<p>Many of the schools I was looking to apply to were either in big cities or in the middle of the mid west; i.e. U of Chicago, Columbia, and Grinnell. I thought I would enjoy the adventures of the big city, but after a trip to the Chicago area and down through the rest of Illinois, I found out how much I missed the outdoorsy feel of Montana. I've considered going in-state but the academic quality just doesn't cut it. </p>
<p>Primarily I wanted to get an idea of other top schools that have an outdoors feel paired with superior academics. </p>
<p>I've looked into UC San Diego and UC Boulder (Colorado) but kind of wanted to stay with the smaller schools. Colorado College has the outdoors atmosphere, but is not that well know. Dartmouth is another outdoors oriented student body, but I haven't seen anything that would separate them from all the other liberal arts colleges that "focus on teaching and encourage undergraduate research." </p>
<p>Feel free to add your suggestions. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you consider a “top school” But Sewanee University is a small LAC on top of the Cumberland plateau. It certainly fulfills your desire for an isolated, outdoors oriented college; it has one of the largest campuses in America- about 13000 acres- and sits on a diverse geographical setting which includes caves and many lakes. As far as academics go, Sewanee’s ranked 36 on USN’s LAC ranking. With a high acceptance rate, its not to difficult to get into, but I hear the classes are pretty hard; i’ll be attending next fall. </p>
<p>Another option, Berry College has the largest campus in america! It’s in Georgia, but i’m not certain how it fares academically in comparison to the more highly thought of LACS.</p>
<p>If you are willing to sacrifice the mountain part, Earlham college has an arboretum, but i’m not sure how close it is to a major metropolis. Some colleges, like Reed and Lewis and Clark, are fairly close to major cities, but maintain a beautifully large and nature- orientated campus. Puget sound in Washington is another I recall being outdoorsy when I was looking at colleges. </p>
<p>Also, I believe St. Lawrence University in Canton(NY) is relatively close to the Adirondack mountains… Could be wrong on that though. </p>
<p>finally, Prescott College in Arizona has an extremely strong outdoorsy feel; Arizona, of course, has quite a few mountains to choose from. Unfortunately, its not well known and i’m not sure how they stand academically.</p>
<p>University of Texas at Austin, best of both worlds.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you need a school that has strong name recognition and social prestige to the average guy in the street, then you will have a problem with virtually all of the liberal arts colleges (LACs). If you can get past that, these 5 are all academically strong LACs with good opportunities for outdoor recreation: </p>
<p>Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Colorado College, Whitman.</p>
<p>Dartmouth also has good opportunities for outdoor recreation. Several features separate it from most LACs. It is larger, at about ~4K undergraduates compared to 1K-3K for most liberal arts colleges. It is actually a small university not a LAC, with nearly 2K graduate students and a medical school. It also is an Ivy League school, which gives it a little extra brand cachet. It is more selective than all but possibly the tippy top 3 or 4 LACs. </p>
<p>The above 6 schools span a range of selectivity. If Dartmouth and Williams are realistic reaches for you, then Colorado College and Whitman should be “match” schools. Midd and Bowdoin would fall somewhere in between (“low reach” maybe, but not to be underestimated). Add one or two admission and financial safeties and you have a complete, coherent list.</p>
<p>Outside magazine compiled a list of the 40 best schools for outdoor recreation. Middlebury, Dartmouth, Colorado College, Bowdoin and Williams are all on the list. Whitman, it seems to me, is a significant omission.
