My youngest is a senior this year and just got accepted at Boise.  It's his #2 choice - but may quickly become #1.

I'd really appreciate some opinions on the school and maybe good spot for dinner and beer.  Only downside to Boise is no official baseball team.  He has hopes of playing. (6'3" lefty pitcher)

Thanks!!

Can't say much about BSU other than it's a good school based on the opinions of many of the folks I knew who attended there.  It seems well ordered and nice on campus from what I've seen down there.  You could do alot worse and send your boy somewhere else.

Theres an absolute ton of bars and restaurants downtown.  What do you like?  I don't live so close to downtown Boise anymore and only go there a few times a year so my memory is fuzzy about places there.  Theres a few Basque restaurants there that serve good food.  Theres a place called Bardonay or some shit like that, a few of my coworkers love to frequent.  Its downtown and not hard to find.  One place I do like is is Chef Lou's West Side Drive In.  Theres one on State St. just off downtown and another less crowded one on Park Center Blvd.  For breakfast I hear Goldies is pretty good.  If you want good burgers go to Big Juds, I want to say theres still one on Protest St.  The rest of the restaurants around town are national chain places and I'm sure you know all about those.

I'm not a fan of the bars downtown due to all the college kid/hipster/uppity rich people crowds that seem to inhabit these places.  I hit up a few of them when I first moved here and realized the bar scene sucks here.  Then on the other hand the neighborhood bars here are infected with rednecks and white trash folks drinking too much cheap alcohol.  Most times if I'm dining downtown and want a beer, I just order whatever the house carries and that way I avoid the bars.

If you do end up having a nice meal and knock a few back while you're at it, don't even think about driving afterwards, the Boise PD aggressively patrols the downtown area and they snag alot of DUI's downtown.

Campus is gorgeous, downtown right along the Boise River.  Your boy will also love the "local scenery", I've never seen more hot college girls walking around downtown.  It's insane, and I'm comparing it to SoCal schools.

As for places to eat/drink, head across the river from the campus and walk up and down 8th Ave between Main St and Bannock St.  Highly recommend Bittercreek Alehouse.  Boise Fry Co is good.  Juniper has amazing breakfast/brunch on the weekends.  Fork is probably my favorite spot downtown.

I will second bitter-creek alehouse and Boise Fry Co.  Also The Ram across the street from BSU is pretty good.

IIRC BSU was talking about starting up a baseball team?  

Yeah I read that the university president wanted a baseball team by 2018. Not sure how the program would get off the ground and recruit players... They have a club program now... and they seem competitive. 

Thanks for the dinner spots!  I've driven through town, but never stayed. Even bought my last bass boat in Napa!

Does he have a major or field of study chosen yet?  What type of activites (besides baseball) does he like?  Outdoors, presumably?  Hunting, fishing, hiking?  Where is he coming from (size of town/school) ?  I was born and raised here in Boise, although I did not attend Boise State for college (I went up north), I do work here at Boise State.  Do you know your schedule/agenda yet?  I presume you have a tour set up.  Where will you be staying and how long will you be in town?  It should be fixed by the time you get here, but last night we had a major water main break and the city utilities company is working non-stop, hopefully that won't detract from his and or your opinion.  It's pretty rare for something like that to happen.

Feel free to ask me any questions, I'll try my best to answer them, here or IM if you prefer.

~Tom

Oh crap - thanks for the reminder on scheduling a tour!  Got it booked for Friday 13th - 1pm.  We're only going to be in town Fri/Sat. 

He's focused on Engineering but is open to other challenges. He's really freaking smart and works hard. 4.0 AP kid. 1350 SAT without studying. 

He's coming from a large 4A school in WA - We just beat Coeur d'Alene in football... Camas.  I'll IM you if we have more detailed questions!! Thanks!

Do you know what type of engineering he is looking for?  We have a pretty good and competitive department, and are actually pretty big on campus.  A lot of money & attention goes to the Engineering and Business programs on campus, which are strongly promoted within the community.  Size wise, he'll likely enjoy Boise.  Once he gets on campus, he really doesn't need a vehicle, just a bicycle or long board.  Climate isn't a big change, but a lot less pollen.  If living on campus, he could be fishing 3 minutes from his dorm room.

