OOS applicant for c/o 2025! first time applying! 🙂 For those of you who attended K-state for undergrad, or are currently vet students there, what has been your favorite part of the university, curriculum, college town, etc? 🙂
I love our campus so much. I have spent time at the vet med campus, but of course most of my time is spent on the main undergrad campus. Everyone here is really nice, I truly feel like I'm part of that cliche "K-State Family." The vet school is very close to the rec (gym/fitness center), which is included in your campus privilege fees. There's lots of different intramural sports (I play on a volleyball team with my sorority sisters), fitness classes, a rock climbing wall, and the rec has pretty good hours (I think it is open 5am-12am, though post-pandemic that might change), plus we have a pool on campus called the natatorium.
I love hiking the Konza prairie (it has gorgeous views), and K-State is located in the Flint Hills, which is one of the least-flat parts of Kansas.
🙂 The local dog park is pretty nice, and I have not had any trouble finding pet-friendly affordable housing. On campus you can only have a dog or cat if they are a documented emotional support animal/service animal, but there are lots of places off campus where you can have a dog or cat. My current rental house has a fenced in backyard for my roommate's dog, and the house is very close to the vet med part of campus.
We have plenty of restaurants and businesses here, mostly national chains (Target, Walmart, Chipotle, Texas Roadhouse, etc), and I really enjoy Aggieville (our bars/local entertainment area). Aggieville has tons of different bars and restaurants to check out when you need a break from studying or want to celebrate a good exam score. We have Varsity donuts and the Varsity food truck is open late nights on the weekends for cheap and delicious 1am meals (my favorite is the mac & cheese grilled cheese).
As a biology major, I have done research on campus since my first semester, and I know there is a significant amount of research being done at the vet school as well. We also have NBAF (the USDA facilities that will replace Plum Island) currently being built here, so that will be a large source of jobs in the coming 5-10 years. We also have different farm units operating through our College of Agriculture. I don't know a ton about them, but we have horse, swine, poultry, sheep & goat, beef, and dairy farm units. I got to visit all of them through various classes I've taken and they've all looked like very nice and well-ran facilities. This school is definitely recommended for people interested in large animals. As I mentioned above, the vet school has done a significant amount of renovations recently and incorporated more clinical skills into the curriculum. We also have Dr. Carpenter and a very strong exotics program. The Sunset Zoo in Manhattan is small, but it is still a pretty nice place to visit. Our veterinary teaching hospital has nice facilities. I have not been there a lot, but I've toured several times and it looks like a great place to do clinical rotations at.
If you are a sports fan, our football team and program has been gaining hype recently with our new coach replacing the legendary Bill Snyder after he retired. We had a very good season last year and I am looking forward to hopefully having a semi-normal football season this fall. I have no idea if vet students have time to attend games, but it has been a really fun experience as an undergrad getting to cheer on the Wildcats. The vet school is very close to the football stadium (Jardine, the on-campus apartments, are just in between the two), so on game days they sell parking spots at the vet school as a fundraiser for veterinary students.
That's about everything I have to share, if you want more details or have specific questions let me know! I have really enjoyed attending school here and I'm sure other KSU students can share more about the vet school specifically.