[The</a> Best Colleges For Outdoor Recreation | Outside Online](<a href=“http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200309/200309_college_towns_1.html]The”>http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200309/200309_college_towns_1.html)</p>
<p>tk,</p>
<p>I really enjoyed reading that link. It was amazing to see how much attendance costs have risen since 2003.</p>
<p>
MOST small colleges aren’t really that well known, even Williams and Pomona. Don’t insist on that as well or you’re ruling out a lot of great choices. Find one that fits you, and realize that most people don’t really care where you went to college by the time you’re 25 anyway.</p>
<p>Colorado College may be better known than you think, particularly if you consider post grad school. It is a highly ranked LAC with a great reputation and their unique block system, which will allow you to actually have the time to enjoy the surroundings.</p>
<p>Sewanee is also a great selection, it is hard to get more outdoorsy than the top of a mountain plateau. St. Olaf is also a nice fit that has not been mentioned. Middlebury and Bowdoin speak for themselves.</p>
<p>
Berry is indeed gorgeous (and owns an entire mountain range!), but it is much weaker and more conservative than the other colleges suggested.</p>
<p>How important are mountains to you? Duke has no mountains, but it does have 8000 acres of forest adjacent to campus, with mountain bikes and camping equipment free for student use.</p>
<p>tk21769’s link had a lot of great suggestions. I second the suggestions of Lewis & Clark, Puget Sound, and Whitman and would add Willamette.</p>
<p>Colorado College is excellent and we were very impressed by our visit there. It’s on my D’s short list. Who cares if it’s “not all that well known”? Are you going to base your decisions on other people’s awareness?</p>
<p>^PG - I enjoyed your reviews of the colleges you and your twins toured, but somehow I either missed or cannot recall what you reported about Colorado College. I know that you viewed it favorably, but if you had a chance to give some more detail (or link me to the thread I missed 
) I would really appreciate getting your insight on this often overlooked LAC.</p>
<p>In Maryland, there is a small state-supported honors college called St. Mary’s. It is right on the Chesapeake Bay and consistantly has a top ranked sailing team. I have not visited, but have heard it is gorgeous.</p>
<p>broetchen - we were just favorably impressed overall and it’s on D’s list (Wellesley as #1, Bryn Mawr and CC tied for #2). The block plan is really up her alley and enables them to do a lot of community learning since the whole class can travel to “X” location to work on the subject matter. The campus is charming and has the benefit of being close enough to a small city (Co Springs) and a large city (Denver). The students seemed very “real” and down-to-earth and friendly. We loved the profs we met. Very collaborative, not competitive. PM me if you want more detail.</p>
<p>Thanks, Pizzagirl. I may well follow up with you. I agree that the block plan is intriguing and am looking forward to seeing the campus, a visit is planned for early this fall.</p>
<p>One thing I’ll throw in about considering Colorado College alongside Chicago, Columbia and Williams is the vast difference in student bodies. Colorado, with not great aid, attracts a wealthier and less serious student body. </p>
<p>A friend whose child recently graduated told me that most kids she talked to at the graduation had plans going forward to “hang out” in Denver. She said that throughout few were motivated to get internships or real summer jobs and very, very few had jobs upon graduating. The thinking was they’d fool around and then end up in the family business. She was pretty shocked at the difference when talking to my kids who go to schools where these things are routine. Jobs are tough now, but plenty of kids graduating from good colleges do have one.</p>
<p>A dear friend’s daughter just finished her freshman year at Colorado College. The young woman was admitted for spring and then in August last year, she was told she could enroll in September. From what I have heard, I would agree with Redroses about wealthy kids. The young woman I am talking about is all about bouncing all over the world to get her education. She went somewhere over spring break for adventure training. She was in Alaska this summer for more adventure training. She wants to go to Padagonia (forgive me if I spelled it wrong) next spring on another adventure. She wants to be an English teacher. She is an only child and mom is working extra so they can pay the full bill for this young woman. I asked the young woman about diversity at CC and she told me that it was mostly upper middle class kids, but they do a lot of charity work. Just my two cents on CC.</p>
<p>Thanks Redroses and MD Mom, I have heard this about CC, as well. I guess it bears a closer look on to what degree the level of privilege affects the student body culture.</p>
<p>Check out Whitman College</p>
<p>It fits you perfectly</p>
<p>The reality is that most expensive, small LACs will have a majority of white, privileged middle/upper middle class kids. That’s who goes to those schools. And one of the reasons these kids start “bouncing all over the world,” to quote MD Mom, is that they get bored. They’re in a tight (some say ‘incestuous’) community, often in an isolated area. By mid sophomore year they’re sick of each other 
</p>
<p>A friend once compared Colby College and UC Berkeley (which her daughter had chosen) “Colby is the type of school kids grow out of. Berkeley is the type of school kids grow INTO.”
Food for thought as you contemplate your options.</p>
<p>My S just finished his first year at Colorado College. I think Redroses’ description does have an element of truth to it. We were aware of this issue and it gave my kid pause when he was deciding between private LACs and our state’s public honors college (St. Mary’s College of MD, the very one MD Mom mentioned). After visiting these schools, the Colorado College positives outweighed this negative. St.Mary’s is indeed beautiful; the student body is more economically and racially (but not geographically) diverse than CC’s. However, my son preferred the CC classroom dynamics and the mountain environment. I encouraged him to choose the best fit, not to make a political statement. He has been happy with his choice.</p>
<p>He has a summer job, by the way.</p>