@Hankster1361 completely different vibes in my opinion. CU is classic flagship, big school, gorgeous traditional campus in walking distance to a very hip, trendy town. CSU is a very sprawling spread out campus, a few traditional buildings but a lot of flat more modern ones, surrounded by mountains but a completely different feel. Also a great town but less caught up in trendy, more down to earth. Not that Boulder isn’t…it’s just different. The feelings of the campus are night and day. Both very strong for engineering, you can’t go wrong there, I do know that Mechanical is impacted at CSU. CSU is less expensive and will offer money for OOS, CU will not.
@rolani88, I think the holistic review bit just means that they have some gpa/score threshold over which they auto-admit. So probably you will just have to wait longer for them to do a more in-depth review. I’d see it more as “no decision yet” than “deferred” (and I don’t think “wait-listed” really applies during EA). Good luck with your SAT scores!
@Hankster1361, CU is very well-known for their aerospace program and when we visited (an engineering specific preview), that focus really showed on the tour. I’d suggest a visit if possible. CSU is big into mechanical and biomedical.
I’m sure I’m not the best to describe differences in campus “vibe” since living in Boulder probably colors my perceptions (plus having a kid at CU but not CSU). Both D and I thought CSU had a friendlier and warmer feel. We got lost trying to find our car there and three different students asked us if we needed help finding something.
At CU I feel like people are just doing their own thing with their own people and not paying much attention to anyone else. Oldest D had a really tough time making friends freshman year, but once she switched to a dance major she found pretty much all the dance students to be very friendly and supportive of each other (profs too). I hope my 2 cents is worth 2 cents!
@rolani88 I would not interpret that as waitlisted or deferred either. Holistic review is part of U of O’s standard review process for all applications. How long that review takes will vary but all apps go through it. You should still hear by 12/15 for an EA application and I do not think seeing that on the portal is any indicator or possible success or not.
Congrats on the waiver for Hofstra! Saving $70 is a wonderful thing!!!
Those of you with EA UVM applicants…anyone hear anything? First group should be released today, not sure what time. Not expecting to hear, just wondered if anyone else has.
Nothing here yet on UVM however on the portal it says 5 PM Eastern time.
oops wrong thread
Also trying not to be anxious about UVM over here. @eandesmom, where do you see the 5:00 PM information on the portal–when I click the “when will I find out my decision” button, I just get the info that EA will be released on November 10 and December 14.
@klinska if you click on the “what does my decision mean” button, it states the 5pm ET timeline there. We will see huh!
OK–thanks (you’d think they’d put that in the “when will I find out my decision” link). Everything crossed for all UVM hopefuls!
OOS for CU Boulder has a small chance for merit - this is what they have on the website for automatic consideration.
Out-of-State Students
Chancellor’s Achievement Scholarship
The Chancellor’s Achievement Scholarship is available to out-of-state students who are in the top 25% of the admitted nonresident class at CU Boulder.
Presidential Scholarship
The Presidential scholarship is available to out-of-state students who are in the top 1-3% of the admitted nonresident class at CU Boulder. Your admissions application must be submitted by January 15 to be considered for this scholarship.
Arts & Humanities Merit Scholarship
The Arts & Humanities Merit Scholarship is awarded to incoming resident and nonresident freshmen who applied and were admitted with a declared A&H major (from the list of eligible majors).
DS may have a decent shot at the Chancellor’s, but there are no $$ amounts so it may be a very small award.
They also have the separate scholarship application with essay, but we can’t access it until he submits the CA.
DS is finishing the supplemental essays and hopefully he will submit the CA tonight. We’ll probably visit in February or early March if he is admitted. He’s excited about Boulder - he likes the lifestyle of being near mountains with lots of access to trails for running, but without merit it could be double the cost of our state flagship. @eandesmom and @snoozn, do you get the feeling that that the type of student UC attracts is more cooperative than competitive?
@rolani88 I also wouldn’t consider that a deferral. My son also has an EA application into that school. I haven’t seen he Portal, since I can’t get him to show it to me but I bet it says the same thing. But my understanding is “all students are holistically reviewed” and that anyone who sends and application in EA will get an answer by Dec 16th. I don’t believe either UofO nor OSU do any deferrals. They really are somewhat a rolling admission school.
