Oregon State University (Portland, Eugene, Salem: apartment, rentals, dorms)

[Goodfellah]

A friend of mine is considering Oregon State (undergrad) but he is not familiar with the US education system (he is not American ).

What do you guys think of the university? I have visited Portland once (lovely city) but that's pretty much all I know about Oregon, so I can't comment.

I am not really familiar with the college either but maybe in Oregon it is a well established college? I 've read that it's better than the UO.

Anyways, I also want to know about the city of Corvallis since she's going to spend time there as a student!

Thank all in advance!!

[Rob Allen]

Oregon State is a very well established and respected university. It started out as the state's agricultural & technical school; the call letters of Corvallis' public TV and radio stations, KOAC, refer to OSU's original name, Oregon Agricultural College. I've heard that OSU still tends to emphasize physical, practical subjects while the U of O emphasizes the more abstract, intellectual fields. There's a lot of overlap between the two now, though - they are both full-service universities at the undergrad level. OSU's colors are orange and black, and their sports teams are called the Beavers.

Corvallis is a town in the middle of the agricultural Willamette Valley. The town is quite small considering the size of the university; most comparable universities are in much larger cities (the U of O is in a town about five times the size of Corvallis). There are a few other industries, notably a Hewlett-Packard plant that once employed hundreds of people but is fading fast. So the university is really the largest thing happening in Corvallis, as far as I know.

[Goodfellah]

Originally Posted by Rob Allen

Oregon State is a very well established and respected university. It started out as the state's agricultural & technical school; the call letters of Corvallis' public TV and radio stations, KOAC, refer to OSU's original name, Oregon Agricultural College. I've heard that OSU still tends to emphasize physical, practical subjects while the U of O emphasizes the more abstract, intellectual fields. There's a lot of overlap between the two now, though - they are both full-service universities at the undergrad level. OSU's colors are orange and black, and their sports teams are called the Beavers.

Corvallis is a town in the middle of the agricultural Willamette Valley. The town is quite small considering the size of the university; most comparable universities are in much larger cities (the U of O is in a town about five times the size of Corvallis). There are a few other industries, notably a Hewlett-Packard plant that once employed hundreds of people but is fading fast. So the university is really the largest thing happening in Corvallis, as far as I know.

Thanks man, very informative.

[GeorgiaTransplant]

OSU Alumni (undergraduate) here...grew up in Oregon, OSU was a natural fit because it had a much stronger major department for what I wanted to do than U of O. Some majors, U of O is much better. PSU is a definite third place for public schools but has the overwhelming advantage of being in Portland.

Corvallis is about 50,000 people. 10 years ago, it was about 50,000 people...and 5 or 10 years ago, 50,000 people. Not stagnant, but it's fairly set in its size and position in the world. HP was a big employer before the plant declined, but there's also a lot of small businesses run by people who started them to be in Corvallis-which should tell you something about the quality of life in Corvallis. Jobs for students are scarce, it's a supply and demand issue.

Not really near any other large city-Eugene and Salem about 1 to 1.5 hours, and there's nothing in either place you couldn't do in Corvallis. Portland 2 to 2.5 hours, and it's the only really large city in Oregon.

OSU occupies a disproportionately large part of the Corvallis scene. There's a shopping street directly by campus with a few small restaurants and bars, and a large and well-preserved downtown a mile or two away that has most of the nightlife (Squirrel's, Peacock, McMenamins, etc.). There is also a large shopping area in the northern part of the city around 9th street. Corvallis is a very safe city overall, and has probably the best bicycling path system around. You can pretty much walk or bicycle anywhere in the city in a reasonable amount of time. Public transport exists, but I recommend a bike if you're not right up on campus.

Engineering and science departments tend to be good to spectacular, with all the supporting departments (e.g., math) being pretty large and comprehensive. Business department is also fairly good, particularly the MIS and Accounting specialties (notice-quantitative-a hallmark of many of the better OSU programs). Other departments do have stand-out programs, but it seems most students were either engineers, scientists, or business types in training during my time there.

Not a huge athletic school, but a lot of effort put into the stadium and sports programs lately.

The school, being a large state school, has a lot of extracurricular clubs and activities available. Several good computer labs all around campus.

Housing is oriented towards students. Rentals are plentiful, and if your friend is willing to room with someone, pretty affordable. Living alone, options are dorms, greek system, or rent that can be a stretch (but it can also be done if you look hard or are willing to drive-I lived alone during my degree in an apartment that didn't bankrupt me).

Weather isn't as bad as it's made out to be, but it does rain and it does get cold and (rarely) snows. If someone suffers from seasonal affective disorder, I would think carefully about going to OSU, there will be 2-3 pretty miserable months during the middle of the school year.

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by Goodfellah

A friend of mine is considering Oregon State (undergrad) but he is not familiar with the US education system (he is not American ).

What do you guys think of the university? I have visited Portland once (lovely city) but that's pretty much all I know about Oregon, so I can't comment.

I am not really familiar with the college either but maybe in Oregon it is a well established college? I 've read that it's better than the UO.

Anyways, I also want to know about the city of Corvallis since she's going to spend time there as a student!

Thank all in advance!!

Oregon State is definitely a good school, and especially has an excellent national reputation for the sciences (environmental, forest, agricultural) and research. For majors involving the humanities (especially law, education, music, journalism, and architecture) U of O has the advantage over OSU and overall is a somewhat more prestigious school. Not that that means much, and OSU is still a very good school.

Corvallis is a very nice town, but personally, based on my own experiences there and what my friends at OSU have told me, there isn't enough going on in Corvallis outside of the University scene. Yes, school takes up a lot of your time, but when you're relaxing or looking for other things to do there isn't too much available since it is very much a "college town." After spending a couple years there I have heard that many people are ready to move on to somewhere more interesting and with more going on. Some people are able to occupy themselves better than others though.

[Goodfellah]

Originally Posted by backdrifter

Oregon State is definitely a good school, and especially has an excellent national reputation for the sciences (environmental, forest, agricultural) and research. For majors involving the humanities (especially law, education, music, journalism, and architecture) U of O has the advantage over OSU and overall is a somewhat more prestigious school. Not that that means much, and OSU is still a very good school.

Corvallis is a very nice town, but personally, based on my own experiences there and what my friends at OSU have told me, there isn't enough going on in Corvallis outside of the University scene. Yes, school takes up a lot of your time, but when you're relaxing or looking for other things to do there isn't too much available since it is very much a "college town." After spending a couple years there I have heard that many people are ready to move on to somewhere more interesting and with more going on. Some people are able to occupy themselves better than others though.

Yeah well.. I'm sure she wouldn't mind. She's very academically focused so... I think she's more interested in the quality of the university.

[JS00]

The campus at OSU is WAY, WAY, WAY better than U of O's. If that means anything to you...