6 Great Colleges for Surfers
You study tide tables as carefully as you study math and history; you spend more time surfing gnarly waves than you spend surfing the net; and you prefer the beach to the football stadium. Attending one of these six surf-friendly colleges might just be the smartest decision you ever make.
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz packs a lot of incentive into one campus. You get redwoods, offbeat culture, and best of all, world-renowned surf. From Cowells to Capitola, this coastal college offers plenty of opportunity for favorable swells and breaks. Plus, your mascot will be the banana slug; who doesn’t love huge, yellow slugs?
University of California, Santa Barbara
For all the comforts of Southern California, you can’t beat the town of Santa Barbara, whose laid-back style will invite you to take your books down to the beach every time you need a study sesh. SB’s North County offers beaches that seem to have emerged from a time machine. Windswept, pristine, wild, this is where you’ll go to commune with wind and wave. Educational bonuses of the school include a highly regarded engineering school and a graduate school for future educators.
University of California, San Diego
Two words: La Jolla. There’s a reason San Diego draws surfers from the world over. The diversity of reefs and beaches right at hand here means you will never get bored with conditions. Join the surf team to really get in on the action. And if you happen to pick up a medical degree, a masters degree in teaching, or any other highly-regarded plan of study offered at this rigorous institution, more power to you!
University of Cape Town
Every season is beach season at this South African university, where there are swells aplenty to match any ability level. The reef breaks at Kalk Bay provide a real thrill for the advanced shredder. You’ll need to prepare for cold water, so make sure to have your wetsuit handy. As for what to study, why not try a course in marine biology? You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better environment in which to do so.
University of Hawaii
It will come as no shock that studying in Hawaii affords you some of the best surfing opportunities on the planet. This is the state where the sport of surfing was born, and where it continues to thrive. On this campus you’re thrillingly close to a wide range of prime places for wave daredevils. So you can change up your chosen surf spots as frequently as you change up your chosen study spots.
New York University
While its surf is not as consistently viable as some of the spots on this list, NYU is near enough to Rockaway and Casino Pier, two spots that can provide sweet overhead barrels. What’s more, this school offers a major study in contrasts: The nearby waves when you need to commune with Mother Nature and find your rhythm with the sea; the heart of the Big Apple when you need a big juicy bite of culture and an infusion of concrete jungle.
