Syracuse/Xavier/CU Boulder - Need Help Choosing - Any Advice Greatly Appreciated

College Search & Selection
1

Hello CC!

I am a male high school senior from California and have found it incredibly difficult to choose what college to attend. I am down to my last 3 and I am currently a “business undecided” major.

First off, I would like to say I am extremely grateful to have the opportunities that I have been given by multiple colleges. I am not the smartest student — 3.4 GPA & 1560 SAT — but I think my letters of rec and EC’s helped me quite a bit.

On to the colleges…

Syracuse: Probably the most elite. Whitman is a great program. I had counted myself out thinking I had no chance to be accepted. Taking a visit next week. Haven’t received my financial aid package yet. Also VERY VERY EXPENSIVE.

Xavier: $18,000 scholarship. Took a visit, loved the feeling of a tight knit community, but I wasn’t so big on the location. Not sure how prestigious the business school is either.

CU Boulder: Felt very “at home”, however, I feel like I could get lost in the large crowd of students. Freshman classes are pretty large, and my financial aid was not all too great. With that being said, the Leeds program is also well known.

My family income is middle class. But paying will definitely strenuous for Boulder or Syracuse.

Thanks for the help!

2

I live in Colorado, but I can’t offer much help. I know the girl across the street majored in finance and couldn’t secure a a college level job coming out of CU Boulder, so I would definitely talk to the career center at CU before enrolling and I’d check the job stats for CU on a job placement website. Also, CU has scheduling problems. Many students have to go a fifth year because CU can’t put them in the classes they need to graduate. I’m wondering if larger colleges have more difficulty placing their students into college level jobs.

Have you checked business undergraduate rankings for these colleges? I know overall, CU is ranked somewhere around 90th for universities.

3

Congratulations on your acceptances.

Syracuse does a better job of retaining and graduating its students than the other two. This could be a sign their students are pretty satisfied. Syracuse, the city, works well as a college town.

This sounds like a tough decision. You’ll have a clearer picture after your final visit.