College

**Rontele** · 10-06-2006, 07:57 AM

glade, I wen to U of M Ann Arbor for undergrad and Northwestern for law school. The kids that go NU are fucking dorks. Evanston is a quasi-dump and not worth your time.

Ann Arbor, on the other hand, is the single greatest college experience possible. AA kicks some serious ass--having the best restaurants for a college town, the school is a lot of fun, the education is amazing, and every Saturday during the fall, you and 110,000 of your closest friends get to watch Michigan play football.

**PassTheDutchie** · 10-06-2006, 08:01 AM

I went to Madison for undergrad--a great four year experience (five actually), but a mediocre education in hindsight; I live in Evanston now and have lots of Northwestern connections. Fire away if you have any questions on either.

Good luck in your journey. I wish I were a senior in high school about to go to college again...

Evanston is a quasi-dump and not worth your time.

I'd strongly disagree with this--Evanston is not a college town on the order of Ann Arbor or Madison (which kicks AA's ass up and down, by the way Rontele

) but it's a beautiful community with a fair amount to do on the doorstep of one of the great cities of the world...

**Rontele** · 10-06-2006, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by PassTheDutchie

I went to Madison for undergrad--a great four year experience (five actually), but a mediocre education in hindsight; I live in Evanston now and have lots of Northwestern connections. Fire away if you have any questions on either.

Good luck in your journey. I wish I were a senior in high school about to go to college again...

but won't you agree that a majority of the undergrads at NU are NERDS

**PassTheDutchie** · 10-06-2006, 08:10 AM

but won't you agree that a majority of the undergrads at NU are NERDS

Undeniably

And they play football in a middle school stadium.

**mitch buchannon** · 10-06-2006, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by Rontele

but won't you agree that a majority of the undergrads at NU are NERDS

NU is full of NERDS, fo' sho. However, I also dispute that Evanston is a dump at all. I actually like the hell out of Evanston and the north shore of Chicago in general... just needs some mountains.

My suggestion about Chicago as a destination is to be cognizant of the fact that outdoor activities rank right below root canals on the favorites list of most Chicagoans.

**seldon** · 10-06-2006, 08:17 AM

While I made the decision to leave the West Coast and Bay Area skiing for an east coast school of roughly equal caliber, and to this point it hasn't yet occurred to me to be upset about missing skiing. College is so far such an insane mix of everything you always wanted to do (except sleeping) that you really can put your passions into whatever.

That said, I still go home to the West Coast and will be skiing out west all my breaks. So, coming from the East Coast you don't have that go-home-to-ski-good-shit option. I don't know. I have a couple good friends who just went to Brown who absolutely love it, but I don't think any of my friends aren't having a fantastic time so far, so I wouldn't stress out too much about it. The process is a total bitch (I was deferred and ended up getting in that school but then had to make a decision b/c of options) and is super-stressful at times but just see the light at the end of the tunnel and the snow falling in January.

Best of luck to you Glades
-john

**homerjay** · 10-06-2006, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by glademaster

Atmospheric sciences or climatology.

Glade,

One of my best friends (and the namesake of the run we repeatedly skied together) is in the atmospheric sciences PhD program at CU-Boulder. Let me know if you'd like his contact info.

You're a smart kid...if you have a chance to go to a school like Brown, or many of the other top tier schools on your list, go there. I think priortizing the quality of skiing over the quality of your education is retarded.

Best of luck, dude!
Jeff

**crashnburn'd** · 10-06-2006, 08:22 AM

I have no real input and didn't read what others have posted, but if you like to drink a lot (and by a lot, I mean a lot) then Madison is for you. Madison is a pretty cool town, but there's nothing of significance in the area.

**lemon boy** · 10-06-2006, 08:22 AM

glade-

Good luck wherever you end up, college rules. absolutely weight your decision toward schools with decent proximity to recreation it will improve (or ruin) your college experience 100 fold

**Froman** · 10-06-2006, 08:30 AM

I went to Madison, and I thought the academics were great. I studied engineering, and most of my friends were in B-school. They are doing a lot better than I am, financially, but I ski a lot more.

Visit Madison ASAP, before it gets too cold. Visit the departments your thinking of majoring in, tour campus, sit on the Terrace if is a nice fall afternoon, and check out the surrounding town.

If you attend Madison, get involved with Hoofers right away - the schools outdoor club. They do a winter trip every January to a different ski area every year, and a spring break trip to Jackson Hole.

A lot of people get caught up in the drinking - but theres a lot more to do besides drink. Theres three lakes in the area, amazing road biking right out your door, mountain biking within an hour drive, and great nordic skiing (when it snows).

**lemon boy** · 10-06-2006, 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by Froman

Visit Madison ASAP, before it gets too cold.

Sez it all right there.

