<p>I am specifically looking at their 5 year BS/MS program in Aerospace Engineering. Is this program well respected and well-known to companies like Boeing/Lockheed Martin?</p>
<p>Also, what is the campus feel like? Has anyone here visited yet? I live in NYC, so it is quite difficult to visit Boulder before I get accepted.</p>
<p>Please include any other thoughts you have about this school: food, people, envrionment, housing, classes, etc. Thanks.</p>
<p>from what ive heard, the aerospace engineering program is pretty well respected...don't know much other than that </p>
<p>I'm from NY as well and was able to visit a few weeks ago since my cousin goes there. The campus is really nice and everywhere you go you just look up at the mountains. The environment is pretty cool (awesome football games) and has the feel of a big school but im sure that it becomes smaller when you find a niche. Most of the kids are really chill, a lot of them are skateboard types, but theres basically groups of all of kinds of kids. The town itself is a close to perfect college-town, although it is pretty hippie. And the dorms on the inside are average size, maybe a little bigger, nothing special, but certainly not bad.</p>
<p>thats my take on it</p>
<p>I know a little about the aerospace engineering program. My brother (who goes to CU) has a friend who is in it. It's a respected program, but it is very difficult. Last year only 8 or so actually graduated from it, not sure if this is true, but it's what I've hear.
Boulder is a very liberal town. I believe about 85% of the students are in state. From the couple times I've visited there is not a lot of diversity in the student body, but maybe that's just my observations. The campus is nice and modern. Some of the dorms are pretty far from campus, so they have to shuttle kids to the main academic buildings every 5 or 10 minutes. The dorm rooms are a little bigger than average, but nothing to write home about.</p>
<p>just about 30 percent are from out of state...not 15%</p>
<p>What is the selectivity like? Is it a good match for me even with my REALLY low verbal score?</p>
<p>I don't think it's that selective of a school. The aerospace program will be a little bit, but not anything close to MIT or Caltech. I know kids who have gotten into it with a 3 in AP calc and Bs in English.</p>
<p>From what I know, CU's strongest programs are in engineering (including aerospace), the sciences, and in business. That's not to say that other programs aren't good ones; those are just the ones that I hear the most positive things about.</p>
<p>CU Boulder Student Population
28,624 students
24,710 undergraduates
47% women
53% men
69% Colorado residents
31% nonresidents
14% students of color
3% international students</p>
<p>Fall 2006 Admitted Freshman
Class Averages </p>
<p>College of Architecture and Planning
HS GPA 3.6
Percentile Rank 76%
SAT - Total* 1170
ACT Composite 25 </p>
<p>College of Arts and Sciences
HS GPA 3.5
Percentile Rank 73%
SAT- Total* 1170
ACT Composite 25 </p>
<p>Leeds School of Business
HS GPA 3.7
Percentile Rank 80%
SAT - Total* 1200
ACT Composite 26 </p>
<p>College of Engineering
and Applied Science
HS GPA 3.8
Percentile Rank 85%
SAT - Total* 1270
ACT Composite 28 </p>
<p>College of Music
HS GPA 3.6
Percentile Rank 77%
SAT - Total* 1220
ACT Composite 26 </p>
<ul>
<li>Range includes critical reading and math scores only.</li>
</ul>
<p>Is that gpa weighted or unweighted?</p>
<p>
[quote]
College of Engineering
and Applied Science
HS GPA 3.8
Percentile Rank 85%
SAT - Total* 1270
ACT Composite 28
[/quote]
Me (Aerospace Engineering):
HS GPA 3.74uw/4.0w
Percentile Rank 5.3% (13/243)
SAT - Total* 1100
ACT Composite N/A</p>
<p>I am screwed aren't I?</p>
<p>retake the SAT, but you just have to prepare alot better for Critical Reading....just buy the practice book and do more and more questions, you'd definitely get over 500 if u just did this. although it might be a little late, the Nov SAT is on saturday
good luck man</p>
<p>Even if I don't retake it (which I can't anyway), what chance do I have?</p>
<p>i would say it might be somewhat of a reach. If you get into the college of arts and sciences you can always transfer into it.</p>
<p>Would you say Purdue (West Laf.) is a better match for me?</p>
<p>i dont know much about purdue</p>
<p>lil_killer129, I would say that those numbers I gave you are unweighted, but the CU website that I got them from doesn't say. I'd say that you stand a greater than 50% chance of getting in.</p>
<p>I'll try and give you a little more info on the school's feel - remember this is coming from the mom of a freshman rather than a student, but we've been fortunate enough to see our daughter quite a bit and she's one of those kids that is pretty open with what she likes and doesn't like.</p>
<p>Food - good, although somewhat repetitious. D is a freshness freak, so she eats a lot of salads and sandwiches from the Grab-N-Go, which she says are quite good. There are lots of little eateries close to campus that have weekly specials, so she takes advantage of those from time to time.</p>
<p>People - For the most part, very laid back and friendly. D rooms with a girl from Washington and they hit it off immediately. Already talking about rooming together in an apartment next year. Like any large university, you have a wide variety of kids: super serious students, party animals, sorority girls, frat rats, jocks, etc. D has met a lot of kids from all over the country and has spent a lot of late nights talking with her new friends about anything and everything. Most of the OOS kids are from California and Texas, but they come from all 50 states.</p>
<p>Environment - This is what I know the least about, but to me, it seems to be a combination of granola and Coach handbags (if this makes sense). There's a fair amount of political activism on campus from a wide variety of groups, both liberal and conservative. There are tons of student groups to get involved in, and many people do. Since sororities and frats compose only a small percentage of the student population, they do NOT control the university's social life. There seems to always be something to do. As part of your fees, you have Bus Pass that takes you to Denver and to DIA. You don't need a car to go to school here, but it's a nice thing to have. D has one because we didn't want her to feel like she couldn't get away or come home if she wanted to. A lot of the kids ski or board, and are excited about starting that soon. There are hiking trails close by as well. There are two fitness centers on campus (Main Campus and Williams Village) and they get a lot of us. A lot a students play intramural sports as well. </p>
