University and skiing

D

danjrowan

Member
Hi everyone,

Just looking at applying to Uni here in the UK and it sucks. It would be sick if I could come over and study somewhere state side where I can keep skiing, are there good resorts that have Unis close by?

I realise that this is a matter of opinion but any help would be massively appreciated!

Dan
 
You dont have to go to america to get good levels of skiing in, i was able to do 32 days last season (in my second year) and this season im looking at 50 days. You just have to make sure you are up to date with your work and you can do it no problem.... doing it in the states would be a lot cheaper though.
 
Cheers for the reply,

I actually want to move perminanly as a result, if I could leave tomorrow I would but this seems like a start?
 
Look for info in the Montana, California, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Washington regional forums

more info than you could ever want in there!
 
I am in the same position right now. Live in the Uk and have a deferred place at leeds uni.... off to do a season and some travelling this year... but i know i am going to seriously miss the slopes... castleford is right next door but it's no mountain!
 
I know what you mean,

I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in a country with no mountains,

I'll go anywhere even if its a hard job doing it
 
Maybe look into a UK uni course with a year abroad program... I hope to get on my courses' year abroad program to either Penn state or CSM if i can get the grades. .. it'll work out a lot cheaper in terms of fees seeing as those years are still capped at UK prices...

£20000 per year is a lot more than £3290 per year, so think about the possible debt you could end up with unless of course you get a scholarship! (unless you come from scotland then it's free!)

If you do stay in the UK join your uni ski club and go skiing as much as possible, i go skiing twice a week at our local snowflex slope and hit rails kickers etc. so it is possible to stay in the uk and ski... also uni ski trips are so cheap and fun...but i guess it's not quite the same as a real mountain right next door!

Go for a season somewhere for sure... so much fun!

Also i don't know how old you are but waiting to be 21 to legally drink and being at uni might be a bit shite, although I'm sure there's ways around it!

You want to make the right choice about universities, don't just focus on one aspect of that uni that might appeal to you right now, because you'll have to spend 3-5 years of your life there, so you gottsa make the right decision!

Just my £0.02

 
i wouldnt exactly suggest moving to the states considering how fucked up everything here is. unis here are crazy expensive for international students. like 20,000 dollar tuition to a low standard school. But maybe with the money exchange its not that bad... on the other hand the skiing can be fucking amazing so you decide haha. But UW( university of washington) try UBC (university of british columbia there is one in vancouver and kelowna with some sick ass skiing), CSU ( colorado state university), university of colorado boulder, and there are a shit ton of other ones those are just the ones of the top of my head. good luck!
 
look into different study abroad programs. here at the university of utah i met some study abroad kids who where on full scholarship. and the u of u is around 30 min from like 8 resorts
 
Thanks for all the help guys,

To be dead honest, I don't want to study but I thought it might be my foot in the door to moving over there.

I'm not really into the uni thing and I just want to get on with my life and want to live somewhere where I can actually do the one sport that matters to me

 
Man if you don't want to go to uni, why go to uni? You'll only end up dropping out or hating it. Why not instead invest your money in some professional qualifications, like being a patroller, guide or instructor? You'll enjoy it much more and not feel like you have wasted your time.
 
I'm dont think im going to go to uni but I just saw it as an option to get over to america. I'm starting a small company here in the UK at the moment to build funds to get over there, but my aim to run something myself in america. Im a hard worker and ill do anything to get out of this country.
 
Im not an expert on american immigration laws, but i do know that they are very strict, you might want to familiarize yourself with them before planning to many things. Why not NZ or the Alps?
 
University of Utah or westminister in salt lake city really close to all the park city resorts and big and little cottonwood canyon resorts

 
American immigration laws are strict, just stay in Europe or go to NZ, a British passport in either of those areas is so cash. The american immigration won't care for you unless you are studying or have a legit work permit.... look into it before setting your heart on something that you might not be able to configure...
 
