<p>I am very active and a sports-lover.
Can you guys recommend me some outdoorsy colleges? I like LACs.
Outdoorsy colleges like Whitman college.</p>
<p>[Outing</a> (Bowdoin - Outing Club)](<a href=“http://www.bowdoin.edu/outing/]Outing”>Outing Club | Bowdoin College)</p>
<p>SUNY College of Enviornmental Science & Forestry
[SUNY-ESF</a>, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry](<a href=“http://www.esf.edu/]SUNY-ESF”>http://www.esf.edu/)</p>
<p>thank you guys though they are not colleges that I am looking for.
I dont think I can get into Bowdoin level colleges… they are too hard to get in.
4.0 gpa expecting 32 on ACT some aps</p>
<p>Sewanee, Warren Wilson</p>
<p>Bowdoin is test optional, so depending on your unweighted GPA, you still could have a shot there. And 32 isn’t a bad ACT score anyway.</p>
<p>Colby is another one to consider and is easier to get into. Carelton has a pretty outdoorsy vibe. You already have Whitman on your list…</p>
<p>@intparent
I do not have good extracurricular plus I am an international student. I am guessing it will be really hard to get into those colleges. Thank you for your input.</p>
<p>University of Colorado and generally colleges in Colorado. If it must be a LAC then Colorado College.
University of Washington and generally colleges in the Northwest.</p>
<p>Less selective options: Lewis and Clark is very outdoorsy. In the East, St. Lawrence University (check out the Adirondack semester). University of Vermont is a smallish university and might be a good LAC alternative.</p>
<p>Colorado College is just about the most “outdoorsy” LAC there is, for several reasons. First is its location right at the foot of Pike’s Peak. It is virtually the only selective LAC in the entire Rocky Mountain west. Second is its unusual, one-course-at-a-time “block plan”, which creates opportunities for outdoor field work and recreation. Classes can be held off campus without worrying about scheduling conflicts with other classes. Students get 4.5 day “block breaks” between the 3.5 week blocks ([Block</a> Break](<a href=“http://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/blockplan/blockbreak/]Block”>Block Break - Colorado College)). Another factor is the Colorado climate, with dry air and about 300 days of sunshine (which you won’t get at outdoorsy schools in the NE or Pacific NW). Students tend to be fairly affluent (which means lots of cars, money for travel, and family vacation homes).</p>
<p>Colorado College is about as selective as Whitman. Less selective than Bowdoin, more so than Lewis & Clark. </p>
<p>This article may give you more leads (especially if you’re willing to consider larger schools):
[The</a> Best Colleges For Outdoor Recreation | California | OutsideOnline.com](<a href=“http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/north-america/united-states/california/Outside-University--The-Top-40.html]The”>http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/north-america/united-states/california/Outside-University--The-Top-40.html)</p>
<p>UNC Asheville is a public university, but it’s very much like an LAC. Asheville is a wonderful city, very artsy and “hippie”. It’s in the NC mountains, with hiking, camping, rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, ziplining, and more within 5-30 minutes away. It’s close to the Blue Ridge Parkway, Appalachian Trail, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Many UNC Asheville students are heavily into outdoor activities.</p>
<p>@tk21769 Thank you very much! i didn’t know whitman is that selective. Because if you look at acceptance rates, colorado college is way more selective.</p>
<p>Not an extremely selective school, but all my outdoorsy friends are completely set on going to Duluth in Minnestoa. For a more selective and much more expensive school there’s always UC Boulder.</p>
<p>Yes, I was also going to suggest University of Minnesota - Duluth, but saw the OP was asking for LACs. Going beyond that, Michigan Tech is another outdoorsy school. Or Montana State in Bozeman.</p>
<p>Check some of the SUNY’s</p>
<p>Hard to get more outdoorsy than UC Santa Cruz, though you have to like trees!</p>
<p>Lewis and Clark in Portland Oregon may fit the bill. Very beautiful, very outdoor-oriented area. Not quite as selective but excellent education.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>US News assigns each school a “selectivity rank”. The two are only 5 positions apart among the 25 most selective LACs.</p>
<p>CC has a much lower admit rate (half Whitman’s.) However, Whitman gets slightly higher average test scores and nearly the same percentage of students who were in their HS top 10%. So apparently Whitman is more “self selecting”. Given its location, CC likely attracts a higher volume of applications from all over the country.
[Where</a> Does Your Freshman Class Come From? - Whitman](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=237057]Where”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=237057)
[Where</a> Does Your Freshman Class Come From? - Colorado College](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=126678]Where”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=126678)</p>
<p>University of Puget Sound
Oxford College of Emory (Though many of the students aren’t particularly outdoorsy, quite a few are. The trails around the school are excellent and my friends and I regularly biked around them. There’s also an active outdoors club which regularly organizes climbs, kayaking, backpacking on three day weekends, and a host of other activities).
University of Minnesota-Morris
University of Washington
Prescott College
University of Alabama (went hiking there, well maintained trails)
St. Lawrence University
Hobart and William Smith College
University of Victoria (Canada school)
Mount Allison University (small Canadian university)
University of Denver
University of New Mexico
Westminster College (Utah)
Cal Poly SLO (no forests, but right by a fantastic beach and great hiking. I’ve backpacked near there, and was exhausted by the end of the trip). </p>
<p>If you do go to a school known for its outdoors programs, get a good mountain bike, and possibly an internal/external frame backpack. Some schools will loan these out but many won’t.</p>
<p>All the Claremont Colleges are outdoorsy. Southern California is geographically a very active place, with mountains, deserts, national forests, and the ocean, within an hour drive of one another. Here’s a good guide to what you can do here: [Scripps</a> College :](<a href=“http://www.scrippscollege.edu/students/sarlo/guide-outdoors.php]Scripps”>http://www.scrippscollege.edu/students/sarlo/guide-outdoors.php)</p>
<p>[On</a> The Loose | Home](<a href=“On The Loose”>http://otl.pomona.edu/) On the Loose is a 5 college organization and the most popular one. It sponsors free trips to a lot of outdoorsy events, like Zion National Park, Sequoia National Park, and so forth.</p>
<p>Pomona is one of the few LACs that has its own Outdoor Education Center ([Outdoor</a> Education Center - Pomona College](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/administration/outdoor-education/]Outdoor”>Outdoor Education Center | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College)). As 5 college resources are pretty much joint, I’m sure as a student from another college you can also take advantage of that center. They rent out maps and equipment, and also provide wilderness training.</p>
<p>Pomona, Pitzer, and Claremont McKenna all have off-campus outdoor wilderness programs for incoming freshmen. At Pomona and Pitzer, it’s called OA (two different programs though), at CMC, W.O.A.</p>
<p>OP, you didn’t say what your favorite sports are. There are many versions of outdoorsy. Mountains with hiking, backpacking, and cross-country skiing, ocean, high desert hiking, lakes with water activities, etc. You are getting great answers. Some of these schools have very very different outdoor feels.</p>