<p>5boys - based on your son’s blend of academics and leadership experience you might also look at WSU as he may be eligible for some strong out-of-state merit consideration. From an outdoors perspective it should be at least on par with U of ID which is just a few minutes away, but probably not as attractive in this regard as the MT schools you mention. Another school which may be a good academic and outdoor fit for him would be Colorado State.</p>
<p>5boys, Colorado College is a great option. How about Occidental?</p>
<p>Thank you all for the well-wishes!</p>
<p>5boys, good luck to your son! My advice for him would be to pay special attention to his essays, because I’m sure mine were what got me in :)</p>
<p>From a '2011 parent: Reed and Occidental are both great schools, and great reaches for most of our kids, but reaches would be getting away from the original idea and feeling of the thread.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience with the University of Idaho?</p>
<p>We do!! Great school!!! What can I answer for you?</p>
<p>Univ OF wyoming should also be on a list for outdoors type. Good Skiing, hiking, fishing, etc all very close by. Good OOS Aid with WUE for western state Residents. The State and University are still increasing Budgets. It is one of the few Universities that proposed a significant increase to the state legislature and it will probably be approved. well funded programs and university</p>
<p>My son loves the area, loves to snow ski, wants to go AWAY to school from So Cal. We are helping him put together a list of 3.0+ level respected colleges (he’ll have strong SAT scores for sure.) Does U of Idaho have nice dorm environment? Is it near anything? Is there a “college-town” feel? Is the school known for majors in particular? He liked Gonzaga a lot, but unfortunatlely we didn’t get the chance to get him over to see U of Idaho and I haven’t been successful in finding much info on it on CC. Thanks for any info…</p>
<p>Oh, and we will check out U of Wyoming too!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for all of the suggestions… One of the problems for my S is that he really wants a small school with small classes. He really does well if he is in a classroom that is intellectually stimulating and has a lot of group discussion. Also, he would like to be able to develop close relationships with his professors. I’m afraid he won’t like the big state schools and the big impersonal classes. He is one of those kids that finding the right classroom environment is going to be VERY important. He did like UVM though… so who knows.</p>
<p>Well, what I can tell you is from a slightly different perspective because I have a daughter there who is in a sorority. I did post something on this thread a while ago. What I do know about the dorms is that they may not be very plush, but people seem to make good friends there. I believe they have also built some new ones. As far as the greek scene goes, it has given my daughter great social connections as well as study habits, and the house she lives in is beautiful. The fraternities seem like your typical fraternities. My impression of the people is they are very nice. I was there for mom’s weekend, and never had trouble finding a student to give me a ride to and from my hotel at all hours. They seem to be a polite, grounded, and fun loving.
That same weekend when my daughter and and I went to to the biology building to look for job postings, a professor walked out and asked if we needed something. We thought she was going to tell us to leave since it was a weekend, but instead when she found out why we were there told us about internship possibilities and where to find them. Overall, my impression of the professors from what my daughter has told me and from what I have seen is that they have interesting classes and they go out of their way to help.
It seems the major they are best known for is engineering, and the sciences, especially environmental, are strong. There are ski trips and rafting trips, and camping on nearby Moscow Mountain, and lake cruises in Coeur d’Alene. She has even gone to a rodeo. It has taken some time to adjust to the weather, but she is used to it. Apparently the sidewalks are heated so there is no snow on them, so that helps.
The downtown of Moscow blends right into the borders of campus, and it has many restaurants. The students seem to love the town, and the town loves the students. I thought it was amusing that my daughter was on a homecoming float in a parade that went down Main Street. I have found all of the food delicious and healthy. Washington State University is eight miles away, and students go there quite often for concerts, bowling, movies, etc. Spokane is 1 1/2 hours away for shopping.
I have mentioned before that it was upsetting when they got rid of the WUE scholarship, and replaced it with one with a much higher GPA requirement. Since your son has good test scores, you might be interested to know that since my daughter’s tests scores were high in math and english (she took the SAT and the ACT), not only did she not have to take introductory classes, she also got credit for some of them! She also got credit for all of her APs. So at the end of her first year, plus one summer school class , she will be a junior in the fall, and that is saving us a lot of money. So even without the scholarship it is still a great deal. She has not had any trouble getting into classes, and advisors and counselors (except for one) are readily available and helpful. Overall, my daughter gives the university a ten out of ten. We couldn’t be happier. I hope this helps. If you have any other questions let me know.</p>
<p>And, I am also interested in the University of Wyoming, in addition to Idaho, for my next kiddo! Just a little worried about the weather. Idaho is cold and snowy, but it doesn’t seem to last for more than a few days before more temperate weather comes in.</p>
<p>Thank you whyme1! We all (my son included) truly appreciate the time you spent relating your first-hand perspective on the U of Idaho. It is most definitely staying on his list! We are considering trying to get up there to take a look :)</p>
<p>I love all the great input on the western schools. My S graduated Saturday from Univ of the Pacific. The graduation was wonderful. The campus is beautiful and my S has had a great education and a full college experience.
D is a HS jr. Smart but just not a motivated student. She loves to taunt us with the statement she is not going to college. She is already dual enrolled at the local CC. That will be one option.
