Hey, what's up? I'm Nicole Erin, and this is Youniversity TV, where we put you in university. Today, we're at Montana State University, high up in the rocky mountain, at a place known to many as big sky country.

Montana State is located in Bozeman, Montana, just north of Yellowstone National Park, where the scenery says it all. With about 50,000 residents, this town may be a bit of a smaller side, but big on outdoor activities and features many of the conveniences that you'll find in a large metro area.

The four seasons are beautiful. It's gorgeous in the summer time, you know, you can go float the river, tube the river. I've--there's not a season where you don't have something to do every single day outside.

While waddling on campus, you might find my feathered friend. This is a popular spot for students and ducks across.

Montana State scenic campus sits on over 1100 acres and features panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains. The campus landscape features 40 major buildings, combining modern architecture with a classic college look. Wanna make your mark in the mountain? Every year, Montana State students climb to the giant M and give it a fresh coat of paint. There are more than 12,000 students at Montana State University with men making up 53 percent of the student body. Montana State slogan is "Mountains and Minds" and they get some of the best of both.

A typical student who attends Montana State University would be right out of high school or within a couple years of being right out of high school. They tend to be pretty academically superior. The average grade point average coming in for a freshman is a 3.35. Average test scores run 24 to 25 on an ACT, 1100 to 1200 on a SAT math critical reading. They tend to work hard and they tend to play hard.

Tuition cost for Montana residents is about 13,000 dollars per year including room and board versus about 26,000 dollars per year for out-of-staters. There are 120 different fields of study for students to major at Montana State. Some of the most popular include business, engineering, architecture, and film.

We are a program that really focuses on design. We focuses on--we focus on graphics. We focus on making of things and that there is such a strong and I think proud tradition amongst the students of--we're a really good school and students want. I think I wanna be a part of that really strong tradition because they know they're gonna go out, they're gonna--the firms that hire our students respect our students or they're actually sought after.

There are nearly 900 full-time faculty members at Montana State University. 68 percent are tenured and 67 percent have a PhD or the highest degree in their field. Their learning environment at MSU has a mere 17 to 1 student to faculty ratio.

So the bed of nails was built about 30 years ago. It's an old demonstration but--so it has a series of about a thousand nails on the deck and then I lay on the bed of nails and then there's a chest plate that goes on top, it has the nails pointing down, and then we put a cinder block on top of that, and then our assistant of death swings a sledgehammer [background shout] and breaks the cinder block, and it's all about teaching impulse and momentum. So there's a deep reason in the physics why we do that and why we know it's safe.

What's wrong guys? It didn't hurt at all.

13 Men's and Women's Bobcat Athletic Teams compete at the NCAA division 1 level in the Big Sky Conference. Students at Montana State University have plenty of options to live on campus, with 10 unique residence halls. Some that features such unusual options as lobby pianos, game rooms, and ski wax rooms. On a high note, some students at MSU are living in style. This residence hall is decked out with a grand piano.

Montana State University has received national attention for its proximity to outdoor activities like fly fishing, skiing, and hunting. But students get the best of both worlds, with cultural events like the symphony, opera, theater and art galleries. The school has recently attracted such big musical acts as Elton John, Tom Petty and Keith Urban. Montana State University was recently ranked in the top [inaudible] research institutions by the Carnegie Foundation for the advancement of teaching as one of only 94 in the nation's top schools.

Don't move or Big Mike will see you. The curator at the museum of the Rockies had a behind the scenes role in the film Jurassic Park. The paleontologist was modeled after him. MSU offers students a chance drive in a responsive, friendly environment complete with academic and peer mentoring, plus an extensive network of student clubs and activities in a beautiful setting. If this sounds like what you're looking for in a university, be sure to put Montana State on your list of prospective schools. Thanks for joining us here on tour of Montana State University. I'm Nicole Erin, goodbye from the Rockies.

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