How is the University in Boise? (how much, high school, universities)

[patrick88]

What is the University like? Do they like to party? Is it a good atmosphere? THANKS!

[frybergerfamily]

I'm from California and on my visits there I've loved it. Very nice. Seems kickback and safe. Congestion is a non-issue. Of course I'm judging from a So-Cal perspective where everything is congested and unsafe.

[RodFarlee]

Idaho has the tax base to support one excellent university (plus its share of one excellent regional medical school, UW Seattle) and perhaps two or three two-year colleges.
Instead, Idaho legislators have chosen divide this among three universities and five colleges. The results are inevitable.
However, your questions suggest that academic breadth and depth are not your priorities? Perhaps BSU is a good fit.

[patrick88]

Quite the contrary Rod, I was being vague on purpose. I wanted to know the general atmosphere at the school. I DO NOT want a party school. Your response was very interesting because I had heard their acedemic program was excellent. Is this not the case? Thanks

[pinkpalace]

As a graduate of the BSU College of Engineering, I can say that I'm happy with the education I got at BSU. Most of my time at BSU was spent married with kids, so I didn't pay attention to how much partying there was (or was not) at BSU.

The only sad part is that now I live about 17 miles away from the University of Georgia... and I'm still hurting from the pummelling their football team did to the BSU football team last August.

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by patrick88

Your response was very interesting because I had heard their acedemic program was excellent. Is this not the case? Thanks

I'd suggest looking at boisestate.edu at the programs you're interested in, and at related fields of study which would enrich and support your major. Compare it to other universities you might be considering. Look at the strength of the research programs in these areas, particularly as reflected in the number of research faculty, their publication records, their competitive grant support, and the advanced degree programs.

I agree that with BSU it's a bit difficult to make these comparisons, because it is changing and growing. It's difficult to judge the actual depth or reality of a list of degree programs, many just created, with no or few actual graduates, with no real track record. It'll be a lot easier to judge BSU once it is well established (maybe in 40 years?). Meanwhile, there are a variety of rankings and ratings you can look at that compare universities.

Finally, there are the intangibles of any university experience. For example, having renowned music and drama departments enriches the experience, whether or not you take their classes, because you can attend their recitals and performances. It is equally true that having well regarded philosophy, english and mathematics departments enriches the experience, even if you take only the intro classes, because the people you will interact with, the ideas you'll be exposed to, could range from, frankly, high school at one college to world class at another. How can one rate BSU in this regard? If you're an intellectual, it's easy to see if a college has more staff in, say, music than in athletics; or if you're a jock, the opposite. And then there is the question of atmosphere that you alluded to; a commuter campus that largely disappears at 5 pm is quite different than a residential campus with students from all over the world and activities every day and every night. The campus newspaper can give you a quick idea of what's going on. Again, BSU is changing, but it is still primarily a commuter campus.