If Oregon State had about 50 more days of sun each year, it would probably be top of the list.
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I have definitely looked at the NC (and Virginia) publics. But none seemed to add enough above what’s available with WUE. Will look further into App State. A quick check on Niche showed the 101st ranked 
school for design. But the list is something to think about.
I have Fort Lewis on the ‘extended list’ for some reason. I think it was the WUE + Adventure Education Major.
Did I forget to mention at some point D24 stated she would like to have a career in ‘Search and Rescue’. Unfortunately, the number of paid positions in that field is extremely limited. I suggested Coast Guard among other paths but none clicked.
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Definitely can’t get it all. Fortunately the budget is 40K (which Iowa State from California meets easily with the exploration and adventure awards plus her GPA).
UCD has a ‘design’ major, which would have to do for this undecided girl.
I will definitely make her fully aware of the amount of math required for any major with ‘engineering’ in the title.
Unfortunately, few of our kids are going to find a ‘perfect school’. But I think there is one out there she can thrive at. I think the honors classes can improve the chances of building that rapport with a prof. Especially if the program gives you early registration so you can cherry pick the best profs.
Thanks, I hadn’t thought about that opportunity. I will have to look into the possibility of splitting time between the two campuses. If she had the flexibility of switching between campuses each semester that might allow it to check a few more boxes.
So on the drive home from rock climbing, she added that it would be great if the school had aerial silks nearby. I’ll have to add that to the list of things to consider. So, bonus points for schools that have:
Maker Lab
Aerial Silks
Rock Climbing
IM Rugby in addition to a robust IM program
Animals on campus (both farm animals and/or dogs to pet)
At least leans liberal on campus
A healthy number of sunny days
An outdoorsy student population
I really appreciate all the suggestions and re-assurances.
I don’t know if you can switch campuses multiple times with ease, but Bend is a lot sunnier than Corvallis — nearly 300 sunny or mostly sunny days a year, supposedly. 
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Most SUNYs are tuition matching in-state UC rates for California residents if there is any interest in New York.
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I don’t know about dogs to pet but my daughter’s school has therapy dogs a few times a semester. I’m sure other schools do as well - and she can always volunteer at a shelter…
There’s many outdoorsy type schools already mentioned. It’s a question of budget and then a major that will work - so a large school with more majors might be best.
I do think - back to Honors or meeting profs - anyone can meet a prof and have rapport. That’s entirely up to the student. Honors won’t give this and non-honors won’t preclude this. It’s all up to the student.
But a smaller school - example and it’s not right for yours but my kid at College of Charleston - her classes are small as the school is smaller.
btw - Purdue at $40K could work - not liberal, not in an outdoor zone like an Arkansas which is - but it’s another fine big school. And for inexpensive - but maybe not all the other aspects - U Louisiana Lafayette
I wish your student luck and hope they find the right place for them. But given the desire for sun and outdoors - I am thinking the CA/Arizona schools are likely right or perhaps a CO school.
Best of luck to the student.
D18 was a high stats kid (4.0UW/35 ACT/9 APs with 8 5s and a 4) and loved Utah. It was no problem being a liberal atheist from CA, but you do need to be outdoorsy as the campus tends to empty out at weekends (except in football season) when people go skiing or hiking or climbing (as a result having a car, even in freshman year, tends to be a good idea).
She went there for ballet with an Eccles full ride scholarship (which are now unfortunately all but impossible to get for OOS students) and had a great group of similar outdoorsy high stat friends in her cohort, who spent a lot of time in the mountains and lived together in SLC every summer, even during Covid.
In addition to her BFA she did a BS in Environmental Studies, so Honors was actually a bit of a pain, as it was yet more classes on top of her already heavy course load (she did about 160 credits in 4 years). But the honors classes were small (30 or fewer students) and there were some interesting options amongst the upper level courses. Her cohort classes were also really good and she loved her professors, her friends are all still close to the retired head of the program Jack Newell (https://continuum.utah.edu/features/an-examined-life/). There were a lot of talented kids in the program, her freshman year roommate won a Rhodes scholarship.
