<p>Carleton consitent ranks in the very tippy top of LAC’s. To give you an idea of the type of students who go there, the President of the Pomona College (another tippy top LAC) daughter chose Carleton over Harvard.</p>
<p>Good luck, it is super reach for you, but you have a good reason to choose it and you need to express that in your essays.</p>
<p>You have a great list. Very sensible.</p>
<p>It doesn’t fit all of your criteria but you might want to take a look at Northland College in Ashland, WI. You would get in and it’s great for environmental-related majors. It is right on Lake Superior. Not the easiest to get to, but easier than New England (you would fly from LA to Minneapolis and then on to Duluth or Ironwood, MI). It has an interdisciplinary geoscience major:</p>
<p>[Environmental</a> Geosciences Overview | Northland College](<a href=“http://www.northland.edu/academics-env-geo-overview.htm]Environmental”>http://www.northland.edu/academics-env-geo-overview.htm)</p>
<p>You can even take dogsledding classes!</p>
<p>Tk21769, thank you so much for generating that list! I’ll certainly keep CU Boulder and UC Santa Cruz on my list, and possibly add one or two more of the less selective schools that appeared there. It’s interesting that despite U Chicago’s high rank in the geosciences and extremely intellectual atmosphere, it still performs relatively poorly on phD production, especially when compared to Cal Tech.</p>
<p>BrownParent, I’m very familiar with the Claremont Consortium. I actually did a basketball camp there in middle school, and my dad continues to tell me what great schools they are. On the other hand, my mom doesn’t understand why my dad continues to recommend Cal Poly Pomona. But to the original point, yes, I’m well aware that I’m not getting into Carleton unless I sneak into the doors and wait for campus security to kick me out. However, the application is free, it’s a good school, so why not?</p>
<p>Sally305, thanks for the info about Northland College. I’ll continue to investigate it, although I envision a few potential problems relating to the limited geology faculty. Very interesting school though. I actually initially looked into one of the competing Ecoleague schools, College of the Atlantic, but later ruled it out. </p>
<p>lsky17, I have a few concerns about NAU, mostly relating to the level of coursework. Although my GPA is low, my course rigor, AP scores, and SAT/ACT scores are all far higher than NAU’s average. If the school is attracting primarily average students, I worry that I wouldn’t be academically challenged enough. A few students at my school go there every year and they tend to be B/C students with very average stats and few, if any, APs.</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much for the contributions. Now to whittle my college list down to a more manageable size.</p>
<p>Rocas… my S was looking for similar schools. He wanted a school strong in ES near the mountains or forests. Her had a 3.6 GPA with high tests scores and great EC’s, but we were not full pay. He preferred a small LAC but did apply to some bigger schools too. He got into UVM and really liked it but decided it was just too big. Take a look at Western Washington, a smaller state school in WA with a LAC vibe. They have a fantastic Environmental Science school and it is in a really cool town. My S got into UPS and Sewanee with a HUGE scholarships so I can almost guarantee your in there. His first choice was Colorado College but he did not get in. He is matriculating to St Lawrence next week after a gap year.</p>
<p>Someone else mentioned Central Washington University, and I’ll put in a few words about it.</p>
<p>It’s known as the cheapest state school in Washington, and at least for people who grew up there, it’s considered “13th grade.” The academics are not as strong as a lot of the other schools mentioned, and there is a good amount of partying/drinking, but there will be some of that no matter where you go (and that could even be a plus).</p>
<p>But,</p>
<p>There are a lot of good individual professors in a variety of departments. I’ve known/worked with several professors, ranging from biology to geography to geology, and I’ve really liked all of them. The setting is small town rural, which could be good or bad, but eastern Washington is an amazing place, geologically and outdoorsily speaking. With your numbers, admission would be a pretty safe bet (maybe even guaranteed), and some sort of finaid award is a possibility. The student body is ~10,000 or so, and although the valley is agriculture, up in the hills (Cascade mountains), half an hour to the beginning and an hour to the top of the pass, there’s beautiful evergreen forests.</p>
<p>Also, some friends of mine are at University of Montana and really like it. It’s considered stronger than Montana State, at least from the hear-say that I’ve heard.</p>
<p>Willamette and UPS are well known liberal arts schools, regionally, and I don’t know a whole lot about Western.</p>
<p>The Pacific Northwest is a great place for geology. Some home region pride bias here, but still :)</p>
<p>Look at Sewanee.</p>
<p>Lots of good suggestions above. I’d add UC Merced which makes the most of its proximity to Yosemite. Also, Chico State has a solid Environmental Science program and is in the shadow of California’s only active volcano (Lassen).</p>
<p>The University of British Columbia has what you are looking for in spades. Geographically it is located on its own peninsula on the outskirts of Vancouver surrounded by parks and the ocean. Very outdoorsy and pretty. Also has a strong geo-sciences program as well as well regarded plate tectonics, oceanography, marine biology and environmental sciences programs.</p>
<p>I might suggest Western State University in Gunnison, Colorado. Tremendous outdoor culture (only 1/2 hour from major ski resort at Crested Butte) and has an undergraduate geology department.</p>
<p>I’m surprised no one has mentioned Prescott College. I can’t think of a more “outdoors” college than that. They may not have the prestige of Carleton, but they are known as a unique college with a strong liberal arts core and an emphasis on experiential learning and field work. Huge national forest nearby, Grand Canyon nearby, multiple research stations for field work. It’s one of the colleges I wish I had known existed when I was your age.</p>