Fine academic and campus facilities are not the first things that come to mind when you shop for college. We know that. But maybe they should be: Excellent facilities attract fine researchers and teachers, and they provide the platform for your learning experience.

Every amazing facility presents an opportunity — to study or play there or maybe merely to know someone who does. Being in an environment rich with interesting people doing groundbreaking things and using cool tools — that’s the “more” when it comes to facilities. So maybe you won’t ever use the Byzantine collection at Mizzou’s Museum of Art and Archaeology or all seven libraries on campus personally — but the fact that these resources are here, well, that’s part of the more.

Our Top 10 list of facilities:

The Fields, the Courts and the Wall
MizzouRec, Mizzou’s recreational organization, manages a network of great facilities for students, staff and faculty, including the new Green Tennis Center, with its four indoor and four outdoor courts, and the Student Rec Complex, a cluster of facilities offering 100 pieces of cardio equipment, three racquetball courts, a climbing wall, a cycling lair and tons more opportunities to get moving. Outdoor types get a number of playing fields and the MU Rec Trail, which connects with the MKT Nature and Fitness Trail. And those who prefer indoor weather can try Scroggs Peak and Bouldering Wall.

Student Success Center
All the things you need to succeed are under one roof at Mizzou — everything from advising to service learning to career services. The Learning Center is located here: that’s where you’ll find all the skill-building services that make college doable, including tutoring in math, statistics, chemistry, writing and other subjects. More about academic resources at Mizzou … More about the success center …

Buck’s Place
In 1987, two MU alumni provided an endowment to support ice cream research (can it get any better than that?). The resulting facility includes an integrated research, teaching and service-oriented laboratory — and a shop that offers 15 tasty flavors of ice cream, including Tiger Stripe and Mizzou Gold. More …

The New Life Sciences Center
With more than 72,000 square feet of laboratory space, the new Life Sciences Center is designed to foster collaboration. Among the state-of-the-art facilities: the Molecular Cytology Core, the Proteomics Center and the DNA core. You'll take your life science classes here and, if you opt to conduct undergraduate research in the sciences, it's likely you’ll work here. You can also relax here at the Catalyst Cafe.

The Atrium at Cornell Hall
Business students catch a glimpse of Wall Street action every time they cross this inspiring atrium: There’s a ticker on display, along with a large TV screen showing up-to-the-minute news. Of course, the building houses more than an atrium: You'll also find classrooms, computer labs, offices, small breakout rooms and state-of-the-art technologies throughout. More …

Real Newsrooms, Design Labs and More
The School of Journalism operates from five buildings on the main campus. You’ll find two high-tech design labs, a digital television editing lab, three major writing labs and two world-class newsrooms — one is an NBC affiliate and the other an NPR affiliate.

Museum of Anthropology
Focusing primarily on Native American cultures, the impressive Museum of Anthropology has four major collections, a 20,000-square-foot temperature-controlled storage space for the collections and four dedicated laboratories.

The Research Reactor
Called MURR, the reactor center is dedicated to progress in nuclear medicine. It’s an advanced facility serving medical, academic and commercial groups worldwide. For undergraduates, there’s a unique radiochemistry summer program that blends research with lectures and lab work.

Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital
Specializing in emergency medicine, ophthalmology, neurology, oncology, surgery and more, the teaching hospital treats some 16,000 animals on site each year.

The Alpine Tower
This unusual structure looks something like the skeleton of a huge tee-pee. Curious? You can try it out during Summer Welcome, or perhaps you’ll catch Happy Hour at the Alpine Tower. Hint: It plays a big role in Mizzou’s Experiential Education program.