<p>I’m looking to major in Environmental Engineering and maybe a minor in Ecology or Biology. I’ve been a part of FIRST for a long time and really want something that’s super nerdy but also really in touch with nature. I really love how St. Lawrence (I think it’s St. Lawrence) has classes on mountains and outdoors. I want to be able to have a unique and in-touch-with-nature-y kind of college experience, but also get all the technical training I need and be surrounded by smart people, in a smaller college too would be ideal. So far, I’ve looked at RPI, WPI, UC Berkly, UC Davis, some Ivy’s (waayyy too much money), and a couple other schools. I haven’t found what I’m describing, but maybe I’m not looking in the right places (probably just too picky haha)?</p>
<p>[The</a> Best Colleges For Outdoor Recreation | California | OutsideOnline.com](<a href=“http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/north-america/united-states/california/Outside-University--The-Top-40.html]The”>http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/north-america/united-states/california/Outside-University--The-Top-40.html)</p>
<p>What can your family afford? What’s in-state for Mars? :D</p>
<p>Check out Evergreen in Olympia, WA. Meets basically all of the requirements you listed.</p>
<p>Hahaha im from New York. I’ve looked at Evergreen, but I don’t know how far I want to go away.</p>
<p>Have you taken a look at SUNY-ESF? It has a ranger school in the mountains.</p>
<p>college of the atlantic</p>
<p>UCSC is your best bet. It’s got a very good environmental engineering major, and it’s in the middle of the forest, which means a good portion of students are very “outdoorsy”. </p>
<p>I’m not sure how outdoors oriented Cal Poly SLO is, but they’re known for their hands on classes, and have an excellent environmental engineering program. Of the students in my high school class that will go there, most who intend to major in the STEM fields are quite nerdy, and very intelligent.</p>
<p>Here’s the full list of schools which offer ABET certified programs in environmental engineering [Accredited</a> Program Search](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx)
Note that Oregon State and Montana Tech do give some merit money to OOS students, so don’t immediately discount them on the basis of cost. My friend will attend OSU next year for less than the cost of a UC (both her parents live in CA).</p>
<p>I too am looking for outdoorsy and technically strong schools. One school that I liked was Colorado School of Mines. It has excellent engineering all around, and it is right at the base of the Rocky Mountains so it’s really outdoorsy. It has about 3000 students and, as a fairly prestigious tech school, has a nerdy element. Mines is known for producing students with the highest starting salaries in the country, so it provides a great education too.</p>
<p>UCSC will cost about $50K/year for someone from NY.</p>
<p>OP, will your parents pay that?</p>