Help me decide where to go for college

WonkoTheSane said:

The_Lily said:

Another pretty big deal for me is autocross. If you know my dad or I, you know that I am really into autocross. I know the St. Louis region is insane for autocross, but I'm guessing Springfield, MA is pretty good too because of all the racetracks.

Around here, there are two groups that run consistent Autocross I know of with CART CT, and NE-SVT although LimeRock hosts some themselves.   Cart is a great group of people, but their lots often aren't the best.  I know they have a new one down at the Casino, but I haven't gotten down there myself.   I haven't made it up to the Devins site with NE-SVT, but I hear good things.

It's actually the opposite, I think.  There's so many good tracks around and cheap track time thanks to groups like MassTuning Trackfest that a lot of people (like myself) don't bother with autocross so much.  I know I'm guilty of it, I used to be an avid autocrosser, but since I moved to CT in 2012, I think I've only been to 3.  I can get to three tracks with equal or less travel time than an autocross for most of those events.

Devins Autocross scene and venue is top-notch, with a very good base and some very very talented drivers.  We also have SCCNH, a little further north in NH, which is another excellent club that offers autocross, trackcross, HPDE, and hillclimb opportunities throughout NH and VT. 

I talked to my physics teacher about this decision, and he said I have to decide whether or not I am willing to go to school there. An offer like that is going to be pretty impossible to get anywhere else. I'll have to look into the concentration of GRMrs and rotary drivers in MA. Lol.

New England Region SCCA has a strong autocross program, mostly held at the former Ft. Devens site, as do the marque clubs (BMW CCA, PCA, etc.). 

Not sure how many rotary drivers autocross, but in road racing, NER has a very active IT7 crowd, and a number of very good RX-8 drivers in T4.

Good luck with your decision - my 18 year-old son is just submitting his first round of college applications - non-engineering - so he'll have decisions to make very soon (we hope). He's looking to go warm and maybe west - I would say take the opportunity to try out some place new if you can. Definitely visit the campus to get the feel of the place if you can - we just got back from a visit to a school that looked great on paper, but the vibe was just wrong for my son... Some schools offer weekend programs for accepted students to stay on campus to see if it's a good fit, so look into that if it's an option..