Metropolitan State University of Denver

Highly recommend this university, especially for aviation and aerospace seeking students. The university is expanding and adding a new building for the AES department, which will be active in 2018. I would also recommend this university for its physics program that it shares with UCD.

I am an adult (25) returning student that recently enrolled at Metro in the dual BS/​MPAcc program. I have nothing but positive things to say. After attending at a top tier research university (SUNY at Buffalo) I have been thrilled at the small class sizes and personal attention.
Professors have been engaging and knowledgable. The price can’t be beat and as the schools reputation improves I am optimistic about the job opportunities that will be available to me when I graduate.
If you are considering returning to school and don’t want to overpay for a degree Metro would be a great fit.

Was scheduled to meet with an advisor with the International Studies Dept. Received confirmation of appt online. Advisor did not show up. Pretty sad. Higher Ed expects you to show up on time for class. To submit papers etc on time. And to pay on time of course. In the confirmation they always request that you let them know if you can’t make it. I love that !

The teachers are great, it has a cozy school feel, and I would recommend it for those trying to get a quality education while working or trying to manage a full time life (family, job, anything).
Financial aid is another story. Terrible. You never talk to an adviser, only the student workers who are up front trying to keep up with all the questions, and everyone there is kind of rude and too busy to spend time with you. Good luck if you have to deal with them and have any questions. Saying they are probably one of the first and most frequent departments a lot of the students and parents have to deal with, it’s amazing that the school hasn’t really upped their standards in customer service in that department. I actually had a neutral experience with them, but witnessed while standing in line for 40 minutes, a lot of frustration and negative experiences for others. It made me sad because it didn’t represent what the rest of the school offers.

I graduated!!! I got my degree in finance and really truly felt prepared to take on the real world. MSU Denver provided me the resources I needed to land a great job immediately after graduation and even introduced me to the recruiter that ended up getting me the position. Couldn’t say enough nice things about the finance department here and I urge future students to take advantage of all the school has to offer to support you in your time there.

My son attended MSU Denver. He reached the place where he felt completing an official degree would not help and he started his own business. MSU Denver charged him for tuition for the next semester because he didn’t formally «withdraw». Wow now it is in collections. He never went to any class the next semester. Way to help your students launch their careers!

It’s affordable, decent location downtown, I’ve had a mostly positive to excellent experience with most professors.
Anything not directly related to classes themselves has been really bad. Good luck getting the help you need in regards to advising, financial aid, or anything along those lines. I swear that the people who work in those departments (among others) go out of their way to make your life difficult. Printing and requesting forms, their literal job, became this huge deal like I asked for their firstborn child. I had rude comments directed toward me that would have gotten ME fired, unprovoked.
I sincerely hope MSU has some better administrative workers elsewhere because no matter how politely you approach they are rude and dismissive.

It’s ok, what you would expect from a State University. Some teachers are god awful and others are just as good as my undergraduate at University of Oregon and graduate at University of Denver. The science building, where I take all my classes is updated and beautiful. Overall, I would recommend Metro.

Universities are on Unilocal?
I earned my marketing degree and minor in entrepreneurship from here December 2013. I’ll keep my review as short as possible, although college encompasses so many experiences and perspectives over four and a half years. Biggest take away: this is the place to go if you want a great education and you don’t want to go into copious amounts of debt for school. Being in the work world now, and speaking with other people who went to places like CU Boulder, I am so glad I went to metro, and a lot of my friends are so bummed they shoveled out so many thousands in student loan debt just to get the ‘real college experience’ they are excited to have a big girl job, but completely discouraged that the new money they bring home is just going to paying off debt.
The first two years here were. somewhat unpleasant. They have definitely improved the systems since I was there, but when I started, oh my God, getting an appointment with a counselor, navigating your degree requirements, basic things, were a total nightmare. My brother is attending now and all of these issues have been fixed.
The gen ed teachers were pretty good, the material wasn’t hard (I came from one of the best high schools in Colorado, so might not be true for everyone). While the diversity was refreshing, it was extremely hard to meet people here. Metro being a commuter campus means some people commute from Morrison, Thorton, Highlands Ranch. everywhere! So hanging out after class is difficult, same with getting together with group projects and participating in certain clubs. If you are going to attend this school straight from high school, hopefully you have some buddies attending as well, otherwise move to the dorms where you will get more of the ‘real college experience’ and meet people your age.
Once I started diving more into my major and minor, I found more of the same people in my classes and made a few friends, I had some truly incredible professors, and I was given some very cool opportunities (a professor helped me get an internship with a connection she had, I also helped her write an academic journal which was published). Towards the end of my attendance, new buildings and parking garages started to pop up on campus. They really care about the students and even though this school doesn’t have huge tuition rates, they are investing everything they can back into the school to give you the best experience possible.
If you are searching for a school to attend and have more questions, feel free to message me.

