I’ve been waiting for a current thread on Montana State and decided to make my own. MSU was not on my daughters original college list, but after visiting last month, it’s now one of her top choices. She was admitted with WUE for Engineering (interest is Biomedical) but is still also considering Neuroscience. We were very impressed with the campus, engineering lab facility and the beautiful town of Bozeman. It didn’t hurt that there was fantastic skiing 15 miles away. The only concern my D has is lack of diversity. We are from CA (Silicon Valley) so she is used to this environment. We are going to visit CU Boulder, UWash and possibly Purdue. Not that those are likely to be much more diverse. Already saw U of Oregon and Oregon State. Waiting on decisions from some UC’s, SDSU and a few other schools. She has a 3.95GPA and 1300 SAT (only got to take it once). Would love to hear from others considering or attending MSU.
My son is considering CU-Boulder, Montana State, and Purdue (among others). I think CU and Purdue will have far greater diversity than Montana State. Purdue has a large international student population. Montana State is probably my son’s least likely choice because the other schools have a better reputation for engineering, especially Purdue. However, we definitely like the Montana State vibe. Skiing is a big draw, and we love the small town feel and small campus. It’s a popular destination for kids from my son’s high school (located in Colorado). CU-Boulder might have the right combination that you might be looking for (diversity, outdoors).
I have wondered about the reputation. I’ve had trouble finding a lot of info on MSU’s engineering reputation. One thing I liked is that freshmen there have research opportunities. D says she does “not want to be stressed out” so that may eliminate Purdue and Renssalaer. We are going for a very quick visit to Boulder and UWash this weekend - sounds like we will be hitting a big snow storm… we hit a big storm at MSU a few of weeks ago so at least we are getting a taste of what the weather can be like at each school!
If you can postpone your trip by a week, you should think about it. Boulder is likely to get 1-2 feet of snow (and that’s moderating some of the higher forecasts as of today, >3 feet), so most things are going to be closed. You probably won’t get a good feel for the campus! Good luck!
Thank you! I was able to postpone one week just now.
I stumbled on this thread from last year when searching Montana State engineering and am curious if any of the 2025 students here chose this school. Would love to get a fresh update or hear from anyone else that has experience with Montana State and its engineering program. We visited last November and my daughter was impressed with the engineering building and some of the faculty and students that she met but we haven’t heard much more about it since that trip. She has a few other options and is still waiting on a few more schools but she keeps going back to this one.
My son is currently a freshman at MSU in Chemical Engineering. He loves everything about the school and the engineering program. He had acceptance offers from two UC schools and three out of state schools and is very happy that he chose MSU.
My daughter did choose MSU. She is a freshman majoring in Biomedical Engineering. She loves MSU and the friends she has made. Her advisor is very accessible. Other schools she was accepted to and liked were UW and Boulder, but she felt most comfortable at MSU, and with the WUE scholarship, we are paying about a third of what we would have at other schools. She also didn’t want to go to a school where lots kids from her CA high school go. Getting used to the weather and to the different political climate (than what she is used to in N. Cal), has been a process, but she says she has absolutely no regrets. She even chose one of the oldest dorms, with the smallest rooms, because she wanted to make sure she was forced to be social, and she’s super happy with that choice too (although she will not live in the dorms again next year! lol)
I’m so happy to hear this. Thanks for sharing!
I really appreciate the specifics of your feedback, particularly because my daughter is also from N. Calif and between weather and as you say political climate there’s a lot to adjust to. From what you and another recent poster have shared it sounds like the engineering program is living up to expectations - that’s great! Faculty was very accessible and we loved what the campus had to offer. I’m concerned about her finding her people while she enjoys the outdoors and does some skiing she’s not a total ski bum type. My husband was drooling over the fact that dorms had ski lockers and wax rooms but my daughter won’t be on the ski bus every weekend. It’s definitely still a top contender. Thank you!