The University of Colorado at Boulder is ranked in the 1998 Fiske Guide to Colleges among the best of the nation’s universities and one of 21 “best buys” among the nation’s public universities.
The highly regarded guide to colleges is written by Edward B. Fiske, former education editor of the New York Times.
¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder received a cumulative rating of 14 out of 15 points for academics, social life and quality of life, the third consecutive year the university has received that rating. The rating includes four stars for academics and five points each for social life and quality of life.
With four stars in academics, ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder ranks among such universities as Boston University, Tufts University, the University of Notre Dame, Rutgers, the University of Texas, the University of Iowa and the University of California at Los Angeles.
The designation as “best buy” gives ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder credit for offering “remarkable educational opportunities at a relatively modest cost.” Other public institutions in the “best buy” category include the universities of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
The Fiske Guide to Colleges includes an essay about each of the 300 institutions selected, compiled from responses to questionnaires sent to school administrators. In addition, administrators were asked to distribute a set of questionnaires among a cross-section of their students.
In the 1998 version of the Fiske Guide to Colleges, ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder gets high marks for academics in molecular, cellular and developmental biology; business; psychology; chemistry and biochemistry; physics; music; engineering; and astrophysical and space sciences.
Also cited are special programs for undergraduates, including FallFEST, a preselected core curriculum for freshmen aimed at fostering a sense of community; the residential learning courses taught in several residence halls; and the Presidents Leadership Class, an enrichment program for specially selected freshmen and sophomores.
The essay notes that “¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder has also worked hard to shed the ‘party schoolÂ’ image.”
“It may seem from the outside looking in that this institution is laid-back,” a student is quoted as saying. “This is not the case -- I can honestly say I am very challenged.”