There are good and bad things about this college, but nothing exemplary. I’ll start with the good. The college is affordable. Compared to the tuition rates of other universities this college is actually cheap, relatively anyway.
The health services on campus have also treated me very well. The college mandates that students have health insurance, and it provides a school insurance for students with financial need. In terms of health care costs these days, the rates are also affordable.
The professors I have had this far have been knowledgable in their respective fields. However, due to the large volume of students combined with the fact that most instructors here seem overloaded, the instruction is lacking. I went to a community college before transferring here, and the sad part is I came out of the classes there with better understanding of the subjects taught. The teachers at the cc displayed a care factor, as I like to call it, and utilized creative and engaging ways to teach students. Here at Metro, it’s almost as if the professors are taught to simply through the information at you as fast as possible, and they could care less if you understand or not. I know that this is the nature of college, and that I am responsible for my own learning, but it would be nice to have instructors that at least give a darn. If a student feels like they were instructed way better at a community college than a university, something is wrong with our perceptions of higher education.
As far as class size, it’s horribly managed. The university crams as many students into old desks that really don’t fit students of my size, and squeeze things so closely together that it’s quite awkward to walk to the front of the class if there are others sitting in front of you.
The worst part however, is the many departments such as advising or financial aid. The first advisor I spoke to told me to take classes that the next advisor said weren’t needed, and the second advisor almost led me to take classes for a degree program I hadn’t declared. After the basic Gen Ed classes are done, you are referred to your particular department for your degree. I do have to say, that at least the physics department has been helpful thus far, and there aren’t any complaints in that area.
The financial aid is manned by an army of work studies. I don’t think I’ve seen one actual financial aid staff yet. I’ve tried emailing one or two to only receive silence. Also, I’ve had a few cases of being promised one thing and given another. They also made a mistake at the beginning of this semester that almost cost me a ten percent charge on my tuition. The simple fact is that the financial aid department here is a joke. You will constantly have to be on top of them to catch mistakes made on your behalf. Even then, you’re likely to be misled regarding college protocol and policy. Tread carefully.
Bottom line, you get what you pay for. The college may be affordable, and has staff knowledgeable enough to haphazardly throw information at you, but that’s about it. The many services the university offers have their strengths, but are fraught with error and high amounts of confusion. If you are motivated enough to digest information on your own with little help from instructors that don’t seem to care, and you are ok with being crammed into a classroom like a can of sardines, you’ll do fine here. But if you expect to get help from instructors or attend a college where the staff are actually knowledgable about their jobs, look elsewhere.

If you want to go to a school without Internet access, this is the place! The network is so pathetic that you literally can not get an Internet connection in the LIBRARY. Um… am I serious??? You bet I am! Sad isn’t it? Your chances of connecting on other parts of campus aren’t much better. I have no idea whether the IT team is high (it *is* Colorado…), or there isn’t any incentive to do anything about it, but the network here is a JOKE. I have been here a year and can count on one hand the number of days the Internet connection has worked. I’m assured they are working on it. I guess it takes longer than a year to engineer a network correctly here. Plan on studying OFF campus if you enroll at any school on Auraria campus.

I love this school! I got my undergrad with the Individualized Degree program and had great advisors. The Anthropology Department is wonderful! The GLBT Student Services office provides great services and is a great place to make friends. There are many great student organizations. My only complaint is the lack of support for study abroad, you have to go through external organizations or inquire with specific departments about trips. It is a truly unique campus as it is tri-​institutional. Overall it’s a great university!

Warning! I graduated from this institution. I spent 3.5 years at MSUDenver and over $ 20,000. After graduation, I discontinued using my student email. When I started to apply to grad school and went to access my transcripts I found out that somehow I became registered for classes 2 semesters after graduation. I appealed this and never heard from any authority… No one will discuss any of this with me. I do not recommend MSUDenver, because I do not believe that their institution is for the students.

