Best Colleges for Skiing?

Also, 75 days is a hard goal.  I want to be skiing AT LEAST 75 days to keep things the same as I do now.

x10003q wrote

Nobody is flaming you. There are lots of wise people trying to give you potential situations for your college career.

Agreed, no one is flaming but rather trying to offer experience, since most of us have been there.

That said, when I typed up my replies, I was kinda thinking "if I was this kid, I wouldn't listen to advice from a bunch of no knowing older guys." LOL

It must generally be this point in life when you start dolling out advice to someone half your age knowing it won't be listened to that you have fully observed a generational split.

snoloco wrote

Bolton Valley is 35 min from UVM and Stowe is 55.  I could easily choose early morning classes that were finished by 11 and be at the ski area by 12.  In this situation, I'd probably go to Bolton for partial days/nights and Stowe for full days.  I like to be a dual passholder and have one place I use for partial days and one that I use for full days.  Currently I use Mountain Creek for partial days and Hunter for full days, although I'm often at Mountain Creek for a full day as well (that may change this season since I have my drivers license).

You certainly couldn't do any better in the east than UVM for school and Stowe for a primary pass mountain with options of day tripping to any NoVT area to change it up. Just remember that Bolton night skiing is very limited... as I alluded to before, you'll probably think MC is better night skiing than Bolton (having never skied at MC but I have skied at Bolton). I think you'll find Bolton is more about the social scene and park at night. Their terrain is very limited for night skiing, park aside. I think if you are looking at UVM, don't count on Bolton satisfying you for multiple night skiing visits per week unless you are into the park.

I do ski the park and I'm interested in making more friends that ski, so the social scene should be a good thing.  Am I correct?

ScottyJack wrote

college is overrated!  

PeeTex wrote

A better road might be to ski bum in Utah while taking the first 2 years of bull shit coarses at community college in the summer and fall and the after a few years of growing up and if you have a high GPA, jump into a 4 year school and finish up.

The beauty of life is that every choice is available to someone like snoloco. He could ski bum for a while, he could do the 2 year community college while ski bumming plan, or he could go for four years of college and wedge skiing in like I did. It's such a great time to be alive.

I agree with Matt there are so many possibilities for Sno

College is great.  Great gains are made and some mistakes that you look back and shake your head at later it's all part of the learning process. Having a good time is important.  Growing socially is even more important.  Ultimately you are there to learn, become an adult and get a job.  It's the second most expensive purchase you make in life after a house and you get out of it what you put in.  It may be the dad in me talking but I don't think this a good idea and going to really expensive as well.

Coach Z wrote

 It may be the dad in me talking but I don't think this a good idea and going to really expensive as well.

I can't parse this at all - are you using a cell phone

Yes I was typing on my iPhone while on my exercise bike.  Not conducive to good gramer or any gramer at all in this case

Not much to add, as my daughter doesn't have anything more than a ski club on the priority list, but as the parent of a college bound HS senior I find the convo interesting.

MC2 and Coach may not agree on politics, but they make some similarly good points here.

As a parent facing a 25-50 grand a year bill for college, if my daughter was in sno's shoes, I'd get behind MC2's 4-1-4 option.  School and classes has to be the focus, with social/co-curricular stuff second.  Taking a traditional course load, loading up on classes in the am, only to spend the rest of the day driving and skiing off campus, followed by dinner and crashing......that doesn't seem to allow for any focus on your studies, and would preclude you from getting involved on campus.  Bottom line is there would be no way to maximize the value of the college experience you are paying a fortune for.  The 4-1-4 seems to allow you to focus on school for the majority, but still get a ton of skiing in during the middle of the season.  Winner-winner, chicken dinner!

If skiing is going to be a higher priority than the school work and co-curricular/social scene......bypass the big bill and do the skiing/community college thing.  Live up the skiing life until you've got two years of school under your belt then transfer into a good degree program somewhere.  Personally my wife and I would probably have a fit if our daughter wanted to do something like that because we are firm believers in the 'go to college to get a job' camp, and the sooner you do that the sooner you can start your life......but I get that not everybody has the same idea about what life should be.

Thus endeth my $.02.

Slightly funny story on the 'go to college to get a job front'.  Senior year at Geneseo, finishing my BS in accounting, interviewing for jobs, juggling classes.

Along comes a conflict, with an interview in CT on the same day I have a Corporate Finance mid-term exam.  I forego the exam for the interview, couldn't get my professor to agree.  Long story short, so I don't fail the class for missing the exam with the prof being a real AH, I end up in a meeting with the Dean of Freshman.  Don't recall how I ended up with her.  Anywho, during the conversation I tell her in no uncertain terms that I am in college to get a job.  Being the touchy feely liberal arts type that she was she flips and say 'no!  you are in college to get an education, not a job.'

