<p>Despite admission to several schools with much higher rank my child is still strongly considering the Univ of Denver.
Anyone with knowledge about the school? With 44% of the students coming from Colorado and freshman allowed to bring a car does it empty out on the weekends? How would a non-skier fit in?<br>
Also since she is way above the average student in stats I am concerned about how she will fit in with the rest of the student body. She was offered a place in the honors program but was not considering the school at the time so the deadlines has past.
Any info would be great.</p>
<p>Mom60,</p>
<p>I'm waiting to hear back from my best friend who graduated from the University of Denver, but I'll let you know what I know. I attended the University of Denver several years ago for a high school summer program, and I know quite a few people who have gone to the school.</p>
<p>I'd like to address the non-skier question first. There are actually a LOT of Colorado natives (myself being one of them) who are non-skiers so your daughter shouldn't have any problems there--it isn't a very "big" thing at DU so she shouldn't feel left out in that respect.</p>
<p>There are quite a few commuters at DU, but those are usually the older students. If I'm not mistaken DU has the same policy of most universities that freshmen stay in the dorms, so your daughter will actually be surrounded with fellow classmen on the weekends. There is plenty to do close to the campus, so I don't think that the lower classmen (and actually many of the upperclassmen) tend to go far from campus. Transportation isn't too bad so even if she doesn't have a car she'll be able to get to many of the local sights and events.</p>
<p>Now I do have to say that the student body (to me) seems to be a lot of preppy/wealthy students. With that said though, there is definitely a number of the "quirky" super smart students and they tend to find each other very quickly (especially living on campus). If at all possible I would highly recommend an overnight stay because there isn't a lot of diversity at DU, but she might find that the people there are who she is looking for.</p>
<p>My friend is one of those "super smart" students and even though she complained about some of the students there she was also able to find some that challenged her that she enjoyed hanging out with. She was one of the commuters, so I think that she may have even had an easier time if she spent more time on campus.</p>
<p>I'm sorry that I can't be more specific. I hope that this will at least help get the ball rolling.</p>
<p>Demingy- Thanks, I would love to hear more if your friend gets back to you. What did your friend study?
Freshman and Soph are required to live on campus unless you are local. But they are able to have cars.</p>
<p>I want to hear, too. It's very early yet, but it might be a prime choice for D2 (a Div. I gymnast and concert pianist.)</p>
<p>A friend's son applied. He reported that a lot of donor money is coming to the unversity to beef up some programs - including but not at all limited to the Jewish Studies department. So it seems that any assessment of this school that's more than a couple of years old may already be out of date; it is attracting more applicants</p>
<p>When husband and D visited they found lots of new growth and it appears that the school has had some huge donor support. In D's area of interest they are almost done with a brand new building with great facilities. And the head of the dept had been recruited from the top school in the country in this area of study. In spite of the growth H did not find the campus that attractive or the surrounding area.
They also found all the faculty and adminstration they spoke with to be of a high caliber. Also from the info we have and their website it appears they have some great study abroad options.
So the biggest question mark is still how stimulating is the student body?</p>
<p>Mom60 - My D attended a summer program there and I'm well-acquainted with quite a few alums and a current student. My D said that some of the students she befriended, many of whom went on to enroll, were amazing. She told me of one student who has been interning at Caltech during her HS years and will most likely choose DU over CT. The school had, in the past, been known as a "rich kids' school" for students who couldn't get in elsewhere. That's all changed. DU's been agressively pursuing a diversified student body and beefing up academics. The programs I hear about the most are business and music. But friends (my age) who are alums say that the school is much more rigorous now than it was then. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I was in graduate school at DU a long time ago (for the record, I am NOT Condi Rice) and I can tell you that at that time it's reputation for academics was strong. It did have a bit of a privileged flavor but I don't think it was an intense as what you would find at eastern schools. Denver is a beautiful city, IMO - I think the advice to do an overnight is excellent. In general, it probably won't be as competitive in the sense of high pressure. I feel you can get an excellent education there. (In case you didn't understand the C. Rice reference, she went to graduate school - maybe even undergrad there, I don't remember. Regardless of what you think of her politics, she's well educated).</p>