Good Colleges with ski access

[BeanDip4All]

University of New Hampshire (my undergrad- whoot!) has a fantastic business program- The Whittemore School. They're one of the top state-school b-schools in the country.

I can't say enough positive things about UNH:
-Great skiing
- right near gorgeous ocean beaches (15 minute drive) with waves and surfing
- close to NH, Maine, and VT mountains
- The social life is awesome (may be too great, if my freshman year GPA is anything to show for it)
- the campus is beautiful
- And yes, we were known for the hot girls
- lots of solid job offers upon graduation, also heavy on-campus recruitment.
- tons of outdoorsy stuff to do
- Portsmouth is a lot of fun, with good resturants
- you are an hour from Boston if you want a real city
- good football (#1 in their division this year) and great hockey

The major negatives:
- not much diversity
- it's a party school, so could cause academic problems
- kind of a "rich kid from boston suburbs" syndrome
- while the engineering program is solid (I had some friends who were majors), I remember them always complaining about the antiquated building... that might have been renovated since, but a few of my labs were there, and it was kind of dark and gloomy with bad lighting.

Good luck with his school search!

[AudioSkier]

the Seattle area offers good skiing (Crystal, Alpy). Now I am back at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wa. I believe strongly that Bellingham is a great area with Baker within an hour and Whistler just over 2.

U of W is a great school, and if he can get in that would be awesome for skiing because real mountains are easily within 3 hours away. WWU is also good (not as good academically), but probably even better for skiing because of what was said above.

[shmerham]

Of all the state schools in New England, I think U Maine has the best engineering program, and especially if you're interested in chemical. It's also the smallest main campus of a state school in New England and maybe in the country.
Pros: 2 hours from sugarloaf - a real mountain; other Maine outdoors opportunities (like Katahdin which is pretty close); reasonable price (as opposed to UNH which is one of the most expensive state schools in the country); big enough that there's a good social life, but it's not a crazy party school; pretty laid back; engineering school has some connections with some intertational companies (like proctor and gamble), so you're not necessarily stuck in the non-existant economy of Maine; Umaine hockey is exciting and they're almost always very good.

Cons: diversity will be even worse than UNH; plenty of hicks go there; not close to any big cities or ski areas other than sugarloaf; engineering is Maine's best program, so if you switch into a different major you'll be fine probably, but you may be better off at a different state school

[soul_skier]

(like Katahdin which is pretty close)

it may be close, but it is still a 15 mile slog in during the winter, and its hardcore enough that you need to give the forest service your winter camping/climbing resume before they will give you a permit.

[Buster Highmen]

Small schools are teh suck. Go to a big research school. Particularly if you study the sciences or engineering - get involved in a research project. The biggest of schools will feel small after a few years. Besides, the world is big, get used to it.

I nominate the University of Washington.

After having been to The University of Wisconsin, Reed College, U of Oregon, Cornell, and MIT, I thought The University of Washington sucked.

Reed and MIT were the best.

It depends on what you want though. But if you want a really quality education with decent access to skiing, there's a a lot of really good small schools out there.

[iceman]

Apropos of Pretty Much Nothing Dept:

Buster did you see this in today's NY Times?


Skip the Test, Betray the Cause

By COLIN S. DIVER
Published: September 18, 2006

I SOMETIMES think I should write a handbook for college admission officials titled “How to Play the U.S. News & World Report Ranking Game, and Win!” I would devote the first chapter to a tactic called “SAT optional.”

The idea is simple: tell applicants that they can choose whether or not to submit their SAT or ACT scores. Predictably, those applicants with low scores or those who know that they score poorly on standardized aptitude tests will not submit. Those with high scores will submit. When the college computes the mean SAT or ACT score of its enrolled students, voilà! its average will have risen. And so too, it can fondly hope, will its status in the annual U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings.

My college requires applicants to submit their test scores, and it refuses to cooperate with the rankings. But among our peers, more and more institutions are adopting the SAT-optional strategy. This is not surprising. Once a few colleges adopt the tactic, their competitors feel pressure to follow suit, lest they suffer a drop in rank. And so a new front opens in the admissions arms race.

Those institutions that have adopted the SAT-optional strategy rationalize their decision by claiming that standardized tests are faulty measures of academic ability. The problem is that every indicator of academic ability used by college admission officers is imperfect.

Consider high school grade point averages. We all know brilliant students with low averages because they are bored by unchallenging classes. And conversely, these days a high grade point average is as likely to reveal rampant grade inflation as individual brilliance.

Likewise, college essays and even graded high school papers may say more about the writing abilities of parents or professional coaches than of students. Interviews are notoriously unreliable, with different interviewers giving widely divergent scores.

Standardized tests, for all their recognized imperfections, are carefully designed and tested to measure such basic intellectual skills as reading comprehension, vocabulary, critical thinking, computational ability and quantitative reasoning. Are admissions officers at SAT-optional universities saying that the test scores do not provide probative evidence of the possession of these skills? Are they saying that these skills are not relevant to success in the educational program of their colleges? Neither claim is remotely plausible.

Moreover, if standardized test scores really are so imperfect, we should scrap them altogether. It’s illogical to count a test score if it is high but ignore it if it is low.

