<p>I am a local parent of a CU freshman, so I can answer most of these questions!</p>
<p>TRANSPORTATION
My daughter doesn’t drive or have a bike and pretty much takes the bus everywhere. Most buses run pretty regularly through about 10pm and then less often until midnight. Here is a current schedule: [GO</a> Boulder - Frequencies & Schedules](<a href=“Home | City of Boulder”>Home | City of Boulder)
The HOP, SKIP, and JUMP routes are the ones I most often hear her mention, as well as the Buff bus. (Buff is on about the same schedule, til midnight).
Lots of college and high school kids get around Boulder on bikes and buses and you can go pretty much anywhere. There’s even a ski bus!</p>
<p>SOCIAL LIFE
Yes, a parent’s view, plus my daughter is not terribly social! But I’ll tell you what I hear from her and her boyfriend – People are pretty friendly. It took my daughter awhile, but she has found some friends. Definitely a lot of outdoorsy kids who ski on weekends, but also plenty who stay on campus. It is a party school with parties going on in most dorms. RA’s tend to look the other way as long as residents aren’t causing trouble or being loud or obvious about breaking the law (and yes, this is even what they tell us parents at orientation).</p>
<p>As for what to do in town, well my daughter loves being in Boulder and is not too big on skiing. There are a variety of shows, concerts, events going on every weekend. You can check the Boulder Weekly ([BoulderWeekly.com:</a> Boulder News, Entertainment, Music, Movies & Classifieds](<a href=“http://www.boulderweekly.com/]BoulderWeekly.com:”>http://www.boulderweekly.com/)) and go to their events section to get an idea of local entertainment. The Pearl Street area is great in all seasons and there are tons of shops, restaurants, coffee houses and sometimes events or festivals. The new shopping area in town is 29th Street which has nice new theaters. Both areas have outdoor ice rinks.</p>
<p>As for the population, well it’s such a big school that I think anyone could find their “crowd” at CU. My daughter is a shy science/dance nerd and has made some friends, though it took a whole semester! Probably her least favorite (somewhat too common) type of student is the “I’m here to PARTAY!” type who party too loud and cause frequent “required dorm/hall” meetings and are just generally annoying.</p>
<p>WEATHER
Surprisingly, it’s not really that cold! Sure it snows, but the air is really dry and unless it’s windy (which does happen), it doesn’t feel too cold. I am from the south and my least favorite thing about winter here is driving in the snow. But as long as you have a coat, hat and gloves, you never have that “my face is about to fall off” feeling like you can get in Minnesota or the northeast. Also, it is very sunny, which I love.</p>
<p>DORM LIFE/FACILITIES
I think dorms are open in the summer, but probably only for students taking summer classes. It’s probably not that tough to find housing in the summer. I know the CU run apartments are available in the summer. Laundry facilities are in dorms (not sure about all the dorms), but they do cost money. Not sure how much, but it must not be too bad because my daughter would rather pay than come home to do laundry! I’m pretty sure computer labs are available, though not sure as daughter uses her laptop. She does print stuff in the library and I think computers are also available there.</p>
<p>ACADEMICS
I don’t know anything about business. Have heard good things about engineering. I think two of CU’s environmental bio profs just won some kind of big award. </p>
<p>Well, I didn’t help too much on that last one, but hopefully answered a lot of your questions!</p>