24 September 2019
William Pham
To many students at UCCS, the campus is perfect. The university is not too big, so classes are relatively easy to find. The teachers, for the most part, are willing to help students face-to-face. The view, from almost any window, highlights the mountains exquisitely. But to outsiders and the uninformed public, UCCS is not this. UCCS is instead considered by these individuals to be a lesser and inferior school to CU Boulder.
A stigma often associated with UCCS is that our campus is the sister school to CU Boulder. Although both schools are under the University of Colorado system, many students see UCCS as a downgrade from Boulder. But UCCS has become a better university than Boulder in many ways, especially over the past few years. And this rumor of UCCS being somehow lesser than Boulder is a rumor that must be dissected and squashed.
CU Boulder has always been discussed in a better light than UCCS due to the university’s date of establishment. Boulder is 143 years old while UCCS is 54 years old. To some, this might imply that Boulder is more established as an institution, and so it is a better university because of its age. The individuals who believe that consider UCCS as a young university. Although UCCS is young and not as established, the university still has time and money to grow and expand. CU Boulder is an older, much larger university so it will much more quickly reach a point where they can no longer expand.
Every year it seems UCCS is erecting new buildings and implementing newer classes and degree plans. For instance, a new health science building is currently in construction. This new building not only represents a physical expansion of the university, but also demonstrates UCCS’ investment into sourcing resources for their degree plans.
UCCS also offers a Bachelor of Innovations degree for some selected majors, something unique to only our university. This degree is as rigorous as a B.A. or a B.S but focuses on the potential business aspect of a degree. It is expanding to many degrees on campus and includes majors from chemistry to computer science to game design.
Boulder, likewise, is not expanding its degree options as fast as UCCS. And since UCCS is expanding and focusing so much on their degrees, research is thriving here. Students research excels at UCCS due to the low student to teacher ratio, as well as the overall attitude of learning on campus. Many teachers are able to interact with their students, something Boulder and other institutions in Colorado cannot say the same about.
As of 2018, over 12,500 students are enrolled at UCCS. According to research done by the university, 2018 marks the 12th straight year of growth for the campus. UCCS is listed as the 23rd fastest growing university in the United States by USA Today, while Boulder is only ranked at 45.
People often choose colleges based off rumors and social intuitions, so CU Boulder is a potential school of interest. Often believed to be better than UCCS because of its age and size, it is exactly these factors that hurt the university in the long run. UCCS, on the other hand, is focusing on its development, and is growing in campus size and student population. This far surpasses the standards set by our sister school.