Bozeman/Missoula MSU/U of M opinions.... (Great Falls, Hamilton: apartments, rentals)

[OHDreamer25]

G'Day!
I found this site accidentally when I was researching rentals in the Bozeman/Missoula areas. In my reading I have noticed a trend in the advice that Montana is getting pretty pricey to relocate to, but most of the suggestions from people seem helpful so I decided to ask for some assistance as well. Let me explain my intentions. I am 24 single and currently working as a research tech. at a pharmaceutical company which i loathe. It was my first job after graduating college, and i had hoped to go back to graduate school but things got put on hold when I ended up injuring my knee and requiring major surgery and therapy. I admittingly know very little (only what a couple friends from MT have told me) about MSU and U of M but both sound appealing. I would like to do graduate work in Wildlife Research or Cell Biology/Neuroscience and both have programs but any opinions and thoughts would be helpful. I am headed out to visit friends in Hamilton (he's on the hot shot crew.. still a little fuzzy on hotshot means) and in Great Falls (some high school friends work at the airforce base) for several weeks next month and do some relocation "scouting" for myself, but i really don't have my mind set on either town, or even if i want to be in town. I grew up on a small beef farm in sounthern Ohio, and regularly hike, hunt, fish, and kayak so my MT friends suggested combining my hobbies and my schooling which is why i began looking at colleges in Montana. I would appreciate any and all suggestions/advice/ thoughts on schooling, considerations to take into account before moving, best time to move (money and housing availability wise), jobs, living arrangements, and anything else I could be forgetting! Thanks a heap!

[Reziac]

Don't know what it's like now, but when I was at MSU (1972-1975) that was the primarily hard-tech school, whereas UofM was the soft-sciences school.

Best thing would be to get a catalog for each (libraries often have them) and compare programs in light of what you want to do.

[MontanaGyrl]

Missoula and Bozeman are very similar and have become the most expensive places to live in Montana, generally speaking. Both UM and MSU are good schools, but UM has a Wildlife Biology department and MSU does not. Am not sure about the Cell Biology thing; both schools have Biology departments. UM has a pharmacy school & the job outlook is very good for pharm grads.

Both towns have similar outdoor rec opportunities (limited only by your imagination) and nightlife. I live in Missoula and love it here. My son & DIL live near Bozeman and that's a great place too. Hope you get to visit both.

[MelissaJoy]

As a current MSU-Bozeman student I may be biased on this topic, but as the saying goes "you can't drive through Missoula with your windows down, without getting hit with a diploma"..

Bozeman is considered to be the engineering/science school, and just built a new Science Research building on campus that is primarily for grad students.

As for the towns & recreational activities.. Bozeman is definitely the place to be for skiing and snowboarding (3 resorts within 45 minutes), but that means snow and a lot of cold weather. Both towns are incredible for all of the other outdoorsy stuff.. hiking, fishing, rafting, golfing, folfing, biking, etc.

I'm not sure what the rent is like in Zootown, but Bozeman costs about $300/person /month for rent (or around $500 for a single bedroom). Buying a house is impossible for almost all of the college students here, with 2-3BR condos running around $180,000. If you can afford a house here, the average value has increased $75,000 since 2000 (great investment opportunity).

Oh, and hot-shots are firefighters that parachute into areas that ground crews can't get to.

[mountainme]

I live part time in bozeman and part time in yellowstone. I don't know very many one bedroom apartments for $500 any more, more like $600 and up. MSU has some good grad. wildlife programs in conjunction with YNP but this area, well, this whole western part of the state has more wildlife biologists than it does beef farmers it seems like. I know, I am one and we are starting to outnumber the wildlife. Do yourself a favor and get a degree in something less romantic, that is if you enjoy making money and having a stable career.

[grizzfan]

...but as the saying goes "you can't drive through Missoula with your windows down, without getting hit with a diploma"..

As you can see the rivalry between UM and MSU students and alumna takes on nonsensical proportions! As a UM graduate, and with UM plates on my rigs, I keep my windows up to guard against flying cow pies from good ole' Moo U!!

You'd probably find a good match in your Wildlife Tech interests at U of M and with a background in Pharmacy you could perhaps link the two with a research project. My gut says that MSU's engineering emphasis might have application in the neuroscience areas, but UM has great research capabilities. You'll have to visit both campuses.

The kicker on deciding where to locate will be, however, the absolute dominence of UM athletic programs, particularly football, basketball and track. Nobody, I mean nobody, messes with the Montana Grizzlies!!

[MontanaGyrl]

P.S. If you are interested in Wildlife Research or Cell Biology/Neuroscience, something that would combine both would be studying the BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy)-like disease of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer and elk. Personally I find the subject very interesting. I'm pretty sure this is studied at UM and I'm not sure about MSU.