Would I "fit in" in Montana? (looking to attend UM) (Missoula: how much, home)

[oahull]

Hi everyone. After reading around this forum a bit, I have a few questions about whether or not I'd fit in (or be able to survive ) Montana.

So, a bit about me. I live in kansas and have been raised here. I live technically in the country on a small farm, but about six miles away from a town of 2,000 where I go to HS. I love the outdoors, notably snowboarding and climbing (which is one of the reasons UM is so attractive). One of the great things about where I live, is that while I live in a great country area, I'm only 15 minutes away from where the suburbs of a decent sized city (about 500,000 pop) start. I enjoy the open air, dirt roads, etc. greatly, but it's nice to be nearby a city as well.

I LOVE mountains, hills, trees, rivers, lakes, etc. but unfortunately, Kansas sincerely does not have any of this (except for some horribly polluted lakes). As far as politics go, I'm fairly moderate (bordering more on liberal), but in a town where everyone else is ultraconservative, I'm not really phased by the political scene of a place.. though it would be nice to live in a more liberal place than here.

So my questions are:
I heard that sometimes people are not always welcoming to new people - Will that still be an issue in a university setting? and will I genuinely not fit in well? I feel like growing up in such a rural town, I'd get along decently, but I figured I'd ask.
I love the snow, but just how much of it does Missoula tend to get? Kansas gets cold and WINDY in the winter, but there's usually no more than 6 inches of snow (which is disappointing to me, I wish there was more)
How is the university as a whole? What is there to do in Missoula? Again, I love snowboarding, so I think if I did go there, I'd spend a lot of my time at the mountain.

Thanks for any and all input.

[MontanaGyrl]

You sound like just the student that UM is made for. The campus is in town but within minutes of skiing (downhill and xc), snowboarding, hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities. There is always something to do outdoors. Montana in general is conservative BUT Missoula is liberal. There's a fairly good music scene in town, plenty of shopping and restaurants.

What do you want to study? I take it you have visited UM's web site? If not, start there and look around. I'm prejudiced but think it's a great place.

[oahull]

Thanks for the reply! I want to go into Pharmacy, and I've heard a lot of good things about UM's program

[nature's cathedral]

Please consider Ashland Oregon, Bellingham, WA, Portland, Seattle, etc.... Oregon needs more liberals. You will be able to enjoy all that you want and I don't have to worry about you voting for Tester or Baucus. Preferably Oregon over Washington, because Washington might still be saved. You need to see the damage that liberalism has caused before bringing those untested views to Montana.

I was raised in Oklahoma and considered myself more moderate. I became more conservative when I moved to Missouri because of my own growth and philosophical evolution. I moved to Oregon and enjoyed it. However, the false god of modern nut blue liberalism became more apparent and I realized that at some point it made a complete schism from reality. There is a reason the red wave stopped at the Cascades, but completely flooded Montana.

Ashland is a really beautiful place. You will really enjoy it! There is also Gresham, Or, and east side Portland.

[bongo403]

The University community is pretty welcoming - there is a very large percentage of students "not from here" so that isn't a problem. Really, you sound like you would fit in perfectly.

A few notes on the weather - it will vary from year to year how much snowthere is in the valleys. This year there has been a lot, last year there wasn't much. But the ski areas are always pretty well covered - it's just a matter of how early in the season they open and how late they close. You'll find the UM campus pretty windy - it's in the mouth of the Hellgate canyon and is therefore the windiest area in town, but still probably nothing worse than you've had in Kansas!

As for what to do, other than outdoors, the music scene is pretty good for a city this size, and the downtown bar scene is festive. There are lots of community & cultural events - farmer's market, various film & music festivals, etc - but they are still fairly small scale. What you'll miss from being so close to a larger city is things like good shopping, big name concerts and pro sports events - although UM Grizzly Football is about as big as it can get for a school this size and takes on a life of its own!

[calicokate]

Agreed! You sound like a perfect UM student. I was thisclose to going there when I was a freshman and sometimes I wish I had gone there instead of Oregon. Missoula has woodsy hotsprings nearby, you can float the river in the summer, walk the greenbelt, see good bands both local and not, hit the two breweries, make trips up to Glacier, ride your bike almost everywhere...and it's considered one of the most liberal places in Montana. Really, a refreshing mix of everyone from rednecks to hippies to right to left to college to retired.

The climate is much more mild than other parts of the state and gardens flourish there (well...flourish is a little relative in Montana.) The snow is not as aggressive as Bozeman.

