CU Denver SPA

[sophty87]

Anyone know anything about the reputation of this program? Did anyone else apply and/or are contemplating attending? Thoughts would be appreciated...

[stilesg57]

My aunt is an administrator there. I almost applied. Started an application and all. I grew up in the Denver suburbs and my parents still live there. Thought I might be able to swing residency (most likely not as I've paid rent, utilities, and taxes in CA for the past two years).

I've spent time on the CU Denver campus - I actually took community college courses there in spring 2007 to help shore up my quant background before I moved to CA. I'm medium on it. Decently nice campus, not my fave part of the city. Doesn't give off an atmosphere of "cutting edge" or "higher learning." It's excellent for domestic/homeland security and criminology and well known throughout the Western US for that. Not what I'm interested in though.

All in all I thought Pitt would most likely serve as a good last line of defense in case I didn't get into my safer schools like GWU, UCLA, and UCSD, so I skipped applying to CU Denver.

If you want to do a JD dual degree that could be a GREAT deal though, since CU's law school in Boulder is EXCELLENT and easier to get into than it should, and the year in Denver would give you some good law firm networking opportunities.

[sophty87]

My aunt is an administrator there. I almost applied. Started an application and all. I grew up in the Denver suburbs and my parents still live there. Thought I might be able to swing residency (most likely not as I've paid rent, utilities, and taxes in CA for the past two years).

I've spent time on the CU Denver campus - I actually took community college courses there in spring 2007 to help shore up my quant background before I moved to CA. I'm medium on it. Decently nice campus, not my fave part of the city. Doesn't give off an atmosphere of "cutting edge" or "higher learning." It's excellent for domestic/homeland security and criminology and well known throughout the Western US for that. Not what I'm interested in though.

All in all I thought Pitt would most likely serve as a good last line of defense in case I didn't get into my safer schools like GWU, UCLA, and UCSD, so I skipped applying to CU Denver.

If you want to do a JD dual degree that could be a GREAT deal though, since CU's law school in Boulder is EXCELLENT and easier to get into than it should, and the year in Denver would give you some good law firm networking opportunities.

Thanks for your thoughts. My interest is in domestic/homeland security so that was one of the reasons my advisor recommended that I apply. He had noted that it was definitely more of an "up and coming" program rather than one that's got a well established reputation so that's pretty much what I was expecting. Is Denver an urban city? If the school was well known for homeland security, would it give me a leg up in applying to federal government jobs within DHS or FEMA moreso than if I were to go to a program that doesn't have coursework focused in that? If I were to go, I'd plan to move back to my hometown (Seattle) after graduation and am curious of which is better - going to a school known for a specialty or going to a school in the area where you eventually want to work (My other option is Seattle University - it seemed that UW Evans didn't like the fact that I was more or less straight out of undergrad).

[stilesg57]

Thanks for your thoughts. My interest is in domestic/homeland security so that was one of the reasons my advisor recommended that I apply. He had noted that it was definitely more of an "up and coming" program rather than one that's got a well established reputation so that's pretty much what I was expecting. Is Denver an urban city? If the school was well known for homeland security, would it give me a leg up in applying to federal government jobs within DHS or FEMA moreso than if I were to go to a program that doesn't have coursework focused in that? If I were to go, I'd plan to move back to my hometown (Seattle) after graduation and am curious of which is better - going to a school known for a specialty or going to a school in the area where you eventually want to work (My other option is Seattle University - it seemed that UW Evans didn't like the fact that I was more or less straight out of undergrad).

Is Denver an urban city?

Depends. I would say the part of the city that the CU Denver/Metro State/Denver Community College campus is located is urban, it's right at the edge of the downtown. The metro area as a whole, I would say no. Consider this: the metro area for Denver and Seattle have about the same population, but Seattle's downtown is about twice the size of Denver's. Seattle built up, Denver built out. Even though I grew up in Denver, I personally like Seattle more as a city.

Would it give you a leg up in federal jobs?

I just don't know. I do know that it would give you a leg up in state an local government jobs relating to security in Colorado and every state that touches it. CU Denver and Metro State are known for this program and I know a few people from home who have gotten public and private sector jobs dealing with security after graduating from these programs.

If you plan on living in Seattle I would suggest going to a nationally known school or a locally known school in that locale. I know undergrad and grad are different, but I'll say this much: I HATE that nobody outside of Seattle and Portland have ever heard of the college I went to. Really hate it. And it's all because Whitman College, as good a school as it is, is still only a locally known school. In Seattle most employers go "Whitman? Wow, Whitman's a great school - congratulations and may we hire you?" Anywhere outside of Washington or Oregon most employers go "Whitman? So, is that a community college or something?" Very frustrating.

People in Seattle will certainly know of Seattle U (a good friend of mine is going to law school there actually), so I would think that concentrating in your preferred area there would serve you better amongst employers in Seattle.