University of Missouri-Columbia Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?

Haris

Mizzou students are stereotyped in different ways. Some people say we party too much, or we're more devoted to Greek Life than to academics. Like most stereotypes, these are very broad, and fairly inaccurate. Some students enjoy partying, while others enjoy studying. This a social difference that all institutions possess. No majority of people adheres to any projected stereotypes. I have classes with hippies, with fraternity members, basketball players, married graduate students; the array is endless. Mizzou is too diverse a place to cater to specific stereotypes.

Kristyn

I believe the most common stereotype of students at the University of Missouri- Columbia is smart, but party people. Mizzou is known as a huge party school, but on the other hand, you have to have a pretty good ACT score and decent grades to be accepted to the university. In my opinion, this stereotype only represents about one-half or less of the students at Mizzou. There is so much diversity at this school and so many ways to get involved, there is no way you could chose one stereotype for the school as a whole. No matter who you are or what you are interested in, you will fit in with someone at Mizzou. Yes, there are a lot of people that all they do is party and they don't focus on school much, but those people do not last long at Mizzou. This university takes a lot of hard work and dedication and if you do not stay on top of your schoolwork, you will not last long at this university.

Kristyn

I believe the most common stereotype of students at the University of Missouri- Columbia is smart, but party people. Mizzou is known as a huge party school, but on the other hand, you have to have a pretty good ACT score and decent grades to be accepted to the university. In my opinion, this stereotype only represents about one-half or less of the students at Mizzou. There is so much diversity at this school and so many ways to get involved, there is no way you could chose one stereotype for the school as a whole. No matter who you are or what you are interested in, you will fit in with someone at Mizzou. Yes, there are a lot of people that all they do is party and they don't focus on school much, but those people do not last long at Mizzou. This university takes a lot of hard work and dedication and if you do not stay on top of your schoolwork, you will not last long at this university.

Melissa

No - it's a big school and there is a lot of diversity in terms of personality, if not seen in other ways. There are geeks, jocks, sorority girls/frat boys. And within those groups, there is a lot of variance even there.

David

Most students are Greek. The predominant major is journalism. Although mostly white, it does attract international students. The biggest minority in student population is African Americans. Hispanics and Asians are less than 1{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the population. Most students are from the Midwest, specifically Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois. The town is large, 100,000 people. But when the breaks hit, its active, but calmer.

Dan

Yes and no. It is about 80{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} white, a great deal of it's students come from families that qualify as upper-middle class, and the most common follow-up question to "Where are you from?" is "Oh, St. Louis, what high school did you go to?" It also has sports, football predominates lately and basketball lags behind at a distant second in popularity. Parties abound on weekends though surely something can be found throughout the week if you are lucky enough to have a schedule without Tuesday/Thursday classes. Unintelligent? No. There is definitely a large swath of students who would rather pay tuition to do anything other than earn a degree, but when you look in the right places there are some incredibly bright minds that are taking advantage of what MU has to offer.

Jordan

I think that the average student attending Mizzou is typically smarter than the average student at a regional institution such as UCM, MOSO, or SEMO. However, Mizzou has its fair share of fools. Similarly, I think that most students at Mizzou come from the upper levels of the tax brackets, as tuition is so expensive. Based on my experience, Mizzou students certainly know how to have a good time, and do so frequently. However, I'm not sure that this is terribly different from other institutions within the state. I do think that they "do it better," however.

Maya

To some extent.

Jessie

Probably

Alisha

I seemed to have found many of these to be at some extent

Robin

Academics at Mizzou can be easy depending on your major and the classes you take. I'm a biochem major and my classes are not easy. However, if you're psychology, elementary ed, or business, your classes won't be too difficult. Mizzou is not the number one party school in the US. Mizzou has not been on Playboy's list in years. Go some where else if that's all you want to do in college. Mizzou has awesome football.

Erika

There's definitely a strong greek life, but more than half the students are not in it.

Parker

For the most part yes, but the predominately Greek comment is not true at all

Anne

No, stereotypes are not accurate. You can be a leader at Mizzou no matter what group you are or aren't involved in. If you have a commitment to helping others and trying to make Mizzou, and the world, a better place, than this is the place for you.

Jesse

no

Alex

The party part was right, and I decided I didn't like that early on

Bhoag

I feel that my experience at Mizzou has been pretty much stereotype free

Charlie

I'm gonna have to go with the skeptics and agree. We have a high ratio of incredibly hot girls:ugly girls.

Kevin

I believe that almost all stereotypes have a majority truth to them and I for the two above, I would say yes and yes.

Allison

Not everyone is a hick. Most of my friends were from all over the country, and had come to Mizzou for the J-School. The drunk part I can't dispute.

TJ

Not usually.

Ryan

Absolutely, Columbia is infested with so many people from St. Louis. St. Louis people think they are better than you. Smarter than you. They prefer private education and believe that evolution is only a theory. They are racist. They are not fun. Most of them have the smarts of a small dog. Being from another city I have been out casted into exile and can only be given the crumbs from this St. Louis table.

Dan

I think the meeting people thing is actually hard depending on the circumstances-- and by this i mean especially with the variation in dormitories, some are like hotels with locking doors that really isolate people and others are very good social environments. Academically speaking after the preliminary classes you start to take classes with people who have the same interests.

Lauren

It is very Greek, but there are a lot of non-Greek activities and it doesn't feel overwhelmed by Greek life. It's a very active school and a lot of partying does go on, but not an extreme amount. Find me a school with no parties, then we'll talk. The school is pretty diverse, but not as diverse as it could be. The students seem mostly middle to upper class and it is liberal for the most part, but the school offers a wide variety of political outlets for everyone.

Meredith

1. While it is a state school, many people choose Mizzou for all of the different exceptional programs that are offered. I know someone from Texas that chose Mizzou for Art History. My younger sister decided on Mizzou over any Kansas schools, Michigan, and Washington University for business and of course there are people hear from all over for the journalism school. 2. St. Louis is a large area in Missouri, so there are a lot of people from St. Louis here, but there really are people from all over.

Ryan

Certainly not for most students.

Elise

Maybe not completely but definitely rooted in truth.

Dustin

For the most part, YES! To be safe one should assume this is the case. However, you may be surprised at the small population of students who don't fit these category and are actually progressive and fair-minded. You'll have to actively search for these people as they are few in number and there are even fewer safe spaces on campus.

Stephanie

No, FIGs and learning communities make it easy for students to build relationships within their major or area of interest. In classes I've had outside my major I have very rarely been treated harshly or unfairly. The best part about being at a big school is being able to meet new and interesting people everyday.

Cody

I would have to say from my perspective, absolutely. I hope this box is ensuring your trust in the accuracy of this website.

Anne

In large part, they are. There is a lot of drinking at Mizzou, and Greek life is a really important part of our campus. At the same time, there are a lot of non-Greeks out there. As a freshman it looks like the only way to get invited to parties is to go Greek, but that's not completely true. There are a lot of non-Greek organizations and that's a great way to make friends you don't have to pay for. It's not all about drinking either, Mizzou offers sober events most weekends that may seem lame but can be fun if you're tired of being drunk and stupid every weekend. So it may seem that Greeks run the show around here, and that the show is 24-7 drunkfest, but there's a lot to do that does not involve pomping or drinking. (Pomping is a Greek homecoming tradition that basically boils down to parade float decorating...)

Erin

Of course we have our fair share of agriculture majors, but it's just the same as many other Mid-west schools. Since we're right in between KC and STL, we're not too far from a big city.