Some think that MSU students party too much and suffer academically. This is a pretty gross misrepresentation of the school. We have one of the largest student bodies in America and along with that comes a lot of activity. There is ALWAYS something to do. If you want to party Monday through Sunday it's entirely possible. On the other hand you will fail out quickly. However the rumor that we have a ton of beautiful girls is completely true. I don't think there is a better school in the Midwest for finding a mate. This school is absolutely loaded with talent!

Spartan Football! Every student MUST get season tickets. I'd also say study abroad. I formed a ton of friendships on study abroad that I wouldn't trade for the world. It was a great experience and an opportunity I'll only have once in my life. It's great that MSU makes all freshmen live in the dorms because you really learn a lot about yourself and it's a great way to meet people. Yes partying is a huge part of life here, but if you don't like to party you don't have to. No one forces that upon you. There are plenty of activities on campus that don't involve drinking.

With over 500 student student groups, it's hard to call any specific group popular. Some of the more popular activities, however, include the sporting events. A home football game is almost certain to have more than 70,000 attendees, and our basketball team is a consistent top 10 program which makes for many March Madness related activities.

The student body here is primarily wealthy, and I would have to agree with our stereotype. We just are very hard workers and work for our money, therefore we need not let it go to waste.

Academics are the most important part of college. Everyone likes to make new friends, join a sports team or a sorority, and party, but the reason you go to college is to further your education. At Michigan State, academics are taken very seriously. Some classes can be as large as 600 students, and some as small as 20. Professors don't necessarily know you by name but you have to make an effort to connect with them. Many professors encourage class participation, even grade you on it. Usually you will find that your favorite classes are the ones where you become more concentrated in your major. My favorite are my classes for my major and my least favorite were the boring Gen-Ed classes that I could care less about. Regardless if you like the class or not, it is important to try your best with everything that you do.

Sports is a major thing here. We have a great basketball and football team in the Big 10. Parties, Riots you name it, it has happened. We have a website dedicated to riot status, (I kid you not). We are ranked very high in academics and have great programs.

Over my three years at Michigan State I became increasingly intolerant of the overwhelming frat bro crush-your-beer-can-on-your-head atmosphere of Michigan State. I enjoy drinking, and occasionally drinking to excess, but what I don't enjoy is out-of-control pea-brained frat boys looking to punch any guy who looks at them the wrong way. This culture swings both sides of the gender spectrum of course, although the women are more likely to fall down in a gutter on their 7-inch heels and not get up, than to start a fight. Honestly, I can't say that I had one intelligent conversation with a Michigan State student the entire three years I was there. Let me qualify that by saying I wasn't the most social person while I was there (for reason: see above), however I DID go out at least once a week, and I spent two years in the MSU dorms. I guess the main issue for me at Michigan State was that it definitely lived up to its reputation as a less-than-academic party school, which is tragic. Michigan State as a school has a lot of really exciting things going on academically, and some of the professors I had while there were outstanding. It is too bad that most of the students who go there are more concerned with being hot, getting drunk and getting laid than they are with their education. Having said that, I haven't visited a lot of other undergraduate colleges, so I can't say whether Michigan State is unique in this point. My guess is that most undergraduate colleges have similar atmospheres, so maybe I shouldn't fault MSU's culture for being so unbearably frivolous and immature.

Overall, if you want a great education this is a fantastic school; however, if you hate being around childish students, you will not like it here.

I'm not very involved in groups on campus so I don't really have an opinion on this. I know that many students are very active and aware of politics, religion, etc. There are always groups on campus wanting others to come join them.

For the first few weeks EVERYONE has their doors open in the dorms. Then after that a lot of people leave their doors open, if not open then many are just unlocked. By then everyone tends to know a lot of people and they don't need them to have their door open to go talk to them. The athletic events are amazing. Football tix fa sho. & basketball too. People party the most thurs, fri & saturday but theres always those random nights when some people will get together and drink. Definitely on HUGE college holidays (St. Patty's & Halloween) - those weeks are intense. Or during final week - if you and a few friends all have a day you dont have an exam or maybe you finish early. The Greek life seems to be declining and although I'm not actually in a frat I'm really considering it for next year. my roommate was in a frat and it seemed awesome, a lot of work but awesome. He met a ton of people and always had a ton of fun stories. If you aren't into drinking theres still a lot of stuff you can do, especially on the weekends. The UAB and the other student organizations are constantly having activities for people (obviously they don't include alcohol) and I attended some of them - they actually were pretty cool. We also have "campus cinema" where they play new movies in a movie theater style - its cool .. & free.

While MSU is diverse with students representing many nations and racial backgrounds, most students do not take advantage of this diversity. In the cafeteria, you will likely huge segregation--the Asians sit with the Asians, the whites with the whites, and so on. Furthermore the resident halls are segregated (unofficially) by races. There are some resident halls that are >80% African-American with others that are <8% African American.

Most professors wont know your name until you get into your upper level major classes. A lot of my classes have 600+ people in them. It can be very intimidating. Classes are difficult. I transferred from another university and I think the classes at MSU are much more demanding.

Lots and lots and lots of alcoholics. Fun, safe, happy drunks for the most part, but still drunks. Be careful not to become one of them, even if you love getting drunk sometimes. Try not to become the guy who is wasted three days a week for five years. I already did that and I regret it. There are a lot of good people at State, the parties are great because you are automatically accepted into the social group of any house or apartment party simply because of your status as an MSU student.

Most people are very casual on campus, wearing sweatshirts and jeans or even the occasional pajamas to class, but you really find a group ranging. I felt there are a lot more students paying their way through college but there was also more students getting a free ride. Overall I find the campus is extremely diverse in every aspect, with such a huge campus and the number of students you find aspects of every single type. I think it would be hard to feel out of place at MSU, there is really a club or association as well as group of person for everyone. At MSU everyone can find their niche.

I was a member of the Spartan Marching Band for four years and created some of my best friendships and memories through my experiences in the band.

TONS of activities to get involved in. There are over 600 groups at MSU. It is crazy. Football is awesome, basketball, hockey, on campus movies and events..etc....always something to do.

Athletic events here are very popular. Football games are all day events, the tailgating starts at 7:00am everywhere on campus. There area always tons of parties on the weekends, but there's definitely lots of things to do if you don't drink. The University Activities Board puts on a bunch of programs on weekends that don't involve drinking. Now, usually university sponsored programs are super dumb but these are seriously fun. Ex. last semester I went to Casino Night at the Munn Ice Arena. There was poker, black jack, slots, a bunch of other casino games and ice skating. We played for chips then you could turn your chips in for raffle tickets to win a bunch of different prizes. There's also free movies on the weekends. The movies aren't in the theater anymore but usually haven't come out on DVD so they're relatively new. I haven't paid to see a movie all year.

Any college campus you go to, you'd be able to find budding alcoholics, not everyone is like that.