Public or private college??? Non-traditional student..need advice!!

[awsun1980]

Hey, guys, thanks for all your responses & comparisons between the schools. You gave me a lot of great info & I greatly appreciate it as this has been such a hard decision for me not knowing anything about Denver or its colleges.

So here are my thoughts..................my first question to this is, isn't Regis (from what I've found online) a Catholic private university? For someone like me who's never even been to church & isn't the least bit religious, that kind of makes me leery. How does that effect the overall environment at that school? I have a feeling I wouldn't be comfortable if that is the case. And it's very expensive. But I do like the fact that it's geared towards people who want to advance careers, etc, not just go to class to get a degree or to party. Yes, I do believe the lady at Devry was just trying to push me into their school & I also agree with you, ColoradoPro that transferring of credits in those kind of tech schools is a lot different & it may be a little harder than normal.

2nd, Metro & UCD are right next to each other, are they not? On Colfax? xxman777, how would I go about talking to someone there about the school & programs, etc? Call, walk-in? I'd really like to get this going soon so I can attend somewhere in the fall.

What I really want to achieve here is to find a school that is right for me, with the right program that interests me & where I can FINISH my degree soon with my schedule--and not fall short with that 'one class' that I can only take during the day or something--that is what I'm afraid of. Small class sizes & professors that care about the student's success are also important factors. Finding all those factors in 1 school seems to be the most challenging for me!! I am starting to think I will have to try 1 of these schools for a semester to see if it's the right fit for me. With that being said, I would probably choose Metro or UCD due to the cost.

Thanks, guys, for all your help & advice---and if you have any more input, please let me know!!

[ColoradoPro]

Yes you are correct - Regis is a Private Catholic University. I can't speak for the traditional college, but I know that the SPS is not what you're thinking about it right now. The only way you would know it's a Catholic school is the 6 credit "Religious Studies" requirement, but by no means do you have to take classes about standard religion. I took "spirituality of work" and another class similar for my credits, and religion was never brought up. I for one am not a religious person nor do I go to church and I fit right in, so you would be fine. Don't let that change your opinion of the school at all. FYI - The largest class i have had was 26 students, with an average of 6-7 students per class (from personal experience)

Otherwise, you look to be on a pretty good path for yourself, so.. I hope we helped a bit.

[xxman777]

UCD and Metro share a campus (Community College of Denver is also on the campus). They use the same buildings, share a student union and athletic center but have different offices and classes. The campus is on Colfax like you thought, and its called Auraria Campus. I would start by looking around their websites Metropolitan State College of Denver or University of Colorado at Denver and Health Science Center for info about the schools. Metro has its entire catalog online and UCD has parts of its. You can also find info on admissions and that sort of thing. Once you have specific questions that weren't answered online figure out who would have the answer and their number should be online somewhere.

About Regis being Catholic, most of the people who I've known who went there were Catholic but I do know some who weren't and they didn't have any issues with the fact that is religiously affiliated. I don't believe they incorporate Catholicism into their curriculum much. They do have a high school version (although I'm not sure if they are any longer affiliated) where they do focus heavily on Catholicism.

[bouldercol]

It would be more of stretch, but have you thought about the schools in Boulder. I'm really not sure how they would stack up compared to that of Denver. Then again, the age thing might not be so great for you. I just finished school and most of the kids I went to school with were my age 23, and younger. With the medcal campus in Denver, it might be easier to find people that could relate more to your age. (I feel like I am making you out to be really old, but I'm really not). I did however meet someone that was 30. But once someone has a spouse, kids, ad mortgage, I would say there chances of enjoying the full college life would be less. There wasn't much we had in common. But that is just me. Boulder is more of a drive, but if you are intersted I could go into more specifics about the ones here. Good Luck!

[tfox]

Originally Posted by bouldercol

It would be more of stretch, but have you thought about the schools in Boulder.

In reality, the "schools" in Boulder pretty much includes just CU, which is an excellent choice for those who have in-state residency, but has probably more of a traditional 18-23 year old campus-life. The only other schools in Boulder that I can think of is the unaccredited Naropa University and the small branch of Front Range Community College in the Gunbarrel area (the Westminster branch of FRCC is actually more comprehensive). I don't think Naropa is one what the OP is looking for as it is unaccredited and its Buddhist-inspired curriculum is more designed for those not needing degrees.

[MorningGlory]

New-to-CO i was also a non-trad, graduated at 28, and I went to Metro. That is the most non-trad school I know of, average age of students was 28 while I was there, and it is very competetive because the students are mostly NOT rich kids whose parents pay for all, they are very serious because they are paying themselves!!! It is a wonderful school, has an awesome job placement program (my hubby and I both owe our careers to that, hubby got a raging high paying job when he was a sophomore in computers). Just dont overlook Metro, personally I liked the fact that I wasnt the only there over 21.

Good luck!

[infiniti007]

I would definitely consider UCD or Metro...both seem to offer online/weekend/evening classes. I've taken a few classes at UCD and can say that the professors/campus are great and the students are definitely non-trad. Even the younger students at UCD are non-trad. in the sense that they typically commute to school and usually go a few days a week while working at the same time. I believe some classes cross-reference between UCD and Metro too...meaning you might be in a class taught by one prof. with students from both schools...not typical but I've seen some classes like this.

Let us know if you have any more questions, and good luck!

[BusySocialWorker]

I did graduate classes and got my degree at DU - great school but also great student loans ouch!

[awsun1980]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Morning Glory & infiniti, can I ask you one more thing? What were the other students like at Metro or UCD? How hard would it be as a newcomer to Colorado to make new friends while going back to school? I've found that to be the most difficult thing for me since I moved here. Meeting new people is hard, especially when you don't know anyone to begin with

[MorningGlory]

There are every kind of student there, even quite a few that weren't even American, so you can't get much more diverse! I met a lot of fun people there, and I mean fun as in just fun, not party, although there were some of those too. But most students go two or three days, work the others, etc as infiniti said. I actually had a friend transfer from Metro (he was getting all C's and D's) to CU, where suddenly he was a straight A student because the classes were so much easier at CU. Students are pretty serious there, definitely not just going because mom and dad want them to. I'm not sure what your concern is so I cant be too specific, but Auraria Campus has a very diverse student population. I think it would be hard NOT to meet people!

Good luck with your search for a school! But real quick, Metro is super affordable I thought, compared to other schools.