<p>S thinks he may be interested in Adams State and/or Western State as safeties. The access to outdoor activities, his current stats and the fact that they are both WUE schools where his stats are likely to make him eligible are all factors that encourage him to apply but we really can't find much information.</p>
<p>I was particularly concerned with the low (58%) retention rate I saw published on college board for Adams State. They didn't have that statistic for Western State.</p>
<p>If anyone know anything about either of these schools and is willing to share with me I would really appreciate.</p>
<p>He is also looking at Colorado State but is not likely to qualify for WUE. Their qualifications are much harder to meet than those at ASU or WSU.</p>
<p>I’ve known kids that have gone to both schools (classmates and friends of my kids, who both attend the University of Colorado-Boulder). I’ve also got some adult friends that have attended Western State.</p>
<p>This is purely anecdotal, but between the two, I seem to hear that the college experience is better at Western State. Especially for those who like outdoor activities. About 30 minutes from Crested Butte (great skiing!) and there is good hiking and fishing other times of the year. Gorgeous down there!! As for academic programs, I can’t tell you anything about Adams State. I do know that Western State has a good business program/major.</p>
<p>Gunnison and Alamosa can both get VERY cold in winter, so be aware of that fact!!!</p>
<p>A fair amount of my children’s former classmates end up leaving after the first year and tranferring to either CU, CSU, or to one of the community colleges in or near Boulder/Ft. Collins.</p>
<p>I would imagine the lower retention rate is because both schools are far away from large metropolitan areas, and that can often lead to feelings of “there’s nothing to do”. Not to say that there ISN’T anything to do, but I believe some kids go to a smaller rural school with one idea of what it’s going to be like and after they come to Colorado, they find out that it is something altogether different. Not bad, just different and not the college experience they expected. Plus, both schools are relatively small and end up just not being the right fit. So they often transfer someplace else.</p>
<p>I hope this helps you a bit. Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>Both are remote campuses - and neither attracts top students (Boulder, Mines and CSU-Fort Collins are all much more popular) A bigger concern for me is how these schools cope - and will cope in the next few years - with the terrible financial realities facing Colorado publics. The state is 50th in per student spending on the college level, and neither campus has the research money that Boulder, Mines and CSU rely on to make up for lack of state funding.</p>
<p>ColoradoMom what you say makes sense and I do appreciate the anecdotal information. We live in a very small and isolated town and he hasn’t decided if he wants more urban or more rural. One is more familiar the other more exciting. He liked the sports psychology major at ASU and thinks the mountain search and rescue team at WSU would be something he might like to do. </p>
<p>katliamom you make a good point about finances. Thanks we will keep an eye on that part of the equation.</p>
<p>How much of a hassle is it to get to and from an airport from these campuses?</p>
<p>He should be able to get into CSU but it would be cost prohibitive paying for OOS tuition w/o the benefit of the WUE scholarship. </p>
<p>Thanks again and if anyone else knows anything please feel free to share.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty big hassle to get and from an airport to either place, especially if you fly into one of the two major airports (Denver or Colorado Springs). I don’t know about more local/regional airports. I live 15 miles north of Colorado Springs, but we fly in and out of Denver all the time because their is a better selection of flights and the cost is usually cheaper. That would add at least 70 minutes traveling time on to the journey to get to either Alamosa or Gunnison. But then again, you may be able to get a regional puddle jumper from DIA to either town; I honestly don’t know. The last propeller plane I took over the mountains was almost 20 years ago to Steamboat and it was so turbulent that I swore I’d never do it again and I haven’t (don’t mean to scare anyone, but flying over the Rockies in a smaller plane just isn’t that easy to do).</p>
<p>Yeah, Colorado, like many states, with its high out of state tuition makes it difficult to justify the extra cost.</p>
