Powder Magazine had an advertisement this month for a semester long college program at a ski resort. I think that one has 'em all beat.

Penn State- 45 mins from blue knob and 10 mins from tussey (can see the trails from the campus)

Davis & Elkins in Davis WV has a ski team and is within 45 minutes of Timberline/Canaan Valley/White Grass, and about 1.5 hours from Snowshoe.

If you want to be adventurous (and perhaps benefit from lower tuitions than most private US universities), check out Europe:

Webster University offers a 4-year program in Vienna that is taught in English. Vienna is within a 6 hour train ride of world-class skiing and within a two hour ride of excellent skiing (Semmering Mountains). Webster also has a campus in Geneva.

The American University in Bulgaria is another one that is reasonably close to good skiing.

If you're looking here in the mid atlantic the best bets are JMU which is 20 min from the Nut and 40 minutes from Bryce. They are 2 hrs from CV and 2.5 from the shoe. There's D&E in Elkins, 45 min from CV and just over an hour from the shoe and wisp. My son raced at JMU and earlier at App State in NC where you have many, many, ski areas just a short jaunt away.

Since everyone else gives "responsible" answers ill chime in with this.

two words

GO WEST (or listen to Denis and go north to VT)

This is your chance in life to go someplace and experience everything youll NEVER get to do again. If you dont do it now youll end up married with kids, mortgage, cars etc that really dont mean sh*t, dreaming of what could have been.

DO IT NOW WHILE YOU CAN... YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT

just my 2 cents

Amen. University of Montana at Missoula, Colorado School of Mines, or something like that. Or, hell with it, go to University of Alaska and backcountry the Chugach.

If you look out west, think U. of Utah, U. of Wahsington, etc.
But most importantly, think why you are going to college and pick the university that best suits you and your anticipated major. You are going to get an education so you can afford to ski the rest of your life with famaily and friends.
Good Luck,
The Colonel

I had been looking at Penn State. The fact that Tussey Mountain is pratically on campus and that their patrol it almost entirely PSU students and faculty was big plus.

Plus, I'm a lifelong Penn State fan.

But the more I think about it, I wonder if maybe the big college atmosphere isn't the best idea for me. I've always liked skiing in New England. If I had to pick a state, I'd probably go for Vermont, and so, I AM looking at Vermont, but who knows.

Well i am a freshman sitting here at my dorm room at PSU (watching the slaughter from Notre Dame) and i have to say the first few weeks here at Penn State have been amazing! It is a great school and the football by itself justifies coming here. And a ton of people here ski. I just a few days ago joined the ski team, ski club, and ski/snowboard club (freestyle club). There are tons of people here that ski and i am sure this winter is going to be great. Also the State College bus system runs a bus from here to tussey almost hourly (about a 20 min ride) and a direct transport at 6:30 and back at 10:30 PM. Also, it is really easy to get a job at Tussey and i think i am going to be an instructor this coming winter. Basically all i am saying is that you need to come to penn state (i may be a little biased) and as for the problem with a big school i have to disagree. I was also worried about the idea of being at a 40+ thousand person school but it really does not feel that big.

Just a question-- what are you looking for in the school besides skiing (dont worry there is nothing wrong with looking at schools based on the skiing, i did not apply to anywhere south of JMU for that very reason)? Let me know if you decide to come up to visit PSU..i can give you the grand tour.

Right now, I'm actually looking into going to seminary, but I'd like to get my undergrad in something kind of generic but useful like psychology, maybe anthropology. One of the things that appeals to me is that Penn State is so big that you can find a major for pretty much anything you could want to do, and there's a club or organization for pretty much anyone's interests. I think it would be really easy to find your niche.

I'm only a junior in high school, but it never hurts to start planning too early. I'm probably going to schedule a visit sometime this spring, and maybe we can hang out when I come up, but yah, university park is pretty much my first choice as of now.

JC- since you asked about skiing, I'm assuming that the activities you can do outside of school are important to you, too. Maybe they're not you're top priority (and, to be frankly honest, they shouldn't be), but they're up there.

If that's the case, and if you think you're going to live your life defined in part by what you do outside of class (or outside the office/church), make sure you seriously consider the geographic location of your school. PowPow mentioned that for skiing out west, but more importantly- particularly at state schools- the vast majority of recruiting after school takes place within a couple hundred miles of your campus. Not all of it, but a lot of it.

One of the reasons I came to Kansas City was because I had almost no other callbacks from folks outside the DC metro region. I had one from Bellingham, Washington, which would have been a dream location, but in some respects I'm glad they didn't extend an offer (the job didn't look like a great match but there's no way I could have said "no" to moving to Bellingham). I figure from KC, I'm much more likely to be able to land a job in Denver or other points west a couple years from now than if I had stayed in DC, particularly since my career choice has some "geographic snobbery" to it (cue the "you're not from around here, are ya?" line).

So if you choose to go to school at Penn State, you can reasonably expect your post-school job prospects to be in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City, and possibly Buffalo. At Virginia Tech, we had huge connections with DC, moderate connections with Richmond and some growing connections in Charlotte and Atlanta. It was definitely not a national canvas.

If you're thinking of going west after school, your absolute best chance to get out there is move now. University of Montana at Missoula has a decent program (not great), but there are some strong schools out there as well. Colorado School of Mines is pretty good. You'll have more land grant than liberal arts institutes. You may also want to check out some of the seminary programs. Even if the schools don't rank as high as the ones back east, you'll have a definite recruiting advantage in the local markets after school over your eastern brethren.

Just some unsolicited advice from a semi-frustrated grad (but still working at it!).