CU-Boulder vs. Colorado State

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Colorado
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<p>Ok here is some insight from a local colorado high school senior. I have lived in the denver area all of my life and this is my opinion about all of the colorado schools. </p>

<p>Colorado School of Mines - Probably the best engineering school in colorado. some positives are a small campus, lots of teachers, and a great education. some negatives are weird people(believe me, the kids that go there are smart, but some dont have it all together), no other good academics besides engineering, and of course the infamous girl to guy ratio. The local people call it the Colorado School of Men because there is literally over 70 percent men that attend the school. Note, i do have 3 friends in their third years here(all guys haha) and one friend that will be attending next fall(also a guy lol). They all love the difficult coursework and are not partiers! </p>

<p>CU Boulder - In my opinion and almost all local peoples opinions this is the best all around school in the state. Its engineering and sciences are second only to Mines, and its business schools only competition is Denver University. Boulder is a very nice city to live in. All of the people are nice and the close proximity to the mountains is awesome. It is located only 20 min from a major ski resort and there is fishing and hiking within walking distance of the dorms. Boulder is known around here as the doughnut city. Years ago the people of Boulder decided they wanted to keep Boulder from expanding into a large city so they purchased a large ring of land all the way around the city. there is no building allowed in this area and the people of Boulder are proud to pay extra taxes to keep their city the way it is(this is why living is more expensive). Also, the people in Boulder(and at CU) are not infatuated with money. Its hard to explain, but places like CSU and DU are run more like a business where as CU wants to make you feel welcomed. Overall, a degree from CU is probably the best that you can get in Colorado. There is a local joke that goes: what to CU and CSU students have in common? they all got into CSU. CU is much harder to get into and the courses are harder, but all in all CU is a better school for everything but agriculture and vet.</p>

<p>Denver University - Very good college, very expensive. Its 60,000 a year, enough said… not worth the money when you can get just as good of an education if not better for everything except a graduate level law degree at CU.</p>

<p>Colorado State University - Well i applied here, got accepted, visited the campus, and got my 100 dollar application refund. Its a fine school, dont get me wrong. I, however, plan on going to medical school or dental school after i finish my undergrad degree. And if you want any shot at getting into a good one CSU is not going to cut it. A chemical engineering degree from CSU with a 3.6 GPA and a chemical engineering degree form CU with a 3.6 GPA are almost different degrees! CU blows CSU out of the water in almost all categories and graduate, dental, medical, etc schools view a degree from CU much more favorably than a degree from CSU, unless it is a vet degree. I know this because my uncle is on the board of admissions at Harvard University and is also an alumni at Stanford. When i told him i was thinking about going to CSU over CU is almost ***** his pants. and its not because of his political views. in fact his is one of the most right winged republicans i know and Boulder is probably one of the most liberal cities in the USA. If you can get into CU, go there.</p>

<p>University of Northern Colorado - Otherwise known as University of No Choice. They visit local high schools and give on the spot addmisions decisions. If you have a beating pulse you can get into this school. as you could imagine, a degree from UNC is not sought after.</p>

<p>Colorado College - very nice private school. its best known for its liberal arts. I have nothing really bad to say about it and nothing really good to say. It has no major negatives, but its also not the best college when you are speaking academics.</p>

<p>University of Colorado in Colorado Springs - Its an ok college. Colorado Springs is amazing and in my mind even rivals Boulder in natural beauty and overall homey feel. Not great for a traditional engineering, business, science, etc degree. However, they have some great programs that are not offered by other colleges in the area. for example my friend is attending CU in Colorado Springs for a golf management major. If you want to do something like that the look into their programs.</p>

<p>Metro State College - Its a good school for adults or kids who need to work right out of high school and cant commit to being a full time student. a degree from here is nothing special, but some sort of business degree is very affordable and will qualify you for a lot of jobs. I may be mistaken, but i dont believe there are any dorms. its really not meant to be a traditional college, so dont try to make it one.</p>

