MU and MSU, prestige vs fit

Parents Forum
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<p>Hello!</p>

<p>I was advised by a very kind forum member to post something here that I posted in different section of the forum in hopes of getting at least one response. :)</p>

<p>I live in Central Missouri and always have, and am looking to teach geography at the college level some day. I love all fields of geography, but I think the physical side - somewhere between geology and geography - is my biggest interest. Being in Missouri, my options are Mizzou, UM-Kansas City, Northwest Missouri State, University of Central Missouri, and Missouri State. I may have missed one in there as well. My real debate is between the massive Mizzou and Missouri State down in Springfield.</p>

<p>Missouri is not a state with great public schools, but the state does respect MU quite a bit. However, for my degree in geography, MU only offers a BA. That is fine and all, but the BA requires 12 hours of additional language that I would rather spend studying geography. Also, MU seems to be very concentrated on the human side of geography rather than the physical.</p>

<p>MSU is Missouri's second largest institution and merges the geography department with the geology department; it is well founded physical science. They offer a B.S. that lets me take more of the classes I want to take. They definitely have a more hands on approach with many field trips.</p>

<p>For what it's worth, I'm also a bit of a loner; I would love to meet new friends at college, but it's very, very difficult to find people somewhat like me. I got a GED when I was 16, but I continually study on my own just for fun. I'm very curious like that. I'm not sure if a bigger university would help me find more people like myself. I don't know if the University of Missouri might be "smarter" than Missouri State or how that works. I've never really gotten involved much, but I would really like to.</p>

<p>For the prices, MU is $8,500, while MSU is somehow only around $6,000. The FAFSA continually makes my single mother out to be earning 6 figures when she makes less than half that. Needless to say, money is fairly important.</p>

<p>The obvious choice if going by my personal taste and what's steered towards my interests might be Missouri State, but I'm considering the future with a degree from Missouri's known school and the sort of secondary one. I hope to attend a very good geography school such as UBC, UW, UC - Berkeley etc. Also, I feel I might need a decent job between degrees to help pay for everything, and geography isn't exactly the job-orientated degree, so it might help to go to MU for that reason.</p>

<p>Any advice on that issue is hugely appreciated!</p>

<p>Thanks for letting me bug you with my knack for writing entirely too much for a simple subject.</p>

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<p>I am familiar with your area. It sounds like Missouri State is the better choice for you–with the BS, smaller school, and less expensive. If you do well, you can go to grad school anywhere.
Personally, I like Springfield (warmer winters!) better than Columbia. And you will have access to more interesting physical geography in the Ozarks. Not that Columbia isn’t interesting, but. . . (Glad you took Central Missouri off your list. . .ugliest campus in the universe IMO!)</p>

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<p>Most of the prestige I’ve heard associated with MU is related to the school of Journalism. I have been told MSU is considered better for some majors than MU. I don’t know about geography. If your interest in more in the sciences, did you consider MUST (Rolla)? If money is important, I assume you can live at home if you go to MU. That would save a lot, but lose some of the college experience. MSU is a much smaller campus and a lot easier to get around than MU. In the end, go with your gut, especially since you are planning grad school later.</p>

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<p>Yes, MU and prestige don’t really go together. Unfortunately, Missouri isn’t one of those lucky states with fantastic schools (with students getting in state prices). However, I definitely get the feeling that people in - say - Washington know the Missouri name much better than Missouri State. I spoke with a professor at MSU that said everything down there is going towards graduate school, so it appears that in the future MSU might earn the new name it was given. </p>

<p>I have considered Rolla, but I’m not quite that scientific. I enjoy geology, but my real interest lies in the relationship between space and people. I have a whole lot of respect for the students that can live up to Rolla’s curriculum though.</p>

<p>Actually, I’m from Jefferson City. I moved to Columbia with the intent of going to MU, but I’ve been finishing up my Associate’s at Columbia College. </p>

