I hope it’s not bad form to copy n paste our latest visit from another thread, so you may have already seen this!
School visit: Colorado State University
This visit went great! D had Monday off and CSU happened to be having a special program about competitive majors (which includes her choice of engineering), undergraduate research (big interest for her) and honors program (would be great but who knows…) Our tour guide was amazing – best one out of the 8 schools we’ve visited and most were pretty good. The campus is not as pretty as CU-Boulder, but still very nice and of course a beautiful mountain backdrop. It’s pretty compact at one square mile delineated by streets on each side. Most of the buildings on campus are new and modern. The surrounding area looks college-towny and downtown is pretty close as well. The guide said relations between the school and Fort Collins are excellent and very supportive on both sides. The dorm room we saw was the nicest one we’ve seen yet. Quite big for a double and a private bathroom. Regular doubles (with communal bathrooms) and suites are available too. There is themed housing and D likes the idea of living in an engineering dorm. The rec center is great and includes a large climbing wall and students can get training. Outdoor equipment for camping and other activities is available to rent for a modest fee and lots of students take advantage of the beautiful surrounding environs. And very importantly - D and I agreed the dining hall food was the best we’d eaten yet.
The dean of engineering seemed like a pretty cool guy. He told a story about being a first gen student who’d never thought of engineering until his hs counselor suggested it. His father was thrilled. However his grades were not good enough for engineering so he went in undeclared. But his father was so proud he couldn’t tell him the truth! Luckily he did well enough to get into engineering the second year and his father never found out. There is lots of research being done and most profs have undergrads on their teams. It sounds like it’s pretty easy to get involved. Word of advice: kids going into mechanical or biomedical engineering must apply early action because there is a cap and there are never any openings for regular decision. Also, all engineering applicants must include a second choice major (can be another engineering major or not). There are two engineering buildings, though I can’t remember how they are divided up.
The honors program sounds amazing. Minimum stats are online, but do not guarantee honors admission. I think the guy said about 1/3 of those eligible are invited, but I’m not sure. Honors classes have 15-20 students. Some are more in depth versions of regular classes and some are specific to honors. (I wanted to take the one called Mythbusting: Science, Pseudo-science and Just Plain Nonsense!) All honors classes satisfy gen ed reqs. Honors students get priority class registration ahead of seniors – wow, is this normal?! Honors students have specific research programs. There is also an honors dorm which apparently is quite nice though we didn’t see it. Oh, also a $1000/year scholarship as if all those other perks weren’t enough.
D liked everything about it except the size, which is pretty big at 32,000. It did seem quite crowded at class changing time. She really wants to go to a small school. But it’s a definite pick over CU-Boulder. I think if she got into the honors program (keeping fingers crossed on those darn ACT/SAT’s!) it would be a better fit than she thinks. She will definitely apply here as it is our most affordable option (in-state for us).
If anyone has any questions ask away.