SDSU Agriculture (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Brookings: rent, find a job, school)

[Hoss Berg]

I posted in this forum a while back in very different circumstances than I am now. Long story short I am going back to college. I know for sure I want to do something in agriculture and am pretty sure I want to do something like Agronomy or Soil Science. I looked through the forum trying to get information about SDSU but guess I really need to post myself to get all my questions answered. SDSU seems to be a good University but won’t cost me a ton of money to get an education. I would be interested in staying in state if I was able to go to school at SDSU. What I need to know is:

What is SDSU reputation in agriculture?

Does anyone know how hard it is for their graduates to get jobs?

I know this probably sounds dumb but how important is Agriculture in SD?

How hard is it currently to find a job? My wife is planning on having a full time job to support us while we are in school.

What is normal pay? Minimum wage is $7.25 right?
My wife is going to have her AA and has a decent amount of experience as a secretary but is currently repairing solar panels.

I saw that rent in Brookings is around 500 to 600 a month? Is that still about right?
I have a dog is that going to make it impossible to find a place?

Is Brookings within commuting distance of SF? I looked on google and it said it was around an hour trip but I don’t know what that would be like in the snow.

I could also use any advice on how to move without a ton of saved money. I do have family members that could help me with money… but I would rather not have to borrow a lot of money.

Any other advice that anyone has is helpful. I don’t really know much about South Dakota and before I was considering moving to Rapid City so I haven’t done much research on the eastern side of SD. I think I have family near SF but I don’t know them enough to ask them to help me move.
As a weird side note, I just found out today that my grandpa went to SDSU to become an engineer. My grandma thinks it would be kind of funny if I ended up back in SD where our family originally immigrated to the US.


Thank you for your time and help.

Hoss

[SD4020]

SDSU is an excellent school. Several family members attended and graduated. It was formed as a land grant school. So agricultural sciences are very important to the mission of the school.

My nephew is the most recent to graduate from SDSU is on the family ranch and doing what he loves... The opportunities for jobs are there.

SDSU does a vast amount of research in plants, soils, livestock. And Agriculture is the number one industry in our state.

[DannyBanany]

SDSU is a great school for agriculture and agri-business. A couple guys from my class went there and have had successful internships too. My cousin went there and was president of the FFA back in the '80s. His dad went there before him too and they had a large farm in Nebraska.

Like rj said, agriculture is South Dakota's #1 industry. In fact, it's most midwest states' #1 industry. Normal pay for an entry level job in Brookings is probably minimum or $8. It takes about an hour to get to Sioux Falls and I'm sure people do it daily in the snow. Interstates close if it is too treacherous.