Overwhelmed with college search - ecology,liberal,outdoors

So I’m a Junior in high school with a 4.01 GPA and a 30 on the ACT (haven’t gotten SAT scores back yet) and involved in many extracurricular activities. I’m completely overwhelmed by looking for colleges. I’m looking for a smaller (liberal arts?) school with a great biology/ecology/environment program as I want to be a herpetologist in the future. The political environment at the school is important - And I’m definitely on the liberal end of the spectrum. Also, I love the outdoors and want to be able to go hiking/camping and conduct field research. Location and Tuition are a factor but I’m completely open minded and willing to go out of state or international even. I live in Michigan. Any suggestions on schools or general advice/experience/wisdom is appreciated. Thanks so much! P.S. So far ive been looking at schools in Michigan, Pacific Northwest, and Austrailia but again I’m open to anything!

Highly recommend St. Lawrence University and University of Vermont based on your 30 SAT.

You won’t find better outdoors than these two.

Middlebury, Bates and Colby have great programs and access to the outdoors but they are considerably more difficult to get in.

Oberlin or Knox

Check out “colleges that change lives”, ctcl.org

Colorado College in Colorado Springs and Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington are known for being liberal, outdoorsy colleges with great environmental studies programs. A 30 ACT is in the middle 50 at both colleges, but Colorado College is becoming especially competitive (17% admit rate in 2015, 9% regular decision.)

Lewis & Clark college in Portland maybe?

Echoing some of the other suggestions plus a few others: Bates, Bowdoin, Carleton, Colby, Colorado College, Dickinson, Middlebury, Oberlin, St, Lawrence, U of Vermont, Whitman

Eckerd College, their motto is, “Think Outside”. Close professor/mentor relationships, research with professors can start as early as freshman year, environmental studies, biology, animal science. Very environmentally friendly campus and buildings. Student awareness of our relationship with the environment.

If tuition is an issue, you’re likely to get big scholarships at outdoorsy schools in the West such as U of Montana and U of New Mexico.

Consider College of the Atlantic, UNC-Asheville, Marlboro, Hampshire, Understory of Puget Sound, Whitman.

College of the atlantic
Warren wilson
Lewis and clark
Unc asheville

Sewanee

If you’re a girl or non-binary, Mount Holyoke in MA is a Seven Sister, so very liberal, community feel, and rural in a pretty area. I’d second Oberlin- they have an excellent environmental science program.
Warren Wilson near Asheville, NC, is another outdoorsy, alternative school & is part of the Work Colleges Consortium.

@Elijah123 Bard is all of those things, and it may be my imagination but I remember them mentioning herpetology on our tour. Definitely worth a look!

Connecticut College has good ES and an arboretum, although the rest of New London is not particularly rural.

Humboldt State in Arcata, California, and UC Santa Cruz immediately came to mind.

Middlebury has the oldest Environmental Studies program in the nation and is where 350.org was founded. It is also where Bill McKibbin teaches. It’s kinda the Mecca for environmental studies.

Look at Evergreen State.

Check out Colorado College

Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA sounds perfect for you and you have to check this out: http://people.whitman.edu/~jacksok/