Hello Missouri S&T! Our daughter, who is a high school junior, is interested in you. Can you give us some reasons why we should take a look?
Hello! I’m actually a high school senior this year, so I’m not sure how highly you can think of my opinion, but I am enrolled in Missouri S&T for the fall of 2017 and I lived there for 6 weeks this summer.
I attended Missouri S&T’s Summer Research Academy this summer, which entailed staying in Thomas Jefferson Hall for 6 weeks while researching my own project alongside professors and graduate students. In my particular case, I researched CO2 adsorption using PD silica impregnated with PEI amine in industrial flue gas streams with the chemical engineering department. Coming from a public school with only a year of chemistry, I was very nervous that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. However, my professor was incredibly accommodating, answering any questions I had about chemistry or about the campus and Rolla in general. She was very kind and made time to meet with me, despite her busy schedule. In addition, I worked with multiple graduate students who also were very welcoming and I would now consider them friends. I was able to work with and interact with several other people, from professors to students, and this was a pretty standard vibe across campus. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. I often couldn’t walk across campus without being greeted by a total stranger! This being said, it was very easy to make friends and find comfort here, despite being far away from home. When my time at S&T was up, it did feel like home and it was very hard to leave the people I had grown so close to.
In addition, this is a very intelligent school. I met a lot of people in my time here and many of my closest friends had 35s and 36s on their ACTs. There are some very, very smart people here and they thrive because Missouri S&T is a very challenging school. I was pretty surprised by this simply because I figured that, since it was a state school, it wouldn’t be super tough. I was proven wrong. However, don’t let this scare you, because Missouri S&T takes very good care of their students. The professors truly are interested in their students’ success and, if you need help, they will always be there to give it.
As for the campus, it isn’t the most beautiful campus I have ever visited, but I think it feels like home. It only took me a maximum of 15 minutes to walk across campus, so it is fairly small. However, it has everything you could need! Havener is home to a great burger joint, as well as an Einstein Bros. The library houses a Starbucks. The buildings are taken care of, despite some being rather old, such as the Physics building built in the 1930s. There is a ton of space to hang out, study, or just walk around. Downtown Rolla is a short walk from campus, as well as many restaurants and food chains (Buffalo Wild Wings, Applebee’s, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell, etc.). The athletic center is very nice and my friends and I made many trips to go play ultimate frisbee on the football field. It may be a small campus, but there is always something to do.
As I mentioned, I lived in Thomas Jefferson Hall, which is where many of the freshman live. It is a typical dorm setup: small 2 bed dorm with community bathrooms and kitchens for each floor. I actually found myself enjoying TJ, as the dorms are bigger than I anticipated. There is plenty of room within TJ to study and hang out with your friends. The community kitchens are great if you have friends that like to cook, like I did. However, TJ offers a buffet 3 times a day. If you find yourself bored, head down to the front desk and search through the large variety of movies. Perhaps you would like to go to the outdoor sand volleyball court right outside? They offer volleyballs, footballs, frisbees, and really anything else you can think of. In addition, the student lounge in TJ has a Nintendo, XBOX 360, Wii, and maybe a Playstation (I can’t remember), so you could always check out games and hang out in the lounge. You really should never find yourself bored here!
I am going to be attending Missouri S&T in the fall of 2017 as a biological sciences major, so if you have any further questions, feel free to let me know. I chose this school because there are endless opportunities, the professors actually care about their students, there is a supportive and lighthearted environment across campus, and it is overall a great place to live. I am very, very happy with my choice. I hope this helps!