Hello, turning to the CC oracle once again! My outdoors-oriented S24 is interested in sciences for sure, but hasn’t settled on a particular field. Last year doing AP Chem he was sure that was for him; this year doing AP Bio he’s loving that as well. Maybe molecular biology? Definitely not a humanities kid. He’s also wondered about sciences that would allow him to get out of a lab and into the field (ie, outdoors), but hasn’t figured out anything there yet. Engineering is also a possibility.
With his future direction still undecided, he’d love a strong STEM college where he can do tons of outdoorsy stuff with likeminded folk; his passion is mountain biking, but rock climbing is a close second. He’s very athletic, but not in recruitable sports.
I’d love input on outdoorsy colleges that have strength in chemistry, biology, or related sciences. Year-round mountain biking opportunities, especially that don’t involve a drive, are a real plus. He thinks he’d like a small liberal arts college but hasn’t toured yet, so may be open to other options.
Stats:
Junior
No testing yet
3.9 unweighted GPA
AP Chem exam: 5
Currently taking AP Bio, IB Econ, IB English, IB History, Honors/advanced math, Spanish IV.
On track to complete AP Calc BC and AP physics C in senior year.
EC: Races mountain bikes competitively; won a sophomore N state HS championship. Leadership related to MTB team. Built his own bike and helps others fix theirs. Rock climbs several times a week. Does independent chemistry experiments at home, a bit of darkroom photography, a bit of programming, a bit of electronic tinkering, a bit of trail maintenance and bike repair clinic volunteering.
We stopped in Chattanooga after dropping off the kids. Neat little city. Talked to several locals. They liked it for biking and outdoor opportunities. Love the Smokey mountains.
Colorado or Vermont would be obvious choices but I can’t imagine the weather would be great during most of the school year.
Lots of lists. And far more than these. I know a rock climber at UT Chatt. UVM is mentioned often for outdoors. WVU. Utah. New Mexico Va Tech. Eckerd for water. wash &Lee. Arkansas. Really figure out size wise etc. as you are early but on trips or outings go walk on a small campus, mid size, large. Urban rural etc. Next year you’ll be able to narrow in on some. Probably hundreds of worthy schools.
U. of Arkansas was my first thought while reading the description, until I got to the small part. Perhaps John Brown?
Should engineering fall of the list of possibilities, you might think about Hendrix. It isn’t at the same level as Arkansaswith respect to mountain biking, but it might work. Hendrix also offers a flagship match scholarship that can bring the costs to the same as what you have for your in-state flagship. U. of the South (Sewanee) is another good possibility if engineering falls by the wayside that @cltrising mentioned.
What’s the budget? That’s a super important factor.
Home state is CA. We are fortunate that budget is not a priority. Geographic preferences are all about mountain biking at this point— ie, as many months of mountain bike-able weather as possible, and not flat— though maybe I will encourage him to learn to ski
Since you want the weather and college calendar is autumn, winter, and spring it seems the schools in Arizona, SoCal, New Mexico, and Texas will be the driest and warmest during the winter months and still have the terrain he is looking for.
If he is willing to cut back on mountain-biking for snowy, cold winters then it opens up the playbook to a lot more states/colleges.
You might want to check out Fort Lewis College, Durango Colorado. The college is part of the WUE and I believe a CC poster @NCalRent had a son that attended with an interest in mountain biking.
What about Trinity Univ in San Antonio? I don’t know much about specific STEM fields there, but it’s a very respected small school (~2600 undergrads) that does give merit aid. Mild winters, so decent biking weather almost year-round. There are several biking trails in the city that connect all of the 18th-century Spanish mission sites, plus there would be tons of opportunities in the Hill Country within an hour north or west of the city.
The hard part is trying to find smaller, ABET-accredited schools with fabulous mountain biking. If your son decides on engineering, a degree from an ABET-accredited school is pretty much a requirement for most employers. I’ve been able to find 2 out of 3, but it’s been hard to get all 3.
Fort Lewis (CO) in Durango has a stellar location and is ABET-accredited for general engineering. People with more engineering expertise will need to say how much it matters if it’s general engineering as compared to mechanical, chemical, etc. About 3500 undergrads here.
Embry-Riddle (AZ) in Prescott probably has pretty good access, considering its location between Flagstaff and Phoenix. This school of about 3k undergrads has limited life science offerings and it’s really known for aeronautics, though it’s accredited in multiple engineering areas.
