Columbia, MO: After a recent weekend of collegehunting with my parents, I began to consider all the things that college studentsdo that I want to do, too. If you want a college experience with Greek life,uncontrollable amounts of kids, parties, and all the rah-rah, then you and I arefeeling the same way. My counselor pointed out www.collegeboard.com, and so Ibegan to explore.

I learned a surprising amount about my favorite school,the University of Missouri. Founded in 1839, it's the first public universitywest of the Mississippi River. Located in the heart of the state, with almost20,000 undergrads, the school is home to 14 sororities and 25 fraternities andoffers coed housing.

More than 80 percent of the students are fromMissouri and half are women. Mizzou freshmen have an average ACT score of 25.5and the school's student-faculty ratio is 18:1. The most popular majors arebusiness, communications, education, engineering and psychology.

Tuitionfor Missouri residents is $5,550 but jumps to $14,700 for non-residents.Room and board is another $5,000.

Mizzou has a plethora of intramural andcompetitive sports, from football and baseball to cricket and judo. Theextracurricular opportunities are bountiful and include music groups, drama and abroadcast club.

Mizzou is set on a beautiful 1,300-acre campus smack dabbetween St. Louis and Kansas City. With two other colleges nearby, theopportunity is there to meet lots of students.

As much as I have braggedabout MU, I will look at other colleges, too. There are a lot of choices to make,but the important thing is to decide based on what you want. If you find a schoolthat has all that you want, look even closer. Just because a school is far awayor a tad over your budget doesn't mean you can't go there. That's what cars andstudent loans are for!

You'll know for sure when you find the rightplace, but if you're looking for a large school with a multitude ofopportunities, check out the University of Missouri.



Reviewed in 2004