Best Colleges for Skiing?

From what we are seeing with our grand daughter is that the incentive packages from the elite private schools with big endowments is providing a cost point less than even in state tuition and there is very little aid for in state schools. Seems the states have squeezed the budgets for those schools so much that they have nothing to "give".

As far as working your way up in the ski biz, that seems to be correct from what I see from all the people I know in the biz. One kid I know got an Electrical Engineering degree at a very good school, he could have walked into a job with a major company earning what would over $100K/yr but because of his love for skiing went to work for Lietner - Poma installing lifts, he was one of the early crew on BRQ. LP trained him on everything lift related. He then took a job as Lift Ops #1 at Revelstokes and is now some Mucky Muck at Aspen Ski Co. That's the way to do it, get a supplier to the industry to train you. The guy is now 34 years old and having the time of his life. I would think that if you followed that path you'd get where you want to go. - Ethan's path might be through Civil Engineering as he likes snowmaking & area planning or Electrical or Mechanical Engineering for Sno as he likes lifts. There is no way most people interested in pursuing a career in the ski industry would have the credentials to beat you out of a job, particularly if you took the extra time to tack on a PE license before you graduated - hell, you'd be unstoppable.

Ethan Snow wrote

I guess I don't understand how that's saving money.

Only an arrogant, 'non-profit' institution would claim to be saving you money by spending $60,000.

I am also well aware of the 'nobody pays list' scam. Even if Clarkson gives you a so called discount to $45K (or whatever the real price is for people who will never get financial aid), that's still 100% more than your high school costs. My son took multiple AP courses and a few college credit courses while he was in public high school and started college with 12 credits. It cost me about $1400.

Frankly the very BEST value is to take college courses offered by COLLEGE faculty in your high school . I operated many of these programs in my career and our hs kid took a COLLEGE transcript to their institution of choice when seeking eventual fulltime matriculation ,

I had kids get CREDIT at HARVARD from this COLLEGE in The High School Program approach . It is cost effective since many of our school boards who participated paid HALF the COST upon sucessful completion and presentation of the COLLEGE TRANSCRIPT certifyingit was an accredited course from an. Accredited instuition , taught bt actual college professors NOT hs teachers

This is by far the MOST cost effect way to get credit in hs . I had many high quality kids 24-30 credit hrs ove. R their last 2 yrs of hs . The gate keepers were thecertified  hs record and admissability to college level work .

Dad can I have 45 grand becuase I can't make any friends in high school?  I don't think so.

Sno you do realized that Clarkson is 1:45 to WF and an hour to Titus.  You are probably only going to ski one day a week in this program.

You start a year early and graduate a year early, so it costs the same as going to college on a normal track.  If I don't go to TCS, I graduate college in 2021, if I do go to TCS, I graduate college in 2020.

That I have no friends is only part of the reason I want to go.  It's a very tight nit community of people similar to me.  I'd find some good friends there and that something I will try very hard to make happen.  I'm not challenged in high school and am ready for more rigorous academics.  I already take college level courses in high school, but I'm not really challenged by them.  I am capable of more, and this program gives me the opportunity to do more.

I'm not expecting to ski bum while in this program.  That doesn't mean I won't ski at all, in fact I'll ski quite a bit.  I'd be looking to get 2 days a week, 1 more or less contingent on my work load.  I'd likely have some friends that would go with me most of the time.

Are you going to have a car there?  If not how do get to skiing?

How many kids are in this program?

Are you going to buy a ski3 pass?  When you are home for Xmas break you can road trip to Bellerye

Coach, that makes sense. I feel like online degrees are the new fad, and a lot of people have told me that it is the way to go. Personally, I have always appreciated the live interaction in the classroom. I do take some classes online because it shortens the number of days that I have to commute. Many of my classes are very hands on, and there is absolutely no way that the topics could ever be learned online. I appreciate people like you who still believe in the old way of doing things.

As far as MBA in the ski business, since when did I ever say that I was going to spend the rest of my life in Ski Area Management? I love the concept, and obviously its a dream of mine, but believe it or now, I have much broader interests than just skiing. Do you think Laszlo bought Plattekill right out of college? No, he didn't. I seriously considered pursuing a BBA, but my personal interests are on the more technical side of things, and TBH, there is currently a much better job marked for someone with a BS in automation. I also strongly believe that the knowledge I will acquire through this program will be very valuable in the ski biz, in case that opportunity ever arrives for me.

For me, the MBA will allow me a management position in a shorter period of time. I will definitely consider earning it the traditional way. As much as I would like to work in the ski biz for my whole life, I believe that experience in other industries is going to be incredibly helpful, and maybe even necessary for my success. If I can find a job that uses my education and skills in the ski business, than that would be great, but it is not my only option. And, I suppose that there is always the possibility that Woodstream may become something bigger someday.

There are plenty of subjects that are well suited to on line course work.  Some of them like stats and basic accounting would be part of a MBA.  The core MBA courses are very interactive where you learn a great deal interacting with your fellow students in class discussions.

Best of luck with your studies.

Ethan Snow wrote

For me, the MBA will allow me a management position in a shorter period of time.

