<p>I am a competitive student (Top 15%, taking all AP's available, captain or president of multiple clubs/teams, varsity lacrosse, soon-to-be eagle scout, very high standardized test scores) at a public high school with about 1600 students in a suburb of Kansas City. I plan to major in some sort of engineering, and I want to leave behind all things that resemble the Great Plains. Any good schools that you know of near mountains and maybe lakes with lots of trees? A decent amount of snowfall is also a plus. I love skiing, kayaking and hiking, but Kansas sort of blows for those activities. I am thinking either the west or the east, seeing as I have no other options. And I am not really interested in going to the southeast or Texas. Any ideas? So far RPI and Lehigh seem good matches. Bucknell is also a consideration. Any help is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Geographically, University of Vermont sounds perfect.</p>
<p>University of Rochester, too.</p>
<p>University of Colorado</p>
<p>be more specific:</p>
<p>size preferences?
urban/suburban/rural?
atmosphere of school?
etc</p>
<p>About 4 to 7 thousand undergraduates, definitely not urban, and academically focused but not cut-throat. Definitely not looking for a 'preppy' school, so Lehigh gives me reservations. Also should have strong engineering programs and some type of ROTC program. Thanks for the suggestions so far, I will be checking them out. Any more ideas?</p>
<p><strong>(bump)</strong></p>
<p>If you just took out the size restriction, the University of Washington would be a perfect fit. You won't find anywhere less "midwestern" than Seattle, and while there isn't much snow on campus, several ski resorts are within an hour or two, including the ski spot with the highest snowfall ever recorded in 12-month period in the contiguous United States. Seattle is urban, but it's not east-coast urban. The UW has its own canoe/kayak center on Lake Washington. Outside of perhaps Bozeman or Colorado you also won't find any place with a major university with better access to all the outdoor stuff you mentioned: hiking, skiing, kayaking (both river and sea), sailing, sports, etc. They have a first-rate engineering program, too.</p>
<p>After you get past UW, for engineering in the Northwest the list gets small fast. The Catholic schools: Gonzaga, Seattle, and Portland (Jr. has applied there -- really nice smallish regional university). Washington State in Pullman (very rural), Oregon State (but not Oregon), University of Montana in Bozeman (aggressive merit scholarships), and Boise State (about which I know very little except their football team is inscrutably competent). </p>
<p>Oh, yes, Portland, WASU, and UW all have active ROTC programs. My son is applying for both AFROTC and NROTC. If you get a ROTC scholarship, Portland will automatically give you a scholarship for your room and board -- meaning the combination is a full ride. If you want to hear more about U Portland PM me, we visited there three weeks ago and had a great experience. My son is like you, good SATs, Eagle Scout, completely focused on engineering.</p>
<p>Shame you're so deadset against the Midwest because Rose-Hulman sounds like a good fit for you. #1 engineering, #1 Army ROTC batallion in our region, and a very friendly environment. Plus if you get the 4-year Army ROTC Scholarship here, which is not supremely difficult if you have strong academics and are close to some semblance of physically fit, everything is paid for, all $40,000 of school each year, plus a monthly allowance and book money. It's a sweet deal and a great school.</p>
<p>Thanks. University of Washington seems a little big for me, but I think I could still be happy there. How about Colorado School of Mines? Anyone know much about it? Sounds like a good place for me, right in the middle of Colorado and with stellar engineering programs. And I haven't given up on the Air Force Academy yet. But how about schools that are in the northeast? I know there are plenty of them. Just which ones fit my criteria reasonably well?</p>
<p>Yeah, my dad tries to tell me about the benefits of Rose-Hulman, UI-UC and Purdue for engineering. While they are undoubtedly terrific schools, especially for math and sciences, I am dead set on leaving the midwest. Colorado and maybe even Ohio are the closest I'm willing to stay to the midwest on either side. I just want a big change of scenery, and I've heard that there isn't much to do in Terre Haute. Not to mention I've driven through there and there's not much to speak of. And if I failed to mention it earlier, I kind of want to leave behind the midwestern attitude (conservative christian family values).</p>
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I kind of want to leave behind the midwestern attitude (conservative christian family values)
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<p>Welcome to the University of Washington...</p>
<p>Northwestern seems to fit your criteria exactly, except for the midwest thing ... but as I'm sure you know, Chicago is a big, awesome city that is very open-minded, as is the NU campus which is right on Lake Michigan. Lots of snow, and our engineering school is top-ranked. The only thing missing that you mentioned are mountains.</p>
<p>Oh, and we do have ROTC and NROTC here.</p>
<p>" Any good schools that you know of near mountains and maybe lakes with lots of trees?"</p>
<p>"Northwestern seems to fit your criteria exactly, except for the midwest thing ... "</p>
<p>Geex, ya mean sometime in the years after I moved out they formed a mountain range in Chicago???? And I missed the whole thing!!</p>
<p>US Air Force Academy
(Colorado Springs)</p>
<p>-Good Engineering
-It's on the side of a mountain
-Military (duh!)</p>
<p>Oh, and did I mention they like students who took APs, were team captains/presidents, played sports, Eagle scouts, and had high test scores?</p>
<p>Colorado School of Mines has a very good engineering school (especially for mining engineers if you can believe it). It also has a reputation (deserved or not, I don't know) for being a miserable academic experience. </p>
<p>I'd read some comments from students in guides before you go there.</p>
<p>Your size limitation is very, very restrictive. As you probably know, most engineering schools reside in large campuses. You should also know that the Front Range of Colorado does look a lot like the Great Plains to the east, though there are mountains to the west.</p>
<p>As for the Midwest, may I suggest that you separate the Great Plains from the traditional Midwest states to the east? I would say that many residents of Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, et. al. don't really consider Kansas, Nebraska and other Great Plains states as being in the Midwest. You will find plenty of trees in those state, for instance, though not much skiing outside of a few small resorts in Wisconsin and Michigan, and a tilted corfield here and there.</p>
<p>From what you say you want, the only place I can think of in the West would be Harvey Mudd. Not much snow in SoCal flatlands, but you can find it fairly nearby in the mountains. U. of Washington sounds pretty much perfect except for the size. One of the large Oregon schools would also do. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>monydad, if you'd read my post all the way through you would have noticed that i pointed out the lack of mountains.</p>
<p>Colorado School of Mines is a great place...strong engineering in several eng disciplines, but not all. Seems a bit small for you....between 2500 & 3000 undergrads I think. But from my acquaitenances who have attended, that size makes for an intimate academic experience. Very well respected in earth-oriented eng...geological, mining of course, environmental, civil....good mechanical etc, but probably not so great in biomedical & the like. Pretty much a technical/science school. Nice spot too in Golden, in the foothills at the base of the Rockies. Don't know about ROTC. Of course, I would be biased because the Coors factory, with frequent tasting tours, is just minutes away!</p>
<p>Another eastern possibility: Carnegie Mellon....fantastic engineering of course, with snow & not too far from the Appalacians. Don't know about ROTC. If I had to guess, perhaps a bit less preppy than Lehigh, but that could be a toss up.</p>
<p>cornell... definitely check out cornell</p>
<p>but fyi the best schools in the midwest, the ones in major cities, have nothing that even nearly resembles "traditional christian family values" to be found on campus</p>
<p>I think U of Wisconsin has good skiing, even though it's in the midwest</p>