Questions, Confusion, Geology Major

Thanks carolinamom2boys she was thinking of Clemson also.

both D’s did geology undergrad. job market with the oil companies which are now hurting. neither of my D’s were interested in those jobs and both went to grad school in other fields. your D may decide other undergrad fields look more interesting. a more general school might be more appropriate. we have known many grads of CO school of mines- the majors are very limited. CU Boulder is beautiful and by no means easy. Yes they party but not the ones I’ve known. MT, UT, WY- very nice , very remote -long travel times. have you visited the NY schools? small, med size, large- sorority, city, remote?

Low graduation rates for 4 years, but go up significantly for 6 years, as do many engineering schools. Wyoming is the only 4 year public college in the state, so a lot of students do have to attend, go home for a while and build up more funds, take some classes on line, return, etc. Also, Wyoming has a very big travel abroad program and some students then have to spend an extra semester or year on campus. It’s actually a pretty small school for a flagship, not every class is offered every semester or even every year, so you have to plan ahead if there is something you want to take. My daughter will be one of the 80% who doesn’t graduated in 4 years because she’s leaving to do an internship next semester(not for school credit), and will probably go abroad for a semester or more. It’s only 2 hours from the Denver Airport, so not really the boonies. I’ll bet there aren’t many direct flights from Austin TX to where you live in NY. My niece has been living in Montana this past year and air travel takes some planning, but she’s been able to get to all kinds of places, like Montreal, Hawaii, and Cabo.

CU is a party school. I went there when we were winning awards for being the BEST party school. I still sat next to a guy at graduation who had a 4.0 and was headed to medical school (and I’d had many beers with him over the years). It is a really great school and just like any school, you can go to parties if you want to or find other things to do if you don’t. Many students are into the healthy lifestyle of Whole Foods and hiking, organic gardening, and abstaining from the evils of drink and pot. Did a lot of partying at School of Mines in my day too. At that time, CSM was about 90% male, so we’d go down for parties (4 of my sorority sisters married Mines boys). The boys partied from 5 o’clock on Friday night until Sunday morning, when they went back into study mode. Engineers aren’t known for spontaneity. Scheduled fun.

Thank you rockymtnhigh & twoinanddone. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I appreciate all you’ve said. I don’t think I would’ve found all this if it weren’t for cc.

@Carolinenora you and I have chatted about this topic before. You are getting good advice above re western schools. Just wanted to add, Laramie is a small town in a rural area. It is not that remote by western standards. It is also 45 minutes to Cheyenne or Fort Collins, 2 hours to Denver/DIA. It helps to be an outdoor enthusiast to go there. It is unclear if you live in upstate NY or near the city or what type of environment your d wants for school - I spent my childhood summers on Lake George and went to college in NYC. Colorado schools are chintzy with any merit or financial aid for OOS. Though we live in CO it is cheaper for my s as the child of a WYO alum to go to WYO than to go instate to CSU or CU. WYO is very good for geohydrology/geohydrological engineering which is what my s wants to study. Minimal Greek life at WYO.

Utah is in Salt Lake City so it is not in a remote location at all. I have heard excellent things about Utah. Ditto Univ. of Arizona and ASU.

Thank you goldensrock. I think most people I know who go to college that live around here don’t go to schools out west like Wyoming because it is so different than here, maybe? I’m not sure. So it is something for us to think about. She does love the outdoors. Hiking, canoeing, kayaking are some of her favorite things to do. You’re right about it’s not too far from DIA - 2 hours isn’t terrible. We were just out there last month and Colorado was amazing. We live on Long Island. Not sure what type of environment she wants. I think we have to look at more schools to figure that out.

It helps narrow the search. After visiting several parts of the country, my s ended up with some very specific criteria re majors available, extra curriculars, location, town size, proximity to larger cities and climate that made the search a lot easier and then you factor in $$$. Also re $$ $ you have to assess if a school is one that gives $$ freshman year to get you in the door and then cuts back sophomore, jr or senior year or if the aid is reliable for all 4 years. There are some fascinating threads on CC re this issue. Pretty eye opening.

I do think there are kids who want to live close to home, close to what they know, and those who want anything but what they know. My niece and nephew both went to private catholic h.s., and many of their friends went to colleges that were 1000+ miles away. And many of them returned home quickly because it really was just so different than what they were used to, their friends were all at closer schools and having a good time (as seen on Twitter and FB), friends were able to visit home more often. There were just not enough differences with the far away college and the closer colleges to make it worth it to stay away. The friends my own kids mostly stayed closer to home, so most remain in their original choice.

I’m all for going to colleges that are closer to home, but you said your daughter’s #1 choice is Texas, which isn’t close to home. If you’re on L.I., then many of the upstate NY schools are going to be a haul from your home too. If you didn’t like CSM, I don’t think you’d like Wyoming or Oregon State, and maybe not any of the other western states. Texas is also very different than the small upstate NY schools.

