College at Boulder or East Coast?

If your looking to go to a school and be able to ski, boulder is not your best choice. Its not exactly the quick drive like it is from U of U, U of Reno, or MSU.
 
east coast: plymouth state university. 20 min from loon/waterville and best party scene on earth
 
I think this is a bit bleaker than it really is. Obviously there are days with horrible traffic like that, but these days can be avoided. They are generally at the end of holidays and when it snows enough that the hazmat vehicles have to go through the tunnel on the highway. There are ways these things can be avoided by meeting a friend with a place in the mountains, skiing backcountry closer to Boulder, or skiing on a weekday that you have off school. Also, Eldora is not a bad back option, especially when you are a freshman and don't know someone to stay with.

Otherwise, I think it would be important to look at what you want to go to school in. CU has really strong programs in engineering and hard sciences, but some of the liberal arts programs are not so strong.
 
i regrret every 1 and a half years that i spent (except homies like dbrown) that i spent at UCONN on the east before i moved west. i have met some of the best people of my life on the west. it is just the mentality here, its unbelievable and i hope you can enjoy it. boulder. (ps. i transfered to u of u and have ZERO regretts)...
 
I don't think anyone can help you without more information... for example:How important is the school's academic record to you?Do you want to freeride or just ski park?For either of the above, how good are you/do you want to get? If you want to be a pro, you need to be nearer a mountain with the best park/freeride... if you just want to ski and have fun, it doesn't necessarily have to be the best. Etc etc...
 
Boulder if you want to be 'in the scene', ski flat mountains if you're lucky, party all the time and generally act a fool.

U of Utah/ Westminster/ some SLC area college if you want to ski sick mountains and have a good party/social life.

U of Reno if you want to ski Tahoe and have a good social life.

Sierra College if you want to live in Tahoe and ski everyday.

Lots of community colleges to choose from near mountains as well.

Only stay on the east if you are content not skiing powder and sticking to mundane terrain.
 
anyone have more info on this college? is it a good school academicly? it seems sick that it is at the base and right by the lake.
 
If you like parties that get broken up by cops, a lot of bros and hippies in equal amounts, and mediocre academics, get at CU. haha
 
Academics, well... while I won't say it's a joke, a friend of mine who's taken some classes there says it's pretty easy work wise, like he hasn't gone to classes for weeks and still can ace tests (note, he is a pretty smart kid). He's hated some of his profs and loved a few, seems like he's had some good classes and some bad. I think it's probably on par with most other community colleges, except it's within 30 minutes of some of the best terrain/mountains in the US. Most people I know who go there ski A LOT... night classes FTW.
 
Yes. Let's be honest. Burlington is within a 2 hour and change drive from Jay, Stowe, Bolton Valley, and Smuggs. If you take the fairy across Champlain, you have Whiteface. Add another hour and you're up to about 15 places to ski. Variety is the spice of life.
The schools on the East are better. That's a fact. No thanks on Boulder.
 
Come on boss....fairy? i think you mean ferry.
but he is right.
UVM is pretty damn sick ski wise, and as of now (probably not for long) is a good place to get an education. I've skied 260+ days in my 3 years at UVM....and i'm graduating early.
Yes, you won't ski the sheer amount of pow that you get out west, but the terrain is far from mundane as mentioned earlier.
UVM produced andrew whiteford and Ryan Hawks (RIP), and the Green Mountain Boys are killing it on the big mountain freeskiing scene.
so yeah, staying EC is not bad option.
 
Western State College of Colorado. not the hardest school to get into but you get out what you put in. there is something to be said for the fact that alot of professors take pay cuts just to live and teach in this valley. Crested Butte is the sickest and you have some of the best backcountry in the state at your feet.
 
yeah man, dont make life choices based on things you love to do, especially ones that involve shit loads of awesome people and fun. life is all about money bro, so do what society tells you, and your parents tell you, and shoot for yale, or oxford, or harvard. but jesus christ man dont go anywhere TO SKI!!!! that would be a stupid move.
plastic bags are bad for the environment, and a_pla5tic_bag's advice is detrimental to anyones mental environment, follow what you love.
seriously though, boulder is not the best for skiing, maybe for partying, and getting with a lot of random girls, and subsequently getting a few random infections you cant pronounce. but boulder is a ton of fun, and for sure a step up from the east coast. i chose to go to the u of u, and love every second of it. i spend my summers in boulder, really is a wonderful town, but the skiing is just far as fuck away.
 
I'd argue it's very different in the Stept crew's situation seeing as you guys go to school in the summer and fall, take the spring semester off and ski all winter. Not many people do that.
As for the fight, it wouldn't be right to beat up a son of Paul and Nancy... unless it was Alex.
 
ya got a plan for after college? any professional career?

if you care THAT MUCH about skiing, don't waste your money on college and be in debt from student loans, that will only further your inability to be a ski bum. go get the fun out of your system and then go learn once you find something that interests you. not much you can learn about skiing in college. that's my take on it...I took a year off and I had a fantastic time living the dream for a year. then I realized I didn't want to be a bum and I had interests outside of a niche lifestyle. Went from skiing 90 days a year to 20...still lovin life and learning more than I ever could if I were still stuck on the view that whatever gives you the best high at this moment needs to dominate your life. There is a lot more out there than skiing that is just as fucking awesome.
 
