CU Denver vs CU Boulder for Computer Science

Hello, I am a 23 year old student who has been going to school online, part-time, for one year at Southern New Hampshire University. I have a 4.0 gpa in computer science and have been using pluralsight and codewars for enrichment. I want to transfer to a more challenging program and have a decent amount of financial aid next year (finally going to get independent status). I will transfer in as a pre-engineering student in the summer and year-round to graduate in the shortest amount of time possible.

I love Denver and Boulder and think both campuses are really cool. Personally, something about Boulder is a bit intimidating to me. It is probably the size of the school, but, I’m not really sure. I tend to keep to myself most of the time anyways. I also think that smaller classes might be better for me.

I plan on taking some courses over the summer to get internship-ready as soon as possible. Also, I plan on going for either a Phd or dual MS/MBA in the future, so that is something to take into consideration. I wanted to know if both schools have the same honors scholarships and if it would really make a difference when applying to grad school if my degree says Boulder. I want to go to a prestigious school but I’m not planning on going to Penn even if I keep my 4.0 (not likely). Another question I had was whether or not CS courses are offered over the summer in Boulder because I know they are not in Denver.

Denver will probably have more older undergraduates. I’m not sure about scholarships for transfer students, but the Colorado Springs campus usually has the bigger merit scholarships.

The Boulder CS program is the better program, but I don’t think it will make a difference for grad school admissions if you have strong GREs, grades, and ideally research experience.

Yeah, my plan is to keep the grades up but it will definitely be more difficult. I think 50% of of incoming Denver students are transfers too so that was something I had in the back of my head.

Apply for both and see which one is affordable. Is Colorado instate? Because even if you have independent status you won’t qualify for much at OOS public universities. It may be a good bet to also apply to ‘meet need’ schools. To see which ones may have more of an older population, see which can be cross referenced between ‘meet 100% need’ and ’ good for veterans" (I know you’re not a veteran but veterans tend to be older so a meet need college that is recommended for veterans would have more non traditional students.)

CU Boulder has one of the best CS programs around bro, it would be a mistake not to go. They are at the cutting edge in engineering from what I’ve heard, and are hiring many great new faculty. CU Boulder is the full college experience while Denver is geared towards non-traditional students. I mean, the CS program at CU Boulder places students at Google, Facebook, Tesla, Twitter, Viasat and other bigs. CU Boulder is becoming increasingly more competitive to gain admission so it will look better on a resume long term. I’ve heard CU’s ACT will move up to around 30 next year because so many engineers and business students want to go to CU Boulder.

1 Like