Looking for selective Northeast colleges that have a good focus on sustainable living

College Search & Selection
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If you can tell us more about yourself any your extracurricular interests, perhaps we can target schools that not only fit your academic interests, but might be a good personality fit for you as well.

If you are looking at LACs, a lot of them don’t have a business major per se, but you can major/minor in Economics instead with a major/minor in Environmental Science/Studies/Sustainability. Actually, preferable in my opinion.

Be careful when looking at schools to really check the depth and breadth of their environmental/sustainability programs and departments. Its becoming a hotter major so some colleges are starting to tack it on to their offerings just so they can say they have it, although it might not be well developed or dynamic.

If you want to look at schools outside of the NE, I could make other suggestions as well. But more details on the type of school you desire would help. Size, outdoorsy, preppy, artsy? Are there certain ECs that interest you? Proximity a city important or not?

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Bard College has an MBA exclusively devoted to sustainability - http://www.bard.edu/mba/ and they also offer a dual degree program - an MS in Environmental Policy or MS in Climate Science and Policy and an
MBA in Sustainability http://www.bard.edu/mba/program/dual/

However, those are graduate degrees. For undergrad there is definitely a strong environmental science department, as well as economics. It’s certainly well worth checking out.

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We are from NJ and D is interested in Sustainability Science and chose the program at Montclair State University. It’s not a “highly selective” school but has great connections to NYC and a new Center for Environmental and Life Sciences building.

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I have two suggestions that might make great safeties for you.

One is College of the Atlantic in Maine. They are VERY focused on sustainability and have a Sustainable Business major. http://www.coa.edu/sustainable-business.htm

The other is Hampshire College in the 5-college consortium with Amherst College, Smith, Mount Holyoke and UMass (you can take classes at all.) They have a working farm and are also VERY focused on sustainability. (To that end, if you wanted a more traditional LAC education in a more selective, preppy environment, you could attend Amherst and take classes at Hampshire for the sustainability aspect.) https://www.hampshire.edu/areas-of-study/environmental-studies-and-sustainability

In fact, the 5-college consortium has a dedicated Sustainability Studies Program: https://www.fivecolleges.edu/sustain. So you could certainly attend Amherst (or Smith or Mount Holyoke if you’re a woman) for a top-notch LAC education, with whatever major you want, and also do the Consortium certificate for Sustainability Studies…

I also agree that pretty much all LACs in the northeast will have some sustainability focus, since it’s a concern for such a large percentage of students these days.

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My parents wouldn’t be comfortable sending me out too far, and I don’t want to pay airfare every time I want to go home. If there’s a great school for me outside of the NE, tell me about it so I can consider it. However, the farther it is, the less likely I’ll go.

Okay, so practically all of my friends either come from immigrant families or are immigrants, so I live in an extremely diverse place. Seeing an almost all-white group of people is bizarre to us. I know that most places aren’t as diverse as where I live, and that’s okay, but because of what I’m used to, I want to see a decent amount of diversity, whatever that means to you. Since I want to stick to the NE, that shouldn’t be an issue. Also, co-ed is a must.

I’m not an outdoorsy person, because I was so invested in literature/music/art to even consider going outside. I suck at all things athletic and physical, and I’m willing to change that for my health. I would say I want to go to an artsy school, because I like the conversations I have with artsy people, but my closest friends happen to love science, too. If I had to choose, I would choose the artsy school, but it’s not such a concern for me. Being around open-minded, dedicated people who learn for the sake of learning is much more important. It doesn’t have to be a LAC, though it might be beneficial for me because of the nature of the environmental courses. I wouldn’t know.

I’m not sure why this is, but I don’t click with people my age who smoke/do drugs/drink. Parties are not for me, and I can’t imagine any of my friends going to parties either, because they all have their own reasons for not indulging in those activities. I would rather have dinner parties or some other alternative, so I think being near a city would be convenient for that. I don’t know what being in a small town or the country is like, since I’ve always lived in a city. I can’t comment on that. I can’t comment on size, either, but it shouldn’t be too tiny or enormous. College should have a focus on undergraduates, regardless of size.

Other than that, I’m a frugal person, not because I’m poor, but because I feel guilty spending money I didn’t earn. If I feel the investment is worth it, I’ll buy regardless, but if it’s better to miss out and save, I’ll save. Good dorms with running hot water and AC are a plus. And affordable food plan is great, too. I’m at the top of my class in a very respectable school, with solid ECs (leadership, NHS, tons of volunteer hours, a minor award, piano lessons, etc) and the writing skills to make interesting essays. Both of my SAT II scores are above 700, which I hear is good anywhere. All I need is to do well on the SAT, which I’ll take this weekend.

Any schools that fit me, esp the ones that have already been mentioned? Also, @doschicos‌ How would I found out the quality of a course in a particular college?

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@viaOllie - Here is a link I found listing environmental science programs. I don’t know much about the organization that created the list but they list some things to look for in a program. Definitely look at the info for the majors on each school’s website to check the breadth of course offerings and compare the number of faculty associated with the major.

http://www.environmentalscience.org/top-schools

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Take a look at BU. It’s bigger, but also urban and more diverse.