Europe

If you're flying into Zurich everything is insanely easily accessed by train/bus. I usually ride the local resorts around zurich, but on this side of the country you've got:

 - Laax - great park, but not really insane pow. I was there last week and it was basically dry, but they've gotten a little since then

 - Davos is supposed to have great freeride, better snow than laax (but not as good as the french side) and a nice variety of slopes

 - engelberg (mt titlis) is the highest resort on the east side of the country, and is supposed to have awesome freeride and is very snow sure. It's also less of a tourist spot than laax or davos so it won't be as crowded. There's a lot of other good resorts in close vacinity to it as well

 - Austria - st anton, ischgil and a lot of others are within 3 hours from zurich. Awesome all mountain and apparently the best apres scene in europe if you're looking for a good time

On the french side there's too many possibilities to list, but my recommendation would be to pick a smaller resort on that side, because it'll be less crowded, you'll have a more authentic experience and you'll spend way less cash. If you're from the midwest you'll feel so spoiled by the hill size anyways that you'll never notice the size difference.

Oh and stay in a hostel, if you're in switzerland i'd say the accomodation standards are quite high so even most hostels i've found really nice. Best way to save money in swtiz is buy food at the grocery store (coop/migros). Buying food at the hill/restaurants is always outrageously expensive

Best of luck