Hi my son is a rising senior and we’re planning a second trip out west this summer to tour schools. He very much wants to be west near skiing and a bigger school. His basic stats are that he’s a white guy from New Hampshire who is in public school. Right now he’s undeclared for major but he’s leaning nutrition, exercise science, kinesiology.
He’s taken a mix of easier electives and harder (including some AP) core classes and will be a TA for a nutrition class this fall. He has a hard course load next year although since he’s hoping to apply early action, they won’t get his initial grades for those (but I guess they will see what he’s taking). His current GPA is about a 3.31 and his final SAT is 1210. (final GPA comes out late this week).
He’s a 4 year varsity baseball player, a competitive skier for a couple years, works multiple jobs, helps take care of his grandparents, does house building for Habitat for Humanity and is certified and trains some local kids on body building.
Right now he’s by far top choice is University of Utah which we saw earlier this year. I know they don’t care in decisions, but he’s been in regular contact with his admissions officer due to my son’s love of the place. We’re touring UC Boulder, CO State and Montana State this summer.
I’m curious what people feel his chances right now are for those schools. Also, what others you may recommend. As East Coast people always, (and my other son went to U PITT), looking out West is new to me!
Utah is not a hard admit - but his GPA is low…test score is ok. So it’s not a safety by any means. Westminster is another school in SLC.
Colorado isn’t that close to “good” skiing - and it’ll be harder. Colorado State will be an easier admit. Boulder isn’t too far from Eldora. Fort Collins is farther. Fort Lewis College includes a pass to Purgatory - about half hour away.
Montana State is a yes. You might look at Nevada (in Reno) - not far from Mt. Rose and Lake Tahoe resorts, and Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Even U of Arizona is only an hour from skiing (Mt. Lemon). These would all be admits.
Western Washington might be one to look at - gorgeous area and not too far from Mt. Baker although it’s not large. I think it gets more snow or as much as any other resorts.
I’d check Mt, Lemmon (two M’s) if this student is an experienced skier. The road to the ski area isn’t always open. We did that drive in March…and the road was closed the following day. It is a beautiful drive up to that area.
Montana is a great choice. We know several very happy students there who loved to ski.
I think he’ll probably get into Utah, but it’s not a slam-dunk so you need safeties he’d be happy with. I agree that UNR and Montana State are good options. Boise State could be worth a look as well; they have a nice range of tracks and options in their kinesiology department https://www.boisestate.edu/kinesiology/programs/ , and there are nearby skiing venues as well as Sun Valley less than 3 hrs away. Their ski & board club has an Insta feed you could check out.
I think you’ve gotten some good recommendations so far. Another school he might want to look at is Utah State which is quite close to skiing (at least in looking at a Yelp map of skiing in the area) and which I think your son would be extremely likely to be admitted.
Although your son wants to head west, I’d still think it’d be worth applying to UNH and UVT in case he changes his mind during his senior year and would prefer to stay closer to home.
Thank you all for your input so far. Super appreciated and helpful! My other son’s profile, school targets and whole approach was so different so this is new territory!
I totally agree on the more local schools being possible options too. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) we are UNH townies. We live here and my kids have basically half lived in UNH campus things and “done” all there is in town their whole lives. And half our high school seems to end up at UVM. So my boys wants OUT. I want to nudge at least one of them in driving distance but he is dead set to move onward.
It’s such a difference. Other than maybe Tremblant, nowhere east holds a candle.
The good news is - it’s just not the big names that give access.
I don’t know if they are residential and how often the student truly wants to ski and the majors are limited but when I was in Aspen the other year, there’s Colorado Mountain College. May be worth a look. I was envious.
For private - and yes costly - and likely a reach - but U of Denver is loaded with skiers. My daughters bf skis 3-4 days a week during the year, usually Arapahoe as it’s drivable.
If costs matter and a true safety - U Wyoming. Not great skiing is 45 mins away. If you go to CSU to visit, it’s not much farther. You hear Wyoming and think far but not too far from Denver and not far at all from Ft Collins. CSU would probably be money better spent to visit than Boulder from an admission POV but if you can do both…
But def check NAU and Snowbowl. It’s not far and lots of free buses from downtown flagstaff. It’s not a huge place so see if the skiing works for the student. It might be the easiest to get to of any.
If Montana State is an option, I would definitely consider U of Montana as well. We were up there just a few weeks ago, and it’s a lovely campus in a college town that’s big enough (~66k) to have pretty much anything you’d need but still feels college-y. Hard to imagine a more outdoors-oriented place to live - we saw deer feeding on a hillside across the street from an academic building. There’s a big ski resort just outside of town, and two others within reasonable driving distance. Academically, admission is very likely, and their Integrative Physiology major encompasses kinesiology and exercise science, seems like it might be a fit. They have auto-merit for OOS - OP would likely get 12-13k depending on final GPA, leaving a COA of 36-37k. Believe me, I tried to get D26 and D29 interested in UM just so I could go visit, but no success on that so far.
3.3UW would be OK for Utah, but if that’s weighted then it is more borderline. Of course you won’t get any aid but you can still get residency after the first year so the overall cost is very reasonable ($45K first year, $25K after that). You need to stay for the first summer (only leaving the state for 28 days in a 365 day period) but you can work as an orientation leader and get free accommodation plus a stipend, or take classes over the summer at instate rates.
My D18 attended and loved Utah, it is ideal if you are outdoorsy though the ski team is extremely competitive. She climbed, skied, rafted, backpacked etc. It is a good idea to either have a car or make friends with someone who does: they would drive to Mammoth (8 hours), Moab (4 hours), Grand Teton (4-5 hours) etc for weekends, even Banff (15 hours) for spring break.
It is unweighted so that’s insightful thanks. We were there last Feb and he just LOVED it. We have a tour in CO and to Montana State this August - not sure we’ll squeeze in U of Montana but glad to expand to some others. We have a family friend who is at UU and the residency aspect is huge!
I’ll peek into U of M for sure. We’ll be at Boulder, CO State and Montana State in August - not sure we’ll get to U of M but at least he’ll have an idea of what the state is like! TU!!!
I will second Montana State in Bozeman. We know several students who had very modest high school stats who were accepted from OOS and even got small scholarships. All were avid skiers too. It’s gorgeous there!
And far more expensive than all the other options listed here. Definitely a different level of wealth, particularly amongst the OOS kids, at Boulder compared to Utah. It attracts a different type of kid too, for example Greek life seems to be a much bigger deal.
