University of Denver | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Kevin

Class: Freshman
Major: International Relations
Gender: M

High School: Hinkley High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

Far and away, DU has one of the most beautiful campuses I've seen. It's even a certified arboretum. The size is pretty good. It's small enough that you'll get a good deal of individual attention, and professors will most often know you. However, it's also large enough to have access to many of the resources that larger colleges get. If you're into any sort of performing arts, the Newman Center offers some fantastic facilities. Du is also only a few minutes away from Downtown Denver, which is brimming with cultural activities--art, music, theatre, and so on. Studying abroad is huge for DU students. Roughly 70% of our undergrads go abroad at some point, and thanks to the Cherrington Global Scholars program, it doesn't cost anything more than studying at DU. The one main complaint is that school spirit is rather low, but we expect this to be remedied with the return of our old mascot, Boone, who was retired in 1999.

Academic Life

DU has a fantastic international studies program. All of my professors have been a lot of fun, and have all made efforts to get to know me. Some professors will even invite classes to dinner at their houses. Even in larger lecture-based, university-required classes, participation is highly encouraged. DU runs on a trimester/quarter system, meaning that you get to pick classes three times instead of two, allowing for a greater variety each year. While not all DU students could be described as intellectual, it certainly isn't hard to come by those who enjoy intellectual conversation. Most often, these students are in the honors program or another living and learning community. The director of our honors program is awesome, and British to boot.

Student Body

Especially compared to the high school that I attended, DU could hardly be described as diverse. However, DU is making strides towards promoting diversity on campus. We have a center for multicultural excellence that pursues awareness of the different backgrounds represented on campus. Even in spite of a lack of quantitative diversity, however, students are very accepting of just about any background. By virtue of the cost of the university, most students are of a higher socioeconomic status, but there are certainly plenty of students on scholarships (myself included). Communities tend to form around similar interests, academic or otherwise. Often, a person's closest friends will be those on their floor, many of which are organized into living and learning communities (based on shared interests such as social justice, environmentalism, leadership, or creativity & entrepreneurship).