Fryantor, i do mang, im majoring in atmospheric sciences, there are many "profesional" things I can choose to do, and everyone of them will still allow me to ski. if by professional you are referring to something involving business, or macroscale economics, or anything having to do with making shit loads of money, then fuck no. that is not a life i care to live, nor is money something that is a motivator in life. you may not be able to understand it, but have no desire to be rich, simply to have enough to live on. which is not as much as people would think. money is the root of all evil in society today, i would rather be rich in thought than rich in a bank. and just in case it hasnt hit you yet, any college degree is better than none, regardless of what college, or what major, as long as you have a degree. i do not worry about my future because i know it will work out by my own design.
and alex, that is not what i said, though i can see how it may have been interpreted that way, which was not my intent. i was trying to make a point that plastic bags comment brought to light the way he thinks, which is most likely that academics and all that shit should be put before fun. which i do not agree with. academics can be integrated into fun. so go where you want to ski if thats what youre shooting for.
 
fuck the haters, go somewhere where youll have fun on the daily. your environment is a giant part of your overall mood and personality. dont be miserable to get some piece of paper thats a little bit better than one from a lesser school in a better area.
 
Also fryanator, i understand there is more than skiing, trust me, i do so much more shit than just ski dont think that i am only about it, because that is not accurate whatsoever. i have passions like any one else, and one of them is skiing, which is why it will be a large PART of my life forever. but not my WHOLE life
 
The truth. Be happy where you go to college because it is better to go to a shittier school and have an amazing life experience than go to a maybe better school somewhere you don't like and have a shitty experience.

Go where you want to go. It will be a giant factor in your life.
 
this is my plan. I have absolutely no idea what i want to do in life besides ski, but that is a childs dream and i will never be able to make money off of skiing. so i plan on taking a year off and getting the fun out and deciding what I want to do which i hope is somewhere in the ski industry.
and Rogge i think you would get your ass kicked in a fight. even though your fingers are strong from typing articles all day.
 
By professional I mean something that you're good at. Something that you can have a career in. That applies to a wide range of jobs. You are putting words into my mouth. To top it off, you went onto a rant about how money is the root of all evil...which shows me you don't understand the reasons for its existence. I won't go into that this isn't for this thread.

Academics ARE fun. You learn about the world around you. You find things out that you would have never dreamed of if your head was stuck in the snow. If you don't find school to be fun, why do it in the first place? Why limit your happiness being stuck doing something you don't want to do? You can be a ski bum, it's easy as hell. I did it when I was 18. You can ski your whole life...taking a couple years off won't kill you. Besides, unless you go to school in bumfuck nowhere middle america then you should be able to find a hill to ski on. Every great academic school has skiing available, in my eyes you are limiting your future opportunities in life by only looking at schools that have less academic potential than where you could be at.

All I'm saying is that my ability to distance myself from skiing opened me up to the world in a very different way. I still LOVE skiing, but I could go a year or two without it. I am finding things that are just as interesting to me that I can get just as obsessed with.
 
So many universities on the West Coast are overlooked when they really aren't bad universities for skiing and they're excellent universities for academics. Among the neglected:

Seattle University is only 1.5 hours from Stevens Pass and less to Snoqualmie or 2 hours to Crystal. You could also conceivably get to Baker pretty easily. And the academics are quite good. Plus you're in Seattle, one of the coolest cities in the country.

Western Washington University is smaller, less competitive, and a state school. But it's less than an hour from Mt. Baker. And you know what that means: it's an hour from the resort that holds the record for most snowfall in a single season. Ever.

University of Washington is about an hour from Stevens Pass. And it has top-notch academics in every respect. A state school, you're at an advantage if you're from out of state due to Washington's budget deficit issues.

Gonzaga University is in Spokane (eastern Washington) and only 45 minutes away from Mt. Spokane for park and night skiing and only 1.5 hours away from Schweitzer for worthwhile skiing. Plus there are three other resorts within a two hour drive. That's not to mention the academics and the community at this private, Jesuit university.

if Gonzaga is out of your reach, consider Eastern Washington University (Cheney, WA), Washington State University (Pullman, WA), University of Idaho (Moscow, ID), Whitworth University (Spokane, WA), North Idaho College (Coeur d'Alene, ID).

University of Portland is only an hour away from Mt. Hood, which means that you can have skiing nearly year-round and excellent academics. And private schools mean generous financial aid packages and close-knit communities.

None of these universities receive enough credit for being top-notch academically while still being quite close to great skiing. The schools market the skiing. But no one notices. Is that because they are too selective, I wonder? Is the skiing less than par? Because that certainly has not been my experience. Again, the resorts represented by this list:

Stevens Pass, WA

Snoqualmie Pass, WA

Crystal Mountain, WA

Mt. Baker, WA

Mt. Spokane, WA

49 Degrees North, WA

Schweitzer, ID

Silver Mountain, ID

Lookout Pass, ID

Mt. Hood Meadows, OR

Timberline Lodge, OR

Mt. Hood Ski Bowl, OR

...yeah, definitely not top-notch resorts. Who wants to ski with these crowds, anyway? (Note: That was sarcasm.)
 
The only school I would consider to be "good" or even second-tier academic-wise in that list was UW. Just saying...how well your school is known and its reputation is incredibly important after college.
 
I should have been more specific. These schools are "More Selective." And what is a "good" university for one may not be a "good" university for another. They're still miles better than what has been suggested so far. Which was my intent.
 
i gotcha now. i would agree that you have to have fun wherever you go, but you cant sacrifice academics just for that. as people have been arguing, your school's reputation is incredibly important after you graduate from college. you can integrate the two but theres no point fucking your future self over by making a bad decision for the next 4 years.
 
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