Deciding Between Universities

[Katarina Witt]

Check out the websites of the schools you are interested in to see what they offer in these areas. I believe CU-Boulder has a good geog. dept, but I could be mistaken. What kind of medical stuff? Most of that is graduate school.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by jessemh431

I'm looking either the medical field or something with urban planning/studies or georgraphy.

Your posts shows that you may not be ready for a college education, certainly not at a large university, far from home. I would suggest exploring your options at a local community college to get some experience to make further decisions. This can be a less expensive choice and when you find your direction, then you can further explore formal education.

Another option to consider would be to join the military service and get some real world experience which would temper you to benefit fully from a college education. You can work at a hard working blue collar job; I know that is an anathema to the college educated elite. I went to a University where many students had "worked" at a kibbutz in occupied Palestine (Israel)---since you are so concerned about your religion--that would give you an experience of the world. Yes, there are many choices you can make.

Livecontent

[ColoWeb]

I'd start taking general courses then at Metro State and, when you decide on what you want to do then transfer to the university that you may want. If you like your area/location, you could later transfer to UCD (which is on the same campus).

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by livecontent

Your posts shows that you may not be ready for a college education, certainly not at a large university, far from home. I would suggest exploring your options at a local community college to get some experience to make further decisions. This can be a less expensive choice and when you find your direction, then you can further explore formal education.

I think the original poster is still a sophomore in high school, so he still has a ways to go before he has to figure it out.

[DenverLawGal]

I went to CCD and signed a transfer agreement for UCD. When I was done with my general studies at CCD, I transfered to UCD and chose Sociology. It was a great way to pay for my general studies cheaply and then finish at a good university.

[esya]

I just got done with this process, with two kids. I made up an empty excel chart that listed all the things they said were important to them about a choice and then added the parental list, across the top left to right. It is important to put the priorities in some order: reputation for good programs, student/teacher ratios for undergrads, costs (don't forget cost of getting back and forth on school holidays when the dorms are closed or cost of living elsewhere). Things like closest mall are NOT priorities.

We listed the schools down the left side. We mucked around with the chart to figure out how to enter info (numbers, rankings, just notes, etc), and started putting in schools. It was amazing, once there was a list of priorities, how quickly and clearly schools went off or on that list or up or down on list. Be realistic about your grades, test scores, also.

When a kid says they want an urban school they mean an active cultural and social life, not a boring small town. Some state schools are in small towns but offer the amenities of cities. My kid for three years wanted NYC and/or Canada and ended up going to a small college in a small town that she had visited one summer. It was close to a bunch of other colleges. Familiarity? That's ok.

I am Jewish. If you are "conservative" or "orthodox" the school may matter because of dietary restrictions and dorm food. Most schools mentioned on this thread have a Hillel of some sort--the student Jewish group, that always has kosher holiday meals and other activities. Still, depending on your belief, you may want to be able to date only Jewish people and that could be limited. There are Jewish singles groups in any urban area.

My daughter has a close friend that starts DU next fall. She is Jewish, very traditional, keeps kosher, and is very active in volunteerism. She got a full ride scholarship to DU next year. DU is really very strong on making scholarships available to diverse students and in the past has had a strong international studies program (although honestly you can't really use it in Colorado).

If you have specific program interests they should be listed on your criteria list. Don't be foolish. On the other hand, if you are very uncertain and you can afford to go for a liberal arts degree go to the school that can economically give you the widest possible choice of solid but not stellar programs. I am not a fan of community colleges for everything because for a few goals, the wrong choice can hurt your entire career. So start by finding out what you DON'T want to do and eliminate those from consideration. Community colleges are for getting a two year ticket to a job so you can sort out what you like and don't like and that works well too.

I paid more money to have both my kids go to schools out of state, because I am disillusioned with the State educational priorities here and just think its curriculum requirements are inferior, K-undergrad, compared to other places I have lived. I just don't feel good about a state board of education that mandates US history for several years but world history and geography are very limited.

I am not sure about boys, but with girls I think it is important to encourage them to go visit a college class, stay in a dorm or talk to students, etc. They seem to be more likely to stay close to home for no good reason. It's hard if you can't afford it but sometimes it can work if you go as a group. My other kid had a choice of offers and made a choice that surprised us. That was ok--because she was terrifically happy and successful in her choice. That's what counts.

The one thing you need to know, though--get honest info from your parents about how much money they can afford to provide. We can all stretch, but the commitment needs to be for four years. I was one of six kids and after the first year the aid consisted of filling out loan forms. I don't regret it but you want to know, and the sooner the better.

I know some kids that went to CU bec they got in automatically and bec that way the parents could afford to buy them a car, send them on vacations, etc. It's one choice. For most of us that is not an option--but living at home partly subsidized and working and going part time is an option.