Eventing in College

[RideASelle]

Yes, another college eventing thread. I’m looking for a larger university near an eventing area such as Ocala, Aiken, etc. If not, then just a college near a lot of trainers! I’m planning to major in biology and then proceed to med or vet school. I’ve looked at several colleges in VA, NC, and SC, but all of the schools seemed to be very expensive with very few scholarships.

So far, I’ve looked at:

1. MS State- great school and great scholarships, but very few trainers; very isolated from shows.
2. Univ Alabama- same thing, a bit far from shows
3. Auburn- close to Poplar and Chatt, but the scholarships weren’t as great.
4. Univ Florida- would be perfect, but they offer very little OOS scholarships
5. Univ Tennessee- would be okay, but I prefer traditional college campuses; not many trainers

What are everyone’s experiences? Any suggestions?

[cleozowner]

Many scholarships aren’t advertised, per se–for example, I went on a full ride to another well-regarded school in the southeast (which enabled me to keep my horse and also prepared me very well, education-wise, for vet school), and Auburn offered to match it as an enticement to get me there. But the full ride scholarship was an invitation-only thing, and Auburn made that offer after they knew what I could possibly get elsewhere.
My point is that scholarships, waiving of out-of-state tuition, etc. sometimes only come up AFTER one applies and is accepted or even after one has started. My now-husband did not even come up on the university’s radar for any major scholarships at admission (he was a late bloomer, so high school wasn’t his strongest time), but by sophomore year he stood out so much that his many scholarships added up to essentially pay for his education.

[IronwoodFarm]

Given the cost of college, I would make my choice based on the best program with the best financial aid package, and NOT eventing locations or trainers. It is time to invest in yourself.

[leighbo009]

Also keep in mind quite a few schools are starting to have eventing teams and even if it seems father away from shows/trainers, the clubs give you more options for shows depending on who is going where.

I am a student at Auburn and I am co-oping in Tupelo, Ms (around an hour from Starkville) so I have been riding with the Mississippi state event team this semester. Even though they seem far from everywhere, the team trainer is going to shows just about every 2 weeks this fall, so there are options. If you have questions about Auburn or Mississippi State, message me and I can give you my answers or put you in touch with ones that may be able to answer.

Make sure you are going with the schools that have the best program for going pre-vet/pre-med. And since the cost is so high, I agree with IronwoodFarm, go where you can get money. If you are paying a lot for college, it also gives you less to spend on Eventing. So if you did end up somewhere near a lot of eventing, you may get stuck not being able to afford it while paying for collage where as being in a smaller area and more affordable schooling may give you more opportunities.

[AKB]

University of Maryland, College Park has a good Animal Science pre vet program with a high acceptance rate into vet schools.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

[QUOTE=IronwoodFarm;8346393]
Given the cost of college, I would make my choice based on the best program with the best financial aid package, and NOT eventing locations or trainers. It is time to invest in yourself.[/QUOTE]

This. That said, I know many that went to University of Delaware as it let them be close to a lot of top trainers. Of course most trainers headed south in the winter but that was when the students needed to focus on school.

College is only 4 years and isn’t year round. The focus should be education. Go to the best school you can and get good grades.

[furlong47]

Yes, also check out SE Pennsylvania, northern Delaware, and parts of Maryland.

[faybe]

Any particular reason you only want a larger university? I went to a very small liberal arts college on a full academic scholarship (which I would never have gotten at a big state school) and was able to ride all 4 years. I also had diverse and amazing extracurricular experiences that made college such a wonderful time in my life. I was worried that not going to a big ag school would hurt me in the vet school application process, but I had all the pre-recs and it was really a non-issue. The hardest part was the transition from the personalized educational experience (really knowing my professors, small class sizes, small town feel) of my undergrad to the “just a number” bigger class, big city, sink-or-swim mentality of vet school. But I wouldn’t trade my undergraduate experience for anything, just an incredible time in life that I really don’t think would have been possible had I gone to a large university. Just something to consider as you search.

[pologirl27]

I came here to agree with Faybe. Smaller liberal art schools are an increasingly great bet if you are either economically disadvantaged or very smart and likely to get an academic scholarship. Yes they cost way more, but they have lots of money to give away.

If you really want a big school UMD has started an event team, looks like they train with Courtney Sendak.

[amb]

UNH? (Ride through prelim without even leaving campus!)

http://www.prevet.unh.edu/
http://www.equine.unh.edu/

[RideASelle]

[QUOTE=IronwoodFarm;8346393]
Given the cost of college, I would make my choice based on the best program with the best financial aid package, and NOT eventing locations or trainers. It is time to invest in yourself.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I know. That is why I have been turning down schools that don’t offer great financial aid. A biology major can be found at nearly every college. There are fantastic schools near eventing locations, so who says they have to be mutually exclusive?

[RideASelle]

[QUOTE=faybe;8346518]
Any particular reason you only want a larger university? I went to a very small liberal arts college on a full academic scholarship (which I would never have gotten at a big state school) and was able to ride all 4 years. I also had diverse and amazing extracurricular experiences that made college such a wonderful time in my life. I was worried that not going to a big ag school would hurt me in the vet school application process, but I had all the pre-recs and it was really a non-issue. The hardest part was the transition from the personalized educational experience (really knowing my professors, small class sizes, small town feel) of my undergrad to the “just a number” bigger class, big city, sink-or-swim mentality of vet school. But I wouldn’t trade my undergraduate experience for anything, just an incredible time in life that I really don’t think would have been possible had I gone to a large university. Just something to consider as you search. :)[/QUOTE]

May I ask what school you went to? I’ve been considering a smaller, liberal arts school, but they can be hard to search for. I’ve found one or two that would be worth visiting, but like @pologirl27 said, they were fairly expensive. I really like the large, traditional college campus feel. But if I can’t find any larger schools (that offer a lot of financial aid), then I will look more into liberal arts schools!