<p>I love Western State and have had friends that graduated decades ago and kids of friends that are recently graduated and a couple friends kids that are still there. 50% of the student body is from out of state and generally a handful of European kids who ski. Their literature for decades has proclaimed they have at least one student from every state every year. I just heard they’ve built several beautiful new buildings since we were last in the area…built from (wealthy) graduates who have turned around and gifted the college. A friend of mine in Summit County mentioned the governor of Colorado was there recently primarily to discuss how Western is managing to “fund” programs and buildings outside of public money. Alums are very strong. It’s a very unique school that is abit of a hidden secret among the ski crowd outside of Colorado. That said, some of my friends that went there went for 2 years and then transferred so if you dig into the statistics you will find low retention rates which have absolutely nothing to do with satisfaction and more about kids going there and getting cores out of the way at a very “cool school” then transferring to art schools, schools with architecture and other types of programs not available at Western. It’s a “public-private” in that there are only about 2500 kids. More boys than girls I think. Make no mistake it is not a terribly difficult school to get into but the kids get a solid education from some really good profs who teach there because they want to live there and love to go skiing with the kids on powder days. I’m hearing through the “friend” grapevine that the GPAs/ACTs are rising quite abit the past 5 years. It is probably best known for Geology, Business and Art I think. It was high on my S1’s list. You can walk from the Gunnison airport to the campus even in the dead of winter LOL. I ran into a girlfriend a couple weeks ago whose daughter picked Boulder over Western and is wildly unhappy and not returning to Boulder in the fall and wishes she had picked Western which she had visited. We have more friends with kids who left Boulder than kids who left Western so fit clearly is a factor. S2 was out last week visiting as he’s been accepted and was visiting a friend. I was out there 3 years ago visiting. [Live</a>. Learn. Here. — Western State College of Colorado](<a href=“http://www.western.edu/]Live”>http://www.western.edu/)</p>
<p>I’ve also heard similar things about Western State, and I spent the weekend there at a conference a few years ago and I thought that the school had a nice feel.</p>
<p>One recent data point that might be of interest is the Colorado Commission on Higher Education’s report on the percentage of recent high school students starting in Colorado public colleges who required remediation in math, reading or writing. Western State has a 36.7% rate, while Adams State is at 60.5%. That’s a pretty big difference. It could mean that the schools from which Western state tends to draw are just stronger schools, but it also might mean that the school is needing to devote a lot less effort to remediation and thus can focus on more traditional four year college objectives.</p>
<p>How ironic, I just got an e-mail form my friend whose son graduated magna cum laude from Western in art last year and he’s heading back, they just got approved to grant MFAs. Apparently the governor just announced that although my friend’s son has known it was in the works and anxious to head back to Sunny Gunny. How ironic that we’re “talking” about that school.</p>
<p>I think that you are talking about a 4 hour car drive to the Denver airport. (I grew up about an hour from both Western State and Adams State.) Both locations are COLD!!!</p>
<p>Sorry, we only visited UC at Colorado Springs. I have also heard good things about U Northern CO (two of my friends got their master’s of ed there, & another sent her S there under WUE). They all said it was cold but a good school. Sorry, don’t know anything about the schools you posted.</p>
<p>We did like the library at CS but S was not attracted to the school overall & it has a large commuter population & less of a “residential/campus” feel.</p>
<p>Flights could depend on where you’re coming from – if from the east, then Denver, if from the West, I’d see if I could get a flight into Grand Junction – only a couple of hours from there to Gunnison as I recall.</p>
<p>Or Montrose but from Montrose you would need to drive - it’s about an hour to Montrose from Gunnison. United is the primary carrier into Gunnison. There might be another, but I’m familiar with United.</p>
<p>Also, depending on your son’s ACT/SAT scores, Western State could have some merit money available, though i’m not sure how that interacts with the WICHE arrangements.</p>
<p>Thank you again! All of your input has been very helpful!!!</p>
<p>I just did a kayak search for flights to Gunnison from my area and it came back about 200 more than flying into Aspen. Forgive my ignorance of CO geography but how big a deal is it to get from Aspen to Gunnison?</p>
<p>Big deal to get from Aspen to Gunnison, and absolutely awful in bad weather. They’re not far as the crow flies, but drive time wise you’re really going the long way around unless you’ve got a great off-road vehicle and it is summer.</p>
<p>Wow - was just skiing in Crested Butte Wednesday. It was COLD. Minus 18 Tuesday morning (but was up to 6 on the mountain by afternoon), and the snow was the most I had ever seen there - up to the roof lines of houses. But not so much snow at all in Gunnison, only about 30 miles away. My son commented on the campus of Western State as we drove past, that it looked nice. I said something about the isolation of the town from the rest of the world and he replied back that the skiing and other outdoor activities would be great.</p>
<p>I live about 25 miles north of Colorado Springs, and like someone else said, it’s a 4-hour drive to Gunnison, over Monarch Pass, which, on Monday this week was a bit dicey to get over because of the snow and icy roads.</p>