This college is more of a private corporation than a public University. Where the F do they get off charging 100 deposit to enroll in classes? If you drop your courses later in the semester they still charge you the $ 100. So in essence it now costs you $ 100 to drop your classes.
This school is just doing its best to screw over the influx of young people into the city. It’s obvious. Someone needs to sue them. Class action anyone?

As a business of education, you may receive a good experience or return on your investment at Metro depending upon how you approach your time here.
The counselors couldn’t care less about their jobs and try to get you to sign up for classes that you don’t need and are not a pre-​requisite for advanced coursework. I cannot tell you how many courses I took due to erroneous advice that never applied to my degree or general studies curriculum. All under their «guidance.»
Additionally, they don’t empower you in any way with information that will help you to succeed either financially with regards to the costs of your education or academically. I had a counselor who never even mentioned the first generation scholarship that I qualified for knowing my parents were immigrants and I could have had my entire education paid for, but had no idea that the scholarship even existed and is supported by an organization on campus. And he came from the same country my parents came from!
If you are looking for a sub par education with professors who teach, but can’t do, then this is your spot. There are a lot of politics and many professors require a certain level of brown nosing for good grades. I actually did very well in many of my classes, but any of the professors whom I questioned or didn’t agree with that voiced their own political and religious views on my valuable class time, would grade me down as a result. So word of caution, just keep your opinions to yourself and don’t question anyone’s authority, or you will see that reflected in your grades.
Just be a cog in the machine, do your time, and get out. This is not really an institute of higher learning, it is a money making factory and your degree is a glorified certificate of obedience.
The technical or specialized skill set departments will have higher caliber people in employ as they are both professors and often times are actually actively employed in their field.
These include aviation, nursing, hospitality, technical communications, industrial design etc.
I would recommend that if you do not have a specific degree in mind, you should not enroll or waste your time until you know exactly what you want to study.
You will want to talk to counselors in your actual department because they have more specialized knowledge than those you meet in your general requirements department or at orientation. This will save you a great deal of time and money, so do not jump into anything prematurely or it will cost you, I promise.
Additionally it will ensure you can actually plan out your education in a timely fashion. I really think that being a for profit organization, they try to get you stuck taking more classes than you actually need in order increase their bottom line. So please, do your research and figure out what you want to study before committing to getting your education here and talk to a guidance counselor in the related department.
If you are a transfer student or you have valuable work experience and you can’t find a degree that fits your interest or professional focus, I highly recommend you get in contact with the Individualized Degree Program. It was the only way I was able to make use of some of my extra credits that I had been duped into taking and that didn’t apply towards a specific degree. This program is filled with good people and they understand how to make your education equitable.
Lastly, if you are not very affluent and will be funding your own education here are some tips for you. Wait to enroll in school until you are 24 years old and don’t make a ton of money in the year prior or get a job making money under the table that you don’t have to claim.
I would highly recommend that you put off going to school until that time. You will qualify for vastly more grants and financial aid this way and can potentially have most of your school paid for you. This institution doesn’t care how you get financed to attend, as long as they get paid. If you cannot wait, then it would be very prudent for you to pay as you go and take a couple of classes a semester.
Sure, this will take more time, but it will also ensure that you are serious about your classes and will carefully select your coursework.
Student loans are no joke, and do not be fooled into thinking you will get a job that will be profitable enough to pay your loans back. Interest will compound, so whatever you take out– understand fully that that amount is likely to double or even triple by the time you are able to pay it off.
Also if you are going to study something silly like psychology, sociology or biology, then plan on going to graduate school at some point.
These, among many are worthless degrees with out advanced education. Make sure you do your research and do it again until you are sure you want to make this commitment. Metro can be a decent place to get your degree, if you plan it right and consider your options.
Other than that– Location & the campus itself is very nice.

