<p>No offense to the well meaning folks on this thread, but I don't think woody's kid is going to be on U of Colorado-Boulder or UVM's ski teams any time soon and I don't even have to know that much about his D to say that. If he is even asking about colleges for ski racing, his D is not in UVM and UC-Boulder's league. Those are two of the top NCAA Div. I Alpine Ski teams in the country. There is no way my own kid would be on it either, just saying. Already ,Woody, said his D is on a "varsity ski team." I take it she doesn't attend an elite ski academy. HIGHLY doubtful any kid not in an academy and not racing in events like Junior Olympics and such is going to be looking to ski for UVM or Boulder. If she is tops in the country or region and attending an elite ski academy, different story. She wouldn't be in orchestra either....ski academies don't have that usually. </p>
<p>OK.....so back to reality....</p>
<p>Woody, indeed I do have a D who is a ski racer and has been her entire life (as was my other kid who eventually gave it up to put all her eggs in one basket....musical theater). I have been around ski racing since my kids could walk, no joke. Like your D, my older one cared VERY much about continuing with ski racing in college (even though she also did other things like your D....she was a varsity soccer player, varsity tennis player, band, jazz band, dance, musical theater, two instruments, etc.). But many colleges have her other EC interests but not all colleges have ski racing. Ski racing is her passion and she wasn't about to give it up. So, one of her college criteria (among others) was to find a college with an alpine ski team. She also wanted the East Coast (not including the South). When added to her all other college criteria (including architecture major), this narrowed schools down quite a bit but that was helpful actually. She didn't want to be picky to such a degree to knock out otherwise good schools and so she was willing to accept either a club ski team (races against other colleges on the club level) or varsity ski team. To limit it to only varsity teams, along with her other criteria, was too narrow for her. She really cared about other things too such as challenge level/selectivity of the college (was a top student), size, setting, location, her major (which not every school has), availability of her other EC interests and so on .</p>
<p>She could not ski for most NCAA Div. I teams except I am pretty sure she could have skiied for a school like Harvard but she didn't want to apply to Harvard as it didn't have her major. But the best NCAA Div. I teams are "no way"....schools like UVM, UNH, Dartmouth, Middlebury. As you likely know ,those teams will be filled with recruited top racers, all from ski academies, all who are tops in USSA ski racing levels. I gather your D goes to a public high school with a ski team? You mentioned "varsity" and that term would not be used at a ski academy. Has she raced in USSA races? My D raced on the USSA circuit her whole life and did pretty well in our state but once she reached J2 level, everyone else left competing was pretty much attending ski academies and she did not want to attend a ski academy for high school, nor could we have ever afforded it anyway. So, she kept racing in a USSA weekend program and raced on the J1 and J2 USSA circuit against these academy racers anyway, but our high school also had a ski team and so she was in both and did very well on that circuit and they would compete in regional and state championships for high school skiing, which is what I imagine your D is doing. Does she also race on the USSA circuit? What region? My D also has had to race on one of the hardest divisions growing up....Northern VT....a hotbed of top ski talent. </p>
<p>So, she was not a recruited athlete. She applied to 8 colleges, and two had varsity ski teams in Division I on the USCSA circuit which is not the same as the NCAA Div. I circuit (quite confusing, I know) and her other 6 colleges had club ski teams. For the schools with club teams, she contacted the captains and met with each of them on our college visits to learn more about the team and if she'd like it (anyone could be on it). So, she knew she could continue racing. The club circuit has some very good racers but it also has some racers who are just hobby type racers. But there would be some competition for her near the top and it was just fine. I don't know which sorts of schools your D likes but the club team schools she applied to were: Yale, Princeton, Penn, Tufts, Conn College, and Lehigh. </p>
<p>The two colleges with varsity teams were Brown and Smith. At those schools, she tried contacting the coaches and sent her required stats and a recommendation from her ski coach and that sort of thing. At Smith, the coach was happy to meet up with her (GREAT guy), as were the soccer coaches and tennis coaches. The ski coach even had the team gather to meet her. Again, the coach had not recruited my D but my D contacted him , as she contacted professors or anyone else at a school. They were great there. At Brown, the coach at the time (who actually left the school the summer before my D matriculated) was not so great. She never returned any emails, snail mails, or phone messages where my D asked if she could meet up with her on a campus visit. My D had no inkling of any possibility if she could ever ski for them if accepted, whereas at Smith, she could tell that if Smith accepted her, the coach would have let her ski for him. My D would not want to attend Brown if she could not ski as it is a varsity team and so there were no guarantees if she'd race. There were calls to the athletic director and so forth about just trying to get any sort of contact so she had any inkling if she could remotely ski there if the school ever accepted her....in other words, to find out if she was good enough to ski for them, but she wasn't recruited and never would be. No contact with that coach until those over her had to get her to respond....this was many months later. My D had tried to contact her again since she never got to meet her on the visit to campus because my D saw that there was a USCSA race that both Brown and Smith (who are in the same division) were going to be at in our state and my D was thinking of driving to it to see these two teams and coaches. The Smith coach was gung ho and even arranged for my D to be the forerunner for the race which was great so that the Brown coach and Smith coaches would at least see her do a race run and she also got to meet the girls on the teams (she is outgoing and went out of her way to introduce herself). The Brown coach was very odd as she said she could not talk to my D at all according to rules but this was after my D had aleady applied to Brown and was Feb. of her senior year! I don't think that was the rule and surely the Smith coach talked with her when she showed up that day at the race. </p>
