ABOUT US

Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. With 21,353 students at its main campus, it is the largest campus by enrollment in the state. It is classified in the category of "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity" by the Carnegie Foundation and has a total research and development budget of $239.4 million, the largest in Mississippi. It is listed as one of the state's flagship universities.

​

The university was chartered as Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College on February 28, 1878 and admitted its first students in 1880. Organized into 12 colleges and schools, the university offers over 180 baccalaureate, graduate, and professional degree programs, and is home to Mississippi's only accredited programs in architecture and veterinary medicine. Mississippi State participates in the National Sea Grant College Program and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. The university's main campus in Starkville is supplemented by auxiliary campuses in Meridian, Biloxi, and Vicksburg, Mississippi. The 19th and current president of Mississippi State is Mark E. Keenum, a former United States Under Secretary of Agriculture.

​

Mississippi State's intercollegiate sports teams, known as the Mississippi State Bulldogs, compete in NCAA Division I athletics as members of the Southeastern Conference's western division. Mississippi State was a founding member of the SEC in 1932. In their more-than 120-year history, the Bulldogs have won 21 individual national championships and 30 regular season conference championships. The school is noted for a pervasive baseball fan culture, with Dudy Noble Field holding 17 of the top 25 all-time NCAA attendance records and the school's Left Field Lounge being described as an epicenter of college baseball.