Minnesota State University - Moorhead

Date: Sep 16 2011
Major: Art & Design Department (This Major's Salary over time)
I'll start with a little background about myself. I come from one of those Suburban Twin Cities "Super High Schools" where the question isn't are you going to college, it's where you're going to college. I wanted two things in my college education: a strong graphic design program and the chance to play D1 or 2 college soccer. When it came down to it, MSUM was the place for me. And I looked dumb, being in AP/CIS classes, surrounded by all my friends going to Northwestern, GAC, St. Olaf, etc. but I stuck with it.

As it turns out, MSUM has a lot more to offer than I could have imagined. I'll go through a list:

Academics: I'm a double major between Graphic Design and Film Production. Both the art and film department here are OUTSTANDING. The faculty are very intelligent and helpful, classes are always small and the opportunities that both offer rival any that I've heard of from other schools. Dragon Core sucks ass, but they got rid of it so people coming in now don't have to do it. If you are an artsy person, this college is a great fit for you!

Social Life: My social life almost 100% revolves around my soccer team. All the parties we go to are parties at football, soccer, wrestling, etc. houses. They're fun for a couple hours, but occasionally they'll just turn into drunken puke fests, but then you can just leave. I will say this: the Moorhead police are ALWAYS around. I think it's easier to count the number of people here who haven't gotten minors than have. But as long as you're careful (and really fast) you should be fine.

Campus Life: Living in the dorms is terrible, but you'll make lots of good friends and if you have a good RA, you'll do some fun activities with your floormates. Living off campus is better (cheaper) if you can find somewhere close to school. The Entertainment group hosts a whole bunch of awesome activities on weekdays, nights and weekends as well, they're fun and usually free, and lots of times you'll get food as well. The dining services are usually hit or miss. Kise offers lots of pretty solid choices, but also lots of (literal) shit. I found myself eating a lot of cereal, but occasionally there would be something really tasty.

The only thing I actually HATE about MSUM is the weather. I mean, -40? 30MPH wind? 348723846732564in of snow? And the worst part is, the city doesn't plow the roads for little amounts of snow, so the first couple snowfalls build up on the road and create an 8in layer of ice which is hard to drive, walk, or bike on. And the campus sidewalks are the same way. Invest in some solid boots, a balclava and a pair of ski goggles and you'll be fine.