The College Thread: Skiing, Academics, Experiences.

[JTG]

A hard worker will always do better than a not hard worker, and hard working types generally rise toward the top. Unfortunately, maybe it’s not always that simple? Hard work, combined with some smarts, in the absence of limiting factors that sometimes are beyond one’s control. That’s a more realistic recipe for success, but not the only recipe.

 

[Face4Me]

A hard worker will always do better than a not hard worker, and hard working types generally rise toward the top. Unfortunately, maybe it’s not always that simple? Hard work, combined with some smarts, in the absence of limiting factors that sometimes are beyond one’s control. That’s a more realistic recipe for success, but not the only recipe.

No doubt ... sometimes, some luck, bad or good, definitely plays a role, though I guess some would say you make your own luck!

 

[Campgottagopee]

A hard worker will always do better than a not hard worker, and hard working types generally rise toward the top. Unfortunately, maybe it’s not always that simple? Hard work, combined with some smarts, in the absence of limiting factors that sometimes are beyond one’s control. That’s a more realistic recipe for success, but not the only recipe.

Nicely said. Right place right time, smarts, etc all play a major roll.
Have you ever noticed, like in golf, the really good players get all the lucky breaks?

 

[JTG]

I agree with you guys. Regardless of station, or limiting factors, or anything else....life is what you make of it, and hard workers will always make more from whatever they’ve got. That seems universal!

 

[gefiltephish]

A hard worker will always do better than a not hard worker, and hard working types generally rise toward the top. Unfortunately, maybe it’s not always that simple?

Ideally... I've been involved with natural resource work just over a decade. Happy to chat more privately if it could be helpful.

I am glad to have stayed in state (VA) for undergrad, financially. I graduated from JMU from the B.S. Integrated Science and Technology program in 2010. I factored things like area/campus culture vibe, plus project-based opportunities that my major offered more than rankings or name recognition. For me, student life, proximity to national forest, mountain biking, trail building, skiing ended up being at least as important as the academia. I did visit Syracuse, and at the time said no way, to the area.

Many of my coworkers are ESF grads at my current residential plant health gig. CU-Boulder, UW-Madison, Virginia Tech, NAU are top notch also.

 

[JTG]

I've been involved with natural resource work just over a decade. Happy to chat more privately if it could be helpful

I may take you up on that. Our focus now is for our son to look more closely at the curriculum for the programs he’s been accepted into. He’s definitely more interested in Environmental Science than the Engineering side of things. Green spaces and environmental impacts have always been a big part of my company’s approach to work, but in addition to having dedicated business lines for Water, Environmental, and Energy we now have a national business line dedicated to Climate, Resilience & Sustainability. He needs to better understand what all those things mean, in terms of careers.

ESF has a campus in the Adirondacks (Ranger School in Wanakena) that has programs in land surveying. He needs to explore how he might incorporate that if he lands at ESF. He seems to be a little interested in surveying, and given how difficult it can be for my company to get good survey people that could be a good career path. New York has some wonky rules about what companies can even do surveying in the state.

 

[x10003q]

I'll tell ya, the kids who like the trades are lucky. A buddy's kid just graduated from lineman school. He'll pull down close to 80K his first year with zero school debt.

There are a bunch of tradesmen on my street. They mostly have nice lifestyles. None of them want their kids in the trades and only 1 out of about 10 kids is working in the trades.

They all try to send their kids to college. Most of them are physically beat to hell. Only one guy, out of the 4 who are over 50, is still actually doing his trade. The other three are a GC, a home inspector, and the last guy does sales/estimates for an local HVAC company. There are 2 other guys in their 40s and they are running crews, not physically doing their trades. They all have bad backs/knees/elbows/shoulders. You need to be lucky with your genetics that your body does not break down and lucky that you avoid a major injury on the job if you want to do your actual trade much beyond middle age.

 

[Campgottagopee]

There are a bunch of tradesmen on my street. They mostly have nice lifestyles. None of them want their kids in the trades and only 1 out of about 10 kids is working in the trades.

They all try to send their kids to college. Most of them are physically beat to hell. Only one guy, out of the 4 who are over 50, is still actually doing his trade. The other three are a GC, a home inspector, and the last guy does sales/estimates for an local HVAC company. There are 2 other guys in their 40s and they are running crews, not physically doing their trades. They all have bad backs/knees/elbows/shoulders. You need to be lucky with your genetics that your body does not break down and lucky that you avoid a major injury on the job if you want to do your actual trade much beyond middle age.

This is all very true. For 4 years, during the off season, I worked as a mason's apprentice. I loved the work and thought I would be an excellent trade for me to continue in. I blew my back out in my mid 20's doing that work, and then got into sales. Trade work is physically demanding. Then there are those who do it for 30 years as my grandfather did.
Like we've been talking about, being lucky is all part of it.

 

[Low Angle Life]

I have a HS senior in the midst of making a college decision. He’s primarily interested in Environmental Sciences or Environmental Engineering. While I think he really wants to go to Binghamton (ranked 88 nationally in recent US News 2021 rankings),
everyone is still waiting to hear from them on regular decision.

He also has some other really good (probably better) options for Environmental studies.

First off, paging Sno! I’ll reach out via pm, but need to pick your brain a little on Clarkson (ranked 124 nationally). A little shocked it runs $70k a year all in, but they offered my son academic scholarships to bring it down to $33k. Higher than SUNY, but possible. As this is a ski blog....what was your skiing experience like? Whiteface only or were you able to get elsewhere? Trips through the school or did you get yourself there? Did you do anything with the Outing Club? Any thoughts on campus life in general? My sons tend to be quiet and need more encouragement than I’d like to get involved In extracurriculars.

Perhaps my son’s best Environmental option is SUNY ESF (ranked 118 nationally). Being a niche school for Environmental could be good or bad. Great education in the field, but limited options if he wants to go a different direction with his studies. The Syracuse connection is attractive. So is the price at $17k a year with the scholarship money offered.

UVM (tied at 118 nationally) brought the $57k annual bill down to $39k with scholarship money. While my wife likes the idea of UVM, it’s hard to justify the cost given his other options.

Anywho, if anyone has experiences with any of those schools feel free to share! Thanks.

UVM alum from the Natural Resource program. Personally can't speak highly enough of my time there and the natural resource department at large. That said it is a pricey school especially when you have great state schools with comparable programs. Happy to answer any questions either of you may have.

 

[Harvey]

Anyone have quick rundown on what SUNY's specialize in, or are known for?