University of Missouri is a public institution that was founded in 1839. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 26,996, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 1,262 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. University of Missouri's ranking in the 2014 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 97. Its in-state tuition and fees are $9,415 (2013-14); out-of-state tuition and fees are $23,764 (2013-14).
Students at the University of Missouri live in a unique botanical garden, with more than 40,000 plants across campus. More than a third of high school seniors from Missouri attend Mizzou each year, and all freshmen must live on campus. As the only Division I-A sports school in the state, the Missouri Tigers teams are a big focus of campus life. The teams compete in the NCAA Division I Big 12 Conference and are particularly competitive in football. The school mascot, Truman the Tiger, is named after former President Harry Truman, who was born in Missouri. Mizzou has more than 600 clubs and organizations for students. More than 20 percent of students join the school’s Greek system, which comprises 50-plus fraternities and sororities. Students also have a vast array of degree options, with more than 280 majors, nearly 50 of which can be completed online. The university’s hometown of Columbia is in central Missouri and is host to annual events like the Roots ’n Blues ’n BBQ music festival and Art in the Park, a large creative works showcase. To travel around campus and the town on the weekends, students have free access to STRIPES, a transportation service that delivers riders to their destinations from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday through Sunday.
The University of Missouri has highly ranked graduate programs at the College of Education and Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business, as well as a School of Medicine and a Tier 1 School of Law. This public research university offers opportunities for students to team up on faculty-led projects as early as their freshman year. Among the scores of notable Mizzou alumni are actors Jon Hamm and Brad Pitt, singer Sheryl Crow, and playwright Tennessee Williams, who won the Pulitzer Prize for A Street Car Named Desire.