Mississippi State University

Date: May 21 2008
Major: Chemical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I came to State with enough scholarships for everything plus a little extra for spending. I was pretty much on my own paying for school and left high school with the mindset that I would put up with the rural environment, earn a degree, and then move to a city. That was two years ago. Since then Ive co-oped and been to a few schools in urban environments. Now I realize that I let my "free ride" overshadow the idea of investing 4 years of my life and the size of "StarkVegas."

Surrounding City:

Starkville is definitely the negative part about going to State. I've lived in the North and the South, both in towns of about 50K. There's no telling how many times I've been to Cleveland, Akron, Boston, or Providence, and I've been to New York, Chicago, LA, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Starkville is slightly less then 25K, and it's a little sad when a trip to Wal-Mart at the edge of the city limits can become the highlight of your week. Ive discovered every place, no matter how small, has at least one great place to eat. Little Dewey's, Mug Shots, and Stromboli's are my personal favorites. If you want to go to a mall, don't have one. A lot of girls I know will take shopping trips up to Tupelo.

Student body:

Overall the people at State are extremely friendly; Southern Hospitality is very apparent. I've made a ton of friends from all sorts of racial, religious, and social backgrounds. Everywhere I go I run into people I know. The Greek system is no where near as large as other universities. If I had to take a guess, I would put it at a very generous 20%. Politically, State is conservative. I consider it part of the Bible Belt, no alcohol sales on Sundays I am a moderate with no particular leaning, and even that seems liberal at times. As for the dating scene, meeting people is easy, finding a place to go is difficult. One good thing about being in the middle of nowhere is driving 10 minutes to get away from light pollution and looking at the stars. Dont let people fool you; there are beautiful people at every university. Unless its a technical institute, then itll just be slimmer.

Nightlife

Speaking of slim, if youre looking for a night on the town at State, thats how long your list of things to do will be. If you want to go to an urban setting youre looking at 1hr to Tuscaloosa, 3 to Memphis, and 4 to New Orleans. There are a few bars, a movie theater with midnight showings, Waffle House, Wal-Mart and thats about all thats open past 10. You can find parties at frats, apartments, and houses, but most of the time you need a ticket in. Luckily, I know a few.

Academics:

I think the ranking of Southeastern engineering schools are as followed: Georgia Tech, University of Florida, and then all the SEC schools fall together. I have taken some fairly challenging courses, but nothing I havent been able to overcome. Like all schools, youll find a wide variety of professors.

Campus:

State has a beautiful campus which is safe, even at night, and well kept. It can be rough at times if you schedule classes at opposite ends of campus, but most of the classes are in the same general area.

If I could transfer to a school in an urban environment and not have to worry about credit hours or money, I would. Ive looked into it, and thats not the case. It would add at least a year to my schooling, and I would rather not take out a large loan in the economic state we are in. Instead I plan to try and make the best of the 5 consecutive semesters I have left at State and move on.

Unless you enjoy not making friends and studying Friday nights, my advice is to look at every aspect of the colleges you are thinking of attending and dont single any part out. Since youre on this site, youre already on the right track, and as funny as it may sound tell your friends about it. I wish I knew about it before I graduated from high school.

Best of luck to you!