Montana State University Visit Report by toledo

Visit Activities:

Admissions Interview: No - To my knowlegde, there are no interviews. In fact, the web site says to just show up for a tour and that registration isn't necessary. I had never heard of this before.

Information Session: No - There is a short film before each tour, but we missed it, due to problems finding parking and the admissions building. When we found the right lot, it was full. You just wait for someone to exit.

Campus Tour: Yes - All the tours are ala carte. You've got a general campus tour, a dorm tour, a rec center tour, and an outdoor rec center tour. It's exhausting, but the tour guide for the general campus was

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Campus:

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Everyone was friendly. Interesting mix of cowboys, snowboard dudes, athletes, and nerds. Son didn't think girls were very cute.

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Tour guide was knowlegeable and friendly. We only spoke briefly to one admissions person. She gave us free meal coupons, coupons for free coffee and ice cream, and stamped our parking ticket.

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Buildings are a mix of new and old, but mostly 1960-style. Beautiful mountains in the distance, on all sides. Duck pond on campus.

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Everything appeared clean. Rec center was new. Student Union was old.

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We only saw one dorm because it overlapped the rec center tour. Then when we got to the rec ctr, we were told there really isn't a tour and that we could just walk around.

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Apparently there had just been a rape just off campus, but pictures of the suspect were posted on various buildings. I give them credit for warning the students, instead of trying to hide the incident

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People were extremely friendly. Cafeteria food was very good. Campus was good, not great. They seem to be doing a lot of interesting things; snow science labs, field trips to nearby farms, etc.

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Off-Campus:

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Bozeman has the best urban planning I've ever seen. Everything appeared newly built and well-laid out. I drove along the western and southern edge of the campus. The area looks very safe.

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There's a new Costco and all kinds of restaurants. Bozeman is much smaller than I had expected, but is very nice.

Campus Visit Notes for Montana State University

Visit Description:

I thought I was following road signs to the university, but somehow ended up coming in the south end. I did not see any signs for visitor parking. I drove around campus for 5 or 10 minutes, finally pulling into a non-visitor lot. The first couple people I spoke with could not tell me where admissions was located. Finally someone told me to go to the student union. They are on the second floor at the south end of the bldg. I was told that there was a lot across the street for general parking. It was full. By this point I was angry and disliked MSU. I waited in a line for cars to exit. It only took another 5-10 minutes. By this point, we missed the film. Oh well! But I have to admit that through the course of the day, my opinion changed. It takes a lot to dispell my first impressions. Everyone was so friendly. We were there from 10am to about 4pm, with rain the entire day, and tried to see everything. I was exhausted. I grabbed a copy of the school newpaper, which was very interesting. Condoleeza Rice is speaking at the freshmen convocation in August and the freshmen are all to read her book beforehand. I thought that was cool! The outdoor rec center rents all types of outdoor equipment, but won't rent snowboards. Even so, my son left the school, saying that he would apply. He wasn't thrilled to learn that business majors have to take calculus. It's definately a much more "technical" school that UM, which we visited the next day. UM proved to be more of a fit for my son, but MSU is very intriguing.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

We stayed in Missoula, as we were touring that campus, as well.

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

We ate lunch in the cafeteria. It was better than most cafeterias.

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

We flew in Spokane because it was cheaper and we were visiting schools in Spokane, Missoula, and Bozeman. The drive from Spokane to Missoula is a killer, but I'm not used to driving through mount