<p>well thats pretty much all of the major colleges in the Denver area. I have grown up in Broomfield, Colorado and i have been to these campuses and the cities they are in countless times. i truly am offering a nonbias opinion as well. It took me months to decide wether to go to CU or CSU and i have no family who are alumni at either. Broomfield is a very republican city(all of my family votes republican) and both Boulder and Ft Collins are left winged. I hope this helps.</p>

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<p>Thanks zynicide, good job giving us an insiders view.</p>

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<p>Very good summary except for Colorado College (probably due to lack of knowledge on CC). This is a very good liberal arts college (average admission on ACT is 30) with an excellent biology (best in the state and probably the West) program. Very selective as they only admit about 25% of the applicants. They do “block” scheduling for classes which is where you go to a class for a few weeks (very intensive), then another for a few weeks, instead of 4-5classes for a semester.</p>

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<p>[College</a> Rankings - Top 50 Ranked Universities in Colorado for Highest Overall School Score](<a href=“USA University College Directory - U.S. University Directory - State Universities and College Rankings”>Top Ranked Universities in Colorado - Highest Overall School Score)</p>

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<p>Boulder is truly a vibrant college town. Expensive, yes. But very nice.</p>

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<p>It really wants depends on what you want to study. You can’t go wrong with either, however CU is known for being the more “prestigious” one out of the two. I don’t know a whole lot about CSU but I can tell you a lot about CU. CU is the type of school that you can get the best of both worlds. At CU you have one of the top public schools in the nation for Science and Business. While on the other hand you don’t have to forfeit your social life. There is plenty to do with being only 1 hr away from both downtown Denver and Ski Mts. Also if you are into partying CU was just recently ranked the #1 party school in the nation according to Playboy.</p>

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<p>I agree with the last post. A joke I’ve heard CU students tell about CSU grads is “how do you get the CSU graduate off of your front porch?” Pay them for the pizza!</p>

<p>I’m sure CSU students/grads tell that one the other way around as well. I just thought it was funny when I first heard it.</p>

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<p>You stated that CU engineering is much better that CSU. As a graduate from CSU’s mechanical engineering program you should note that I have supervised many CU graduates over the years (in 26 years of Colorado industry experience, I have never reported to a CU graduate but I have had multiple CU graduates report to me). Personally, I have not been impressed by the engineering intuition from CU graduates that I have supervised., except for a couple of EE graduates. The school seems focused on introducing students to highly theoretical aspects of engineering such as solving partial differential equations but largely disconnected from the empirical and hands on aspects of engineering.</p>

<p>Further, compare CSU’s FE exam pass rate compared to CU. The information is hard to obtain but CU graduate’s are not impressive.</p>

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<p>I grew up in Boulder and attended CU and had a great 4 years (25 years ago). Many HS friends went to CSU so I spent many weekends in Ft Collins as well. I loved FtC, much more of a small town feel than Boulder. I loved CU but to be honest, it feels like Boulder is getting a bit more dangerous, things get pretty crazy on the Hill (I was visiting last Spring Break and a kid got shot). I suppose that could happen anywhere… And to be clear on the skiing, it’s about 30 minutes to a small ski area (Lake Eldora). It’s nice, but not a major ski resort :slight_smile: Living out of state now, we know more kids who choose CSU because the merit aid is so much more generous. I think you should visit both and you will know where you “fit” because they are definitely different. And whichever you choose, you’ll enjoy the rivalry :)</p>

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<p>And since my D plans to attend Colorado School of Mines, I feel I need to defend it a bit…there are plenty of “non-weird” kids as well! I believe they have more varsity athletic teams than any other school in the state - and nationally they are a D II powerhouse in many sports. And while it is an engineering school, they are strong in all the sciences, math and economics. Golden is a great college town and the campus is beautiful. I can tell you from personal experience, many of the kids who attended CU didn’t “have it all together” either… :)</p>

