<p>I'm seriously contemplating transferring out of Cornell after next semester. I'm a freshman and at the end of my first semester, I wouldn't say I dislike it here at all, but it's not what I had expected and really isn't what I was looking for. I haven't made up my mind yet, as I will rush when I come back in January, and then will make my decision, but I need to form a list of possible schools now, so I could use some help.</p>
<p>There's a few things I'm looking for:
-In (or relatively near) a decent sized city. Here in Ithaca, there's just nothing to do.<br>
-Not too small, but not too big either. Cornell is a little bigger than I like, but I really don't want a school much smaller than about 4k kids (1k/grade)
-Decent biology program. Ideally they'd have a very unrestrictive curriculum, a la Brown and Amherst, but that's not really a kicker by any means, as long as they've got a decent science dept.
-Location: Looking for something where it will snow in the winter, and I'd like to be within driving distance of a mountain for snowboarding. Doesn't have to be Whistler or anything, just something to have fun at. I do not want to come back to the northeast though. But the solid criteria is somewhere in the midwest, midatlantic, or pacific northwest. It's a pretty loose definition though, I just do not want to be in Florida or Arizona or SoCal type climates. Again, skiing isn't a priority, it's just nice.</p>
<p>Basically looking for an average school in a decent sized or fairly large town (I'm from Dallas), where it's not too extreme in any social aspect (no studying always but no pure party schools either).</p>
<p>I really appreciate any help you can give. Thanks.</p>