Go Green, Go White

– Overheard at a Michigan State University Football Game

Michigan State University is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan.

Quick Look

  • also called “MSU” (nationally) and “State” (by people in Michigan)
  • in the college town of East Lansing, near capital of Michigan, Lansing
  • part of the Big 10 athletic conference
  • the first agricultural college in America, still called “cow college” by some
  • school nickname for students and sports teams: Spartans
  • school colors: Green and White
  • # 83 in National Universities on US News college rankings

Universities in the United States are often called by the letters in their names. Michigan State University is often called MSU. It’s not the only school in America that is called MSU. There are others like Missouri State University, Mississippi State University, and Montana State University. Still, if you say MSU, most people will think of Michigan State University.

If you are in Michigan, you will hear a lot of people call the school “State”, such as in “I went to State for college”. If you just say “State”, everyone in Michigan knows that you mean Michigan State University.

MSU is the second most famous school in Michigan. The most famous is University of Michigan, which people call U of M, or just “Michigan”, as in “I went to Michigan for college”.

That would be different from the statement “I went to college in Michigan”, which just means that you studied at the college level at any school in the state of Michigan, such as public school like Western Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Central Michigan University, Northern Michigan University, or private schools like Hope College and Albion College.

There is an intense rivalry between MSU and U of M (often written as U-M). These 2 major schools in Michigan play against each other in basketball and football every year and their hatred of each other is well known.

East Lansing is a suburb of Lansing, the capital city of the State of Michigan. The city is relatively small and has a population of around 49 thousand permanent residents. That figure is misleading though because the general population of East Lansing basically doubles when the university student population (also around 49 thousand) is present in the city.

Michigan State was originally an agricultural college. In fact, it was the first agricultural school in the United States. Today, MSU is one of the top schools in the US for research on farm animals and plants.

Due to its history as a research and teaching institution in the field of agriculture, Michigan State is sometimes referred to as a “cow college”.

Michigan State is famous for its basketball team, which has won the NCAA College Basketball National Championship in 1979 (with Magic Johnson) and in 2000.

The Michigan State Spartans football team has won the famous Rose Bowl a total of four times. Both teams regularly appear on national television in the US, increasing awareness of the school throughout the country.

Michigan State University is ranked # 83 by US News in National Universities, # 33 in Top Public Schools, and # 6 in Biological / Agricultural.

The campus of Michigan State University is known for its natural beauty. The Red Cedar River runs through the middle of the main campus.