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<p>Just my own two cents- I really don’t think CU Boulder is as selective as people make it out to be. I know plenty of in-state friends from high school that did not apply themselves and still got it. CU Boulder has a great Astronautical Engineering program and, in the past, is known for having a respectable business school. Over the years, CSU’s business school has began to rank higher than CU’s. CU Boulder is an expensive, but beautiful town. You encounter many different varieties of people there, but coming from a non-drug scene/money oriented type of girl, many of the people are not my cup of tea. But thats just me. Very very expensive to live there! CSU, on the other hand, is not all that expensive. They are very generous with financial aid awards (I was award copious amounts/scholarships) and have a strong focus in the sciences. CSU is known for the Veterinary program…#2 in the country, the last time I checked! The town itself is very small and laid back. Depending on where you live if you’re on campus, it can be quite the walk to class. Sorry this “review” isn’t more thorough, I’m running short on time. I am a former CSU student, so if anybody would like to know more about it (or Boulder, I lived close by there), please feel free to PM me. :)</p>

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<p>Out of all the schools mentioned only one is a member of the American Association of Universities(AAU). These are the top research universities in the nation. If you look you will see membership includes all the Ivy league, Stanford, and the top state Universities, however not all states are represented. The membership is exclusive, as they just kicked the University of Nebraska out for not maintaining its standards of excellence. So if science and/or engineering are your interests start with the list of AAU schools and try to get into one of them.</p>

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<p>@Zynacide what are you dillusional? Jesus Christ everything you said in the post was absolute crap and a lie. You are a high school senior and you haven’t been to college so you don’t know what you are talking about. My suggestion is do alittle research before putting down well regarded schools like UNC or CSU. Way to embarass yourself. I am a CSU engineering student (Sophomore) and I have lived in Colorado for a very long time. Colorado State University can compete just as well with CU Boulder or Colorado School of Mines. I have done tremendous research on these schools unlike you. If you think CSU is so easy why don’t you come and try some classes with 40% fail rates.</p>

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<p>Actually that was not a bad summary by Zynacide, but maybe a bit harsh on CSU. There engineering program is not that bad. Although the 40% fail rate might be due to the type of student they get more than anything else.</p>

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<p>I completely disagree with your assessement stating CU is much much better that CSU. I have degrees from both engineering programs. CSU has a terrific college of engineering. For example try to look up FE Exam Pass rates (for EIT certification). I believe CSU pass rate is higher than CUs. In Colorado CU, CSU, and Colorado School of Mines all have solid engineering schools.</p>

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<p>A number of responses claim CU is tougher on admissions than CSU. That may have been the case at one time, but it no longer is true. Latest data from College Xpress show CU accepted 17,828 applicants while rejecting 2,678. CSU accepted 12,564 applicants while rejecting 3,995.</p>

<p>CU has more undergraduates than CSU (26,325 vs. 23,261) but CSU has more graduate students (7,189 vs. 5,927).</p>

<p>Which school is better? Depends on your interests. One area not previously mentioned is journalism. CSU’s Department of Journalism and Technical Communication has the only fully accredited journalism program in Colorado.</p>

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<p>Both are typical state schools with similiar drop-out rates (16% & 17%). Select based on intended major.</p>

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<p>:(|) CSU had made great strides over the years. Unfortunately, many folks still think of it in an outdated context For some time now, CSU has rejected more applicants than has CU. US News reports CU’s acceptance rate is 84% while CSU’s is 73%. (I may be off a percentage point here.) Business Weeks’s 2014 ranking of business schools places CSU 16 positions ahead of CU vs. a 12 position advantage in 2013. And as noted in an earlier post, CSU’s journalism program is the only fully accredited j-program in the state. While CU has more undergraduates, CSU leads in the number of graduate students. The bottom line is that you should choose the school that has the program you want and where you feel you “fit” best. Don’t make your choice based on heresay and/or outdated information. Go see for yourself. And don’t forget that the famous researchers at any school rarely teach undergraduate classes. :(|) </p>

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You are an ass

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CSU offers some majors that CU Boulder does not offer and visa versa. So , physical/occupational therapy, is one program students can study at CSU. Agriculture and agronomy is limited to CSU.