However...if snowboarding is very high on your list of importance, you may want to consider Montana State (depending on your major...it does have some liberal arts stuff, but is considered the engineering/math/science school.) Bridger Bowl is just up the road and Moonlight Basin and Big Sky are within an hour. College kids work out their schedules so they have entire days off (or at least a morning/afternoon) to ride Bridger every week, and can often be seen hitching rides up Rouse to the mountain. MSU is much more a "ski school" than UM. You would have lots of people to ride with.

The town isn't quite as flavorful as Missoula (but if you're at the mountain all the time, who cares?) but it's got some liberal vibes too, decent local music, a pretty lively college bar scene, and lots of coffeeshops to study in. It's safe and small. Anyway, just something else to consider!

Sounds like you're a Montanan in the making.

[CMartel2]

You're talking a lot about living in Montana but not much about college. At all. The "How's the school?" is almost an afterthought.

Have you considered the amount of debt you're going to rack up attending an out-of-state school? You're looking at $8,000 per year at the University of Kansas or $6,228 at K-state.

Now, let's look at the Missoula program:

Non-resident per year
Tuition/Fees $20,496
Books/Supplies $750
Pharmacy Tuition Surcharge $4,200
Total Estimated Expenses $25,446

That's just for tuition. No living expenses, which are no doubt higher in Missoula. I'm only giving you $1,000 per month in living expenses, as well.

It's a 6-year program, so you're looking at close to $210,000 in expenses. Your parents are going to pay for that? That's a pretty big price to go snowboarding.

Consider debt. Too many Americans don't and screw themselves over royally as a result.

[oahull]

Thanks so much for the comments everyone!
Pretty much exactly all the information I was looking for. My family and I are going to go visit the school in the springtime and I'm pretty excited.

Originally Posted by CMartel2

You're talking a lot about living in Montana but not much about college. At all. The "How's the school?" is almost an afterthought.

Have you considered the amount of debt you're going to rack up attending an out-of-state school? You're looking at $8,000 per year at the University of Kansas or $6,228 at K-state.

Now, let's look at the Missoula program:

Non-resident per year
Tuition/Fees $20,496
Books/Supplies $750
Pharmacy Tuition Surcharge $4,200
Total Estimated Expenses $25,446

That's just for tuition. No living expenses, which are no doubt higher in Missoula. I'm only giving you $1,000 per month in living expenses, as well.

It's a 6-year program, so you're looking at close to $210,000 in expenses. Your parents are going to pay for that? That's a pretty big price to go snowboarding.

Consider debt. Too many Americans don't and screw themselves over royally as a result.

I've done quite a bit of research on the schools themselves. I'm not searching here for information on the school more so than the area it's in, so that's likely why it seemed like an afterthought.

I don't mean to come off as snobby or condescending, but I've been fortunate enough (through various means, not just "my parents are rich," because they're not) to not have to worry very much about the financial side of college. Thanks for the information though. Believe it or not, $25,000 is on the "really cheap" side of the out-of-state tuition spectrum. University of Vermont's out of state tuition is around $50,000

[vermonter16]

Originally Posted by oahull

University of Vermont's out of state tuition is around $50,000

'

I am from Vermont and that is amazing that their university is soooo expensive!!! Incredible! I don't live in Montana either, I just like Montana so I browse through the forum.

I've learned to not worry so much about what people are going to think of you wherever you go. Just be who you are and do your own thing and hopefully others will respect you for that. You can't please everyone even if you tried.

[rangerider]

I know this may sound like a nut talking, but there is one other tack you might consider. I'm assuming here that you are in the neighborhood of late teens/early twenties, and looking to break free of the midwest in order to achieve Buddha consciousness in the mountains. Preferably while getting a decent education and realizing the holy grail of the MT educational experience - student price on a season pass at Snowbowl.

My early life experience parallels yours a bit; when I moved out here I was actually done with college and theoretically ready to take a slide down the razor blade of life. After a few initial drubbings, I found out a good deal of what I thought I knew didn't really apply. Properly chastised and thoroughly cowed, I figured it might be better to try and learn where I was right and wrong. Turned out that worked for me, and I eventually found my home ground. And I learned there are a lot of ways to go about thinking things through, and constant absorption of the same material/people's opinions over and over wasn't necessarily conducive to either common sense or smart solutions. No doubt, thinking for yourself is hard work, and we know how most folks feel about that; this is, however, a great place to practice that art.

Good luck with your time here..like me, you may find out in the first 24 hours that there is technically nowhere else to be. Or it may take awhile. Or you maybe succumb to the siren song of the urban areas of Oregon or Washington. Whichever, it'll be a lot more interesting and enjoyable if you sample all that there is and mold yourself into someone that is not conveniently pigeonholed into one philosophy or another.

And BTW, don't overlook Lookout Pass ski area to the west, less verts but absolutely jawdropping powder days when the storm track's right. And if you want the true experience, check out Turner Mountain up in the Yaak.