Those who advocate making test scores optional sometimes argue that individual applicants know best whether their test scores are good measures of their academic abilities. But how can a high school senior know this? We all believe that we are better than our test scores and, for that matter, our grade point averages, our writing samples and our interview performances. But wishing doesn’t make it so.

Those who drop SAT or ACT requirements say that doing so helps open admissions to more members of certain racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups that tend, on average, to score lower on these tests. Dropping the requirement encourages such students to apply and makes it easier for the college to admit them.

But if the scores on these tests are in fact evidence of academically relevant skills, shouldn’t the college know how much of a deficit the student will need to overcome if he or she is admitted?

The college isn’t doing any favor to applicants by pretending that these skills are not important, or that the beneficiaries of these policies will not have to compete with students possessing those skills in abundance. An institution that, commendably, seeks to enroll more minority and lower-income students can do so by giving less weight to SAT or ACT scores, either across the board or in selective cases. But concealing the applicants’ test scores is just willful blindness.

Making SAT scores optional is the latest instance of a disheartening trend in college admissions. In the rush to climb the pecking order, educational institutions are adopting practices, and rationalizations for those practices, unworthy of the intellectual rigor they seek to instill in their students.

Colin S. Diver is the president of Reed College.

[Buster Highmen]

Heh. Yeah, Reed's been fighting USN&WP rankings for years and refusing to participate despite consistently being in the top 3 colleges for grads going on to get PhDs of any schools in the world. Plus small classes a 10 to 1 ratio of students to profs, no rules, co-ed, great drug scene, free ski cabin 1 hour away, more computer terminal per student than any place I know of (* OK this is a little weak). Just a bomber education.

Reed invented Ecstacy, Bromo, Alphamethyl triptamine. It's a gas beyond your wildest dreams.

But no fraternities or sororities are allowed, all sports are organized and mostly paid for by the students. So if average football and beer is your thing, you wouldn't like it.

In the 60's Reed was kicked out of the football league for, when playing a Catholic college, having a Wiccan cross burning at halftime.

[hick]

MSU sucks ass. you dont wanna go here. the women out number men 10 to 1. skiing is less than exceptional. but then again the last thing montana needs are more people!

seconded and reinforced, Montana is full, sorry.

[Obstruction]

Of all the state schools in New England, I think U Maine has the best engineering program, and especially if you're interested in chemical. It's also the smallest main campus of a state school in New England and maybe in the country.
Pros: 2 hours from sugarloaf - a real mountain; other Maine outdoors opportunities (like Katahdin which is pretty close); reasonable price (as opposed to UNH which is one of the most expensive state schools in the country); big enough that there's a good social life, but it's not a crazy party school; pretty laid back; engineering school has some connections with some intertational companies (like proctor and gamble), so you're not necessarily stuck in the non-existant economy of Maine; Umaine hockey is exciting and they're almost always very good.

Cons: diversity will be even worse than UNH; plenty of hicks go there; not close to any big cities or ski areas other than sugarloaf; engineering is Maine's best program, so if you switch into a different major you'll be fine probably, but you may be better off at a different state school

It's beautiful country up there but truth be told Orono ain't close to nuthin ... and you can't get there from here.

[comish]

I applaud your efforts to find the smaller school. I went to one of those small New England schools (2000 people) and loved it. There are some definite huge benefits to the smaller school.

Yes the world is big, but luckily there are choices when it comes to your undergraduate school. By going to a smaller school you definitely get smaller classes, more contact with profs, easier access to facilities/classes, and its probably a bit easier to switch majors because there is a bit less bureaucracy and more flexibility than a large state school. This definitely helps for those that aren't sure what they want to do = most of us at that age. There are also more opportunities, be it in sports, leadership, school groups, etc.

Growing up in the West, yes the skiing in New England sucks, but its close and ultimately makes you a better skier. The hiking, foliage, biking, climbing, and general outdoors all do not suck either. Its only 4 years of a long life and the environment you go to school in, the friends you make, and how it sets you up for the future might be more important than a few pow days.

I think its key for each person to find the right fit, environment, and culture for them. If he doesn't know what he wants to do, find a school that at least has programs in the areas he is interested in so he can switch if need be.

[puma]

I went to Western Washington University. It was killer. Mt. Baker a bit over an hour. Whistler, 2.5. Incredible area with the North Cascades, the Puget Sound and the San Juans, small town but in between Vancouver BC and Seattle, Canadian bars 20 mins away with a drinking age of 19, plenty of quality herbal remedies to get you through the winter...

A good place, and also great academics.

[1wsguy]

He should seriously consider Michigan Tech. The Keweenaw is unlike anywhere else in the midwest.

small -- check (6500 or so students)

outoor activities -- check (world class x-country skiing, great mtn biking, more snow than CO...the only thing we lack are really big mountains)

top engineering program -- check (top 25 nationally)

plus it's close to home without being too close...

Focus speaks the truth. The UP of Michigan has everything to offer the outdoor-minded individual. MTU's reputation speaks for itself.

[cj001f]

MTU's reputation speaks for itself.