She didn’t have time for Praxis labs unfortunately, because she had 5+ hours of dance every day plus 3 academic classes each semester. But grading is relatively generous, especially in Honors (where most get an A), and she ended up with a ~3.95 GPA.
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The Outdoor Products major @CMA22 mentioned at the Bend campus of OSU seems like it could be really neat, bridging design / adventure / business. I know this thread has already had a lot of links, but that could be a fun one to check out.
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I’d look seriously at industrial technology and packaging at Cal Poly. There are very few packaging programs. They do very school stuff and get paid close to what engineers make, yet, unlike most CP majors, it’s an easy admit, not because it isn’t cool. It’s just overlooked.
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My older kid had a pretty broad range of interests (sciences and art/design were the big ones, plus lots of others) so I encouraged them towards liberal arts colleges. They are at a college with close student-faculty interaction (small class sizes too) with a fairly open curriculum that encourages exploration of different majors. The LAC route has been a really good fit and it’s been easy to find mentorship, opportunities, and people who care about them.
On the original list were Wheaton College in Massachusetts (not much in the way of sun though!) and Willamette in Oregon. Both were very generous with merit. Those might be two good, not super competitive schools to check out.
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OP, you mentioned up thread that you’d been keen to explore some smaller schools.
How about Whitman, in Walla Walla? It’s a school I’m keeping in the back of my mind for my S26, but in my research, it seems to hit on some things that might resonate with your daughter:
- they just launched a “human centered design”
Concentration, which encourages the study of “the deeper meaning of objects, spaces, systems and beyond—and how to evaluate people’s interaction with the designed world.” - it’s a liberal campus with a very well established outdoor program—tons of hiking, camping, climbing
- an indoor climbing gym with a climbing team
- they do, in fact, have an aerial silks club! Presence
- it’s in a rural area, so my guess is that it’s not too hard to find animals or some kind of ag program
- it’s in western WA so it’s a lot sunnier than Seattle or other PNW spots
They give merit aid, so maybe one to research?
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I thought of Whitman, too, but I don’t think it’s merit aid will bring it low enough to be in budget based on our experience. That’s why I suggested University of Puget Sound instead.
So the Whitman comment is interesting because OP asked for other majors.
So I’m looking up Human Centered Design. Not saying these schools work because financially they don’t but just seeking ideas for fields of study. At Cornell it’s in the College of Human Ecology with Design and Environmental Analysis, Fashion Design, and Fiber Science. There’s a Design Innovation and Strategy Minor. I don’t see a course sequence but you might look at that. I’m not sure if this fits desires but I"m guessing it’s a lot less math intensive.
At Penn State, it’s in the school of IT and Technology. It doesn’t seem a fit.
I put a top 50 list - it’s human center design and engineering- but it shows majors all over the place. Just like I showed above. Maybe it kicks up an idea.
I’d start looking at some of the schools, pull up some of the majors and looking all over the curriculums - because it seems a very wide ranging set of possibilities. And I don’t think it needs to be decided now - but one can pretty much either get giddy for or eliminate engineering up front - that’s one major - you’re all in or not.
Undergraduate Minors|Human Centered Design | Cornell College of Human Ecology
Discover B.S. in Human-Centered Design and Development | Penn State College of IST (psu.edu)
Top 50 Human-Centered Design and Engineering Degrees - Pannam
Here are some California universities that have brought “therapy fluffies” - therapy dogs to the campus especially during finals week for students to pet and interact:
UC Davis
UC San Diego
UC Riverside
UC Merced
UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Barbara
San Diego State
Cal Poly SLO and Pomona
Chico State
CSU Long Beach
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What about Canadian schools? UBC, Simon Fraser?
Did the idea of industrial design come from you or from her? If she is creative and interested in something like UX/UI design, you might reach out to @DStepler. Here is one of her posts from last year.
Yes, the industrial design idea was hers and then I jumped on it as I thought it was an excellent fit. I read through the UC Davis 2026 thread and remember that post. Davis is a pretty ideal fit but far from a sure thing admittance wise.
If she knocks the ACT out of the park, it could give a punchers chance it will come in close to budget.
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