Created as a land-grant institution in 1893 and originally named the Agricultural College of the State of Montana, Montana State University (MSU) is a public university situated 90 miles from Yellowstone National Park.
The university’s main campus is located in Bozeman, a small city in Montana surrounded by five mountain ranges, which accounts for its motto ‘Mountains and Minds’.
As well as plenty of hiking, camping, skiing, climbing, biking and fishing activities, the city also offers students a wealth of cultural amenities such as art galleries, theatres, orchestras, and ballet and opera companies.
According to Outside magazine, Bozeman, with its outdoors lifestyle and cultural activities, is among the best towns in the US to 'redefine living well.'
Bozeman is also home to Museum of the Rockies, co-founded by Dr. Caroline McGill, the first pathologist in the state of Montana, in 1957, together with a former president and head of history at MSU, Dr. Roland R. Renne and Dr. Merrill Burlingame. Today, the museum houses one of the biggest collections of dinosaur fossils in the world.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has classified MSU as one of just 108 colleges and universities in the nation to maintain ‘very high research activity’.
As well as being celebrated for its academic and research activities, MSU students have won a number of national championships in men’s rodeo, as well as three national championships in football and one national championship in men’s basketball.
It has 15 athletic teams, known as the Bobcats, which take part in NCAA Division I in the Big Sky Conference (of which the university is a founding member).
