Colleges in Maine.. please help! (Portland, Waterville: loans, transfer to, private schools)

[tnmmc]

I want to move to Maine, but I really need help choosing a school to transfer to since I'm not from the area. Probably a public school because private might be too expensive.. however, I'll still have to pay out of state tuition, so if they're close in price it would be fine. Ok, so this is what I'm looking for:

-Smaller school- I want that small school feel, preferably in a smallish town as well ( but not so small that the academic selection suffers.. )

-Recreation- Lots of it. Which schools are closest to the most activities - skiing mostly- and which schools' students actually participate regularly? (Actually go on weekend trips, etc.)


As far as academic programs go, I can figure that out for the most part. What I'm really searching for is what the students are like at each of the schools and which ones you guys would recommend?

Thank you in advance, I really appreciate it!

[Mainer61]

Maybe the University of Maine in Farmington...smallish school, but nice town. It's near Sugarloaf, so lots of skiing.

[MaineMathTCHER]

Colby College is small and very nice-while it is private-it is on par with the out of state fees. You will love the area-close enough to Portland-yet far enough away to get the Maine experience. check it out! As for public University of Maine Orono is very cool and it is a fun school to attend as well-many of my students are going there in the fall!

[BacktoNE]

It really depends on your major, but the first school that came to mind based on your general description was UMF, as mentioned by Mainer.

Colby is an excellent school located in Waterville, but there is no local skiing. The very closest would be Eaton Mtn in Skowhegan and that is a very small facility. Locally, Colby is viewed as elitist but it regularly makes "best college" lists and it would be worth a look.

[msina]

Univ. of Maine at Orono is a small campus, Hermon Mountain has skiing.

[MRVphotog]

My son will be attending UMO this fall, my daught goes to USM. By New England standards UMO with about 10,000 students I would classify as a large university.

If price and a public school is what your looking for. I second UMF, University of Maine at Farmington. It's in a rural setting so if you like the outdoors it's great. For more of suburban setting I like USM, Gorham.

There are a few other small public Maine colleges up north but I don't know much about them.

I went to a small private college in Vermont(69-73) for my undergrad degree, I remember the total cost was about $6000, the small private colleges in New England now start at $30,000

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by MRVphotog

My son will be attending UMO this fall, my daught goes to USM. By New England standards UMO with about 10,000 students I would classify as a large university.

If price and a public school is what your looking for. I second UMF, University of Maine at Farmington. It's in a rural setting so if you like the outdoors it's great. For more of suburban setting I like USM, Gorham.

There are a few other small public Maine colleges up north but I don't know much about them.

I went to a small private college in Vermont(69-73) for my undergrad degree, I remember the total cost was about $6000, the small private colleges in New England now start at $30,000

I went to UMO. It is a big school, but, depending on your major, the class sizes can be quite small. In the engineering section that I went through, there was a group of 15 of us in most of our core classes.

[ILUVMAINE]

Colby College gets my vote!

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by ILUVMAINE

Colby College gets my vote!

Mine too, but I could be a little biased.

[cyc1e]

"Colby College is small and very nice-while it is private-it is on par with the out of state fees."

MaineMathTCHER,

Not sure how you conclude that Colby has similar costs to the Maine state schools.

Colby
Colby College | Admissions & Financial Aid | Financial Aid
$48,520

University of Maine Orono
The University of Maine - Office of Undergraduate Admission - Finance a UMaine Education (broken link)
$31,224

University of Maine Farmington
University of Maine Farmington - Expenses
$21,744

(Figures include room and board)

Colby (like most private schools) largely offers loans to middle class Americans, so unless you're broke, you'll be paying most of the $48K yourself.

Farmington is by far the best financial deal.