<p>What's the word on this university?</p>
<p>Nice mid sized school with a pretty good reputation - much better than what you would think from just reading here at CC. I would get bored with living in Rolla myself but if you like doing ozark outings (floating, hiking, etc.) then that could be a plus.</p>
<p>Do your own research. A nice new dorm and student center building.</p>
<p>I'm a student there. What is it that you would like to know about MST?</p>
<p>i've taken the hardest classes at my high school and did well, got 33 on ACT and am thinking about engineering. wondering if you can tell me the pluses and minuses of this school.</p>
<p>Thanks Jben and mo24.</p>
<p>I didn't mean to offend Jben. I've done my own research, but I wanted to see if I could actually talk to someone about the university.</p>
<p>I've been there a year now, so my experience is mostly limited to the general education courses rather than major specific courses.</p>
<p>The classes are tough - i'm sure MST is not the toughest engineering college, but it certainly ranks high up there on the list. Most people who apply are accepted for admission. Part of this is due to the students who are applying being fairly self selective - average high school cumulative GPA of those accepted is 3.7. The other part is due to weedout classes in freshmen year that are accompanied by a high fail rate. The toughest weedout class is (ironically) Calculus I for Engineers, which had a 25% fail rate, with only 15% of students receiving an A. I will give that class credit for one thing, it is thorough. You did NOT get an A in it unless you knew every single frigging concept in Calculus I by heart. Thankfully, that is the most difficult class in freshmen year.</p>
<p>A lot of learning assistance is provided outside class through their LEAD program though which helps offset the difficulty. There are two branches of the LEAD program - the first involves a larger classroom style setting with mainly students helping each other along with a few T.A.'s or teachers to assist. The other is a smaller one-on-one tutor style of setting where usually an upperclassman is paid to tutor smaller groups of students. Both have accomodating hour schedules and tend to take place outside of class hours.</p>
<p>Pros: LEAD, High reputation among employers (or so i'm told), new dorm as mentioned - the inside reminds me of a hotel. New mechanical engineering building opening up this year I think. I've had good experiences with most teachers so far - haven't run into any with strong accents aside from lab T.A.'s where i'm starting to believe a prerequisite is to be from the middle east. Luckily, labs are the easiest classes. 95% of teachers have PhD's. The career fair is also very large in the fall with 200-300 employers I believe. Not sure how this compares to other colleges...</p>
<p>Cons: No girls. But I guess that's true at most engineering colleges. Classes are tough - you will spend a LOT of free time studying no matter what. There isn't a lot to do around Rolla, but with the amount of studying required in engineering, that's probably not as big of an issue for most there.</p>
<p>A decent portion of the students are in frats. The party and drinking life definitely exists in Rolla, but one tends to not happen without the other. It's especially true during St. Pats where the streets get painted green, frat guys go from class to class permanently hungover, and the test averages fall 20% from their norms. I guess that can be seen as a pro OR con depending on which side of it you are on...</p>