Thats a fair point and I do appreciate your honesty. Like I said, I just want out of this country no matter where but America would be my preferred place to go. I've been researching it for a while and do realise that it's super strict!

Whats NZ like for freeskiing? Seen it a few times when pros train in summery months but cant find a massive amount on the net

 
Try Canada. If you are under 30 its actually pretty easy to emigrate there as a skilled worker. However its a point based system and university and a graduate job are a good start. Another way of doing it is to move there with a young persons visa get a job and then get the company to sponsor you.

Last resort you can always marry a yank but even then it take some time before you can become a US citizen.
 
I'm nothing like the country I'm in. I'm an excentric to be truthful and normal isn't me which is what Britain is, in other words, boring. America is english speaking, ttheres better weather, you have mountains, lakes, surf and mainly all sports are bigger. I dont care about wealth, I just want to make my living either through or close to the sports that I love and I have no chance of that here.

Once again thanks for all of your help, much appreciated. I actually have a friend moving out to Canada at the moment in a similar position as me.
 
if your trying to surf i would actually recommend trying to go to Univeristy of Southern California its close to good surf and mammoth.. but i live in salt lake city and go to university of utah and its pretty fun and there is lots of good skiing so close.
 
if i were you i would definately take a gap year so you can build up a better perspective of what you want to do with your life. Obviously you have said that you are not bothered about being rich and all you want to do is ski but you are going to have to settle down eventually. By taking a year out you can earn some extra cash so if you do go to uni you wont have as much pressure on yourself and you will be able to do loads of skiing in your year off. Think about doing a season as a chalet worker, you doint get paid loads but you get to ski every day and accommodation is paid for you.
 
You hit the nail on the head,

I'm actually having a year out now and Im starting to raise funds to do something like this. Even settling down later on in life, I dont want to do it here. The UK sucks and is not for me
 
What you have to take into consideration is that maybe America isn't for you either. If i was you i would try to travel, and try to get an informed idea of what the places you are interested in are like. Maybe you find that America doesn't suit you either, or maybe you'll find that it's the perfect place for you! But just putting all your eggs in one basket, and migrating to America is kind of a rash decision, let alone a difficult one. Go travel, see the world, maybe you'll miss the good ole UK!
 
Very good point! I'm doing a lot of travelling this year, I'm off to do my seasonIn Andorra in December till march and if I have the money I'll come over here too.

Not going to get my heart set on it as i realise its hard to get in but I'm going to leave the uk one way or another! Haha

Everyone in this country is miserable and its not me! There has to be places with happy people (and mountains) lol
 
Going to college here isn't putting all your eggs in once basket at ALL. College is only 4 (or 5 if you're smart!) years, and if that's even too much you can transfer pretty much anywhere you want as long as you get decent grades.

Unless you have something very productive to put your time to taking a year off is not a good idea in my opinion. You might as well keep the ball rolling and keep making progress towards being done with education entirely. And no, "traveling the world" is not a productive activity. You can travel a lot while going to school if you want to, you can't get an education fucking around skiing and partying for a year. I go to the university of utah, and aside from the couple weeks a semester when I get pretty swamped I spend the majority of my time having fun skiing and partying. And even better, school gives you a good way to meet tons of new people when you move somewhere. By the time snow started flying our freshman year we already had a huge crew of friends that were all stoked on skiing.
 
You should have read the thread more carefully. OP says that he doesn't really want to go to Uni, but was more interested in just moving to America, and just live there and work. Seeing that he has apparently never been to America, i would say that moving there to settle would qualify as putting your eggs in one basket.
As for taking a year off and travelling the world, i would most certainly consider it a productive activity. You get a chance to interact with people of different cultures, see amazing places, and in the process hopefully learn a great deal about yourself. Have you considered the possibility that not everyone shares your slightly narrowminded definition of education and travelling? We might not be interested in "keeping the ball rolling" in the way you portray it. Not everyone see the world the way you do. Just saying.
 
