<p>My junior D is looking for one more safety to add to her list. We live in Texas and she has wanted to learn to ski for a while, and both places sound great. Her other safeties are the University of Texas at Austin (automatic admission, top 10%) and University of Alabama (it's fairly likely that she'll be a NMF). So, which would you recommend? Or, do you think there would be a better choice?</p>
<p>General Info
Class Rank: 18/280
SAT: 2180 (retaking in May)
SAT II: Math II and Chemistry (taking in June)
AP Classes: US History, Statistics, Calculus BC, World History, Spanish 4, Chemistry, Government, Economics, Literature, Physics C
Major: Undecided, probably engineering of some sort or possibly economics. Something heavy in math.</p>
<p>What would be the reason for choosing CU or CSU over UT Austin or Alabama? UT Austin is generally considered an excellent school overall and for engineering, math, and economics, and you get in-state tuition. Alabama has the big scholarships that she will get to make it very inexpensive.</p>
<p>For ski lessons, perhaps take a short ski vacation trip instead of choosing a school based on that.</p>
<p>Honestly, she doesn’t really like either of the other schools. We’ve lived in Texas for several years now and she wants to go out of state. Alabama isn’t really a good fit, they have generous scholarships but D isn’t very interested in sports or parties. The problem is that I did take her on a ski trip a couple years ago, and she fell in love with it. We haven’t gone since because of some other large EC involvements, but she could see it becoming a big part of her college life.</p>
<p>Basically, UA and UTA are last resorts. CU and CSU seem to be good fits, the only question is, which one?</p>
<p>If not sure (but both are affordable), why not apply to both and decide later?</p>
<p>Other schools good for engineering with lower out of state list prices include Minnesota, Cal Poly SLO, Virginia Tech, and Iowa State. Minnesota is probably the strongest in math and economics if she decides to go that direction instead of engineering. UAB is another huge scholarship school in Alabama that is somewhat less sports-centric.</p>
Tuition and room/board at Colorado State totals $32,362. Colorado State guarantees $9000 to National Merit Finalists, knocking the price down to a still expensive but much more reasonable $23K per year. An additional $1000 per year is available to those admitted to the honors program, which the OP’s daughter likely would be. In short, CSU should be right around the COA of in-state UT Austin.</p>
<p>Boulder is likely to be more expensive. Tuition and room/board runs around $41,000. Even with the largest merit scholarship ($15K) and an engineering scholarship (~$4K), it is unlikely to be cheaper than CSU.</p>
<p>Another option may be Colorado School of Mines, which has a good reputation in engineering and a nice location. Last I heard, strong OOS applicants receive $9-12K in merit scholarships, making it $24-26K a year.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that CU Boulder is the school with the bigger name. It’s harder to get into than CSU therefore overall might attract more academically ambitious students. However, CSU has some terrific engineering programs, so in that field the two may not differ dramatically.</p>
<p>If skiing is a consideration, Boulder wins. There is a (small) ski area very close to town, and the big resorts are also closer to get to than from CSU. </p>
<p>My one concern is your comment that your daughter isn’t into sports or parties. These schools are known for both.</p>