Hey guys! Does anyone have any good information about the CS program at Boulder? I am OOS and when I went to visit they closed campus due to snow…
Bumping this to inquire about UCCS Computer Science BS program in addition to CU Boulder. We are in SoCal, with lots of family in Colorado. UC is nearly impossible to get in as a CS major this year. The WUE tuition break and rolling admissions at UCCS sound attractive to my son.
UCCS for all 4 years? Or start there and transfer midway to Boulder? Ultimate goal is MS or PhD degree.
@PadreDeTres UCCS was a commuter school for years. Its now got a growing faculty and on campus housing, but way less on campus research in CS compared to Boulder. I think its much smarter, if you can afford it, to go to CU Boulder all four years if your child wants a PhD.later. CU Boulder has a better track record of getting students into graduate school. In Boulder he/she can get involved with research right away and/or work at Google in Boulder or Oracle in Broomfield. Colorado Springs has good high tech job base but much lower caliber professors for CS. Also CU Boulder has an outstanding new Dean of Engineering from Georgia Tech, and other engineering options if CS proves not to be a fit, if your child got into Engineering. If not, still possible to transfer into CU Engineering, but it would be much much better to do that from Boulder Arts and Sciences, as he/she can take engineering classes that will count towards either degree.
Not all UCCS credits will transfer to Boulder. Likewise not all CU Denver credits transfer to Boulder. So be careful about trying to transfer, it may not even work out to get accepted, and if he/she is accepted, may need to do an extra year in Boulder if the required credits are missing. Compare the programs credit by credit. They are not the same programs, and not the same CS on campus research options.
If OOS costs of Boulder are prohibitive, then try UCCS for one year, and try to get all As. If his/her GPA is very high, transferring should be possible, but no guarantees. If the Boulder CS major gets crowded later, then it may become tougher just like U of California. Right now the CS major is not so crowded, but there is a way to major in CS both in Arts and Sciences and as an Engineering major at Boulder. The two degrees are different, BA versus BS. See CU website.
@Coloradomama, thanks for the detailed answer. We were shocked by the sheer craziness of CS admissions to California schools, now just looking for alternatives that make sense. WUE only applies to Colo. Springs and Denver. Boulder would be nearly equivalent to private tuition for OOS. Good to have your inside knowledge, thanks again.
Has your son looked at San Jose State? http://www.sjsu.edu/ The price of San Jose State is very good for instate students and I think the level of academic rigor for CS is good at San Jose State. Both Cal Poly schools in Pomona and SLO are outstanding but may be oversubscribed in CS too. They have a similar price to San Jose state, so less than U of California campuses. How about UC Davis? This school is more remote and maybe not so hard to get in as the U of Cal schools with super high CS ranks like LA, SD, Berkeley.
It is accurate that Colorado schools do not yet have the crowds in the CS major , and perhaps apply to both UCCS and CU Boulder, and see how much scholarship money Boulder awards. Its plausible that with good test scores, Boulder will award some money to OOS students.
There is a $25,000 scholarship over four years at CU Boulder for OOS students, but that is only $6,250 per year for the four years.
http://www.colorado.edu/scholarships/chancellors-achievement-scholarship
For very strong OOS students, CU Boulder offers a Presidential Scholarship, with total awarded : $55,000.
http://www.colorado.edu/scholarships/presidential-scholarship
Thanks again, @Coloradomama . The applications are done and we are past deadline, with the exception of the local Community College and the possible exception of schools within WUE that accept rolling applications such as UCCS.
The situation in California is dire. Not to go too far off topic, but you may soon see similar issues with impacted majors in Colorado. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo published their stats: 4377 freshman applicants for 130 slots in CS this year. My son with 3.56W, 30 ACT and 1370/1600 SAT was flat out rejected from six UCs (including Davis) and both Cal Polys. Cal Poly Pomona was supposed to be a safety. He is waitlisted at UC Riverside. He is utterly brilliant, but HS is not his thing. (A lot like me back in the day, otherwise I would be in full panic mode.)
