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I began my journey with Minot State University with the highest of hopes. I was actually a transfer student from a different 4 year university who had moved out of state for other reasons. The professors that I met were passionate about their respective subject matters and the coursework seemed roughly equivalent. The thing I found lacking at MSU centered on the quality of the advising I received. In my senior year I was debating whether I wanted to graduate (I had technically earned enough credits... Read More though not in a subject that I necessarily cared to pursue into graduate school) and naturally looked to my advisor for help. I was looking for any kind of work-study programs or internships- anything to increase the likelihood that following graduation, I would be able to find employment anywhere. My advisor actually ended up just dropping me from her case load- about a month before graduation. You have to have an advisor to graduate so that definitely made things more stressful. I contacted a few other staff about internships that year as well but wasn't able to find anyone who could help me. I also asked few professors if they would mind writing reference letters as I was applying to graduate school. Because I was a transfer student and many had only had me for one or two semesters, they told me that they weren't able to. This I understand a bit more but I did graduate with a 4.0 so I thought there might have been something that stood out as worthy of comment to one of them. I think what it comes down to is that I had experienced a feeling of being supported, noticed, cared about- like there was a safety net there should I need one at my first university. By contrast, MSU left me feeling utterly invisible and worse- like a burden. It was only after it was over and too late to do anything that I recalled that I had paid them thousands of dollars and had every right to ask that what I was paying for would do what it was supposed to and see me on to the next thing. As is I have yet to use my degree to this day.

The Communication Arts department at Minot State University gave me an amazing educational experience. Because the school size is smaller than most, I was able to work closely with faculty and peers and develop helpful, professional relationships with them. The small school size also allowed my professors to get to know my work personally and help guide my abilities to where I wanted them. I was also able to get into student reporting which at a larger school is very difficult. The adviser for the... Read More student newspaper was also a professor that I had for a few classes so she knew how much I cared about feminist issues; because of this, she offered me many opportunities to write on topics that I truly cared about like rape culture which shaped my experience in a field I truly care about. Professors are more than willing to cater to students' needs and passions.

This school staff and office personnel are not very helpful, they are very rude and will act like you are bothering them no matter your questions. This seems to be common at all of the schools in and around the Minot area. It is pretty sad that not only myself, but others I saw in the offices were treated like they were stupid for not knowing their own answers about financial aid or where certain classrooms were. The whole school/campus left me feeling like I wished I could have went somewhere else.... Read More

Minot State University, specifically the Criminal Justice Program, has undergone a series of drastic changes. Some of those changes were at the expense of the students, including accessibility to our professors and the amount of classes we could take. However, I would not trade all the people I met in undergrad at a top 20 university for the friends and colleagues I have met at MSU. We banded together to work on our theses, get together to drink wine and discuss criminological theory (we're all over... Read More 21, no crimes here!) and participated as graduate research assistants. This first year of graduate school was an invaluable experience for me, not only in an academic sense, but in teaching my that I overcome adversity pretty darn well.

I chose Minot State University because I had heard from several sources that it has one of the best reputations for the SLP and Special Education graduate programs that are offered. Having now experienced this, gotten to know the professors and staff, and felt the pressures of a graduate course load, I believe that these claims are true - it really is a fabulous school for graduate study. There are many resources available to help the students do the best that they can and the program itself is fairly... Read More flexible, allowing the courses to be structured to fit a two or three year plan. The only negative I can think of is that it was somewhat difficult to get through the application process, as an international student (from Canada). It seemed as though many of the initial steps in this process required physical forms to be dropped off in person, so there was a lot of emailing back and forth and post office visits during that time while we tried to figure everything out. Obviously everything got sorted out in the end, and I would still recommend the school and program to prospective international grad students despite the initial hurdles.