times in their college years. There are plenty of shared houses in Boulder. I don’t know that one living situation is more mainstream than any other. That may be slightly misleading at the CU info sessions, in fact. Its more or less all housing thats easy to walk to class, so its all pretty similar. The one class one takes in the living and learning is not overly important, but it may be a smaller class size.
The living and learning communities at CU are about social connections. Some students feel lost, especially if
they are not from Colorado, (or the state where the school resides). Living and learning communities bridge the gap from home to some degree. I think though west coast students are comfortable in Boulder and find friends readily.
Yes, it seems that not getting that direct admit would put off many students. There are rules for how to work one’s way into Leeds, from Arts and Sciences, and I remember it does include some economics classes, math classes and a GPA cutoff.
There is a certain disgruntlement factor at CU Arts and sciences, as students attempt to work their way into Engineering or Leeds.
@coloradomama thanks!
Do you think the fact that most kids move off campus sophomore year that this impacts the sense of community at all? My girls are both at schools where most kids live on campus for 3-4 years. I worry about the off campus situation at the state flag ships (seems like most of them only keep the freshmen on campus).
Do most kids live on the “hill” or something in Boulder when they move off? Is it difficult to secure housing?
I decided on CU Boulder Engineering over UCLA and USC this year because of many of the reasons people have noted above… Overall, its just a better place to go to college IMO.
@collegemomjam I hope a student chimes in, but here is what I know:
I think its very easy to get a shared house situation in Boulder. Most are 12 month leases.
there are areas to the east of campus on Colorado Avenue, that are very nice but may cost more
than the Hill. I am not so sure the community is impacted, as there are so many other ways to connect
other than housing. Thats my sense. Note I worked at CU, my sons did not attend there, except
for piano lessons over in the College of Music.
This is one reason I recommend the RAPs as those students become the people your son will get a house with later.
Most kids do NOT stay in RAPS for four years. They use it as a way to meet like minded students.
Students in Leeds often become a TA for freshman, a payed position. The TA;s form a little community.
Fraternity life is another avenue to explore at CU. Its not as wild as its reputation, is my strong sense,
without knowing a lot of fraternity brothers.
One thing the RAP does is get a student into a social group right away. If your son lives at Williams Village he
will still find his tribe, but harder to do. Williams Village is on a south residential campus. You can walk to the main campus though almost all months, maybe take a bus on the really cold days. There is a cafeteria down there at Williams Village for dinners.
My familiarity with CU comes from living here for 20 years, and talking to students, as well as working for the university for a few years.
We visit CU twice a week for Shakespeare Theatre, and free music
events all year long. I use the libraries there for my consulting work, they are fantastic by the way. CU has
the single best academic library in the state of Colorado and Rocky Mountain Region. its better than Kansas or Utah
for the most part. Linda Hall Library is good in Kansas City.
Leeds has an excellent business library. The Law Library in Boulder is outstanding too. Technical libraries are world class, including a specialized geology library!
CU has only enough housing for freshmen. It’s been that way for decades, so there are a ton of houses and apartment buildings surrounding the campus, even closer to classroom buildings than many of the dorms. There are fraternity and sorority houses ringing the west side of campus where about 2000 students live. Student have city bus service included with their student fees so it really isn’t an issue to live just outside walking distance too.
This is not unusual for a big university. Wisconsin is the same way, most of the California schools. Even at my daughter’s smaller university where freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus, almost half of the sophomores move off campus (with permission). There just aren’t enough dorms. Some schools now have private apartments that are run more like dorms, with each student signing a contract just for one room, 1/4 of the apartment. If someone moves out, the manager finds someone to move in and those remaining aren’t responsible for that rent.