CU Boulder has a nationally ranked physics program, with Nobel laureates on campus in a joint research lab with NIST Boulder. Biology and Chemistry programs at CU Boulder are nationally known to be excellent. Weather and climate change modeling is a well funded research activity in the city of Boulder with NOAA and NCAR labs and students take advantage of jobs at all the federal government research labs (NIST, NOAA, NCAR).

The city of Boulder is closer to more high tech jobs in Longmont and Broomfield (IBM, Covidien, Seagate, Oracle, Micron, Spectra Logic, biotech ) although Fort Collins has a booming high tech economy as well (HP, Avago, Intel, AMD, Advanced Energy, Woodward Governor ).

CU Boulder has the best known teacher education programs in the state of Colorado along with U of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

CU Boulder has a well ranked music conservatory, theatre and opera program. CU Boulder is home to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, a summer festival that has acting opportunities. there are many venues in Boulder for plays, musical, opera, and music performance (Macky, Grusin Hall, outdoor Shakespeare theatre and indoor theaters ). CSU has a music performance major of lower rank and caliber, with a good stage venue.

I would say Boulder by far is the more fun city for a young person. I lived in Fort Collins nine years and near Boulder for 15 years. There is simply more going on in Boulder, although Fort Collins has grown and offers fantastic hiking to the west of campus. Boulder is much closer to down hill skiing, has a ski resort with a bus only 30 minutes away (Eldora). All the major ski resorts are south of Boulder , so very far from Fort Collins except Steamboat Springs, which is a good 3.5 hours west of Fort Collins. Boulder has more night life, more beer breweries, a better walking mall with an independent bookstore (Boulder Bookstore ) and more PhD programs in humanities, thus a stronger humanities focus for the undergraduates. Boulder has much much better restaurants, and fun theaters, Conference on World Affairs every April, brings many different politicians of all leanings onto campus.

For undergraduate Business majors, CSU and CU start to look the same, I think CSU’s business program is ranked a bit higher than CU, although Leeds School of Business in Boulder has some good undergraduate finance and marketing programs and has the larger tech transfer office.

CU has the stronger engineering programs, with Aero Astro ranked in top 20 nation wide., Chemical and Biological Engineering is top 40. CU boulder has the plan to double the size of the engineering college, and it offers a very good applied math major as well as architectural engineering, separate from the school of architecture.

CSU is an agricultural school, with good engineering programs (HP, AMD and Intel are located up in Fort collins for internships for the best CSU students, although CU Boulder students land those jobs too ) CSU has a nationally ranked veterinary medicine program, so premeds sometimes prefer CSU for the better dissection opportunities, but lately CU Boulder has added a premedical program in conjunction with our state medical school down in east Denver (Aurora).

Both schools stress football game watching as a major social activity, and CSU is building a brand new stadium. CU Boulder right now has an on campus football stadium, that is used for many other community events off season, such as the termination of the very popular Bolder Boulder 10K race on Memorial Day, and July 4th fireworks.

Both towns are very nice places to live. Boulder is a tad more expensive, but students often share larger houses, and there is plenty of student housing in both cities.

Boulder has better access to Denver than Fort Collins does, with very good public transportation. Fort Collins, is harder to get around by bus. Boulder has free buses all over campus, so no car is needed in that city. Boulder has good public transpiration to DIA International Airport, from Table Mesa Bus terminal, with connecting buses to the CU campus.

CU Denver is a commuter school, with less research opportunities, but in a very good location downtown. CU Denver shares a campus with the Denver Community College and Denver Metropolitan State U, which is a 23,000 student commuter school.