Here is a long post with lots of detail if you are interested, along with a proposed solution for a matching program. I revised it for a general audience and submitted to the L.A. Times; no word on whether they will publish it:
Very sorry to hear about your son’s situation. Has he looked at San Jose State? I think if he gets As at any of the four year state schools, not community colleges, so Long Beach, San Jose, Sonoma State etc, then he can transfer to UC Davis , perhaps. But a four year degree from San Jose State is almost as good I think. Its not a community college, its a very good four year college located near a lot of jobs in San Jose.
Yes I have heard about the utter chaos at Cal Poly, so I am sorry I suggested it. I was thinking Pomona was easier
but now I am realizing that its only easier for Colorado students who pay OOS tuition. Much lower stats Colorado students get into Cal Poly Pomona. I almost think you could sue them, but its not worth it.
It might be OK to go to any rolling admissions school or community college for one year and try again.
Loot at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins Colorado, maybe too. Its a bit stronger in CS than UCCS, but UCCS
will still get him started.
I would also look at Oregon schools, Oregon State in Corvallis is a great school with some scholarships.
Hewlett Packard is located on Corvallis Oregon, making Oregon State a very strong program with lots of former HP engineers working and teaching at Oregon State.
Here is the website for Colorado State:
https://www.cs.colostate.edu/cstop/
Lots of California students apply to Colorado School of Mines which is our technical college in Golden.
I don’t know how OOS prices compare, but for in state, Colorado State in Fort Collins is the least expensive CS program.
Colorado State in Fort Collins, a city in northern Colorado where Intel, AMD, Broadcom , HP and other high tech companies are located, is also on rolling admissions. So he can get admitted fall, Spring or Summer. I think there are some scholarships too. Its a very good school. I am less familiar with UCCS but it may be better than community colleges, but check that carefully. It depends on which community colllege in California. If your son wants to try for San Jose State or UC Davis next year, then community college in California will transfer. If he wants to go to school in Colorado then UCCS may be fine.
UCCS is getting better and better. Now that I understand your situation, I would look at it carefully and compare it to the community college option in CA. Colorado Springs is a much larger city compared to Fort Collins, and the Air Force Academy and other military bases are located there. It offers a lot of high tech jobs but UCCS is just a much newer college compared to CU Boulder or Colorado State in Fort Collins. If you can fly out here and visit, it might be helpful. There are some direct flights to Colorado Springs but Denver International is not that far from UCCS.
@PadreDeTres Good news : Colorado State University appears to be on WUE and its rolling admissions. He can apply for the spring if he wants to, but check this carefully. If you want to PM me privately I can discuss the pros and cons of Colorado State versus UCCS. There are some pros and cons, but he should easily be able to get into both schools with his stats, I believe. The two locations are different. One is a large city, Colorado Springs with a growing commuter school. The other is a small scale city close to Wyoming with a large research university, land grant college, vet school, business college, high tech incubator and lots of jobs. You can see my bias for Colorado State. I worked and lived in Fort Collins for ten years. Both may work out for your son so look this over:
Colorado State and UCCS pale in comparison to the University of Colorado, Boulder. They aren’t even in the same ball park. Boulder is a hot bed of tech innovation. In fact, Tesla, Google, Apple and other majors are locating here because the engineers that CU produces are some of the best. Boulder is a school which will only grow in prestige in the coming years. I have many friends in computer science. One is doing a $30 hour internship this summer and will go work for Goldman Sachs next year. The other is working with NASA. Another is about to start full time work at VISA. SKO BUFFS!
I had a friend that went to UCCS and had a 3.8 GPA, transferred to Boulder and it dropped to a 2.2 for that semester, so she transferred back to UCCS. That should tell you something about the difference.
This is a nice guideline of the math ACT scores at each U of California Campus.
https://www.thoughtco.com/act-scores-for-university-of-california-campuses-788832
U of California undergrad in math or CS, is good preparation for a student wanting a PhD in computer science.