<p>I haven’t spent much time in Springfield at all. I only visited the city center when visiting MSU. Columbia definitely has a nice progressive feel to it. The city is extremely intelligent, educated, and liberal while the county surrounding us is much more religious and conservative. It’s a very nice balance, and I find myself wondering if Springfield is too Bible Beltish for me.</p>

<p>I actually did look at Warrensburg a bit, but when their catalog had geography listed as geology, and they didn’t fix it after I told them - plus they didn’t know the difference between the BA and BS - I crossed them off the list. It also has a fairly unstudious (is that a word?) reputation.</p>

<p>I really appreciate the words of advice. I really wish my gut could make peace with a decision without criticizing all that’s wrong with it.</p>

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<p>Uglier than Rolla? NOT POSSIBLE !!!</p>

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<p>Possible! I’ve been to Rolla many times–IMO, Central is uglier. (Unless you really like prison camp architecture).</p>

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<p>Truman State U is probably the best one academically in MO. Not sure what they have wrt geography though.</p>

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<p>It sounds as if MSU is your better choice. I don’t think that there is a difference in the prestige of either school outside of your state, except for the UM journalism program.</p>

<p>You have done a good analysis of the focus of the geography programs, and MSU seems to have what you want. If you are finishing an associate’s degree, presumably you have covered most of the basics and your distribution requirements, and are ready to delve into your major. The nature of those classes and your performance in them will mean much more to your graduate school prospects than whether they came from one of two respectable state schools in Missouri. Assuming that you will want a graduate program that also leans towards the geological side of the subject, they will want to see those courses on your transcript.</p>

<p>As an advocate of learning foreign languages, I’d love to see you do that also–and it might well help you in field work in the future–but with only two years left, concentrating on your major courses seems paramount. BTW, do make sure to look at the degree requirements in your field at the grad schools that interest you. Some fields require a level of reading fluency in at least one foreign language. I have no idea if this is true in your field. </p>

<p>If you are a loner and want to form friendships in a college setting, you are MUCH better off living in a dorm away from home, no matter what the school.</p>

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<p>atomom - Well, I have been told that Central Missouri representatives travel to Rolla annually for the Mi Ugly Casa, Su Ugly Casa festival … which interestingly enough is held indoors.</p>

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<p>Regarding Truman State University, it is continually ranked highly. However, I hope Truman can be used as an example of the problems with rankings. Obviously if Truman was so good, students would flock there. Unfortunately, every student I’ve talked to that went to or goes to Truman was very unimpressed, and they mentioned the education as being lacking, not just the area. That alone doesn’t mean I should discount it as an option, but it does not offer geography. </p>

<p>Consolation, thanks for your input. As someone in Missouri, I have pretty well no idea what outsider’s see of our schools. Like I said earlier, MU is “the school” here. But, you made me realize something: MU’s popularity in Missouri as being a good school is purely cultural, largely based on the quality of the athletics program. The population of both St. Louis and Kansas City largely cheer for Mizzou (although KC is a bit half and half with Kansas). So, outside the cultural ramifications of a sports program that represents all of Missouri, there is not much academically different between MSU and MU. Yes, MU has several times the amount of money flowing to it - but again - that’s largely because of its cultural representation, and the money does not flow to academics but to side projects such as the campus’s botanical garden status. I don’t know if you live in Missouri, but there is a very superficial yet powerful cultural push to be a Mizzou Tiger. But like you said, that’s in Missouri.</p>

<p>Regarding the foreign language, I think it would be great to learn a language in a non-mandatory environment. I could probably get out of MU in 2 years with the foreign language requirement, but I’d much rather spend that money and time on learning more about geography. I’m curious if the graduate program’s requiring a foreign language fluency are for the master of arts, similar to the language requirements in the bachelor of arts. </p>

<p>Again, I very much appreciate every comment on here. Advice from knowledgeable people is very difficult to obtain on this issue, especially here in Mizzou-town, Missouri.</p>