Best Colleges for Skiing?

Not looking to rain on your parade but what does Snodad say about you wanting to ski 75+ days a season in college?  

Seems like you would need his support to pay for the skiing, car, gas, equipment, school etc.  with the schedule you are talking about you won't have time for a job.  At some point you may be surprised to find out you have to start paying for recreational activities yourself.

I hope that my son is skiing 100+ days in college but only if that means he is skiing ncaa and fis level.  Otherwise the most I would sign up for as a dad is a couple days a week which would probably in a race coaching role and getting paid to ski.

frk wrote

you vastly underestimate the amount of work you will have, especially if you go into the hard science area. are you going to college to ski or for school? your parents are going to be spending a lot of money gambling/investing in your future. schooling comes first.

Man, I'm surprised to see so much hate on this ski forum for a kid who wants to ski in college. I got around 50-75 days a year in college and I didn't even press it (well, besides Sunday River opening day all four years). It's easily doable, and I never skied at night. College breaks are long and weekends are for skiing. And as for "hard sciences are a lot of work", I double majored in Geology and Biology and minored in Math. And I had a radio show 3 hours a week. As for a job, that's what summer construction season is for.

Sno, you can do this. Put yourself in the position you want to be (i.e. Don't go to school in Buffalo like TBatt), and make it happen. Night skiing does get old, though.

Coach Z wrote

I hope that my son is skiing 100+ days in college but only if that means he is skiing ncaa and fis level.  Otherwise the most I would sign up for as a dad is a couple days a week which would probably in a race coaching role and getting paid to ski.

My wife and I shell out a 100k a year for college for my daughters ..I would shit in my hat if my kid skied more then 5 days a season. Not including their regular vacations..

My dad told me that I obviously want to ski in college and need to consider location and access to skiing as part of choosing where I go.  He has told me that I could actually end up skiing more days when I am in college compared to what I do now.  He told me that I should plan for my workload to be similar to having a full time job, but that still leaves plenty of time for skiing.  As for having a job to pay for some of it myself, that's what summer waterpark season is for, or if I get an internship, I'd probably be paid even more.  I saved over 2000 dollars from my job this past summer.  That's enough for 2 season passes, plus any ski club membership fees I might need to pay, but my dad still pays for my skiing, so the money is staying in the bank and I'm going to save up even more.

mattchuck2 wrote

Man, I'm surprised to see so much hate on this ski forum for a kid who wants to ski in college. I got around 50-75 days a year in college and I didn't even press it (well, besides Sunday River opening day all four years). It's easily doable, and I never skied at night. College breaks are long and weekends are for skiing. And as for "hard sciences are a lot of work", I double majored in Geology and Biology and minored in Math. And I had a radio show 3 hours a week. As for a job, that's what summer construction season is for.

I agree with you Matt, if you treat College like a job, work at it 5 days a week 8 to 10 hours a day, stay away from drugs and alcohol and fraternities, college will be a breeze for a smart kid. You may not be able to reach your goal because night skiing will take a lot of time and pursuing meaningless goals like x number of days on skis should not be the highest priority but if you use the time between classes (and there is a lot), take those 7AM or 8AM classes and never let yourself get behind there will be lots of time to ski. I am sure if you are bringing home the grades, SnoDad won't say a word. Make a deal with him, keep the grades B or better and the money keeps flowing. However, one thing to consider - if you choose to pursue a science or engineering career, better think about another 2 years to knock off an MS. The job market is not like it was 10 - 15 years ago where all you needed was a BS in engineering and the ability to fog a mirror.

snoloco wrote

As for having a job to pay for some of it myself, that's what summer waterpark season is for, or if I get an internship, I'd probably be paid even more.  I saved over 2000 dollars from my job this past summer.  