What does it say?

[workinforturns]

Hick its true. I am in charge of all foreigners coming in and out of this lame state of montana. currently we are not accepting any applications for residence. we have a job shortage, the powder sucks, the women have bow legs, we still dont know what the word "parabolic" means, and our skiis are ALWAYS taller than the rider. please look somewhere else

[ccwaskier]

Colorado College is a good place. I think it has one of the best mixes of academics and outdoors. Its one of the few good, small schools in the west close to skiing. Its not the closest place to skiing around, 2 hours or so to breckenridge but you don't have to drive I-70 which is a big plus. The schools works on the block system so every three and a half weeks you get wed afternoon thru sunday off. Plus a month+ winter break and a 10 day spring break. I can easily ski 50 days a year without skipping class. Being in colorado the season is long too. a basin, loveland open early and 14ers are fun to ski in the spring.

[shmerham]

Focus speaks the truth. The UP of Michigan has everything to offer the outdoor-minded individual. MTU's reputation speaks for itself.

Perhaps it does, but not very loudly. I've heard of MTU but I've never heard of it as a great engineering school. Top 25 what? Engineering schools in Michigan? I'm sure it's very good and anyone can do well anywhere, but I think there may be some exaggeration here about it's reputation.

[BigDaddy]

In the 60's Reed was kicked out of the football league for, when playing a Catholic college, having a Wiccan cross burning at halftime.

That's so awesome! Reason enough to go there!

[homerjay]

Michigan Tech is in the Top 3 in Michigan in engineering, that's about it.

Berkeley
Cal Tech
MIT
Cornell
Many of the UC schools (Davis, LA, etc.)
CU Boulder

are all both great engineering programs (legit top 40) close to reasonable skiing.

Big schools are the way to go IMHO, tons of options, and I ended up seeing the same 20 people every single day in a school with 40,000 people.

[funkendrenchman]

Michingan Tech.......outoor activities -- check (world class x-country skiing, great mtn biking, more snow than CO...the only thing we lack are really big mountains)

Okay, maybe more snow than Keystone,but they rarely get more snow than most Colorado resorts... and as you said the snow is kind of a waste considering there are no real mountain.

I'll put a vote in for Mines.

[Tri-Ungulate]

Something like a small private school with a decent engineering program would be good.

1) Harvey Mudd (Pomona/Scripps/Claremont/Pritzer)
2) Swarthmore

Both have reasonable outdoors activities, though Mudd is better for access. Swarthmore very slightly better reputation, though both are top notch. Neither are easy to get into.

Also might consider a small private school with access to reasonable engineering program via a nearby exchange program - Amherst comes to mind with UMASS engineering not particularly super-distinguished, but solid.

Edit to add: For the Midwest, Grinnell - it has a very good exchange program with top engineering progams nationwide.

[Millsie]

Utah State. I'm from Chicago and that's where I went. Loved every minute of it. I was there for the Natural Resources program but the engineering school is good, too. Outdoor activities abound. Fishing, biking, climbing not to mention the skiing. The backcountry opportunities are unlimited. Backpacking.

The only possible negative is the social aspects, i.e. drinking. Easy enough to get around.

[StormDay]

45 minutes is also way liberal of an estimate. More like 1h 15m. ...and however short the drive is, stratton is not worth it. The best skiing nearby is K-mart (which isn't all that great) and getting there in less than 2 hours isn't easy.

The trail widening and smoothing out of trails at Stratton took place just after I left RPI & the EC. I definitely get the impression that the change really wrecked the mtn. It took away all the narrow twisting trails and un-even terrain features that were fun (even for a pretty flat mtn.)

BTW: We hit Stratton just for mid-week skiing. With $20 student tix, it was easy to get there for a morning and get back for late afternoon/night classes. On weekends, we made the drive to Stowe.

[shmerham]

Also might consider a small private school with access to reasonable engineering program via a nearby exchange program - Amherst comes to mind with UMASS engineering not particularly super-distinguished, but solid.

Edit to add: For the Midwest, Grinnell - it has a very good exchange program with top engineering progams nationwide.

A bunch of liberal arts schools in New England have an exchange with Dartmouth for this: Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, and Middlebury come to mind, but I know there's more (in fact Whitman in Walla Walla, WA does this as well).

[cj001f]

A bunch of liberal arts schools in New England have an exchange with Dartmouth for this: Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, and Middlebury come to mind, but I know there's more (in fact Whitman in Walla Walla, WA does this as well).

Do they get used much? I remember talking to a bunch of places like Carleton, etc. that all had exchange programs, but they weren't much used (like maybe a student a year) and the people who I've talked to since that participated weren't terribly enthused by the programs - useful if you were interested in the Grad School career route, but not so useful if you wanted to start a career with a BS. The engineering school approach to education seems to run counter to the liberal arts college approach as well.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Do they get used much?

CantDog did it- if he can, anyone can.

Kidding!

I was going to mention Grinnell, in Iowa- not anywhere near skiing, but small and very very good. My college counselor told me that if it was in the East, I wouldn't have a chance in hell at getting in (and I did okay getting into small EC liberal arts schools, lo those 10 years ago).