@twoinanddone raises good points. Among other things my s decided he did not want to leave western blue skies. He loves Vermont and the Adirondacks but decided the grey winters would be too hard for him. Being from LI, is your d ready to leave easy access to the ocean? Does she like winters or does she want a milder climate?

Good points. She went to Texas, not planning to visit UT even, loved it (surprisingly) and now it’s the only one she’s focusing on. I, myself went to NC and I really think it’s great to go far away. That was only 500 miles. But, it was one of the best thingsI did in my life. I think if your young, be adventurous, try new things. At first she was wishing high school wouldn’t end, then not sure if she wanted to go away. She likes winter better than summer. But, now we’re starting to think about Alabama, because they give good merit aid.

We didn’t like CSM, but U Of Colorado Boulder was a very pretty campus.

Every family approaches this differently. We worked to come up with a list of criteria to find the correct fit academically, socially, weather-wise and financially for my s. Since I went to an Ivy and my husband went to WYO we happen to be in the “it is not about where you go but what you make of where you go” camp. As others have already stated, just be sure to include possibly needing a master’s in the financial planning so a lower cost/low debt undergrad is preferred - which is why staying in-state may be best.

Wyoming like Boulder requires all the academic buildings to be faced in granite so it does make for a nice campus look. CMS is a great school but it is a weed out school - not my s’s style. We also drilled down into how classes are taught at different schools (like general physics) in making a choice so there is a decent fit for my s’s learning style.

Funny you should mention NC because I was going to suggest UNC Asheville for their water resources program plus a good outdoor rec program.

Carolinanora, you say that this or that school “gives good merit aid,” but it seems to me you’re looking at the wrong number. Instead of looking at the discount, you need to look at the bottom line (the net cost) and whether you can afford it. Your daughter needs to apply to at least one school, and preferably several schools, that (1) you know you can afford, given the aid that you know she will get and (2) she likes. Figure out the safeties and the matches, and then she can apply to a few schools that are academic reaches, or that you probably can’t afford even if she were to be admitted.

How much can you afford to pay per year? Make a spreadsheet of the colleges she is interested in, the cost given the merit aid she can reasonably expect, and the cost given the merit aid she could possibly get if she was really fortunate. Pay no attention either to the sticker price, or to the amount of the expected merit aid-- just look at the bottom line, because that’s what you’ll pay. If a college is too expensive even with the most generous merit aid possible, cross it off the list now.

So, Texas. It’ll cost you $50K/year before merit aid, and she won’t get merit aid. Can you afford that? If not, Texas falls in the financial reach category, and she needs to keep looking.

But let’s look at the University of Montana. Missoula is a great little town, and she’d only have to pay $34K/year. Can you afford that?

See if your daughter may be interested in Eckerd College. They have a geoscience major and a marine geo. major. Let her look at the course descriptions and requirements. If this interests her, she may be eligible for approx. $19,000 per year merit aid. (Not huge requirements to keep the aid for all 4 years), as well as what what we found to be generous financial aid. If she is interested, feel free to PM me for further info. They have the largest NOAA Hollings Scholars in the US. No Greek life. Great mentor program, study abroad, Ford Scholars, Phi Bet Kappa.

I agree with the post who suggested your daughter go west. Absolutely. The western states like Colorado and Wyoming have tons of rocks and need and do water management. Colorado School of Mines (mines.edu) is in the foothills just west of Denver. Just the first page of the website is pretty fabu. Golden has the advantages of Denver, location on the eastern slope of the Rockies and proximity to Coors. The area around Denver has multiple colleges so your daughter would live in nice area with more opportunities and social, recreational, and cultural amenities than found in a college town. It seems like Mines/Denver/Wyoming are alien dark side of the moon kind of places when you grew up in the East, but people from this area enjoy theatre, music, good food, libraries, paved streets, electricity, television, internet, professional football, etc. If anyone is off to Denver, please visit the Museum of Natural History in City Park, Denver because it is one of the great museums in the world. There is an excellent section about minerals where the exhibit looks like it’s in a mine.

I forgot to mention. Travel is quick and easy. There are lots of direct flights to Denver from the New York area. If you prefer, you can go through Chicago where there are also direct flights to large cities like Denver. You may need to take direct flights on smaller aircraft to other parts of the West from Chicago. I like Chicago and OHare as an airport so changed planes there when going to Denver from the Boston area. Just a personal preference.

Thanks everyone for your responses! I appreciate your thoughtfulness and taking the time to write. We have a lot to think about.

Haha, I do not consider making connections in Chicago easy. A little too quick, maybe, if you have to run like heck 2 miles to get to your gate!!! (But yes there are nonstops from both Boston and New York to Denver.)