Many good engineering schools like Northeastern have Co-op programs. I was able to do this and completely pay for my college, no loans, no Daddy's money. Usually this will add a year to your college but it also gives you two years of work experience. I was lucky enough to land a co-op job working for the Government and exited with a  top secret clearance and was therefore a real hot commodity in the job market.  My first employer paided for my MS degree and then research grants paid for the rest and actually paid for the spade work to launch my first startup.

snoloco wrote

Many good engineering schools like Northeastern have Co-op programs. I was able to do this and completely pay for my college, no loans, no Daddy's money. Usually this will add a year to your college but it also gives you two years of work experience. I was lucky enough to land a co-op job working for the Government and exited with a  top secret clearance and was therefore a real hot commodity in the job market.  My first employer paided for my MS degree and then research grants paid for the rest and actually paid for the spade work to launch my first startup.

My daughter is senior at Cornell Engineering. The job market isn't that strong and starting salaries are only so so..She will probably stay for her masters. It's a one year program.

With her work load, she has only been able to ski a few days semester..

JasonWx wrote

 

My wife and I shell out a 100k a year for college for my daughters ..

Geezus!!!!

That made me

JasonWx wrote

  shit in my hat  

Like Mattchuck said, why am I being flamed for wanting to ski in college on a ski forum?

snoloco wrote

Like Mattchuck said, why am I being flamed for wanting to ski in college on a ski forum?

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

Engineering degrees and 100 day ski seasons are usually mutually exclusive. Even if you manage to get 50 days during winter break, getting 50 days in the spring semester as an engineering student will be very difficult. Skiing after Thanksgiving break until the end of the fall semester is almost impossible. The required courses will include a boatload of labs and labs are the nemesis to favorable ski scheduling.

Not getting flamed, just be realistic about your goals and expectations. 75+ days is admirable, but I'm with the quality over quantity crowd. As you get older, you definitely come to appreciate the quality more....

And if you think some of the schools like Dartmouth and Middlebury are long shots to get into, then perhaps 75+ days at those schools might not be a good idea.

And definitely rule out Gore because of their lack of snowmaking capabilities! Why would you ever want to go to a big place like Gore with "limited" snowmaking when you can go to a small place like West or Jiminy that pumps it out? Not all acreage is the same--I get it....Again, if all you're after is the reps then by all means go small and go often. But as I can imagine MC2 would agree, open yourself up to the possibility of rolling 50-75 days at a legit ski area other than Mountain Creek. So much to explore and master.

Sno---Lots of good advice here.  Part of growing up is listening to all ideas then forming your own.    

Generally speaking, college is not about leaning the things you are going to need to know (precisely) for your ultimate job, but rather, learning how to learn, be flexible and accomplish tasks.   Remember many successful CEOs were C students or did not finish college.   Rather, they likely got involved in LOTs of stuff.     Paying 50+K to attend college ONLY for the classes would be a mistake.    If you take your idea of a path with 100 days of skiing and attending class....you will miss out on "college life"  the indirect benefit of college.    

Getting to know 40-200 people really well, people whom you can help and will help/mentor you your entire life.    

PeeTex wrote

I agree with you Matt, if you treat College like a job, work at it 5 days a week 8 to 10 hours a day, stay away from drugs and alcohol and fraternities, college will be a breeze for a smart kid. You may not be able to reach your goal because night skiing will take a lot of time and pursuing meaningless goals like x number of days on skis should not be the highest priority but if you use the time between classes (and there is a lot), take those 7AM or 8AM classes and never let yourself get behind there will be lots of time to ski. I am sure if you are bringing home the grades, SnoDad won't say a word. Make a deal with him, keep the grades B or better and the money keeps flowing. However, one thing to consider - if you choose to pursue a science or engineering career, better think about another 2 years to knock off an MS. The job market is not like it was 10 - 15 years ago where all you needed was a BS in engineering and the ability to fog a mirror.

Yes, PeeTex is describing the right way to do it. It sucks to drag your ass out of bed and get to 8am classes, but that's the way to dominate. I scheduled everything so I was done by noon on most days (except for lab classes in the afternoon), and I used the 1:00 to 5:00 time to finish the work I needed to do for the other classes. Then you're done, you're not putting in late nights like the idiot procrastinators, and you're free to party, hang with women, or do extracurricular stuff at night. In college, you get to see how lazy people are and how it really doesn't take THAT much work to produce results, but most people don't even want to do that (you'll be able to recognize these people because they'll come up to you to talk and bullshit and complain how much work they need to do instead of just actually sitting down and doing the work).

