This spring, Olivia is visiting colleges around her home state of Colorado. Follow along to learn more about the variety of excellent colleges in the sunny (and snowy) Centennial State.
My first Colorado campus visit this spring is the state’s flagship public university:
University of Colorado Boulder
(Image) CU Boulder was founded in 1876, the same year Colorado became a state!
WHY IS THIS SCHOOL AWESOME?
Olivia: There’s just so much energy on campus!
CU offers a perfect mix of everything: excellent academics, a vibrant college town, a beautiful campus, and an adventurous student body. Boulder’s proximity to both Denver and the Rocky Mountains makes it a perfect place for anyone who wants to enjoy both city life and nature during college.
FAVORITE SPOT ON CAMPUS?
Olivia: Definitely Farrand Field since it’s such a great gathering space. Walking by on a sunny, 60° January afternoon, the place was packed with students sunning on blankets, tossing frisbees, and taking in the beautiful sunset over the Flatirons.
Farrand Field is a popular place for CU students to hang out and take in a beautiful view of the Flatirons.
5 WORDS TO DESCRIBE CAMPUS?
Olivia: Lively, big, colorful, bike-friendly, tech-savvy
The entire CU Boulder campus was built in the Tuscan Vernacular style using local sandstone and red tile roofs.
THE "TYPICAL STUDENT" IS...
Olivia: Laid back and adventurous, if I had to sum it up. Overall the students we met were kind and intellectually curious without taking themselves too seriously. At a school of over 30,000 undergrads, you’ll meet all types of people from all walks of life. There is definitely a strong streak of adventurous students looking to take advantage of Colorado’s reputation for outdoor recreation, but you could just as easily find your people in the lab, on stage, playing club water polo (as our tour guide Grayson did), or helping to manage the more than $34 million budget as a member of CU Student Government.
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE?
Olivia: As a flagship state university, CU Boulder prioritizes enrollment of in-state students, meaning about 57% of the student population are Colorado residents. Another 36% are US students from other states, and about 7% are international. This makes CU Boulder a great place to study for international students who want to immerse themselves fully in US (and Colorado) culture.
For students hoping to study abroad, CU offers a robust list of over 400 programs, however most students (about 90%) choose to stay in Boulder for all four years rather than study abroad.
The ATLAS Institute at CU Boulder is an interdisciplinary institute for radical creativity and invention.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS/OFFERINGS APPLICANTS SHOULD CONSIDER?
Olivia: CU Boulder is known for its strength in engineering and natural sciences, particularly Earth and space sciences. Students interested in those fields should definitely look into Aerospace Engineering, Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences, Astronomy, and Chemical & Biological Engineering, to name a few.
The Leeds School of Business and the College of Music are also very strong.
One unique major to highlight is Creative Technology & Design (or CTD), offered through the ATLAS Institute within the School of Engineering & Applied Science. This degree merges technical skills and design thinking with engineering and computation, and is perfect for anyone who thrives in hands-on learning environments. It attracts a lot of would-be engineering students who want to explore more outside-the-box ideas.
CTD students spend a lot of time building and tinkering in the Blow Things Up (BTU) Lab, a collaborative and creative makerspace run by the ATLAS Institute.
TIPS FOR THE APPLICATION PROCESS?
Olivia: Though long considered a safety school, CU Boulder is becoming increasingly selective, particularly for engineering and business applicants.
The university admits most students directly to a specific major within a specific school or college, which means it is essential to showcase in your application your fit not only for CU but for your chosen major(s). Some majors are also much more selective than others: students applying to the School of Education, for example, have a much lower GPA and SAT/ACT range than students applying to the College of Engineering & Applied Science or Leeds School of Business.
If you’re not sure exactly what major to pursue yet, you can start in the Program in Exploratory Studies within a given school or college, which about 1/4 of the incoming class does each year. You can then complete an internal transfer into your chosen major at the end of your first year. It’s also possible to change from one school/college to another, but can be more challenging.
(Image) This chart on CU’s admissions page shows the current admitted student GPA and test score ranges for each school/college.
FUN FACTS?
Olivia: CU Boulder is one of the few universities in the US with a live mascot! Ralphie the Buffalo has been running out in front of the football team at homes games since 1967.
(Image) Ralphie I is memorialized in bronze outside of Folsom Field.
Thanks for tuning in to learn more about just a few of the many incredible universities in Colorado! Check back in soon for more college tours from around the Centennial State.