University of Colorado vs Colorado State University (Denver, Boulder: dorms, transfer)

[jazzlover]

The "urban legend" is that research universities are better schools for kids in the general student population to attend. That's usually crap. Typically, the average student never gets a whiff of one of those vaulted research professors--if those individuals teach at all. Also typically, most freshman and sophomore classes are taught predominantly by graduate assistants no matter what prof's name is on the door. It's usually not until one gets into a graduate program that a research school offers much more than any other college to its students. And, guess what?--any decent student from another college can get into those graduate schools. I graduated from a small liberal arts college with a BA--and I had no less than a half-dozen big well-respected universities falling all over me offering me graduate assistantships.

As far as CU's academic reputation, it's pretty much so-so compared to most major US universities. If you want a Colorado college with a high academic reputation nationally, you're looking at Denver University or the Colorado School of Mines. A guy I know who is a Mines grad pretty much summed Mines grads view of CU, "We called it Boulder College."

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

That's my best guess. I don't think it has much to do with Boulder, per se, because a lot of students at CU aren't even from Boulder. It does reinforce the snooty reputation of the area, but I don't think it explains it. If that makes sense.

It actually kind of does explain it. People move somewhere so they can act like the town's stereotype.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by Katiana

You are going there for an education. The town is irrelvant, in that respect. Even though Boulder v Ft. Collins is a personal preference, I'd take Boulder.

This isn't exactly true--your primary focus may be the education but you still can't remove yourself from the surroundings.

[iknowftbll]

Originally Posted by Radical347

It actually kind of does explain it. People move somewhere so they can act like the town's stereotype.

And you can prove this how?

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

And you can prove this how?

Tsk, tsk. I didn't realize that everything one says had to be turned into a proof. But since you asked, prove this:

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

Colorado is a fairly "down to earth" state

& I'l prove mine.

[xeric]

I'm tempted to weigh in on this but I think that these college rivalries are somewhat silly (and I don't want to get sucked into another Boulder vs. FC discussion). What you get out of the university experience is directly proportional to what you put in. You can squander your education on 4 years of non-stop partying and doing just enough to get by academically at any college. The two universities are somewhat different in that CSU (as a land grant university) focuses more on practical education while CU is a more research-oriented school. I prefer the latter approach but a case can be made for the CSU model as well. One thing that I do think is unfortunate is that almost all of the universities in the state are clustered along the Front Range.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

The "urban legend" is that research universities are better schools for kids in the general student population to attend. That's usually crap. Typically, the average student never gets a whiff of one of those vaulted research professors--if those individuals teach at all. Also typically, most freshman and sophomore classes are taught predominantly by graduate assistants no matter what prof's name is on the door. It's usually not until one gets into a graduate program that a research school offers much more than any other college to its students. And, guess what?--any decent student from another college can get into those graduate schools. I graduated from a small liberal arts college with a BA--and I had no less than a half-dozen big well-respected universities falling all over me offering me graduate assistantships.

As far as CU's academic reputation, it's pretty much so-so compared to most major US universities. If you want a Colorado college with a high academic reputation nationally, you're looking at Denver University or the Colorado School of Mines. A guy I know who is a Mines grad pretty much summed Mines grads view of CU, "We called it Boulder College."

You think?

Here's the latest US News Rankings. Now, while some, including me, may dispute these a bit, the rankings are remarkably stable from year to year, thus evidently pretty accurate.

Colorado School of Mines:
#72, National Universities
CU, Boulder
#86, National
DU
#86, National (tied with CU)
CSU
#124, National

[iknowftbll]

Originally Posted by Radical347

Tsk, tsk. I didn't realize that everything one says had to be turned into a proof. But since you asked, prove this:



& I'l prove mine.

Well if you're going to disagree with someone it's generally considered good form to explain why you disagree.

So with that in mind, if you would've read further you would have read where I acknowledge that "down to earth" is a subjective quality based on the perspective of the individual. I based it on my own experience, which is obviously going to be different than the next guy's.

You're up!

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

Well if you're going to disagree with someone it's generally considered good form to explain why you disagree.

So with that in mind, if you would've read further you would have read where I acknowledge that "down to earth" is a subjective quality based on the perspective of the individual. I based it on my own experience, which is obviously going to be different than the next guy's.

You're up!

My explanation for disagreeing was directly stated. ("People move somewhere so they can act like the town's stereotype.") It couldn't have been more clear.

I did read the rest of your posts, and saying that something is a subjective quality based on one's experience is fine, but it doesn't "prove" (which is what you asked of me) anything. But, that's fine if you'll accept that my observation, too, was based on what I've seen from the people I've known & places I've been. It wasn't supposed to be a proof in the first place.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by Katiana

rado? The largest proportion of out of state students at CU is from California. In fact, someone from California told me they call it "The University of California at Boulder".

huh
That's interesting. Back in my day (which is admittedly 30 or so years ago) all of the out-of-staters were from back east. I remember that's how I learned about Bruce Springsteen.

Originally Posted by Katiana

You are going there for an education. The town is irrelvant, in that respect. Even though Boulder v Ft. Collins is a personal preference, I'd take Boulder.
.......There is a joke among the CU students:

Q: What do CU students and CSU students have in common?
A: They all got into CSU!

CU's admission standards are a tad higher.

The town matters, but the two of them are not so far away.
I lived 3 years in Fort Collins and one year in Boulder. Both have good and bad points. For long term living I'd choose FC, but yeah, that's personal preference.

My older son got into both schools. He chose CSU.
This was not about his major, he had none till sophomore year. I think it was partly because he wanted to get away from all the high school cliques (all of the "Kool Kids" went to Boulder) he knew in Denver, and the cost of living was cheaper in FC.
OTOH
He did a lot of partying in Boulder.