<p>I've been accepted to both and recieved a 10,000 dollar, re-occurring scholorship and L&C but I CANNOT decide between the two. I'm outdoorsy and plan on studying abroad, the only thing im really concerned about is class size. I come from a high school of approx. 370 students and i want a bigger school. L&C has about 480 incoming freshman while Boulder has around 6000. I want a good education but im afraid i may feel isolated at L&C. I NEED opinions. Thanks.</p>
<p>Boulder is better. You’ll love it.</p>
<p>I doubt that you’ll feel isolated at Lewis & Clark College, unless you don’t anticipate interacting with anyone outside of the freshman class. Portland OR and Boulder CO are both cities that offer an active recreational lifestyle and much fun for outgoing types of people. Of course, the weather is sunnier more often in Colorado.</p>
<p>Why is Boulder better? And which college offers a better education?</p>
<p>UC Boulder is ranked #86 in Nat’l Us by US News and has an 18:1 student faculty ratio. L&C is ranked #75 in LACs and a 12:1 student faculty ratio. It sounds like they are fairly comparable on ratings (I don’t know why barrons stated UC would be better). </p>
<p>L&C’s freshman class is 30% bigger than your entire HS. You would feel isolated?</p>
<p>Both have great outdoor possibilities. Have you considered the cost of each??</p>
<p>Boulder is an awesome college town with a beautiful campus–among the most beautiful anywhere with nice sunny weather. It has top notch engineering and sciences programs, big-time sports, and a wide range of students. L&C is a sleepy second tier LAC best known as the alma mater of Monica Lewinsky. Why L&C??</p>
<p>Let’s examine that.
[Test</a> Prep: GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, SAT, ACT, and More](<a href=“Most Beautiful College Campuses | The Princeton Review”>Most Beautiful College Campuses | The Princeton Review)
L&C #2 for most beautiful colleges. UC not in the top 20.
[Living</a> It Up The Top 100 Fun Cities - Interactive Features - Portfolio.com](<a href=“http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2010/04/living-it-up-the-top-100-fun-cities]Living”>http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2010/04/living-it-up-the-top-100-fun-cities)
Portland named #24 most fun city to live in the US. Boulder didn’t make the list (Didn’t beat out Dayton OH!) Denver is #20 and COS is #71.<br>
There is more sun in Colorado, as well as more cold.</p>
<p>I, too, lean towards CU. I got sent to a legal seminar many years ago at Lewis and Clark and I felt like I was at summer camp- a small summer camp. I am a huge fan of Boulder and the sunshine alone would be the decision point for me. Did I mention that it rained every day I was at the seminar? Before I went to the seminar I thought Lewis & Clark was a hardware store in the northeast! (I do think L&C is a great place for the right student.)</p>
<p>Have you visited both campuses? What are you planning on studying? What type of people do you gravitate to? Here’s my 2 cents!</p>
<p>Lewis and Clark- It’s very pretty and I agree with the person who said it felt like camp- that was how I described it too. That’s not necessarily bad…it might be kind of nice to live in a camp setting! Portland is a very fun city! It is very overcast even when it’s not raining…and cold (boulder is cold too but at least the sun is out!). When we toured (I’m a parent) I felt L&C provided the absolutely best education of all the schools I’ve seen. You looked into classrooms and the kids looked absolutely engaged and enthralled. However, I think they attract a unique, maybe even a little quirky, student…and if you are not that type of student and you are put into a small school it might be hard to find your niche. I would characterize it as a very open minded campus- alot of green hair and body piercing on the day we were there. Our tour guide told us that the athletes are housed in a separate dorm, which I thought was sort of unusual- not sure if he was right or if I misheard that. Also, the small campus means that there isn’t much variety of places to eat- really one major cafeteria. And although Portland is fun, it’s not like you are going to go there for lunch. They have a great outdoors program with many interesting options. I think that it is a challenging curriculum, with an emphasis on writing. I would love to go to school there- I don’t think I would be bored for a minute, but it isn’t a rah rah school. If you were my child and it came down to L&C vs Boulder I would choose L&C because…</p>
<p>Boulder- another beautiful school! Big, lots of fun, lots of school spirit, lots of parties. But (and this is my opinion) all states, Colorado included, are having huge budget issues. So, if you are out of state you will be paying private school dollars to be in large classes. And, if you are in state, you’ll still be in large classes with over-worked professors. That to me shadows the sunshine.</p>
<p>Finally, I don’t know what your plans are after undergrad school, but if they include graduate school L&C has an amazing percentage of students that go on to grad school immediately after graduation. So while the average person may not know L&C, anybody in academics does.</p>
<p>It all comes down to fit…and they are two such different schools that I doubt that they can both be the perfect fit.</p>
<p>2fliiper2- You reminded me- we practically starved while we were at the seminar. The cafeteria food got old and we didn’t have cars.</p>
<p>Anyone who has been to Boulder would put Colorado on a most beautiful campus list. And you can actually see the mountains nearly every day. </p>
<p>[Photo</a> Database | University of Colorado at Boulder](<a href=“http://photography.colorado.edu/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=catalog&template=detail.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=26526&site=pdb]Photo”>http://photography.colorado.edu/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=catalog&template=detail.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=26526&site=pdb)</p>
<p>OP - These are both great schools. You won’t go wrong either way. They are also pretty different from one another. Only you can tell which is best for you. You’ve already done the hard part of narrowing your search down to 2 possibilities.</p>
<p>PS, checked the CU budget and only about 5% or $50 Million is from the state to Boulder. CU will soon be the first non state funded state U.</p>
<p>
“Anyone” except people from The Princeton Review apparently…</p>
<p>L&C had by far the most beautiful campus of any college I visited. Even as a Reed student, I acknowledge that L&C has great academics and some of the best opportunities for studying abroad. The campus also has a few LEED Gold certified buildings, just as a fun fact.</p>
<p>PR is a stunt publication based on the Top Party School rankings and alleged student surveys. Really. Nobody takes it seriously–well almost nobody.</p>
<p>With respect to Boulder’s funding, if only 5% of the budget comes from the state, that means that the bulk of its funds are a result of tuition, namely out of state tuition dollars…which was exactly my point! It is a state school, in-state kids are accepted with lower qualifications and lower tuition, and out-of-state kids are subsidizing the school by paying private school tuition to go to a public school. If it were my child and I was out-of-state, I’d rather them take those dollars and spend them at a school where everyone that is accepted is of the same caliber and they could get more personalized attention. That’s just me and it has nothing really to do with Boulder…I’d feel that way about any out-of-state public school. If you live in Colorado, I think it’s a great school at in-state tuition dollars…and I agree it’s pretty!</p>
<p>Thanks a ton, im pretty sure i want to go into environmental law and then grad school eventually.</p>
<p>The person who asked if the OP had visited each has it right. Two very different environments - dry altitude vs. near rain forest, small vs. large, private vs. state U.</p>
<p>And just for barron who doesn’t like PR rankings: <a href=“http://structurehub.com/blog/2009/09/americas-ten-most-beautiful-college-campuses/[/url]”>structurehub.com is for sale;
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<p>At CU the in-state kids have to have better stats to get in than the out-of-state kids. This has always bothered me because I think the state schools should be more welcoming to their own state kids.</p>