The University of Colorado - Boulder

Date: Apr 21 2009
Major: Sociology (This Major's Salary over time)
While the University itself offered a good education, I was miserable all 4 years at this school. Despite Boulder's reputation as a liberal, "hippy" town, the residents are generally wealthy and, coming from a lower-middle class background I had a hard time fitting in. None of my friends worked, I was the only one who had a job.

There is no diversity on campus. The population is at least 80% white and the high cost of living ensures that a certain demographic continues to populate the city. Be prepared to pay a high rent if you live off campus (and the properties are all dumps). There are very nice homes in the area, but with Boulder's no-growth policy, landlords can afford not to keep up with their buildings as much as they should, since no new buildings are allowed to go up. I paid extremely high heat bills in some places due to poor insulation, thing of that nature. The properties were not unlivable by any means, but not worth the cost we were charged for rent. Be prepared to live in a zoo with 4-5+ roommates.

The classes were fine, but redundant. I found that course descriptions were different, but even though subjects were supposed to be different, all major classes taught the same ideas. I was incredibly bored by my Junior year and actually was able to maintain a high gpa without attending classes, until they started implementing attendance policies. Not sure if this is only within the Sociology department or a school-wide problem. Many of the academic advisors would rather not help students, so unless you get one of the few good ones (Sociology advisor is really good, but International Affairs advisors, for example, are terrible). you're on your own trying to figure things out.

The city is boring, so unless you bring a car and commute to Denver frequently you'll be bored. The party scene is hopping, but that's about it. They did just build a new outside mall, so that has improved things somewhat. It is a very small town. I much preferred living outside of Boulder and commuting to class (was cheaper, too!).