DU is in the city. There is a light rail stop on campus and students can easily get downtown and to the airport.
DU has a proven international relations and political science program with lots of speakers and events. It is located in the state capital so there are internship opportunities. Both senators have offices in Denver. The school of business is great, and still gets a lot of money from the Sturm family. The university is much more international than Elon.
Elon is at the end of a long, rural road. Once there, there is a tiny downtown. The college is the reason to be there. It would be difficult to do anything outside the college, like be involved in local politics or intern for a company in the area without a car. I think there is more interaction with other colleges in the area (and there are a ton of them) for parties and sports than at DU. DU has a rivalry with Colorado college for hockey and with CU for women’s lacrosse, but there isn’t much cross over with the other schools.
DU is located in a pricey area of Denver with beautiful homes, some nice restaurants, big grocery stores, malls not too far away, but it is in a city and city living has city problems. Homelessness, crime, PARKING! (huge parking issues near DU). Many people in the area use DU’s facilities (and they are great) for athletics and attend events at the music halls. There is a lot of activity on campus that is not about the college but about the city. My kids have been to many camps and birthday parties on campus (their grade school is only a mile away). The school hosts Destination Imagination tournaments, the Junior League holiday shopping mart, high school graduations on campus. It’s a busy place.
I think both schools are preppy and kids have a higher SES than the average college kid. The greek system at both schools reflect the SES of its students.
I’d pick DU because I found Elon to be too isolated, too perfect. I had a co-worker who went to Elon and was incredibly close to her sorority sisters (she’d been in 6 or 8 weddings) and teammates (swimming) and did build those lifelong friends everyone hopes for.