BEWARE!!! If it was possible to give this school ZERO stars I would. Metro has by far been the worst experience of my life! I’ve had every issue in the book. Professors that lose homework… teachers that hound on attendance but are never there themselves. teachers that barely speak English. the works! My worst experience by far was with the advisers. If you are a student I HIGHLY encourage you to make them sign any advising paperwork after you meet. I met with three advisers and was given three different graduation dates! I met recently with an adviser in my degree field and it took her not one, not two, but FOUR times to attempt to calculate my credits. After she felt she figured it out she let me leave congratulating me that I would be graduating in December of 2014 and my family should be proud. Welp she sent me an email instead of calling me or arranging another meeting to tell me she had failed to count my credits right and instead of having three classes left with a graduation date of December 2014 I had NINE classes left and would not finish until the Spring semester of 2015. If you’re a so called adviser how do you not know how to add up credits!!!
Metro will waste your money as well. They spent millions of dollars building a building that was supposedly going to help students. All they did was move the advisers into newer offices. There are NO classes being offered in the building. If there are no classes there why would you spend money on it?! They built the building on one of the main parking lots. So now there is virtually no parking available during the day! I’ve actually missed class because I simply could not find somewhere to park. They will go up on your tuition regularly and justify it with «we’re making changes on the campus» and you will never see them! How is it possible to pay almost $ 4,000 a semester to not have anywhere to park, insufficient teachers and advisers, and have internet that barely works sometimes! I am currently a senior and I have not looked forward to leaving somewhere more than I do this school.
I’d recommend UCD and CCD over Metro anyday. Save your money and go to a better school.

I graduated from here in 2010 with a double bachelor’s. For the most part, I really enjoyed my experience here and felt that I learned a tremendous amount. I chose this university because it is close to where I live and the price isn’t overwhelming. I think the Auraria Campus is great and loved the urban feel. I also thought that this was a great choice for me as a non-​traditional student. There’s a lot of traditional college students at Metro, but enough students who were not, which helped me not feel out of place. The majority of professors that I had were outstanding and really seemed like they cared that the students learned. I was recently accepted into a master degree program at CSU. I feel that what I learned at Metro has made me well prepared to succeed in this program.
There are some issues that I had with Metro that have nothing to do with the academics or professors though. During this time, I didn’t have time to wait around and take a bus everywhere. Metro makes you pay for a bus pass every semester even if you never take the bus or light rail. The parking on campus can be a hassle and also fairly expensive every semester. I also didn’t like the fact that Metro makes you have health insurance that meets their standards every semester, otherwise they charge you for their expensive health insurance. We’re all adults, why should it be any concern of the university you go to whether you have health insurance or not? I deducted 1 star for these hassles.

Not all of my friends dislike Metro but most of them do… I however did not make it far enough with them to even start classes. Even after I had FINALLY been accepted, I was treated very poorly.
I am the kind of person that likes efficiency and dislikes loop holes and miscommunication. The staff there (every single person I ever spoke with… which is a lot) were very rude on the phone. I tried speaking softly and kindly but this did not matter. I actually wouldn’t have cared if they were curt but the information they were willing to give was so generic. I would ask basic questions at different departments and the response back would be something to the extent of, «That information’s online.» or «You’ll have to call a different department.» and DEAR GOD if you forget your 900# you will be scolded like a dog who shit on the brand new carpet.
I have dealt with nicer individuals through SallieMae! Needless to say, I did not even bother to register for classes even though I was accepted and that is because of how I was treated. I am not going to spend my money at a school that talks to me like an 11 year old in detention. I have had several phone jobs and know how to be articulate and polite over the phone. I bring that up to address that this was not an issue on my end…
To those of you who are logical, practical and aren’t fans of wishy washy bullshit, go to a different school because this process will test your patience more than Indian tech support.

Um, there are Unilocal reviews for a school? What will they think of next?
I graduated from Metro three years ago. I had great professors who championed my cause, and genuinely cared about whether or not I learned. I also had professors who could care less, and I sat next to students who could barely spell their name. Wouldn’t you be able to say the same at any school? But some schools have the reputation, and some don’t. Metro struggles with reputation, but – like most schools – it is what you make it.
It’s relatively easy to navigate your way through higher ed with a modicum of common sense. Think of registering your car as good practice. If you can do that, you can do this. If you can’t, you might consider starting by parking your car at a light rail station as practice. And if student aid or parking are still challenging – it’s a friendly campus. Asking for help is an easy way to solve lots of problems.
Metro gave me a stellar education, it went well with my work schedule, I paid for it mostly without loans, and got out of it a better person. I am lucky enough to have gotten into a top-​ranked graduate program.
I’m grateful to Metro for taking me in when I flubbed my first attempt through school. I had some phenomenal teachers and it really got me right on track.
So, yes. I would say my time here was well-​spent.

I am loving teaching here. Students with positive attitudes.
And LOVING the courtyards in the library, which are sunny, with picnic tables and WIFI.
The campus is as fine a public asset as I have seen in any city; clean, accessible and you can park for $ 2.50 from 6:30 a. m to 10 p.m., or it’s served by light rail.