Agree that a lot of fields require Master's degrees these days, but if you look at Job postings, they usually say: Master's degree or two years of relevant work experience. If you're a guy who gets shit done, employers will take you over a guy with lots of degrees, but no actual abilities.

SIAWOL wrote

Not getting flamed, just be realistic about your goals and expectations. 75+ days is admirable, but I'm with the quality over quantity crowd. As you get older, you definitely come to appreciate the quality more....

And if you think some of the schools like Dartmouth and Middlebury are long shots to get into, then perhaps 75+ days at those schools might not be a good idea.

And definitely rule out Gore because of their lack of snowmaking capabilities! Why would you ever want to go to a big place like Gore with "limited" snowmaking when you can go to a small place like West or Jiminy that pumps it out? Not all acreage is the same--I get it....Again, if all you're after is the reps then by all means go small and go often. But as I can imagine MC2 would agree, open yourself up to the possibility of rolling 50-75 days at a legit ski area other than Mountain Creek. So much to explore and master.

Agree that legit ski areas are a good goal. If he's talking Stowe and Bolton, he's on the right track.

Disagree that Middlebury or Dartmouth will be significantly harder than UVM or Plymouth State or something. Any school you go to will have people smarter than you and people dumber than you. There will also be people who have higher grades and people who have lower grades. But there isn't a lot of connection between the two lists. People who are smart but don't work will get beat by people who aren't as smart but work their asses off. So, as in the rest of life: put yourself where you want to be, work hard, ski hard, and enjoy yourself.

Agree 100% with Peetex and Mattchuck.....     I attended all classes, got out by 12:00, only needed 3 hrs x 4 days of study/work, per week and graduated 4.0.   Gym, extra, frat etc...was all then FUN...because I needn't worry about doing my work, "sometime".    I planned the time.    

That and worked two jobs......no loans, but not much skiing either.    



If you went to an Eastern/Western ski town, you could surely fit in ski days, especially if you did not need to work.    However, in my view the skiing would need to take place AFTER your study time, which would likely put it into the night realm, which there is not much of at larger mountains.    Speaking only for me, the high I get from skiing and then the resulting fatigue, would not be conducive to cracking the books when I came home.    

   

After thinking about Snos posts I think the following advice might be better, and don't take this the wrong way. He is so focused on the skiing maybe he is not ready for college yet. 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. If you show good progression, grades and commitment they will be glad to take you, it's sometimes easier to get in that way and you actually save a lot of money.

Just thinking about the fact that it is so competitive getting into the top schools, not only do you need almost a 4.0 average, 1500+ SAT scores and lots of AP courses, you also need to show extracurricular activities supporting your line of study. I may be wrong but I would venture a guess that our prodigal skier falls short of what a Dartmouth, Williams or MIT would want these days.

If you think you may change your mind about your major, I suggest going to a big school. Big schools have lots of options. Small ones, not so much.

As far as skiing a certain number of days, that should be a "soft" goal assuming you have the time. Keeping the grades up should be a higher priority. And you may find some other things that you like to do. But if you can manage, then go skiing.

tom

All good advice

A ski bum semester or two sounds like it could do Sno good.  Get a job in a ski shop, ski good snow, maybe even take a class at a community college.

My best study advice is to always read the assigned material before the lectures.  Then you will listen to the lecture and be able to understand what the prof is saying.  So many kids don't do this and it keeps them behind and underperforming.  

I'd try to schedule really full days as few days of the week as possible then you could ski on the off week days.  Study on the weekend when the skiing is not as good.  Quality over pure volume should be your goal.  Even just skiing for a few hours at night often will mean way too much lost driving time.  You are not going to 10 mins to skiing like you are used to.

college is overrated!  

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).