Mizzou Undergraduate Admissions

Mizzou Life

How can a such a big world-class university feels so small-town friendly? As you’d expect at an internationally renowned research institution, everyone has a theory. Here are our top five.

At Mizzou, it’s hard to tell where campus ends and Columbia begins. Just steps from MU, local entrepreneurs run student-friendly shops, restaurants, galleries and music venues. On a nice day you can hop on a bike trail on campus and head off for an adventure in nature. No wonder Forbes calls Columbia “a great college town.”

Our students run more than 700 organizations for nearly every imaginable interest: the arts, politics, sports, culture, community service — you name it. Visit the Activities Mart at the beginning of the fall semester. Sign up for e-mail updates from the Student Life events calendar.

Tigers can’t get enough of the Student Recreation Complex's climbing wall, fitness equipment and aquatic center. And that's just one building. Mizzou has 18 sites on the National Register of Historic Places, and our entire campus is a botanic garden, with more than 6,000 trees and 650 varieties of plants.

It’s true what they say about the Midwest. We’re nice. We say hello to strangers and go out of our way (literally) to help lost visitors. According to the United Way, Mizzou has the most engaged students in the country. How do you explain a campus full of friendly faces? We don’t. We just enjoy it.

Don’t confuse school spirit with athletic fervor, especially now that the Tigers are in the Southeastern Conference. Mizzou has both, and one doesn’t depend on the other. You’ll find just as much excitement on the engineering canoe trip as you will at any sporting event. Mizzou has long-held traditions for every occasion, from the big game to the big test.