I live in Southern California & just recently enrolled in CU Boulder. I visited the campus a few years ago & from what I remember, I loooved the town & campus & everything about Colorado. I enrolled just to secure a spot in housing because I felt as if I’d end up there anyways… CU is a very popular school amongst my high school, & I found it very troubling that many of my close friends decided to enroll in CU as well, because I want to escape high school & meet / experience as many NEW people as possible without feeling held back or constricted from the people I already know.
A few days ago, I was admitted into Cal Poly SLO as a nutrition major. I was extremely shocked & excited when I saw my acceptance bc I had considered slo my “number one” school until I had fallen in love with Boulder. The more I research slo, however, the more I feel like I need to leave the state of California to get the true college experience. I am visiting both cal poly slo & Boulder within the next month but the thought of having to choose between the two is seriously keeping me up at night.
I THINK I want to study something similar to psychology w/ an emphasis on art history to pursue art therapy. I also want to study religion (I’m not religious just out of curiosity) but could also totally be interested in interior / environmental design. Is Cal Poly SLO flexible with classes / could I take many courses that interest me & dont pertain to my major? I get the vibe that SLO is more if a businessy / engineering / science based school but I feel like I would truly thrive receiving a liberal arts education.
I also fear that I would get bored living in SLO for four years, but again I’ve never visited!! I’m a little turned off by the intense social life at Boulder & also feel that I would be better off being a big fish in a small pond & being more driven academically at SLO.
Keep in mind that I am a first generation college attendant & have three younger sisters who are planning to go to college as well. If I were to choose Cal Poly SLO over Boulder I would be saving my parents $40,000/year.
The University of Colorado seems a fit for you. CU has an incredible intellectual depth The students are motivated yet very friendly. More and more Colorado is being recognized for the great work it does with its students. Moreover, as a liberal arts major, I have found my professors to be spectacular. Most of them are Ivy league educated and are very dedicated to the success of their students. Even though I am a history major, the opportunities for me are seemingly endless in business, Boulder startups etc. The networks you will create for yourself here will be far more valuable than you would ever get at SLO.
The social life is not intense at all. Yeah, there are people on the hill partying on the weekend, but most people prefer to keep things tame. I, for one, often go hiking or Mass at the local parish.
I’m not sure how anyone can say this. One, CU isn’t Harvard or MIT where networks are crazy strong. Two, Cal Poly has a vibrant alumni network.
FAR more importantly though is that $160,000 MORE for ANY major is a lot of money. Attending CU without substantial aid will put a huge burden on your family unless they already have that much money saved.
You need to visit SLO before you make any decisions. Good luck!
Cal Poly has a good reputation, but its strengths are not really in the liberal arts (this is true for just about every school that has the letters T-E-C-H in its name).
The Cal Poly Fact Book indicates that only 15.6% of undergraduates were enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts in Fall 2015. And the College of Liberal Arts had lower admissions standards than the school as a whole:
GPA: Cal Poly 3.92, CLA 3.79
SAT Reading: Cal Poly 604, CLA 599
SAT Math: Cal Poly 635, CLA 595
ACT: Cal Poly 28.0, CLA 26.8
Acceptance Rate: Cal Poly 31.3, CLA 35.1
http://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/publications_reports/factbook/fbfall15.pdf
As an example of how these two schools compare in liberal arts, check out the programs in Religious Studies, which is one of the liberal arts disciplines that you seem interested in:
Colorado: 11 tenure-track profs, 4 emeritus profs, 2 affiliated faculty, 6 adjunct faculty
BA and MA degrees in Religious Studies, including a BA/MA program and dual MAs with other departments
http://www.colorado.edu/rlst/faculty
Cal Poly: 2 tenure-track profs, 1 emeritus prof, 1 lecturer
No degrees available in Religious Studies, only an undergraduate minor
http://religiousstudies.calpoly.edu/faculty