SEMO

Introduction
The campus is beautiful especially during Fall and Spring. There are many places you can sit outside and study as well as several computer labs indoors free for students to use. Wireless internet is provided across campus, excluding the dorms. In the dorms there is internet access requiring an ethernet cord. The food is actually pretty good in our university center and in the main dorms our fast food, ROWDY's is open until 2 in the morning. Classrooms are out of date in all but 2 of our buildings. Also, we have 1 dorm with no air conditioning, 4 dorms all centrally located and ranging from 2nd worst to the 2nd best on campus, a dorm for athletes and exchange students, a dorm for upperclassmen, and 1 recently built dorm which has by far the nicest rooms. The walk across campus takes on average 15-20 minutes from one end to the other. There is also a hill named "cardiac hill" which lives up to its name. This hill is a killer and if you live in one of the 4 towers dorms, you will have to walk this. Its something you must see to believe. There are 2 student recreation centers one on either end of the campus and these are free with your student ID. You must use these frequently to avoid the freshman 15 on this campus!! There are shuttles provided to take you to various places on campus and they usually come within 15 minutes of each other. Great for rainy or lazy days, but you cannot rely on these to get to class on time. Last, our parking is terrible. Preferred parking is done using a lottery system for upperclassmen and perimeter parking is available for everyone else. BEWARE of the Department of Public Safety however. They are out looking for cars to ticket and the tickets get so expensive. Tickets double each time and if you park your car where it shouldn't be for more than 5 minutes there is a VERY good chance it will get ticketed. I chose this school because of the campus and the location. It is within an hour and a half of my home. This is good advice for anyone who isn't sure about going away to school. An hour and a half is perfect. It is close enough to run home or for your parents or friends to run and see you for a day trip, but it is far enough away that you have freedom and its great!!

Campus Life and Social Life
There are many clubs available to join. If you like going to sports and having school spirit, join the Rowdy Crowd. If you like planning activities join the Student Activities Council (SAC). SAC puts on so many events throughout the year. It is very fun and I love that about this school. If you want to have a say in whats going on, join student government. If you are a strong republican or democrat join the college republicans or college democrats. You can also join clubs specific to your major or interest. Something avaiable inly to residents is to be a part of the hall council at your dorm. If you don't find the club that fits you, get a group of people interested and start your own. Saving the best for last, Greek Life. There are so many people who are interested and many many many people who are not. I am biased, but I highly suggest at least rushing a sorority or fraternity. There are good and bad ones, but for the most part we all get along and we have a tight bond. The greek life provides a lot of activities throughout the week and weekend, which does get boring when you don't have anything to do. I wanted to leave SEMO until I joined my sorority, but the friends I made and the way my social calendar just filled up, make me ready to go back to school and summer just started! About parties. There are parties every night and many places that serve underage, as illegal as that may be. There are also a lot of people who take advantage of this party life and everyone will have the opportunity to go out. Its up to you to go out and get trashed, go out and be respectable, or to stay in and not get the entire college experience. Last, our sports....I wish we had better sports, but the fact of the matter is, we don't. Our football is pretty bad and you don't hear much about any of the other sports. However, girls volleyball and our theater and dance department are excellent. Advertisement
Academics
In general, education and business are SEMO's strong points. Science and math are not so good. Polytechnic had a building just recently built specific to its major and it seems to be flourishing. We are also one of the few school with an on campus speech and hearing clinic for certain majors. The science department uses broken and out of date equipment and we don't have very many good math teachers. There are a lot of foreign instructors and for the most part TA's are moe helpful than the professors. I highly recommend searching for your professors on www.ratemypofessors.com when choosing your class schedule. Also, I don't recommend 8 am classes or any clases after 4, unless you like night classes. Be sure to give yourself a break for lunch and dinner. The workload depends on the teacher and the class. Overall, I would say a medium workloud. Do your homework the day it is assigned and many nights you will have free to do what you like.

Student Body
Weekends are boring during the day, but parties are happening every night. Most people sleep in to rid their hangovers on saturday and sunday morning so if you're not a drinker, there is not much for you on weekends, other than joining a greek organization and participating in (alcohol free) philanthropies and bonding events. Many people drink a lot and our campus is ranked as one of the highest with STD's, but if you're careful, you will be fine.

In Closing...
Selecting a college is hard, but once you do it, I am sure you will have made the right decision. Go with your gut feeling because every college offers clubs and academics. Join a club different from what you would normally be interested in and really investigate your college choices. Look at academics because that is your #1 priority , but you will not be happy or successful if you don't like the social life or the campus/surrounding area environment. I would highly recommend SEMO to someone like me, who likes the medium size campus. Its the perfect size where if you don't want to, you wont get lost in the crowd, but you do have the option to be an individual and do your own thing. I also know people who did not find what they love at SEMO but thats where you need to look inside yourself and see where schools rank compared to you.