Boulder is a weird town. “24 sq miles surrounded by reality” is a fair description. It’s liberal but also the most capitalist city I’ve ever lived in. An example of the contradiction is a friend recently road tripped to Wisconsin and saw Trump signs. She says she and her daughter were shaken and scared to get gas until they made it to Madison. Same person is unhappy with the homeless camps and wants the city to throw all their stuff in a dumpster and arrest them. 24 sq miles surrounded by reality…
There is definitely a lot of pot smoke near CU and downtown. I live about 1.5 miles from campus and it’s very rare to smell it here. It’s expensive to live here, so I think the residents need their brain cells.
Boulder has a really strong STEM background because the Federal Labs moved here during the cold war, and then IBM had one of their largest facilities here in the 60’s (?), plus Ball Aerospace has been here forever. Now half my neighbors work for google, apple, twitter, oracle, etc.
I didn’t go to CU, so I don’t know as much about the school. The Engineering School is strong and rigorous, so those students generally don’t mix with the rest of the school. There are definitely some students that aren’t into the education. I think CU could really benefit from having a true Honors College where the academic students from all the different majors could group together.
CU is very expensive, so a lot of local HS students go oos. If you like the outdoorsy feel of CU check these schools out:
Montana State: Bozeman is very cool. Skiing is close. Engineering and research are strong. It gets cold there though. Boulder is actually pretty warm when the sun is out, and the sun is out almost everyday.
Fort Lewis: Small public college in Durango. Excellent access to the best of Colorado, and Durango is sweet.
U of Utah: Better access to skiing and the mountains and very affordable.
For those of you sending your first born to college and who is concerned about pot- s19 was very concerned about this as a senior in high school. He didn’t have one drink when in high school. Turned his nose up at kids who drank or smoked. Kids in college drink and smoke. That’s the deal. Your son or daughter will be around kids who drink and smoke. Yes, they can live in the drug free dorm and that might be the right spot for them especially if they are at a big party school. But I certainly would not take a school like Amherst off a list because of pot smoking!
After one year of college under his belt, S19 typically drinks on Saturday nights (not Fridays because they have practice on Saturday mornings). This is a kid who said he had zero interest. He doesn’t smoke but some of his (non-runner) friends do. He’s learned not to be judgemental as long as it doesn’t affect him in his room. Believe me, I was the parent on CC saying that our S19 didn’t want to be near kids who drank or smoked.
If you’re going to take schools off of a list because of pot, you’re not going to have many schools left.
@AlwaysMoving Outdoor recreation lovers looking for a safety might check out Western in Gunnison as well as Fort Lewis. Paradise for skiers and more down to earth (and isolated) than Boulder. Winters are cold! I agree with you about Bozeman, although my impressions are dated at this point.
My favorite Western states hidden gem is Western Washington. Great town, stunning natural beauty, midway between Seattle and Vancouver. A bargain instate or with WUE discount and there are other OOS merit scholarships that would bring it in line with many in state public options (full OOS tuition is about 24K).
@homerdog S is ok with people smoking outside and he doesn’t judge, but he wouldn’t want to be stuck with a roommate that smokes pot in the room.
I am totally fine he dropped Amherst from his list since it was at the top of our price range or probably over, he could have told me he was dropping it because he hated the school colors and I would have said that’s good.
@homerdog I’m not judging anyone who smokes pot by any stretch and I know my kids will party just like any other kid. However, the prevelance of pot at CU is significant, much more than other schools. It is beyond recreational weekend use. I live in Colorado and see it firsthand. Kids are drawn to the school for that lifestyle.
Our experience has been that some schools have a lot more daily pot smoking going on in dorm rooms than others. D21 isn’t judging the morality, she just doesn’t want the smoke/smell where she’s living/sleeping, at least not constantly.
@anaray NMSC has removed the link that published the cutoffs for the class of 2021. Mean while you can goto compass prep website and look for official cutoffs Art has updated the scores for all the 50 states. Hope this helps!
But you know he could get a roommate at any school who smokes pot in the room, right? If this is really a deal breaker then he should be in a drug free dorm.
