SKI RESORT MANAGEMENT

thebabywilliam

thebabywilliam

Member
Yo fellow ns bros/gals. Im a senior in highschool looking to study ski resort management in college. Anyone that is in college or has graduated with this degree please tell me more about it. Like if you work all year round and what you do for your job exactally. I would be going to Lyndon State College if i decide to major in this. Thanks a ton!
 
I wouldn't waste the cash, go get a resort job and work your way up or get a business degree. Not a good idea to pigeon hole yourself.
 
It is a good thing to do before you go to a real university or college program. My mother used to be a ci ip consultant for a program like this in Ontario and not many people come straight out of SRO or SRM and immediately become successfull. Many decide to go to universtiy afterwards.
 
I'm a freshmen in the very program, and am working my way out of it. It's chill and seems it could get you into the door for most resort jobs, but you're not gonna be CEO any time soon. Also I would say come up and visit lyndon this winter before you make your decision, people either love it or absolutely hate it here.
 
went to school for computer network management. got hired on at local hill for systems administrator, got promoted to senior systems administrator within a year. shit is so cash. (full bennies, ski ~120 days a year whilst gettin PAID)

i recommend going to school for something like accounting/IT/marketing and trying to find a job at a ski area that way. worked for me. i don't know anybody who majored in 'ski area management' that is actually working in ski area management.

important thing is this: go to school.
 
If you want to ski a lot don't get a job in the ski industry, unless you are a pro skier.

Yes, there are a few exceptions. (inb4 14 year old calls me out and thinks differently)
 
Get a job in just management at a school with a good business school. You might find you don't really like specific ski resort management, and might need something else to go back on.

I'm a management major myself. I dont think you should waste your time specifically majoring in ski resort management.
 
Dont Do It!

Seriously, don't.

I do not have said degree and managed to move myself ahead a lot faster than any of the probably 20 people I know with that degree.

While they were writing papers and thinking they had an auto in, I was smoozing my ass off working in Marketing.

Think of it this way, the most likely new CFO/CEO is going to come from 1 of 3 places. Either a massive investor in a resort that is public, the Director of Marketing, or the Director of Operations (sometimes there are other people at the very top like Director of sales and so forth, but large resorts usually have a DO).

That being said, a Marketing Degree or a Business Degree are going to move you to the top of those fields faster than your Ski Resort Management degree. A marketing or business degree are also useful for things outside of the ski industry.... should you do something like work as a marketing coordinator for a ski resort for 3 years and see a rad job open for Line... you'd be way better off applying for it with your marketing degree than Ski Resort Management...

But alas, do what feels right.
 
I was looking into ski resort management and chose to go into natural resources recreation and tourism instead. It is similar, but also much broader. I will take management and business classes, along with classes like public relations of recreation or tourism impacts. This way I get a taste of both the business side and the outdoor recreation management side. (aka ski resorts, cruise lines, rafting, etc)
 
I visited Lyndon last April and loved it. Are there any reasons to why your getting out of it? Just because you want to make more money as you were referring to that your not going to be a CEO? I would be minoring in business if i followed through with my idea, but there's the option of majoring in a business degree at Lyndon isnt there?
 
Thank you for the imput. This really is my dream, but i dont want to do it if its not realistc. I would rather make less money doing something i love rather than make more money and not enjoy what im doing.
 
All businesses need management and marketing; why limit yourself to ski areas? With a full marketing, management, or business degree you'd have a better chance of working in any industry, including ski resorts and related. The better choice would be to major in management, marketing, whatever, and do that resort management one as a minor.

Better to have many options than one or a select few.
 
If you want to hardly ever ski again you should definitely get a job in resort management.

 
im in the adventure leadership aspect of the major and my friends that are ski resort students really like it and say that its a good program
 
this is the dumbest degree you could possibly get.. no joke.

everyone i know thats done this, just ended up going back to get a business degree and such.
 
I have been thinking that this is a good idea. I really want to go to Lyndon State, but since i already got accepted into Lyndon under Mountain Rec. Managment, do you think its too late to switch my major before i start? Thanks
 
Tuition is under $4000 and the program is 3 semesters and a work term in the second season.

For the work term you are given the opportunity to help manage developing ski resorts in China, though this year everyone stuck around in BC and Alberta.

There are plenty of successful graduates from this program who have gone on the become department managers and operations managers. One guy in his work term this season went straight into a lift supervisor position and has 50 lifties working under him. SROAM opens a lot of doors if you have the work ethic.

It's a very broad program that touches on all the different aspects of the ski industry. I would say you're only pigeon holing yourself if you don't plan on working in the ski business.
 
i go to University of Maine at Farmington and I'm in a program called outdoor recreation business administration, it's easy and everyone that skis is in it
 
I would apply to some more academically challenging schools/programs and save Lyndon as a safety, cause you will get in as long as you have a pulse.
 
Don't go to LSC it sucks. In the middle of no were, girls are ugly as shit, not a real college atmosphere, and I have better classes at my community college. But thats just my opinion.
 
i really like the program, you learn a lot of useful things and a good amount of class time is hands on learning which is way better than having someone just show you how to do something. but like the post below you says, lyndon should be more of a safety school. not that its not a good school, its just that others are better. where else are you looking?

 
Yeah, im a really good hands on learner, and thats why i like lyndon a lot. I have only got accepted into Lyndon State and University of Hartford. My grades arent that great(83% throughout high school). I really like Lyndon. I visited it last April and am going to the Accepted student days March 16th. I really want to go to a school in Vermont, I also applied to Caselton, UVM, and Champlain, but i think the only one i really have a chance of getting into would be Caselton, and i visited that campus and im not to interested compared to Lyndon. Do you know how easy it is to get a job after college with a Mountain Rec. Degree?? Thanks a ton.
 
No, if you want to go into this field don't do ski area mgmt. I'm in Parks Recreation and Tourism. It's a much broader version of ski area management (which is just a class at UVM btw). Like most have said, it's not good to go into such a specific major.
 
My major is even more broad than yours, it's Outdoor Recreation Business Administration. We have a class called Ski Industries. You have a good point, plus if I can't find anything in the ski business I'll have many more options.
 
my dad put in the chief operating officer at whistler. he didn't have a ski resort management degree. although he does have schooling with a hospitality/business background.

don't limit yourself.

how many languages do you speak? only one? then how many ski resorts are in that cateogry of your language? then think how many positions are available annually? is their growth available in those positions based o seniority?

be deductive in your education, not inductive.
 
im pretty sure that the adventure concentration has something like a 80-90% job placement rate if you have a decent gpa. and the adventure/ski management teachers are really cool and really know what they are doing imo
 
yo man i just had a friend go to lyndon for a semester and he withdrew after his first semester. some of his stories of that school are horrible. just think about it long and hard before you go there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top