Over the summer, I had the opportunity to travel to Oregon to tour colleges – one of which was Oregon State University (OSU). Upon arriving, I noticed the expansive size of the campus. At 420 acres, it is roughly eight times the size of Jesuit, but with over 30 times the number of undergraduate students. While the campus is nowhere near the largest for a college, it is dense and large enough to host over 200 undergraduate programs and 16 great sports programs.

Founded over 150 years ago in Corvallis, Oregon, OSU is a historic school with plenty of beautiful, ornate buildings on campus. OSU, however, constantly updates their classrooms to adapt to the changing world and give everyone access to good learning equipment. During my visit I explored some of the science buildings, and most were newly renovated. The buildings that weren’t renovated yet were set to be renovated in the near future.

Looking into some of the lecture halls, I saw how large the class sizes truly are. When students first arrive at OSU, they’ll be placed in classes where it’s difficult to stand out; however, each class will get smaller the further along every student is in their major. Being unable to stand out in a class of over two hundred students doesn’t sound fun, but OSU’s honors program has smaller class sizes that offer more opportunities for connections with teachers. I believe OSU’s academic programs and the opportunity to be in smaller classes in the future make up for the giant class sizes at the beginning of a student’s academic journey.

With 16 NCAA Division 1 sports teams for both men and women, OSU is also great beyond the classroom. They excel at baseball: their men’s baseball team is ranked in the top 10 by multiple publications. OSU is also known to have one of the loudest college football stadiums in the country, where students put their school spirit on full display. In my opinion, the downtown Corvallis area is unmatched as the best college town in the West Coast with its seemingly never-ending list of activities. In this area there are old cinemas, local restaurants, quaint shops, and a community farmer’s market – all of which add plenty of character to the OSU experience.

OSU is a college that checks almost every box. It has great academic programs with a wide range of majors. It has good Division 1 sports programs, and its college town is one of the best in the country. Just like any other college, though, there are some downsides; namely, the sheer number of students and the less than stellar weather in Corvallis. But since OSU is so well rounded, I believe it’s a good school to have on any college list.