Colorado School of Mines: There are about 5500 undergrads here, but the offerings in life sciences are very slim.
Southern Utah: There are about 12k undergrads here. A smaller engineering program than at other schools, it’s accredited for general engineering and ME. I’m guessing that this is a good location for your son’s outdoor interests, but it would need confirmation.
New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology: So long as your son isn’t really interested in anything beyond STEM, this school only has about 1300 undergrads.
New Mexico State: About 11k undergrads, relatively small for a major state school
U. of New Mexico: About 16k undergrads, relatively small for a state flagship
Cal Poly Humboldt might be a good in-state safety.
Don’t know if it’s been mentioned before; the one kid I know who was into mountain biking went to Chico State. I think he competed there on their team. But I don’t know much else about the school. He was also a strong student. Cal Poly SLO sounds like a good match. Mines? Northern Arizona?
I missed the small LAC ( a few have engineering)but this is where one ultimately will have trade offs (access to biking vs size) - especially if it involves a narrow major like engineering. If engineering there are some small and mid size. If not engineering it opens up so much.
But go visit a small school or two locally. Some kids find them too small and then decide to go big and join honors or a living learning community because a big school can be made to feel small but not necessarily vice versa. A big school may also have a robust outdoor club. A small may too but maybe more limited.
The small school seems like what should give here. Hopefully you can visit CPSLO, Chico, UCSC to see if those medium sized schools give off a good vibe. It sounds like a breadth of engineering options and mountain biking are the priority, focus on those two . I would focus on western publics that have an honors program. Those frequently provide a small school feel but the resources to have all the engineering options.
AustenNut posted a singletracks link above. I would add that North Carolina has fantastic biking and schools. There might be a match there somewhere.
If your son hasn’t had the opportunity yet, you may want to consider an engineering camp for next summer. It might be a good way to see if he’s really interested in engineering or if he loses interest in it. Because I don’t think there are many more options that are small, ABET-accredited, with good access to mountain biking in areas where the sport can be done most of the school year than what I listed above. I suspect your son will end up at one of these combinations if he doesn’t find any of the above options a fit:
Small, mountain-biking, no engineering
Large, mountain-biking, engineering
Small, no mountain-biking (which doesn’t sound like your son), and engineering
For this, look to geosciences, which include subfields such as hydrogeology, meteorology, volcanology and oceanography as well as, as might be relevant to a student interested in biology, geomicrobiology and paleontology. This site offers suggestions for colleges with strong geosciences departments:
You can expect these schools to be strong in the foundational fields of physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics.
For ideas for colleges at which students often pursue outdoor recreational activities, this site may be of interest:
He should consider U of Utah, even though it’s huge, and even though some of the best mountain biking in the world is a few hours drive (there is good mountain biking close by), and even though it’s got winter for 4 months of the year. The reason is that the outdoors culture at Utah is amazing - you’ve got incredible skiing and hiking right there, plus some mountain biking, plus 4 hrs south to the Moab slick rock mountain biking. And of course, the U has great science and engineering.
Mountain biking is a year round sport in Colorado. Southern Colorado works when the trails to the north are snowy, but most just go on the roads after they’ve been plowed.
Wyoming, Montana, Montana State all have engineering and other STEM subjects. Not as small as an LAC, not as big as Michigan or Florida. Lots of mountains to bike in.
Year round mountain biking in the Manzano and Sandia Mountains. (Accessible from campus via free city buses. Maybe a 30 minute bus ride. Quicker by car. He could take his bike to the top of Sandia Crest on the Sandia Tram and ride down. Or just ride the west side of the Sandias in ABQ Open Space/Sandia National forest. SIL who competed professionally as a cyclist found the trails in the Open Space perfectly suitable for most of his recreational riding.)
ABET accredited engineering program. Strong bio program with adjacent med school. (Across the street from main campus, next door to the Physics Bldg.) Chem dept equal to Bio. Physics is stronger than either Bio or Chem and Earth Sciences/Geology is excellent with a strong national reputation.
(BTW, UNM is an up and coming program in quantum computing with a couple of really top notch new hires.)
Proximity to TWO National Research Labs and the Air Force Research Lab on Kirtland Base in ABQ means there are plenty of summer research internships in science * engineering…
But UNM has an enrollment of around 27,000. Not huge compared to many state flagships, but certainly bigger than NM Tech, for example.
