A Review of the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming: An Education in the Wild West

A review of the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming is, at least in part, a chance to flirt with fantasy. Have you always had a real love for all things western? Did you grow up wishing you had the chance to be a cowboy or a cowgirl? It's not so strange really. The West has a gigantic appeal to many Americans. The beauty and immensity of the land and all its features calls many of us to at least vacation out West. Why not combine your childhood fantasy with the need to complete a four year college education. A review of the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming may tune you in to just the location for meeting your educational needs and budgetary constraints.

From Out of the Old West. The history of the University of Wyoming is really a mirror image of the development of the Old West. In 1886 when the school was established, the town of Laramie was just a small railroad town and Wyoming was only a territory. As Laramie expanded and Wyoming became a state, the size and status of the University of Wyoming changed as well.

Because the University of Wyoming was a land grant college it was responsible for helping to develop area agriculture and also had a duty to permit military development and training on campus. These two factors had much to do with the early curriculum and university composition in its early days. Today's curriculum continues to offer opportunities for agricultural training and study. After more than a century of development the University of Wyoming is home to approximately 9,000 undergraduate students and is the only state supported institution of higher education in the state of Wyoming.

A Cowboy Curriculum? If you are considering education at the the University of Wyoming undoubtedly people will ask you if you are training to become a cowboy. All kidding aside, when you review the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming you will want to know if the academic offerings meet your needs. It is both natural and correct to assume that there are programs of study here that are still very much connected with the land. Under the university of umbrella, Wyoming University incorporates its own College of Agriculture. A further look will show you that at the University of Wyoming there is also a College of Arts and Sciences and colleges for engineering and applied science, education, health, business.

While you may be coming to the state many people associate with the cowboy and his horse, the University of Wyoming statistics actually show a much different profile of what students come to the university to lean. Roughly a third of all those enrolled at the University of Wyoming are studying to prepare for a career in either the world of business or education. You can come to the University of Wyoming to learn about the land and the wide open spaces of the West, but these are not the programs that necessarily drive the student body at the University of Wyoming.

Who Comes to Laramie to Learn. It is also sensible for one who is trying to review the University of Wyoming to consider the kinds of students who routinely come to this school. If you are going to live at a school for four years, learning about your potential classmates just makes good sense. One thing that is quickly obvious is that the University of Wyoming does not seem to attract lots of people of color. School statistics would bear out the fact that this is not a school that can promise you a widely diverse student body.

What is diverse at the University of Wyoming is the state of origin of students who come here. Knowing that the University of Wyoming is the only state supported school for higher education in the state might lead you to believe that this is a school that is full of Wyoming residents. In fact it may come as a bit of a surprise that about half of the student body is made up of young men and women who come to Wyoming from other states.

Another characteristic of the students who make up the student body at the University of Wyoming is their academic achievement. At the University of Wyoming you will be going to classes with young people who are used to being academically successful. This is not a school for low college board scores. Half of the young people who eventually enroll at the University of Wyoming graduated in the top quarter of their high school class. This is not MIT or Harvard but do not think that because the University of Wyoming is located in one of the most sparsely populated states in the nation that you can come here and just get by.

What's Special about the University of Wyoming. Despite its old West location, the University of Wyoming offers many of the traditional undergraduate activities that you would find in Massachusetts, North Carolina or Michigan. There is surprisingly enough Greek Life in Wyoming. There is also student government, club sports, service organizations, ethnic clubs, performing arts groups and religious organizations.

Young women and men compete in NCAA intercollegiate athletics in a variety of sports. Some varsity teams play at the NCAA Division I level and bring top notch college matches onto the campus. The school is not without its post season heroes and there have been league championships brought home to Laramie.

As a state supported university, the University of Wyoming offers a college education at a fraction of what one might pay in private schools elsewhere in the country. Even out of state students will find the tuition at the University of Wyoming competitive.

But what is really special about the University for many students isn't the academics, the activities, or the cost. What is really special about the University of Wyoming is that when you come here you wake up every morning in the midst of one beautiful state. The wide open spaces, the great national parks, the feel of the West cannot be duplicated. If your fantasy has always been to spend time in the West, a review of the University of Wyoming might convince you to come and spend four years here.