Academics
Utah State University is a large, affordable, research-oriented school that offers over 200 majors and 鈥渙ne hell of an engineering program.鈥 The College of Education is 鈥渢op notch鈥 as well and there are strong programs in agriculture and business. 鈥淕eneral education courses absolutely suck to take鈥 and they 鈥渁re much too large.鈥 鈥淪tack 鈥榚m deep; teach 鈥榚m cheap,鈥 says a poetic Spanish major. Overall, though, 鈥渢he academic experience is superb.鈥 鈥淭he professors are saints as far as I鈥檓 concerned,鈥 declares a civil engineering major. 鈥淭hey are here because they love teaching and seeing their students succeed.鈥 鈥淚鈥檝e had some crummy professors, but only two or three out of 30,鈥 estimates an accounting major. 鈥淭he good far outweigh the bad.鈥 Administratively, 鈥渢he registrar鈥檚 office could be a little more organized鈥 and there are the typical big school frustrations but USU generally 鈥渞uns very smoothly.鈥 鈥淭he administration鈥檚 main focus is on the students,鈥 lauds a speech communication major, 鈥渁nd that is apparent from the amount of effort that they put toward student services and functions.鈥
Student Body
鈥淓veryone is pretty laid back and conservative鈥 at USU. Students describe themselves as 鈥渟tudious,鈥 鈥渧ery motivated to achieve,鈥 and 鈥渘othing but welcoming and nice.鈥 There鈥檚 a decent-sized contingent of international students on campus but there is 鈥渙nly a small percentage of minority students.鈥 鈥淭his is northern Utah,鈥 says a sophomore. 鈥淢ost of the students are white and Mormon.鈥 The Church of Latter-Day Saints has 鈥渁 strong influence鈥 here. Scores of students 鈥渄o not drink, smoke, or have sex before marriage.鈥 鈥淢any are married鈥 already and 鈥渉ave a part-time job.鈥 Some students say that 鈥渋t鈥檚 tough fitting in as a non-Mormon.鈥 Others say that the 鈥渢he LDS community at USU is very devout but at the same time very accepting.鈥 There are 鈥渟ome overzealous Mormons鈥 who are 鈥減retty nearly intolerant and look down on other faiths,鈥 they say, but 鈥測ou get those nut jobs with every religion.鈥
Campus Life
鈥淵ou can find a club or organization for just about anything鈥 at USU. Sports are reportedly 鈥渜uite popular.鈥 鈥淎ggie Basketball is huge.鈥 However, other teams are 鈥渟ickeningly terrible.鈥 There is a smattering of Greek life and there are 鈥減arties with a lot of alcohol involved.鈥 However, nobody really comes here for the party scene. This is 鈥淢ormonville.鈥 鈥淒inner and a movie鈥 and a lot of good old-fashioned dating are far more common than drinking. The surrounding town of Logan is 鈥渟mall鈥 and 鈥渋n the middle of the mountains.鈥 It鈥檚 鈥減retty steep鈥 around here but it鈥檚 鈥渁n incredibly beautiful and inspiring place to live and learn鈥 and 鈥渁 great place for the outdoors.鈥 鈥淓veryone goes sledding on Old Main Hill in the winter.鈥 For serious skiers and snowboarders, there is a resort 鈥渞eally close鈥 and 鈥渢he snow in the canyon is awesome.鈥 鈥淎 lot of people miss class after a good snowstorm to hit the slopes,鈥 observes a junior.