Located five miles from downtown, the University of Denver, known as DU, is recognized for its international studies and business programs, particularly hospitality management; its access to skiing and other mountain pursuits; a vibrant study abroad program; and its national champion men’s lacrosse team.
“I needed to be close to the mountains, and I wanted to go to a good school as well,” says Vermonter Connor Davis, a 2016 graduate in journalism, avid skier, and former editor of DU’s newspaper.
“Study abroad was a big draw,” says Jess Davidson, a 2016 graduate in political science who studied in South Africa for a semester and worked on DU-sponsored research in Uganda one summer.
Founded in 1864, DU is the oldest and largest private university in the Rocky Mountain region. While the school’s 76 percent admit rate seems high, officials say the caliber of student also is high, with the average GPA of entrants running 3.68. Less than a quarter of students hail from Colorado, with large numbers coming from the East and West Coasts, Illinois and Minnesota. The student body is 68 percent white, although the new chancellor wants to increase diversity.
[Check out other colleges and universities in Colorado.]
About one-third of undergrads major in business; many enter the university’s formal dual bachelor’s-graduate programs that allow them to start and complete their advanced degree sooner than is typical in such fields as business, engineering, public policy, education, social work and law.
“I’m getting my master’s in less than five years,” says Davidson of Fort Collins, Colorado, who is continuing at DU for a master’s in public policy analysis.
With at least two-thirds of undergrads choosing to study abroad, the Institute of International Education regularly puts DU at or near the top in the nation for overseas study. The question “isn’t whether you are going to study abroad, but where you will go,” notes Aaron Sanchez, a senior in marketing from Thornton, Colorado. DU has more than 150 programs in its global studies portfolio.
[See which top colleges and universities are in the Centennial State.]
The emphasis is shifting toward collaborative and experiential learning, already big in the engineering program. Students do senior capstone projects that have involved, for example, helping a local biotech or other firm solve problems or create new products. “A lot of students get jobs with these customers,” says Bradley Davidson, a mechanical engineering assistant professor and director of DU’s Human Dynamics Laboratory.
DU students are required to live on campus their first two years — “When you are in the freshmen dorms, you’re waking up to the mountains,” says Cameron Hickert, a 2016 graduate in physics and international studies from Colorado Springs — and freshmen have a choice of five theme-based living-and-learning communities that have them taking seminar classes together while living on the same floor. A quarter of students participate in the Greek system.
Cherished traditions include tailgating before lacrosse games, winter carnival and camping out in line to get hockey tickets. “The Colorado College-DU game,” says Jess Davidson, “is huge.”
Colorado College Road Trips:
— University of Colorado–Boulder
— Colorado College
— Colorado School of Mines
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Colleges 2017” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
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Colorado College Road Trip: University of Denver originally appeared on usnews.com