<p>My D got into most of her colleges including Brown and Smith. The Smith girls were writing congrats cards hoping she would choose them (very enticing). Meanwhile, my D loved Brown and it was one of her first choice schools but what held her back was that if she had no way to know if she could ski for them and if she could not, she did not want to go there when she could keep ski racing at all her other schools.</p>
<p>So, we went to the accepted student event in April of senior year to help decide which school to attend. But my D kept trying to contact the ski coach at Brown to see if she could ski there if she attended. With intervention at the top, we finally got through to her for my D to meet with her at the campus open house for accepted students. I mean my D was already admitted and still didn't know and this affected her decision. The athletic director understood that frustration of lack of contact. So, we go to Providence and my D is hosted by students like all the other accepted students and I am in a hotel. Her meeting is first thing in the morning with the ski coach. My D rings me at the hotel. An hour before the meeting, the ski coach says she can't meet unless D brings her transcript. This is utterly ridiculous.....she was already accepted to Brown!!!! We are already in Providence! First we heard of this. By total chance, back home in Vermont where we live, she had an extra copy of her transcript and our HS was closed for school vacation. My husband, who did not go on this trip, had luckily not yet left for work 50 miles from home where his office is and received D's emergency call for a transcript and got it in her room and faxed it to the coach at Brown, minutes before D walked in her door. Imagine....had he left for work, no go. I see my D at the end of the two day event beaming....her dreams had come true...she loved the school so much and then when she found out she could ski on their VARSITY team (even better to her than a club team which she would have done at other schools happily though), she was "I'm going here!!!" I had forgotten about this until now because that ski coach was out the door and my D never skied for her but has had the new coach ever since she arrived...but had my husband not been home to get that transcript, who knows if my D would be at Brown now as no ski racing would have been a deal breaker when she had many other wonderful acceptances in hand. I have never heard it handled this way and it was this coach....not the way it really goes (witness the Smith experience). In fact, I think most of the other girls are recruited....and in fact, most are from ski academies. </p>
<p>My D is the rare public school ski racer on the squad. For instance, the two recruits this year are from two ski academies. I wondered how my D would do among these skiers as Brown is in the hardest division in the Easterns in the USCSA. In fact, the top five teams from the East that go to Nationals come out of her region/division every year. Her team has won Easterns and has placed in Nationals during her tenure. My D has been in the top five for her team in GS which is what you have to be to race in Eastern Championships and in Nationals, and so she has raced in these events each year and it has been a dream that she got this far among such top racers as the ones from academies on this circuit. She's done pretty well after all considering she is not an academy racer. And I can tell you that the ski team has been a thrilling aspect of her college experience and one of the most meaningful and memorable aspects. It is a HUGE committment on the Collegiate Varsity level for both semesters. It is a big priority in her life. Other than Nationals, they race in New England and we are able to travel to most of her races every weekend and also to Eastern championships and I've gone to Nationals even out west. Amazingly, every weekend, tons of parents show up from the East coast, almost like high school and every team has amazing potluck lunch spreads provided by all the families. So, we actually get to see our D a bunch in winter and share these races with all the other team families. </p>
<p>So, that is an inkling into the process if not NCAA and if not recruited (my D was not).....but in the end she does race for a top NCSCA ski team and has gotten to race at Nationals for NCSCA. I don't know your D's level. She also may be happy with a club team and there are many. If she is interested in the Brown ski team, feel free to email me and I can put her in touch with my D who is a senior and go from there. Even if not recruited, she likely could ski on the team but if she is not at the higher level, she just likely would not be one of their five GS or five Slalom team racers for Eastern Championships or Nationals but that's OK, as there are like five more girls on the team who race each weekend but don't make those championship events. </p>
<p>I hope this gives you some idea. If I knew more I could help you more specifically.</p>
<p>(by the way, my D spends every weekend with kids from the other teams and the Smith coach still is friendly with my D and in fact, this summer, when my D was in Switzerland on her own, she met up with a girl on the Smith team, which isn't even her own team.....and also a girl from our HS team just entered Smith and I'm sure will be skiing for them)</p>
<p>Other top teams in their Division are Boston College, UMass, Colby-Sawyer, Plymouth State. Considering the little you shared about academics, perhaps she may wish to look at Brown, Smith or Boston College.....all three are tops in this difficult division and all three are fine schools academically.</p>
<p>While others are mentioning schools located near skiing...all good ideas....I thought Woody was asking about ski RACING....different story. Again, Dartmouth, UVM, Middlebury are likely not in her league race-wise.</p>