I told her 'that's easy for you to say, sitting behind your desk with your job!'

She didn't like that much.  Didn't fail the class and got the job I interviewed for in CT, so it worked out ok.

You're forgetting that the off season has plenty of time for getting involved on campus.  However, I like to keep it as short as possible.

I like to have consistent skiing all season long rather than have one month where I ski a lot and all the others where I hardly do at all.

My social life went to hell when I got to middle school (circa 2010) and still hasn't been fixed.  I lost almost all of the friends that I had back in elementary school and was never able to make new ones.  Now I'm a junior in high school and I still can't seem to make many friends.  I've come to pretty much accept the fact that I'll never have many friends and I will continue to miss out on things as a result.  Therefore, anyone is going to be hard pressed to see me give up any ski days to try and fix something that's a losing proposition anyways.

Bottom line is that I will be getting in all the ski days I wish while maintaining the grades I have now (unweighted GPA 3.9).  As for the rest, I'm just going play it by ear however it turns out.

Has anyone ever seen Sno and a young GSS in the same room at the same time?

JTG4eva! wrote

Slightly funny story on the 'go to college to get a job front'.  Senior year at Geneseo, finishing my BS in accounting, interviewing for jobs, juggling classes.

Along comes a conflict, with an interview in CT on the same day I have a Corporate Finance mid-term exam.  I forego the exam for the interview, couldn't get my professor to agree.  Long story short, so I don't fail the class for missing the exam with the prof being a real AH, I end up in a meeting with the Dean of Freshman.  Don't recall how I ended up with her.  Anywho, during the conversation I tell her in no uncertain terms that I am in college to get a job.  Being the touchy feely liberal arts type that she was she flips and say 'no!  you are in college to get an education, not a job.'

I told her 'that's easy for you to say, sitting behind your desk with your job!'

She didn't like that much.  Didn't fail the class and got the job I interviewed for in CT, so it worked out ok.

Love this tale.

Sno,

This is what I do as a profession. You are off to a great start. I like the range and scope of schools you have selected. You have a clear sense of how hard it can be to gain admission to Dartmouth, Williams and Middlebury. That is a rare thing. What you need to do now is think about what you want your life to look life after college. What type of earning power do you want? Can you spend your life working in an office? Do you want to work in a team environment or as a sole practitioner? Where do you see yourself living geographically? The next question is to continue to go backwards and determine what school is going to provide what you need educationally. I know you want your ski days but all of the schools on your list give you some skiing access. Now you need to explore the academic piece and try to find a good match. Once you have a good academic match, make sure that you feel a sense of "fit" with the school. Do you see kids there that you could befriend? DO they look like people you could hang with, etc. Continue to work hard and prep for standardize tests. Like it or not, the SAT and ACT are the great litmus test for schools. I'm not sure if cost is a factor but Snodad might be happy to see you at the public schools on your list. They are more affordable than some of the others.

Sno

College is your chance to change your social situation and make new friends.  College would totally suck if you do it as a loner as you miss out on so much.  Join a club, form a study group in your major, etc to meet people.  I think a fraternity could actually do wonders for you if you found the right one where you fit in.  Learning to get along and interact with 50 brothers would be great for you.  Frats are not all about drinking.  I feel I gained immensely from my fraternity experience that helped me socially and in the business world.

Are you an only child?  My son is I make a point of not letting him be a shy kid.  Fr. example when we go to the Cloudspin lounge after skiing  I give him some money and tell him to go find another kid to play air hockey with.  Been doing that since he was 5 or 6.  He now can go approach anyone and start a conversation.  I think only children benefit from being able to have an adult conversation better than other kids that also benefit them long term.

JTG4eva! wrote

Personally my wife and I would probably have a fit if our daughter wanted to do something like that because we are firm believers in the 'go to college to get a job' camp, and the sooner you do that the sooner you can start your life.

Not trying to be argumentative here, but say 4 years from now after you're out about a quarter mil and young daughter says she will get a job waiting tables at some ski resort so she can get in those ski years she missed in school - how is that going to feel?

I don't have the answer here and surely it's an individual thing, but this happens to a lot of parents.

I don't know if this helps, but some might call me a classic f-up, others might say I did it the right way?

I never got in debt.  I never even had a car loan until I graduated college, and I dicked around a long while before I decided to get serious, and when I did, I was damned serious about it.

Put it this way, I graduated HS in 1998.  I received my Bachelors degree in 2007.  I could have had a doctorate if I would have known what I wanted to do.

But I figured some stuff out, and worked, and tried some stuff out.  Some people do this and don't graduate.  Other people go 4 years right out HS and wind up going back a second or third time.  They also usually have HUGE debt.  It's hard to say.  When you are ready, you are ready...

FREE GSS!  

Goreskimom wrote

This is what I do as a profession.

Now I understand your FB feed!