@jmek15 I wouldn’t say I have enough direct knowledge to say which is more collaborative than competitive. My impression from touring both, and from knowing kids at both is that CSU “sells” itself as being more collaborative and CU would like to portray themselves as perhaps more competitive than perhaps they really are. That said, I don’t necessarily think CU is like that, at least the kids I know there are not.
CSU has tons of trails and is also near mountains. Not quite the same ease for skiing but not bad either. A lot less $$. I would apply to both and visit both as it’s easy enough to do if you are seeing one already.
I really hope D can finish apps for CU-Boulder, Gonzaga and Mines (probably not a fit, but nearby, free app, and no essay) tomorrow when she’s off school. I think she’s suffering from essay-avoidance fever.
@eandesmom, I’m not expecting to hear today since D’s transcript was only added a few days ago despite the fact that they downloaded it Oct 29. Good luck to anyone who does get a decision today and keep us updated.
@jmek15, I would agree with @eandesmom on the general perception of CSU and CU collaboration vs competition. D and I went to a women in engineering day at CU and from the student panel it sounded more collaborative to me. A number of the girls had actually transferred from Mines and found the atmosphere at CU to be far more welcoming. My oldest D and her fiancee go to CU, but not in engineering. I can tell you the dance department is incredibly warm and supportive(students and profs). From what D’s fiancee says the physics department is pretty collaborative. I should note that he’s in the College of Arts and Sciences physics dept, not engineering physics.
Running trails – he’s totally set either way. Boulder is very much a running town. If he attends CU tell him he absolutely must do the Bolder Boulder race on Memorial Day. They have a serious professional race, but the “citizen’s race” is incredibly fun and I don’t think there’s anything else like it (at least not that I’ve heard of). Along the route there are live bands, dancers (including oldest D!), gymnasts, slip-n-slides, residents offering cooling sprays from hoses, and lots of cowbell. There are waves for different speeds, so he wouldn’t have to be behind slow people like me! The Memorial Day ceremony at CU’s stadium (where the race finishes) is really well done too.
Eldora is the closest ski area to Boulder at about 20 miles away. I’m not sure how far skiing is from Fort Collins.
Thank for the input on CU vs. CSU! I think S17 would like the feel of the CU campus–and aerospace there (I think he’s leaning towards mechanical but taking aero classes, so that he’ll have more flexibility, but he’s not sure. His ultimate dream would be to work in a space program). But I think he’d do much better at a school that is friendly/collaborative. Never easy! He did consider the Air Force Academy, and started the process, but wants a more traditional college experience. He is still considering ROTC in college though.
Based on what I’ve read, Eldora is also the closest skiing to CSU–90 minutes away.
@Hankster1361 FWIW my H is an Aerospace Engineer. Considered Annapolis but was found to have a red/green color deficiency which killed that dream. He did his undergrad at San Jose State and Grad at Cal State Long Beach, both in Aero (started at San Diego but it was too much of a party school so he transferred to San Jose lol). That said, to an extent, both SJSU and CSLB have more of a suitcase feel to them than CU will, it just depends on whether double the price is worth it. Both, though out of state, would be less than CU I am pretty sure, more in the 40K total COA range.
He started out on the space side of things. I believe Embry Riddle offers ROTC.
Thanks @eandesmom. S17 isn’t interested in So. Cal (although USC is on his list and he can’t really explain why!). And he considered but ruled out Embry Riddle. Most of the schools he’s applying to have ROTC though, so not too much of a problem. What does your H do in the AE world?
Feels silly to brag about a C in math (first quarter grades cane out), but where it was very nearly failing and with a lot of work and help from an exceptional tutor, she pulled it up and I am very proud.
Hey UVM people! Have your DC check their email! My D just got an email about 15 minutes ago that she was accepted! I figured after not hearing yesterday we were in for the long wait til December, but I guess they didn’t get all of the decisions made out yesterday. Hooray!!
Congrats @klinska!!! nope, no word here. No email, no change on the portal. WAH. West Coast delay? Boo.