Small world, my sister-in-law lives in VA and my niece and nephew both graduated from River.  There are a bunch of kids from that area coming here.  My nephew is a senior this year (Business).  My niece would have come here too, but our soccer program isn't as well known as Portland, so she is playing as a freshman there in PDX as a Pilot.  

I'll add more later, have a student in my office right now.

Tom

ETA***-  Where are you staying?  How much do you want to spend on dinner and what type of food are you looking for?  Downtown, American food, I'd go to Fork, or Bittercreek Alehouse.  What type of beer do you like?  10 Barrel is downtown too.  So is St. Lawrence Gridiron.  I wasn't overly wowed by the food, but Taphouse downtown on Main has plenty of beer as well.   Bardenay is good too, but is basque/American.

Forgot to mention that all students get a little sticker for free bus pass too.   There are tons of club sports and activities on campus, the Rec center is pretty nice too.  I've heard the baseball club is good, but it's just that, a club sport, so they get very little funding from the university. However, they are trying to get the program started and hire a coach to start the recruiting process and get an official team going.

Unfortunately, I will be at a conference when you are here for the visit, or I would have tried to meet up with you.

I came to BSU in '97 to play football and I'm still here; graduated in '02.  I'm a beer drinking sum bitch and love me some good eats too!  Everyone is pretty much on par with food and drink offerings.  I stay away from downtown during the night hours for reasons others have already mentioned but there are some damn good restaurants downtown that get my business regularly; Fork and 10-Barrel come to mind.

Feel free to IM me and I will do my best to answer any questions about the school.  It has grown considerably since I graduated and a lot has changed, but I will do my best to answer questions!

My daughter goes there (3 year currently) and she really likes it.  She too is a very smart kid, who had lots of choices on where to go, but chose BSU.  A full scholarship to the Honors College helped out a lot as well.

If you have time, make sure to take some time to check areas outside of downtown, like Bogus Basin, etc.

Eric  

Well - wife and son made the trip without me. I'm sicker than a dog right now and I'd have been miserable on the plane. 

So far they LOVE IT.  Ate at Fork and did a campus tour. They are both very impressed.  Son #2 has been to UW, WSU, Gonzaga and Boise St. He sounds pretty excited about Boise - and he qualifies for a GEM? scholarship for his academics. 

Yep.  GEM scholarship allows kids who do well on their grades in High School to pay in-state tuition here.  It is a great bonus for kids who work hard in HS.  Definitely check into other scholarships, as there are a bunch out there.  My kid is in the Honors College, so the scholarship she got is specific to that.

Eric 

Great!  The honors college just built a new building/ residence hall that’s pretty nice, very good location too. Now you have an excuse to come for an unofficial visit. I hope they had some butter cake & pour over coffee at Fork.

FU BSU!!!

GO VANDALS!



Its a fine school, I wanted out of Boise area so I went North but know plenty of BSU grads who liked it.  I job shadowed a few engineers senior year of high school and none of them really recommended it as a good place for engineering. They all like UI more but even then they didn't seem to fond of that idea.  My only two friends who attempted engineering at BSU quit so I dont really have anything to compare with.

Glad they liked the Fork recommendation, great place!

Fork is 5/10. I have been there a few times. 2 times recently they ran out of potatoes. HTF does one run out of potatoes in Idaho?
One time they ran out of trout.

Juniper changed their happy hour burger for the worst. Please complain that you want the old happy hour burger. They said if they get enough complaints they will bring it back

That is a bummer, I've never experienced anything like that there in a 6+ visits.

@Bassman2

Did your son ever end up enrolling here?

No he ended up at UW. He got direct acceptance into the engineering college.  A bunch of his friends ended up at Boise though. Probably 20 kids from his high school

UW is a great school, congrats man! My best friend is the offensive line coach for UW; I played football with him at BSU; the best dude you will ever meet!

Moon's Kitchen Cafe is my new favorite breakfast spot when I am downtown.  I know it's a bit hipster, but their omelettes are really good.

Their milkshakes are legit too!

Sadly, due to hunting season and some other issues, milkshakes are off my list now...

Next time you're there, enjoy one for me.

Ivanka must be reading around here.

She knows good food!