Black Hills State University

Date: Jun 20 2014
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
I'll put my bottom line on top, that way you can read the details first.

Bottom line: -Do your research of this school of the school before coming. While it is cheap for both instate and out of staters, it's not every one.

Small school in a small state with many small minded people. It's a mecca for farm kids that want a degree. You'll find that many students (that at least live on campus) are from very small town from South Dakota and surrounding states

Classes aren't challenging, they'll let anyone into the school.

If you're going to live on campus, and it's your first year, have some extra money for food and laundry. The cafeteria is open for a small amount of time and the food sucks. Laundry is sort of expensive and most of the machines don't want to work. Last time I lived on campus (2013) they were replacing the machines. It might be better to get your laundry done at the local cleaner.

Majority of students have a snooty air because they are in college. I don't get it.

I don't utterly hate this school, but I really wish that I visited the school before I went up to live on main campus. My story: I visited main campus ONCE in my junior year of high school before going to the university about three years later. This university is really just one of convience, many people who live in Rapid City (the biggest city located next to BHSU) go to BHSU because it's close and they can at least take their generals and transfer to a real school or somewhere they REALLY want to go to.

It was sort of the same situation for me, I came to BHSU because I needed a place to live and I wanted an education. I lived in Rapid, and the university which is located in Spearfish, really wasnt that far away from me. I really wish that I took the time to learn more about the ins and outs of being at this school before just jumping in and going here. But for my situation it really wasn't possible.

Here's the thing, I got tired of working crappy jobs after I graduated high school and just needed to get away, so I applied in the late summer of 2012 to start the fall semester there. But because I didn't have a math score, I had my application pushed back for the spring semester. I can say that this was the first showing of how nice the faculty can be at times. But if you're not from South Dakota, please keep in mind that most people are nice in general.

I took the ACT to get a math score to send in to BH, and didn't find out that I was formally accepted until the day before the semester started. I literally got my things together and registered for class in two days. I seems though that I am not the only person that never got an actual acceptance letter for BH. For some reason the school takes forever in mailing you back about whether you're in or not.

Once I signed up for class, I was immediately told to sign up for the housing agreement, but the advisor made it seem like I had to sign it, and HAD to live on campus. If I knew that I could have taken classes in Rapid or online, I would have. Also, because of my late registration and finding out last minute that I was accepted into school, I had no money on me or financial aid ready. I would say, that in general, have some cash on you or money in your account before living on campus. And if you have even an inkling about going to college fill out your fafsa so that you have aid ready in case you decide to go.

BH is odd and thinks that if they block another university's website, you won't want to transfer. And that's the thing about this school, they have a 49% retention rate. That means half of the people that go to this school don't graduate from it, and from a local, I can tell you that's because most of them go across the state to get a REAL education from SDSU. Who can blame them with a student body as arrogant as BH's, a group of professors that are barely above high school status in challenging you, and the fact that majority of, if not all of your credits from BH will transfer to another school across the state.

Academically, classes really aren't hard. Sadly, if you don't come to class like every day, your professor will dock you points. That's what has bothered me the most about this school, I am an adult, I have a job, I cannot always get to class. Many professors get angry if you barely come to class but know the material. I don't understand this either.

The cafeteria is small, but they try. At least, on Monday through Thursday. On weekends, the food sucks, and Friday, they close down half of the already small cafeteria. Doesn't help that most of the food is recycled and flat tasting. Also, don't forget that you have dining dollars (at least if you live on campus and have a meal plan) and can use those to get food at the library and student union.

At least the gym is okay. Did I mention that many of the students are arrogant or snooty? There's almost a heirarchy/clique thing like it's high school all over again, because of the RA system. Ian Craig is a scuzbag. He preys on freshman girls and sleeps with them.