I have been accepted to these three schools, I cannot afford to visit them because I live in California.
My question is, which school is best out of these for Environmental Science?
Please put them in order of best to worst. Also,
what is the overall feel of each of these?
If you cannot afford to visit them, can you afford to attend them? Out of state public schools tend not to give good financial aid, although some may give merit scholarships.
I thought UW Seattle released admission decisions in late March.
All 3 are good. All 3 are expensive.
If you can truly afford it, I would personally choose UW-Seattle over the other two. But I am basing this upon the overall academic reputation of UW-Seattle.
These schools (UDub), Oregon and Colorado-Boulder) are peers with regard to Environmental Science, Ecology, Geology, Forestry etc. So base your choice on comfort and cost.
All good schools and, I assume based on what others have said, solid programs in your area. If you want to be in a cool college town, consider UO or UC-Boulder; if you want to be in a city, go with UW.
You can’t beat having the Rocky Mountains in your backyard at CU-Boulder!
All will give you a solid education.
What are the costs after grants? How much loans will you have to take out for each one? What will be the net cost per year or after 4 years?
Without that info, any advice we give is moot.
Did you apply to any California publics?
I can’t comment on the Environmental Science program because I don’t know much about that specific program, but I can tell you what these campuses are like since I’ve been to all 3.
Univ. of WA is in the northern part of Seattle. It is a very urban campus with new and old buildings mixed in. Parts of the campus are very beautiful, but parts of it, especially the fraternity houses are kind of old. The town itself (U district) is a bit run down, and like most urban campuses, spread out and not always safe. The school is known for its Computer Science, Engineering and Medicine program. About 20% of its students are International so expect to see lots of kids from China. The weather here is grey a lot but we also get many sunny days, especially in the summer. It doesn’t rain as much as most people make it out to be. Seattle has a decent night life and restaurant scene. Huskies football and basketball are pretty big. Lots of fans in the area. Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Nintendo, Starbucks, Costco, Boeing are some of the big companies in the area and recruit heavily from the UW.
Univ. of OR is located in a small town named Eugene, about 2 hours from Portland which is a smaller city than Seattle but pretty nice. It is a big football school. Since it’s a small town I assume it is much more of a college town. The night life/restaurants aren’t as good as Seattle, but it is probably more of a tight knit community. It’s a good party school. For what the campus looks like, watch the movie “Animal House” which was filmed on UO campus.
Univ. of CO is located in Boulder, CO, a very nice, yuppy little town. I think it’s about 1/2 hr from Denver. The campus itself is huge. I can’t say if it’s pretty or not because I’ve only visited in the winter, when it was buried in snow. If you like skiing, this is a good school. This school has an acceptance rate of 84% compared to UW’s 50%, but it nevertheless is very popular among WA high school kids.
Of the 3, U of WA is probably the most prestigious. If you like an urban, sprawled campus, go to the UW. If you prefer the small college town feel, go to the other two, which are also bigger party schools than UW. UW has become almost a “reach” school for many in-state students.
I think UO and UCO are part of the western alliance of colleges which charge students from any other western state no more than 15% over in-state tuition, but the UW is not part of the Western Alliance so it can be quite a bit more. Their out-of-state tuition is now $33k/yr. Unless they give you scholarship, you might want to choose 1 of the other two.
All three likely offer stellar education for those students who are motivated, disciplined, and goal-oriented enough to want to get that.
I am least familiar with Oregon. When I think about University of Oregon, I think about football. I don’t know for what the university is academically famous. When I think about University of Colorado, I think about engineering, physics, and chemistry. When I think about University of Washington, I think about social sciences, psychology, and so on. You should look to see which university has the most UROP opportunities in your field. I visited Boulder a few times and know that the town has lots of industry support for summer research and lots of UROP opportunities for undergraduates.