[bornfreenowexpensive]

[QUOTE=RideASelle;8346758]
Yes, I know. That is why I have been turning down schools that don’t offer great financial aid. A biology major can be found at nearly every college. There are fantastic schools near eventing locations, so who says they have to be mutually exclusive?[/QUOTE]

because it is more than a Biology major that will get you in and prepare you to do well in vet or med school. You may also discover new things about yourself that will send you in a very different direction. College is a time to learn different things and expose yourself to new things so that you grow and develop as a person. While I rode all through school and law school…And I lucked into a very very good college and great experience…I wish I hadn’t been so focused on the horses both during school and in picking my school. Just about any good school will have some degree of horses around. So don’t make it your deciding factor until you are choosing between two equally good schools.

[IronwoodFarm]

As faybe pointed out, the large university requirement may be an impediment. If you have the grades, some small private liberal arts colleges have fantastic financial aid packages. I went to such a college and many of my classmates went on to become doctors, lawyers, vets. It’s worth shopping around. But like I said, put your education first. Eventing in college is icing on the cake, but your first job is college. Get a good education and then you have a good chance of affording eventing, horses and a farm for the rest of your life.

[HiJumpGrrl]

I went to Wake Forest (Marilyn Little was a year behind me). Small liberal arts school, expensive, but I had a great financial aid package. I went directly on to medical school, and am practicing and riding now. I didn’t event in college–there was too much else going on! I did ride, though.

Definitely look at small private schools. A lot of the Philadelphia area schools are excellent (Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, etc). Towson in MD. Davidson in NC.

Some of the larger state schools you could pay out of state tuition for a year, declare residency and become an in-state student. UVa is in a horsey area; Will Coleman is close to Charlottesville, for example. Maryland was already mentioned. VaTech is another option. William and Mary is actually a state school, but very small and liberal-arts oriented.

But college probably needs to be about getting ready for your professional career rather than your riding career… Go wherever the fit is best.

[RideASelle]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, everyone! So my best bet would be to look at northern schools on the East Coast? I was concerned how hard it would be if your trainer left for FL every winter. I live in northern Alabama, so the trainers in the area don’t have to travel. That’s why I was looking at SEC schools since the trainers don’t have to leave for the winter.

[RideASelle]

[QUOTE=HiJumpGrrl;8346795]
I went to Wake Forest (Marilyn Little was a year behind me). Small liberal arts school, expensive, but I had a great financial aid package. I went directly on to medical school, and am practicing and riding now. I didn’t event in college–there was too much else going on! I did ride, though.

Definitely look at small private schools. A lot of the Philadelphia area schools are excellent (Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, etc). Towson in MD. Davidson in NC.

Some of the larger state schools you could pay out of state tuition for a year, declare residency and become an in-state student. UVa is in a horsey area; Will Coleman is close to Charlottesville, for example. Maryland was already mentioned. VaTech is another option. William and Mary is actually a state school, but very small and liberal-arts oriented.

But college probably needs to be about getting ready for your professional career rather than your riding career… Go wherever the fit is best.[/QUOTE]

I was actually looking at Wake Forest and William and Mary last night! Did WF offer you more scholarships before or after you were accepted? They didn’t list many on their site. How often were you able to ride throughout college? Yes, I will only be attending a college near an eventing area if I like the college, they offer enough financial aid, and they have good programs.
I’ll check out the schools you mentioned. I would love to go to Uva, NC, or SC, but I’ll have to talk to the admissions director about their scholarships.

[RideASelle]

[QUOTE=IronwoodFarm;8346792]
As faybe pointed out, the large university requirement may be an impediment. If you have the grades, some small private liberal arts colleges have fantastic financial aid packages. I went to such a college and many of my classmates went on to become doctors, lawyers, vets. It’s worth shopping around. But like I said, put your education first. Eventing in college is icing on the cake, but your first job is college. Get a good education and then you have a good chance of affording eventing, horses and a farm for the rest of your life.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I agree. It’s a bit harder to find liberal arts schools since they aren’t as large as… Alabama, for example. My education definitely comes first. There are plenty of great schools near eventing areas, so I was just wanting to look in those areas to see if anything would be a good fit or not. If not, I will probably attend one of the schools I listed in the OP. I have a 30 and 4.2, so I can get decent scholarships. I’ll be going to whatever school offers the best scholarships and has the best programs, but if it happens to be in Aiken or Ocala, then it would be great. I’m just wondering if anyone has experience with schools near those areas and if they had a great college education/ experience while doing so.

[IronwoodFarm]

Have you turned in your FAF yet? That’s what a school needs to determine your financial aid package.

I attended Grinnell, a small liberal arts school in Iowa. This is not where you want to go, but my point is, they have a monster endowment and 90%+ of their students get financial aid. There is a commitment by the Trustees that no student should graduate with more than $25K in loans. There are many other private schools that have similar policies. Mr IF works for the Dept. of Education (is the lead staff on the Digest of Higher Education) and he always says that the University of Richmond has terrific packages.

Good schools will try to get the best students, so definitely shop around. If you aren’t already using it, try the https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/. It is very useful tool for sorting through colleges.

[Carolinadreamin]

Have you looked at UGA?