<p>Housing - Freshmen are required to live on campus, with the usual exceptions. Housing is divided into Main Campus Housing and Williams Village Housing, which is a shuttle bus ride away. As soon as you're accepted to CU, they send you a housing preference form that requires a deposit. If you want Main Campus Housing, you need to send this in RIGHT AWAY. Because my D didn't decide until April 1st, she was assigned to Williams Village. At first, she was upset about that, especially since she was assigned to Darley North, the substance-free hall. Mind you, she's really NOT a wild child, but this was so far what she'd expected. However, she realy likes where she is now. And by "substance free", it means that the DORM is, not necessarily the inhabitant. Meaning = you can imbibe in what you want, but you can't bring it back to your room, or keep it there in the first place. And they mean it. D knows of 3 guys that are getting kicked out of the dorm at semester for having pot in their rooms.</p>
<p>The residence halls get quite a bit of $$$ from the school for activities and improvements, so they work hard to bring fun to the dorms.</p>
<p>Main Campus pros - easier trip to class and back, can go back to your dorm to hang out or study between classes.</p>
<p>Main Campus cons - while the dorms are attractive (to me) on the outside, they are NOT all that nice on the inside. No air conditioning, no sinks in the rooms, some repair needed.</p>
<p>Williams Village pros - dorms have sinks in the rooms, are air conditioned and much newer than those on Main Campus. The "WillVil" kids are a very close knit group.</p>
<p>Williams Village cons - a little more effort to get to class, can't easily run back to your dorm in-between classes. However, it DOES work for my daughter; she studies and eats lunch on main campus in between her morning and afternoon classes and feels like she comes "home" to Williams Village at the end of the day. More like apartment living in a way.</p>
<p>Classes - D has liked most of her classes, but being intro classes they are LARGE. Sociology has 500 students, Microbiology 300, and Econ 200. They have recitiations for each of those classes which are broken down into groups of about 20, which she loves. If you have taken AP courses, you can earn credit hours based upon your scores, which helps with getting rid of some of the inevitable prerequisites. Both professors and TAs are very approachable, and you are deluged with near-daily e-mails from both. </p>
<p>I hope this helps anyone interested in CU-Boulder. If you have any further questions, please let me know.</p>
<p>ull get into cu
i know this post is old, but i just found it and i just wanted to mention, im from colorado, and i dont think cu wont be hard for u too get into. im not completely positive about the college of engineering. but i have friends with no ap's, 23-25 act, few extracurriculars and they have gotten in.
just fyi :)
good luck</p>
<p>how cold does boulder get?</p>
<p>My high school junior DD is interested in CU-Boulder. Current interest is Architecutural Engineering or Civil Engineering or Environmental Engineering. She also has a keen interest in Art History. Any info on any of these programs at CU?</p>
<p>huskem, I don't know where you're from, so "cold" is a relative term. Relative to the rest of Colorado, Boulder doesn't seem to get as much snow or be as cold as where we live, which is in between Denver and Colorado Springs. D does have a down jacket that she wears this time of year, though. She hasn't had a need for snow boots yet. The "nice" thing about the cold here is that because the air is relatively dry, the cold isn't as bone-chilling as other regions/states that have higher humidity levels.</p>
<p>BG123456, here is the link to the College of Engineering & Applied Science: <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/prospective/freshman/academics/engineering.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.colorado.edu/prospective/freshman/academics/engineering.html</a></p>
<p>Here's what I could find about Art and Art History: <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/sacs/currentcatalog/cs.html?s=2-12%5B/url%5D">http://www.colorado.edu/sacs/currentcatalog/cs.html?s=2-12</a></p>
<p>Good luck and feel free to ask questions!</p>
<p>thanks coloradomom- i'm in connecticut, and considering colorado-boulder for grad school, but i fear the winters will be colder and longer- i dont mind snow, but i really cant handle any more bone-chilling winters lasting for 5 months!</p>
<p>huskem55, I've never been to Connecticut, so I can't help you on the comparison (I would like to visit, though). As a whole, we rarely go through 5 straight months of "freezing your butt off" weather. </p>
<p>Our falls are generally mild (my favorite season) and we usually get one "big" snow (over 8 inches) in either October or November. However, in the one that we had the week before Halloween, there was little to no snow in Boulder. And whatever we get, it usually melts in a few days because we have over 300 days of sunshine per year. That's something I really miss when we go elsewhere. I like our blue skies.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving and Christmas rarely have snow on the ground. And January is usually a mild weather month as well. Our "worst" weather is in February, March, and April. That's when it snows and it sticks around. But then again, that's also some of the best skiing; to look on the bright side. But you DO get some pretty serious cabin fever by Spring Break (which is usually the last full week in March around here). </p>
<p>Right now, there is an extreme cold spell that started yesterday and should end today. It was 15 degrees when I got up at 6:30 a.m. to make coffee! This is rare, though. And we DID have the Winter of 1997, where we got a huge snow and ice storm in late October and it did not melt off AT ALL until early May. That is unusual, but I thought I should point it out.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. Good luck with your graduate school decision. My D loves Boulder and our 16-year old S will probably end up attending there as well. We've lived in Colorado for 21 years and one of the things that we like about being here is the weather. I just can't deal with humidity anymore.</p>