COME TO THE EAST

university of pittsburgh has 7springs an hour away, voted #1 EC terrain park and pipe
 
Marco, that was by far the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say. Why the hell would anybody go to Pitt if they wanted to ski?
 
I would advise to NOT take a year off.
get into school, don't take a year off...it's crazy how hard it is to go back once you're in the working world.
and, with just a high school education you're not gonna make enough to really do the things you want.
my first year of college was probably the best year of my life, don't hesitate to experience it.
 
Definitely don't take his advice (no offense ) ... but you if you want to go to school and come to ski then don't go to the east coast! Head out west- Montana, California, Utah, Colorado etc. In general you will find much better skiing out west.
 
I know 4 people who are living and going to my school here in Oregon just because they wanted to go to college within 25 mins of shreddin.

and it's cheaper than the UK too.
 
This.

I was lucky enough to have grown up there. I had no problems getting over 60 days in each season while studying MechE. And another benefit, is you are going to meet other skiers no matter your major. Most of the guys I skied with in high school faded off in college, but I had no trouble finding new people to ride with.

 
Interesting! Maybe they have some sort of exchange program? I know exchange students don't have to pay full foreign student fees.

I just always saw education in the states as being way more expensive than in the UK.

On a side note, I'm from quite close to Winchester, and didn't even realise it had a university, so maybe I don't know quite as much about unis as I thought.
 
haha just because im jealous kyle, leave me alone.

i think im getting a pass out there again thru westminster...
 
Yeah. I'm pretty sure they do have an exchange program, because theres like a crapload of brits where I go to school.
 
Considering the title is "University and skiing" and he says "It would be sick if I could come over and study somewhere state side where I can keep skiing" I am not going to waste any more time shutting down the other dumb things you said.

But one thing, anyone who has actually gone to college has realized it isn't putting your eggs in a basket because nothing is ever set in stone. You choose your schedule, you can take a semester off, you can transfer, you can take online classes, you can do a semester or a year abroad, hell you can even drop out if you can't handle it, but might as well try. There's a pretty narrow window in your life where college will be an easy and natural process, and that window begins the fall after you graduate high school.
 
NZ freeskiing scene is not absolutely huge, but there is a strong hardcore bunch that ride down there a lot. I worked in the north island, which had no access to Snowpark or Cadrona, but even at Ruapehu me and my friends went and had some fun. The parks may be smaller and the weather may be shit....regularly, but I love NZ cause everyone is usually pretty stoked to just ride with someone else whose keen for freeskiing. Also since it's so small you can usually get to know the reps in the area and get some good free shit.

In other words NZ rocks, don't expect bluebird every day and powder is very few and far between. That being said it is still sick and I am without a doubt moving there for a few years. So keep it in mind.
 
No. You've apparently got you head so far up your ass, that you are not listening, and don't realize that this is not so for everyone. Why do you insist that your perception and way of doing things is the right one? Are you really that narrowminded? Can you not even acknowledge the possibility that other people don't think the way you do? Or perhaps live in a place where things are not done the way they are where you're from?
And again, if you weren't so lazy, and had bothered to read the thread through, you would have noticed that the op goes on to say that he actually isn't very interested in going to university, and just wants to move to the states and work. This is what i am referring to as putting your egg in one basket. And so you're whole argument kinda falls apart.
 
I'm just trying to give the guy good advice based on a theory that I've developed not from being narrow minded, but by spending the last 8 years of my life (if not more) thinking about the future and figuring out how things work. I've spent lots of time figuring this shit out for myself and do not appreciate you mistaking my confidence for ignorance. There's a difference between being narrow minded and having an opinion.
 
Thats all good, and i respect that. Only problem i had was that you presented your opinion as a certain truth, and then it's not really an opinion anymore. I disagree with you on some things, and agree on others, which just goes to show that we all see and do things differently. Peace!
 
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