**bagtagley** · 10-06-2006, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by Rontele

Ann Arbor, on the other hand, is the single greatest college experience possible. AA kicks some serious ass--having the best restaurants for a college town, the school is a lot of fun, the education is amazing, and every Saturday during the fall, you and 110,000 of your closest friends get to watch Michigan play football.

Having to watch Michigan football alone would drop it to the bottom of my list. Greatest college experience...HA!

**PassTheDutchie** · 10-06-2006, 08:50 AM

I went to Madison, and I thought the academics were great. I studied engineering, and most of my friends were in B-school.

Froman makes a good point: I'll amend my "mediocre education" statement slightly. At Madison, if you want to major in any non-sciencey or business type program, you can do a very limited amount of work, have very little contact with your proffs, learn very little and do fine academically. In many courses at a school as large as Wisconsin, you won't be challenged academically unless you challenge yourself. In the end, you'll get out of it what you put in to it.

**Showtime06** · 10-06-2006, 09:44 AM

What about some of the NESCAC schools... bowdoin, williams, colby, middlebury, amherst... those are all great schools with skiing near by and very very good environmental science programs... def worth a look

**mr_gyptian** · 10-06-2006, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by givebackbloom

Is DU really that snooty as I have heard from people?

not at all. It's actually quite the melting pot.

**Buzzworthy** · 10-06-2006, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by homerjay

I think priortizing the quality of skiing over the quality of your education is retarded.

Best of luck, dude!

Glade, I have met you and you are a bright kid. I have to totally agree with Homer on this one. But my opinion is probably in the minority here. I guess I am growing up.

**gramps** · 10-06-2006, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by Woodsy

how old are you again?!?
more to college than skiing and skiing can be had after.

Ahh Christ, there are zero skiing options on his college list, except UVM, out East and very last on the list. I have no doubt there are plenty of people telling him exactly what you just said, I'm just trying to put the other side of the coin out there. Having just graduated college, I know that if I hadn't come out to Utah to ski, I sure as hell wouldn't be getting after it now. It seems like a lifetime ago I was picking colleges, and my life would be totally different if I had gone to ASU or something instead. That's just my personal experience, maybe it doesn't apply to anyone else.

Oh, and I made my short list of colleges by which ones gave me full rides, (UofU, ASU) and location (CU Boulder, UofU) not the best school I could get into. Only one of those school was on both lists, so I went with it. I didn't even bother applying to private schools, cause I'm a cheap bastard. I also don't know if that's the smartest way to do things, but I do know it's nice to graduate with very little debt, and the degree is working fine so far. I think there's an over-emphasis (especially out East) on how "good" of a school you get into. I think it makes more sense to just move out West, where almost everybody goes to big state schools, save yourself up to $100K in tuition (unless you go to Boulder), and seek out a good education for yourself. Again just my own opinion.

**homerjay** · 10-06-2006, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by mr_gyptian

not at all. It's actually quite the melting pot.

Yeah, BOTH billionaires AND millionaires!

**lemon boy** · 10-06-2006, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by gramps

Ahh Christ, there are zero skiing options on his college list, except UVM,

I see there was little geography in your coursework

Berzerkely & UW-S would both count as schools with easy access to der goods while not being "in the mountains" they're not that far.

I still disagree with buzz and homer- unless this is some sort of all consuming passion in your life and you MUST go to the BEST undergrad* and it absolutely isn't near skiing, the actual academics of an undergrad pale in comparison to what a good college experience is and should be about. I doubt that any of the schools listed are that disparate in their degree programs and some of them would blow goats nuts for a serious skier.

*and come on, we're talkin undergrad here too

**Steven S. Dallas** · 10-06-2006, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by Entropy

I have never put too much stock in an Ivy League undergrad education, all the ppl I have worked with who have one have nothing more then me aside from more school debt and a cooler looking diploma on thier wall.

It depends what you want to do- if you're interested in Wall Street-type finance shit, you've got a real leg up coming from one o' them fancy colleges. The "Harvard Premium" is not a myth. For sciences and stuff, I would guess that good grades, a good thesis, and good recs from your professors are far more important than where you went to school.

**Tippster** · 10-06-2006, 11:35 AM

You'd go to Michigan before Berkeley? Really? Why?

**gramps** · 10-06-2006, 11:36 AM

I missed the Seattle school. I'm sure it's just that my reading comprehension and geography skills never fully developed due to my second rate state school education.

What's close to Berkeley?

**Tippster** · 10-06-2006, 11:56 AM

...since it's all about what's closeby skiing-wise, not about the edumacayshun. Does Tahoe qualify if you're a poor college kid?

**mr_gyptian** · 10-06-2006, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Tippster

You'd go to Michigan before Berkeley? Really? Why?

The ghetto's of Oakland aren't quite as bad as the ghetto's of Ann Arbor.

Seriously, if you ski at all Berkeley is a no brainer. it's not next door to Tahoe, but 2.5-3hrs from there is a helluva lot better than MU.