Montana State University vs Colorado State University campus atmosphere.

[Tod osier]

Wait, if youre in CT you’re probably flying over a dozen as good if not better schools all within driving distance of your house. If he’s not into hunting or fishing, what’s the point of going out west and introducing so many additional costs?

Just playing devils advocate here, feel free to ignore. Especially feel free to ignore if you don’t in fact live in CT

I agree, the plan is that we will be in WY for 5 of 8 his semesters and every summer and be retired in WY when he graduates, so the western schools make sense using that argument.

 

[Tod osier]

I live in Bozeman - less than a mile from the MSU campus. I'm on it everyday since our grocery store is on campus lol. Both my kids went to school in Bozeman K-12, and both are MSU grads. For their fields MSU was as good as it gets. I can't speak to GIS however, but I think @handwerk spoke to that. As to campus life, I don't really know - both my kids were pretty busy, and both worked. Also, they're from here so a lot of their friend-base was formed outside MSU. But both made life-long friends at MSU.

IIRC, you currently live in Connecticut? Not sure where you'd fly from (BDL, BOS or LGA?) - but flights into Denver will be simpler and cheaper than into Bozeman. The cost of living/housing is higher in Bozeman than Fort Collins. I don't know where you will be living once you move to WY, but I'd study what the winter drive is like between both locations. Winter driving in this part of the world can be challenging in the winter (ie, unsafe) so it will pay to know what mountain passes, etc., he'll be dealing with driving home on Christmas break, or you'll be dealing with driving to see him.

When I was 18 my dad sat me down and wanted me to go to the UM in Missoula. I didn't lol. In 1979 when I graduated HS Missoula would have been the place to be. But now, were I 18yo again and had to chose, I'd be in Bozeman and go to MSU. Great access to the outdoors, it's smaller, and even with so much change is still one of the finest Western towns there is - really.

But at the end of the day, the choice should be "from the gut" - you can weigh pros/cons until the sun sets, but making a gut decision rather than a strictly cerbral decision will always work out better in the long run IME - there are just too many unknowns you brain can't asess. Your heart knows things your head can't.

That's all I've got

Good call on Connecticut, points for that! I was trying to keep the complications out, but Western WY, so a decent drive from both, but not too bad. I'd say winter roads seem more straightforward to CSU, rather than MSU in the winter. He really didn't like University of Wyoming, which would be the closest to the house.

We are letting him go with his gut for the final decision and glad we are in the position to do that.

 

[stank.243]

Whichever school he chooses I highly suggest he takes databasing and computer language classes outside of GIS based classes. SQL/Oracle, Python, JavaScript to name a few. Having a good understanding and legitimate working knowledge of these will set him apart from most job candidates. I’ve been working in GIS for about 10 years now and really wish I would have done more with these while I was in school.

 

[tdhanses]

FT Collin’s over Bozeman any day, Bozeman is just a tourist town anymore.

 

[bradmacmt]

FT Collin’s over Bozeman any day, Bozeman is just a tourist town anymore.

That's one of the sillier things I've read in a while. This is a working town that also caters to tourists. Jackson or Aspen are strictly "tourist towns" - not Bozeman.

 

[el_jefe_pescado]

OP if not hunting and fishing…what extra curricular activities is your boy into?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[2ski]

I hear you on the travel distance, good thought. We have a house in and are moving to western Wyoming while he is in college, so MSU and CSU are basically within an hour of each other as far as drive time. We are currently 2000 miles from both, but for his Junior year and Senior year and summers we will be in WY. His Freshman fall (next fall) we will be in WY all fall through the holidays, and I feel like that is a pretty important time to be close, which is one of the reasons we encouraged him to apply in the mountain west.

So I'll disagree with you. I saw many people when I was in college go to school for a semester or year and go home any chance they could. I went to school 12 hours from home my freshman year and it gave me a level of independence that I appreciate. I had to rely on myself.

All you guys need to stop calling Fort Collins FTC in this thread since you're comparing it to Bozeman. As MSU fans we say FTG to mean F the griz. Griz fans put the c in for Cats instead of griz. So I shudder when I see your FTC's. Lol

 

[2ski]

I'm going to add if he doesn't hunt or fish or ski, that's kind of alot of life in Bozeman. It's not like there's tons to do if you're not i to the outdoors. But I lived in Bozeman for 20 years and I miss it a ton.

 

[Milestone522]

Curious if you guys considered Montana Tech in Butte?

The grads there have a higher employment rate and salary on graduation than MSU or UM. My guess is Ft. Collins as well.

The CEO of Conoco is a MTtech grad and the school has a program where Conoco matches any student scholarship in funds. Cost of living there is cheap comparatively, and for all the rough edges the old mining mecca has, it's a pretty cool town and it's in a great location.

Just spitballing ideas...