Mississippi State University

Overview

Mississippi State University (MSU), originally the Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, is a land-grant public research university located in Starkville, Mississippi. It enjoys the distinction of being an R1 Doctoral University, which means that it has a very high research activity. As such, it has the largest research and development budget among the institutions in the state. According to the latest data, its total R&D budget is around $239.4 million.

The university was chartered on February 28, 1878 as the Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College. It first accepted students in 1880 and was established to fulfill the need for training talents in agriculture, mechanical arts, and horticulture without setting aside other disciplines such as science and military tactics. In 1958, the state’s legislature renamed the institution Mississippi State University, which also served as a way to recognize the university’s development over the decades. It also emphasized that the university was already offering graduate programs.

Today, Mississippi State University is composed of eight colleges, namely, (1) Agriculture and Life Sciences, (2) Arts and Sciences, (3) Architecture, Art and Design, (4) Education, (5) Business, (6) Forest Resources, (7) Engineering, and (8) Veterinary Medicine. The colleges are spread throughout the city of Starkville and other satellite campuses in Biloxi, Meridian, and Vicksburg.

As it was originally an institution for agricultural studies, MSU has a rich property encompassing 4,200 acres of land. It has a wealth of farms, woodlands, and pastures. The MAFES Animal Sciences Farm and MAFES Plant Science Farm are the sites of most of the agricultural research conducted and sponsored by the university.

The university also owns several buildings and centers off-campus. The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, for one, has 16 offices spread across the state. The Stennis Space Center, which is located in Hancock County, runs undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The university, as a whole, offers over 170 degree programs in a wide range of fields that include agriculture, accounting, architecture, business, education, forestry, and engineering, among others.

As a public research university, MSU operates some notable research facilities. These include the Social Science Research Center, the Water Resources Research Institute, the Cobb Institute of Archaeology, and the Engineering Research Center situated at the Stennis Space Center.

As of the latest available data, the university has an enrollment of approximately 20,000 students. In-state and out-of-state students are given the chance to apply for different merit-based financial assistance or scholarships, which include the Presidential Scholarship.

You can also learn more about the educational performance of Mississippi State University in our ranking of US universities & colleges.