.wow apparently you guys have the most obscured perspective on this topic
SFU is an incredible school. i am finishing my fourth year there now, starting my honors thesis in the summer and have enjoyed my whole experience there. ive been studying environmental geography there and that program has been incredible and has allowed me maximum flexibility to pursue my outside interests.
School wise: there are many programs to choose from. scheduling is often very condensed (i.e. ive been a full time student every semester for four years, taken one full time summer semester, and have managed to only be in class 2 days a week for a majority of those semesters). There are a number of incredible departments and renowned professors there, and the student body is as friendly as you want them to be. Granted the on campus life is not all wet t-shirt contests, football games, sorority/frat parties, and dorm room pranks- but in reality are you going to school to learn and mature, or to wake up embarrassed feeling like shit. At sfu, you wake up embarrassed feelin like shit in the comfort of your apartment far removed from your school life, clean yourself up and go there to get rejuvenated
Party wise: I lived on campus for a semester, and partied every night yadayadayada. Residence is isolated and a very small community. gets old very quickly. I have lived near downtown Vancouver (within 20 minutes of SFU by bus) for a number of years, and it has been the perfect balance. I live very near to the downtown core, and moved to Vancouver to live a city life. In a city life, you party as much as you want when you want, theres enough people here to keep the place poppin. So let yourself choose your party portion, rather than those in the dorm room next to you decide.
Ski wise: SFU is located with the easiest access out of the universities, to every mountain around. It is far easier to get to Mount Seymour (less than 1/2 hour)(finest mountain around as i'm sure you heard) and those other tourist traps on the shore are easy too i heard. The highway is located nearby(unlike UBC) so mount baker and that other huge bankrupt mountain are within an easy 2 hours. The scheduling of schooling that I mentioned earlier has allowed me to ski more days in a season than i ever have before. Allowed me to work full time/school full time.
SFU is a great choice-for someone who is looking to learn true independence while getting a world class education.
Hit me with questions