Oregon State University

SCHOOL INFORMATION

Oregon State is a leading research university located in one of the safest, smartest, greenest small cities in the nation. Situated 90 miles south of Portland, and an hour from the Cascades or the Pacific Coast, Corvallis is the perfect home base for exploring Oregon’s natural wonders.
Oregon State University has always been a place with a purpose — making a positive difference in quality of life, natural resources and economic prosperity in Oregon and beyond. Through discovery, innovation and application, we are meeting challenges, solving problems and turning ideas into reality.
Founded in 1868, Oregon State is the state’s Land Grant university and is one of only two universities in the U.S. to have Sea Grant, Space Grant and Sun Grant designations. Oregon State is also the only university in Oregon to have earned the Carnegie Foundation’s top designation, awarded to institutions with “very high research activity.”
As Oregon’s largest public research university, with a record $275 million in external research funding in 2009-10, Oregon State’s impact reaches across the state and beyond. With 12 colleges, 15 Agricultural Experiment Stations, 35 county Extension offices, the Hatfield Marine Sciences Center in Newport and OSU-Cascades in Bend, Oregon State has a presence in every one of Oregon’s 36 counties, with a statewide economic footprint of $1.5 billion.
Oregon State welcomes a diverse student body of nearly 24,000 students from across Oregon, all 50 states and more than 100 countries. They can choose from more than 200 undergraduate and more than 80 graduate degree programs, including over 20 degrees offered online. Oregon State increasingly attracts high-achieving students, with nationally recognized programs in areas such as conservation biology, agricultural sciences, nuclear engineering, forestry, fisheries and wildlife management, community health, pharmacy and zoology.
Oregon State also ranks high in sustainability, fourth among universities nationwide for using renewable energy and first in the Pac-10 Conference. And our students literally help power the university: 22 exercise machines at Dixon Recreation Center are connected to the grid.
The 400-acre main campus in Corvallis includes a Historic District, making Oregon State one of only a handful of U.S. university campuses listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district includes such icons as Weatherford Hall, the Memorial Union and Benton Hall, the oldest building on campus.
Oregon State is located in Corvallis, a vibrant college town of 53,000 in the heart of Western Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Corvallis consistently ranks among the best and safest cities to live in the U.S., as well as among the most environmentally responsible.
A number of Oregon State’s academic programs are ranked among the best in the U.S., particularly in sustainability and natural resources, as well as in disciplines related to quality of life and economic growth.
Oregon State University’s outstanding faculty and academic programs increasingly attract Oregon’s top students, as well as those from other states and countries. In 2008, for example, more Oregon high school valedictorians enrolled at Oregon State than at any other college or university in the state. A 2009 survey of the greater Portland area by The Oregonian found more high school graduates were enrolling at Oregon State than at any other college or university.
Oregon State offers more than 200 undergraduate and 100 graduate degree programs through its 12 colleges, including the University Honors College, one of only a handful of degree-granting honors programs in the U.S.