Not if the hiring manager has other candidates with experience and/or has a clue. I work as a manager in a retail environment and handle hiring. I will ALWAYS take experience over education for the people I hire. Eventually, if you want to work your way up high enough, an MBA may help. But it isn't a requirement for general management. You can learn a helluva lot more about managing by working your way up and actually managing people and operations than you can sitting in a classroom. An MBA is an important credential for a lot of jobs. Ski area management isn't one of them, I don't think. Get a job at a ski area while working your bachelor's, work hard and make it known to management that you have ambitions and you want more work, especially jobs that involve supervising others. Managers LOVE to see this type of thing and you'll quickly find yourself being promoted to positions of higher responsibility if you do good work. That will get you into a management position from which you can start working on your MBA if you want, and try to climb up that ladder. Show up with an MBA and no experience in your young 20s and you'll get a lot of weird looks and hesitant hiring managers. Nothing is scarier to a hiring manager than having to consider a recent college grad with no experience.

Retail like the ski industry is not a good fit for a MBA.  Virtually 100% of the time you would have more education than the person hiring which will cause that person to look for a reason to not hire.

I strongly believe that you should not get an MBA until you have at least 3 years of biz experience.  I recall a few other agreed with this sentiment.  

Ethan said he was planning to work in other industries.

I was holding off on this but I'll say it anyway, when I advise companies on whether or not to invest in a startup aside from the tangibles I look at the education of the management, too many PhDs or MBAs and I advise then to run away - the more the faster. A CTO that has a masters is great, a CEO with an MBA - run. A CFO with an Ivy MBA - run really fast. The failure rate is just too high and usually these guys are snake oil salesman. The conventional wisdom on the street these days is that an MBA is worthless.

On what Street?  On Wall Street everyone has an MBA  

Ptex is a techno weenie who all think that you don't need people to actually run the company.  I'd be afraid to work with a start up as a major vendor that didn't have good staff on the biz side becuase you can have the best new medical device but if you can't raise funds or market it you won't be successful.

My MBA was part of what got me hired in all 3 of the companies I've worked for since I got it.  I don't use everything I learned all the time but analytical skills gained are something I rely on everyday.

River,

I currently work one day a week at Plattekill. When I'm on break, I work more. I will be working 5 days a week this summer, on a variety of different things.

Coach,

Yes, I am interested in other industries, but I wouldn't be driving an hour to work at my age, and hand digging ski lift foundations and ditches for snowmaking on my 200 vert hill if I didn't have at least some interest in the ski biz. All I'm saying is that I may want an opportunity at some point in my life to actually make a lot of money and save a little. I may have to do that elsewhere.

What do you think,is the best backround for a Ski Area Manager?

What the hell, maybe I'll just be a liftie the rest of my life.

Ski area managers don't ski very much. Barely at all from what I have seen.

Ask yourself this, do you like skiing or do you like working? I really like skiing a lot more than working but that's just me.

Coach Z wrote

On what Street?  On Wall Street everyone has an MBA  

Ptex is a techno weenie who all think that you don't need people to actually run the company.

Bill Gates - MBA - No, Steve Jobs - MBA - No and I could go on and on.

You ask who on the street - well the guys with the money, the VCs:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-28/vcs-in-new-york-gently-tell-mbas-their-degrees-are-useless

This article sums it up pretty well: http://qz.com/42233/if-you-cant-get-into-a-top-five-mba-program-dont-even-bother/

If you want to be a slave working in a high rise on "the street" getting an MBA from the top 5 may be the right thing. Know what you want to get out of it though. As I said before, the conventional wisdom is that for a small company starting out, an MBA is a negative.

Ethan Snow wrote

River,

I currently work one day a week at Plattekill. When I'm on break, I work more. I will be working 5 days a week this summer, on a variety of different things.

Coach,

Yes, I am interested in other industries, but I wouldn't be driving an hour to work at my age, and hand digging ski lift foundations and ditches for snowmaking on my 200 vert hill if I didn't have at least some interest in the ski biz. All I'm saying is that I may want an opportunity at some point in my life to actually make a lot of money and save a little. I may have to do that elsewhere.

What do you think,is the best backround for a Ski Area Manager?

Depends on what company you are trying to work for.  Some are essentially real estate companies so a background in property development, construction management or real estate sales.  Others are hotel driven so a degree from Cornell hospitality school or he like would be good.  Others like WF are really ops driven so I then like the idea that some posted of working in civil engineering or with a lift company.  

It's been true for awhile that more MBA grads are looking to work in operating companies compared to just on Wall Street.  That really is more of a product of the fall out from the big market drop back in 2008-09

http://poetsandquants.com/2014/01/24/where-top-mbas-work-in-tech/

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/pf/jobs/1205/gallery.top-MBA-employers/index.html

Top 15 MBA employers
1 Google
3 Apple
6 Facebook
Also in top 15 Nike Amazon.com Walt Disney J&J
Rest are consulting firms and investment banks

Yep looks like a dying degree to me

Check your facts next time PTex

I'm hoping with my background in Mechatronics, which is a multidisciplinary field of mechanics, and electronics, that I can work with a lift company. I will have experience in everything from CADD to Statics to programming PlCs

Is that a 4 yr engineering degree?

I work with a lot of medical device manufacturers.  Sounds like a good skill set for that industry which is in growth mode.