You might find one or two from this group that meet his additional criteria as well. The University of Oregon might be a school of interest to him. I’ll list the colleges in case anyone else might see an overall match:
University of Denver tends to be on the preppy/greek side. It’s not a casual hipster crowd, though it is outdoorsy.
And although it skews female that’s because of its renown music school that attracts many young Asian women. Most of the men seem to be business majors.
WWU and UVM are state schools, with undergraduate enrollments in the 10,000 - 15,000 range, and reported student:faculty ratios of 19:1 and 17:1 respectively (as per Common Data Sets).
However, Denver is a small private university with only about 5,800 undergraduates (total enrollment of 11,800 with grad students), The reported student:faculty ratio is significantly lower, at 11:1. USNews reports 56% of classes under 20, and 7% of 50 or more. These are actually pretty good numbers for the “national university” category.
He might be eligible for this merit scholarship, and a 3.8/28 ACT gets a bump up to 8K per year:
The Western Achievement Award is a competitive four-year merit scholarship for incoming freshmen who are not residents of Washington State. This competitive $20,000-$24,000 merit scholarship provides a $5,000-$6,000 per year tuition waiver for four years of study. Transfer students are not eligible and WAA scholarships are awarded for fall quarter admission only.
Selection for these scholarships is based on information provided in the application for admission, including cumulative GPA, ACT or SAT test scores and rigorous coursework. Recipients have a 3.6 GPA and a 24 ACT or 1180 SAT (ERW + Math) on average and have taken rigorous coursework throughout high school.
Bellingham is a lovely small city and there is easy access to hiking adjacent to campus and skiing not far away. It’s right on the coast and has a lake inholding about a half-hour’s drive where WWU students can rent small boats for a token sum. After visiting campus, I wanted to retire there! About 15K undergrads and has lots of majors to choose from. About midway between Seattle and Vancouver.
If he’s open to something smaller, Puget Sound would be another good bet and he might have a shot at some merit there.
Denver is a good choice for people who like skiing and Lacrosse. Several other state schools in the Rockies offer merit aid for a student with a 30ish ACT.
The Utah schools are forced to offer good merit because the best Mormon students go to BYU. A friend has a son in Utah engineering and his total OOS tuition was in the $5,000 range.
Finally, your lacrosse playing son would be strong candidate for merit at a female majority LAC with a lacrosse team.
I think his best bet for a combination of midsize University and smaller class size could be th honors college in the next tier down from the flagship (or a flagship where he’s competitive for honors college).
UDenver is good overall, except lower level business or economics pre-req classes will be larger than most. Look into the details - see on the class registration tool if freshman classes he’d likely take would be small enough (30 and under).
What about Southern Oregon as a safety and UO for a match (look into the new honors college)? Montana state and its honors program may be worth checking out. Not sure about skiing but they’d definitely work for outdoorsy.
Appalachian State with honors college is likely. Definitely outdoorsy, lots on offer, but definitely visit.
Does he like Nordic skiing? That’d open St Thomas in the twin Cities, for instance.
Hockey is the biggest sport at all 3. There are club teams and intramural sports. No hipsters, access to outdoors, he stands a good chance at admission. Clarkson is the smallest but most remote, but awesome access to the outdoors.
UVM is the biggest, but nicest area and lots of outdoor things going on. I said RPI because they have a lot of majors, not really hipsters, good sports, outdoors clubs, and a good education. There are some “nerdy” types, I don’t like that term, but a decent amount of the kids there are into tech/stem stuff. But there are plenty of athletes and non-nerds to offset.
My S took two years of ASL in HS for his FL; barely scraped through ASL 1 in college; withdrew from ASL 2 with a failing grade. Subsequently received a substitution for the final two required semesters of FL in the form of cultural diversity courses. This was done through the Disability Services office but did not require any testing. Maybe something for the OP to consider.
How about Appalachian State as a southern alternative?
It’s located in an area that is increasingly “hip” (think mountain crafts meets old-time music meets artisanal beer/moonshine meets backpackers meets laid-back dudes), but the overall NC location provides a moderating influence that prevents the hip/liberal scene from becoming too overbearing.
The area boast access to four-season outdoors activities that is the equal of anywhere else in the country.
I was thinking Whitman…my friend’s daughter (very non-hipster and quite outdoorsy) goes there and absolutely loves it. I would apply ED; I think it’s a big advantage.
For the record, I wasn’t “recommending” Midwest skiing, just answering OP’s question about what is nearby. I agree that it’s nothing like skiing in the Rockies. OP’s son will have to make compromises somewhere, though.
If outdoor access and small classes end up as the top priorities, then Quest University, near Whistler, BC, should be on the table.
Quest is not a traditional college (and much, much smaller than what OP wants).
But on that side of the border, what about Simon Fraser? For a smaller class size at first while keeping with the larger university, start at Surrey (possible for Business and Criminology).
UVic (University of Victoria) is good for everything outdoorsy but the classes are very large. http://www.macleans.ca/education/university/university-of-victoria-411-where-to-find-the-best-cheap-lunch-and-more/
He may not need to give up on his interest in intelligence just because he hated high school language classes (which are often horrible). There are other ways to pick up foreign languages that could better suit his learning style.
Remember that many colleges have foreign language graduation requirements that can be higher than their admission requirements. This includes the USMA.
For intelligence work, foreign language and math (for crypto) and CS (for crypto and other computer security aspects) are useful.
So many great ideas here! You people are the best!
@collegemom3717 , yep, we know about ASL. But he is done with FL for high school. I have told him he may have to take FL in college, and he didn’t freak out, so that’s something. He said as long as he can pass, he guesses he can cope. But he would rather avoid taking it.
@MYOS1634 , I guess a must-have should be extended test time. He currently gets that at his high school. I have the K&W College Guide for Students with Learning Differences. It lists what kinds of accomodations are allowed, and sometimes it indicates if a college allows course substitutions. But I know it doesn’t list everything. For example, I know that Bates allows extended test time and some other accomodations, but it’s not listed in the book. Some of the colleges I had checked out as possibilites have already been mentioned:
Clarkson
UNH
St. Lawrence
U Denver
UC Boulder
UC Colorado Springs
UCSB
I hadn’t thought of Canadian colleges. Aren’t they a bit similar to the UK system, in which a major is declared at the outset? He really is not at all sure.
@happy1 , Marist is too close to home! But a good idea.
I agree that it’s nothing like skiing in the Rockies. OP’s son will have to make compromises somewhere, though.