Yes, the Compass Prep numbers were taken straight from the National Merit website before they pulled the site down. Art Sawyer (who runs Compass Prep) is THE go-to guy for NMSF numbers, so you can trust him. So, unless the original National Merit SI’s were wrong (which seems REALLY unlikely!), your kid is ‘in’ if Art says s/he is.
I saw the numbers on the National Merit website myself two nights ago while it was up briefly, and at least for my state, Art’s SI agrees with what National Merit had published. (Having said that, of course I won’t completely exhale until we get the official notification from D21’s school counselor.)
ugh. I wasn’t even thinking about smoking pot IN the dorms. I hate the way smoke (from cigarettes, pot, whatever) permeates everything. Adding high quality air purifier to the dorm list…
Well, S21 had his first day of senior year yesterday. In-person. He came home energized despite all of the new Covid rules that are in place at his small, Catholic high school. Just having a bit of normalcy, a taste of an actual senior year, was good for his morale. My writer kid buzzed away at me about how excited he is about his first assignment for Journalism and we both got all nerdy as he rattled off the books he’ll read for English.
His cross country season is a go. Although it is also heavily altered due to Covid. No spectators or invitationals. And meets will be dual, one school against only one other school. But it’s something.
We’ll see how long this all lasts. S21 assumes it won’t last. But he told his dad and me that he “just wanted a taste of senior year” before they all end up back at home again.
Really thinking about all of our 21ers today. So full of resilience.
D sent an email to the program director at her school last night (she’s at a magnet school) after talking with friends about appropriately gathering for Senior Sunrise on the first day of school (9.8). Her friend group all appointed her to be the one to ask if the stadium (typical gathering place) would be open and if they would be allowed to gather, wearing masks and socially distanced. The director immediately wrote back and said that this was best asked of the principal, and she should email him. D wrote him at 10pm last night. 10 minutes later she had a very kind reply saying how much he missed all the students and that he thought something can be worked. He wants to talk to her, and asked for her phone number! She’s nervously excited this morning, anticipating his call. It’s a small senior class of about 350 students (50 in her program). I’m proud of her for taking this on and hope the administration and kids can find ways to create lots of new versions of some traditional senior year experiences. We are 100% virtual with no end date in sight.
@AlwaysMoving thanks for that local insight on Boulder. It really sounds a lot like my city, though maybe a bit more conservative. We are not pot people and S is clean (so far). My husband wanted to let my son have the random roommate experience we had in the dorms but I think I might have to arm wrestle him because Boulder does have a dedicated Engineering dorm. S will need air conditioning to be happy.
Regarding Montana, we are looking for one more “safer” school in the West, somewhere cool (or even cold). Thinking about Boise State but it has a lot of commuter students. I’m a bit nervous about the conservative slant up in Montana but I think S would enjoy its beauty and being in a less crowded area. If anyone can provide insight on the differences between the U Montana, Montana State, and Montana Tech that would be great. City comparison, strength for computer science and bio are things we would be interested in. I so appreciate all of the help and perspectives on CC - it’s amazing!
S got a fly in offer from Carleton but Dad is not excited about that school for S.
I’m also proud of our 21’s for weathering this storm and finding the positives!
Yesterday was D21’s last day of work at summer camp. Today, she is going through the questions she missed on her last practice SAT. I just heard back from her testing center that the test is still on for Saturday. (She doesn’t have a score yet, and the virus positives in our area are less than 1%, so she decided she wants to go for it.)
Best wishes to all the kids who are registered to take the test on Saturday! May all their centers be open, and may all the rooms have proper distancing and air conditioning. Hoping luck will be with them and their masks won’t distract them.
Also, I totally understand those who have decided to go test optional (which could easily include D21 in the end). My hope is that schools are sincere about TO, and will look at the whole person.
My kid is on the (careening, unreliable) ACT train, but curious which of our '21 kids will be taking the SAT this Saturday! Fingers crossed they are still happening!!
I’ll add that my daughter filled out a few housing apps during this process and ALL of them included extensive questions about whether they smoked, ever, occasionally, etc. I think that many people are sensitive to smoking - of whatever variety - so colleges try and match up people who will live together compatibly.
Art has updated the scores for all the 50 states. Hope this helps!