The great things about studying at Mizzou

 Hien Nguyen is a graduate student, majoring in Economics. He has been studying and living in Columbia for four years and enjoying this college town a lot. In this post, Hien will share with us his opinion about Columbia.

As a graduate student in Economics at Mizzou for four years, I would like to share my thought and experience about studying and living in Columbia Missouri:
  
Mizzou has a wonderfully big and beautiful campus. Mizzou is located in the center of the college town, which makes it easier to focus on academic matters. J Mizzou also has excellent facilities and supply resources for your studying and research.  In addition, the Midwest people are friendly, simple, good and caring. People here are generally much warmer than people in big cities like New York City. Therefore this is a good place to learn American culture from the heart. 

Unless someone has great ambitions and is determined to go big name schools such as  Stanford, Harvard, most other schools have similar standard. Don’t be misled by ranking! And honestly, going for top schools is not easy.  You may be so busy, stressed and burnt out. The best school is the school that is most suitable to you, not the school with the best ranking.

·       The living expense and tuition here are affordable. Compared to other schools in U.S, Mizzou has a reasonable tuition fee. The living expense is low. The gas price in Columbia Missouri is about lowest in the US. The car insurance is very low. The rent for a two bedroom apartments is about $600, compared to $700 for a one bedroom apartment in Connecticut.

     If you want to have fun, there are many interesting events also. Check out stufftoto.missouri.edu. A Broadway show in New York City may cost $120 but about $20 in Columbia. There are ballets, concerts and cultured things that you can enjoy just about the same in this college town JThere are great opportunities for physical activities. Mizzou’s gym is among the top in the US. Free soccer field and free running tracks. Free yoga and meditation sessions on campus. The MKT is excellent to bike and run and hike. Basically you can bike for hours on the same trail if you’d like. There are also several fishing lakes if you like this meditative hobby. 

·       If you ask the questions “What can I learn in the US to make a positive difference in the Vietnamese communities?” ,then here is the answer: Mizzou and Columbia can provide great opportunities for you to learn from. There is a vibrant civic community here from various student grassroots organizations to houses for the homeless and recovery programs for the alcoholic and drug addict. There are many opportunities to volunteer and learn from.  From cultural standpoint, Columbia Missouri embraces diversity of cultures. There are communities for different beliefs of the Jews, the Buddhist, the Muslim, the Christian, the Hindu, the Universalist, the Vietnamese the Indian and so on. Opportunities are there to challenge our assumptions and be open-minded to the vast humanity. 

·       There is a large Vietnamese community at Mizzou. So there is help from the Vietnamese community and opportunities to do good things together.

My experience has been wonderful so far and I would like to thank this place.

Hien Nguyen
MA student in Economics, May 2014