The math scores directly correlate with the difficulty of the mathematics and CS programs at each college. So, Berkeley with that 35 in math is really tough to get As. Santa Cruz? Way way easier.
Colorado schools are pushing kids way less hard and could be a good way to play catchup in math, though if one wants to compete at the highest levels of computer science down the road. It often comes down to certain skills for certain high level CS positions. Those skills could be built up over time .
California has too many students for the number of colleges they have especially in engineering and CS, that is why CU Boulder has so many California alumni.
@Coloradomama and @PadreDeTres My son was one of those students that got into CS at Cal Poly this year, but he has declined the offer (and just to clarify it wasn’t 130 admitted - that’s what they hope to yield. They accepted just approximately 440 to their CS dept and are hoping to yield a target class of 130-140) He also got into UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD and UC Berkeley (though not in the Engineering School) It was definitely a touch year for California kids and we feel fortunate that he had so many offers. That being said, even with the added expense of OOS tuition, he felt, as did his father and I, the Boulder would give him greater access to faculty, undergraduate research, a better student:teacher ratio and flexibility to explore other interests both inside and out of the classroom. There is also a much higher likelihood that he can graduate in 4 years which makes the tuition difference relatively small.
@eastbayrent I have heard that at least at UC San Diego, only straight A undergraduate students are considered for undergraduate research work in some labs. Cal Poly is only undergraduates so there is less research going on there, as they focus on teaching more.
As far as Boulder: I know that Fairview HS students are often welcomed into some research groups at CU Boulder, including CS labs, under a special high school research program, so I imagine that Boulder undergraduates will have no trouble finding on campus research.
Correll’s lab is very open to undergrads I have heard. He works on smart walls and other robotics projects.
http://correll.cs.colorado.edu/
Its kind of exciting to hear that some good students are choosing Boulder over what we would call “dream schools” for CS like Berkeley, or San Diego. Wow!
Helpful discussion here, even if late in the game for this admissions cycle. Thanks all.
From the outside, “dream school” usually means biggest name. From the inside, it’s the place where a student flourishes and reaches his/her highest potential. That said, it’s interesting to know that a kid with multiple UC acceptances plus CPSLO would go OOS. We may also, though for reasons of getting around the competitive craziness here in Cali.
@eastbayrent, that’s correct about the numbers at SLO. Roughly 10% acceptance rate (440/4400) for 30% yield (130). Tough year indeed. Congrats to your son!
Why go to an overcrowded Berkeley or UCLA when you can come to beautiful Boulder with a comparable education and superior environment?
@spike22 Because job connections to the highest paying jobs are much better at UCLA or Berkeley for the most part.
California is the fifth largest economy in the world, and UCLA and Berkeley have very smart students, and you learn the most from other students , not necessarily your professors. Colorado offers a few employers, but the actual jobs may not be as interesting. For example, I worked for Hewlett packard Fort Collins Colorado for ten years, and my peers at Hewlett Packard Palo Alto had better assignments,more international travel and better promotion options than engineers that stayed in Fort Collins. Colorado is not a hotbed of high tech. Its good but not a hotbed.
Los Angeles and the California Bay Area are hotbeds, and the salaries are double out there. Some Boulder kiddos will move to take advantage of that.
Also, the research work at Berkeley and UCLA in almost fields of medicine, physics, materials science is very very strong. Boulder is very good in atomic physics, see JILA on the Boulder campus, but some fields are just stronger in California. Look at Materials science, for instance, one can major in that at Berkeley or UCLA. Boulder offers a PhD only so far.
Yeah, FoCo is not a hotbed lol. Google, Amazon and Apple are all recruiting on CU’s campus for jobs in COLORADO… Also, Tesla, Apple, and hundreds of new startups in Boulder are hiring Colorado students… And to top it all off, GS is recruiting engineers and A&S people here now. Berkeley is for anarchists and UCLA is for people who want to deal with 5 hours of traffic everyday. And yeah, salaries are double because the cost of living is double.