We took her to see Sonoma State and Univ of San Francisco. We liked Sonoma for her. Smaller Ca public with a somewhat attractive campus. Great pricetag and hopefully a slamdunk safety. Close to SF. She disliked it but is willing to apply. I think she disliked it because we like it.
Univ of San Francisco- no tour since it was easter weekend. She liked the area. Once again I think she liked it since we told her that she wouldn’t. Only doable if she gets good merit aid.
Her siblings are encouraging her to go away to school. I think going to the college graduation gave her a good picture of the relationships that are made during the college years especially at a school that is a fairly residental campus.</p>
<p>Two of my kids have taken undergrad summer school classes at WWU and two of them will have Master’s from WWU so I can answer to a degree.</p>
<p>One of my DDs attended a mid range UC and she loved the classes she picked up at WWU, she was very impressed that she did not have an ESL prof for a touch basic science, nor was a TA teaching the class. When DD applied for undergrad she was paying a good deal of attention to rankings and was unimpressed with WWU as it was not a top ranked university. In reality she was quite impressed with the personal attention and quality of professors at WWU.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me with any specific questions. You can also as EmeraldKity as her DD attended one year at WWU and was not happy with it, that might give you both ends of the spectrum for decision making.</p>
<p>Bellingham is a nice small town with local restaurants, places like Olive Garden, Red Robin, etc. You have a mall with Macy’s, Penney’s, etc and a Costco. Many students obtain housing around campus, near enough to walk to school and walk or ride a bike to the down town region.</p>
<p>I would consider Bellingham to be rather crunchy granola- lots of recycling, environmentally conscious, go green attitudes. Also a very outdoorsy place with nearby skiing, kayaking etc. You are right on the sound plus there is a lake in town. Vancouver is about an hour or so away for all the requisite night life, big city, concerts, music, shows, etc. </p>
<p>You are about two hours from Seattle. So airport choices are YVR, BLI, SEA. Bellingham has Allegiant Air with very cheap flights to odd airports in NorCal, Socal, AZ, NV.</p>
<p>If you are from another state one of the biggest life changing experiences would be the weather. It is much cooler and greyer and the days are quite short in winter (8-4 daytime) and gloriously long in summer (4am-10pm), if you are still in town.</p>
<p>It is a large enough town that your student can probably find a little job and have all the necessary services without the parking & traffic hassles of some place like Seattle.</p>
<p>I’m just joining this thread after spending some time on the one more for east-coast families. (Thanks, Shrinkrap, for helping me find this one at last.) 
Doame, my daughter and your son might have been separated at birth. She’s also pulling out a spectacular 3.0 (LOL) but her SAT’s are very good. </p>
<p>Looking forward to joining other parents of juniors in keeping Historymom’s list going. :-)</p>
<p>Can someone explain to me how the WUE program works? It appears that some colleges require you to ask for the tuition rate and others will automatically consider the student once they apply. Is easy to get, or is really limited? We live in California… she is looking at the WUE schools in Washington, Oregon and also, Arizona State West. We posted to the about ASU W school forum but no one has responded…does anyone know anything about the program there and how hard it is to get WUE tuition?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>We’ve been, and continue to research WUE as well. (Western Undergraduate Exchange.) </p>
<p>WICHE (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education) states include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.</p>
<p>Here is a website, in case you don’t have it: <a href=“http://wiche.edu/wue[/url]”>http://wiche.edu/wue</a></p>
<p>Here is something I’ve cut and pasted from the University of Oregon’s site: (I’d assume it’s similar at other participating Western U’s)</p>
<p>The Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) is a program of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). Recipients of the WUE award pay 150% of in-state tuition plus any required student fees. For example, a WUE student at the UO during 2010-11 pays approximately $11,655 in tuition and fees, compared to $25,830 paid by other nonresident undergraduates. Space is limited. Consideration is competitive.</p>
<p>Twenty-five spaces are available for fall 2011. Recipients are selected based on space availability in their selected major or program, GPA, SAT/ACT scores and state residence.</p>
<p>No separate application is needed. All freshman applicants meeting the eligibility requirements are automatically considered.</p>
<p>Am I reading correctly that Univ of Oregon does not offer WUE to Ca residents?</p>
<p>Doame-Thanks, I didn’t know about the WICHE schools, going to take a look right now.</p>
<p>Mom60-I was wondering the same thing:</p>
<p>From WUE:</p>
<p>Enrollment Information</p>
<p>Eligible candidates are automatically considered based on application information:<br>
First-time freshman entering UO in the fall from eligible WICHE states (except California). Transfer and current non-WUE UO students are not eligible to receive an award. </p>
<p>My D is applying for Spring so I don’t know if she would be eligible or not…anyone know?</p>
<p>I’m confused, is there a difference between WICHE and WUE? …or is WUE a program within WICHE?</p>
<p>The Midwest has a similar program. I believe that WUE is part of WICHE.</p>
<p>If WUE works like MSEP the you need to verify the requirements for each school. For our Midwest program (MSEP) some schools give the discount regardless and other have a limited number of spaces or it only applies to specific programs.</p>