Coolbrezze

I'm a junior in high school, and decided that I need more decent backup schools (due to third marking period grades). Though with me increasing my interest in these universities, I'm most likely will not see them as a last university of choice... more so a university I acutally like now. I know both universities are well respected, but it's clear it's not difficult to get accepted into as it would be for a university ranked not near 100. I plan to major in pre-medicine. Both universities are out of state for me. I think both climates would be interesting to experience. So which would you prefer in my situation, or which do you prefer in general? Reason? List information about the universities also.

barrons

Boulder. ASU got too big too fast and now is having huge financial problems. CU has adjusted to lower state funding and moved on.

Coolbrezze

I should also mention that I like large universities. Universities with a student population under 40,000 is okay I guess. A university with a student population under 30,000 I won't even put effort towards looking into, I mean that seems/ is a really small student body.

UCBChemEGrad

Boulder if you prefer snow sports.
ASU if you prefer to golf.

Emily2007

I love LOVE boulder, I grew up in colorado and whenever I visit friends, I can't believe how beautiful it is. Cold in the winter, warm in the summer, sunny year round. Solid academics and a lot going on around campus. Everyone there seems to really love it.

The student population kind of varies. There's a decent out of state population, mostly from California, a little Texas, some New Englanders, but obviously most people are from Colorado. There's a lot of wealth, especially with the out-of-staters, and it's not cheap to live there, so some people suggest it's only a good place if your parents have $$. But, I have a lot of friends there who are very normal middle-class kids, that don't drive an Xterra/BMW/Saab and don't spend all their parents' money on blow. (Am I allowed to say that on CC?)

Also: very liberal. Also: People from colorado think it's the greatest place on earth and will constantly tell you how much better it is than your state, so just be ready.

barrons

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/us...LEeCWpY6pLzRWw

TWLK

Boulder. Trust me.

Coolbrezze

Should I also include University of Arizona? Seems like Arizona State University is not competitive with Boulder. Plus I heard Arizona State University do not have dinning halls, and have a large amount of classes students must take online. I think I should remove Arizona State University as a decent backup and replace with University of Arizona, and University of Colorado- Boulder ( advantages of nature etc... disadvantage being landlock).

barrons

Sounds good. UA is more stable and was always the better school.

Coolbrezze

I'm only a junior, I'll keep all three in interest.

coollege

I'm looking at both ASU and UA, and even though my aunt is a UA fan and is trying to get me to to UA, I'm leaning more towards ASU. I'd probably be in Barrett, so I've heard that is better than UA Honors, but I'm not sure with the budget cuts. I've been to both campuses, liked both of them, but ASU seems like a more fun place to go to school.

bartnawer

UA and Colorado are both better that ASU, but if you can get into the honors college at ASU that wouldnt be bad at all

belevitt

Really??? As a current employee of CU, I can say that the university has not adjusted to lower state funding (admittedly I am on the Health Science campus and not the Boulder campus). There are construction projects left half finished, lack of funds to support faculty (between grants), and hiring freezes. I don't think any of that should play into your decision though.

The OP mentioned that he might like to be a premed student. Have you considered what impact having the medical school, pharmacy/nursing/public health school, major healthcare chains and biomedical graduate school in a different city might have on your undergrad career? The health science campus is in Aurora, which means so are the things that might be most important to you like research labs, highly qualified grad students, clinical exposure etc are an hour or so away. The labs and clinical places around the Boulder campus suffer severe competition and it is standard practice for PIs to only take undergrads who have their own grants/funding.

barrons

I know that at Boulder they have decided to finance their own buildings with student fees and donations. They also went to a high OOS tuition and enrollment that helps pay the bills. With much lower student numbers in health sciences and MUCH higher costs that model won't work.

"The Wolf Law Building
By the late 1990s, the Law School had outgrown its current building. In 1997 law students voted to tax themselves with a $1000 per year tuition differential to help finance the building, but in 2001 the State of Colorado General Assembly rescinded its earmarked funds from the project. Facing the risk of accreditation loss, law students worked with campus leaders and successfully passed a $400 per year fee on all Boulder students to fund capital construction on Wolf Law and three other campus projects. The Wolf Law Building was dedicated on September 8, 2006, by United States Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer
Stephen Breyer

Stephen Gerald Breyer is an Law of the United States, Politics of the United States, and United States federal courts....
. The dedication ceremony represented the end of a long and creative funding process for a public law school.

In addition to student funds, over $13 million in private gifts were donated to support the construction of the new law building. The Wolf family, in honor of Leon and Dora Wolf, were especially generous in their contribution to the new building that now bears the Wolf family name"

Several other buildings are planned with the same unique funding process:

UCSU Update - Student Fees | Inside CU | University of Colorado at Boulder

superkelser

my friends sister went to ASU and loved it. if you like hot but not humid weather, its great. good party school too and great school spirit