Large universities in the middle of nowhere

[Dirt Roads]

Longwood University is a moderately large school (about 5,000 students) well removed from any nearby metropolitan areas in Virginia - Farmville is roughly halfway between Richmond and Lynchburg.

Although it's not a university, the Appalachian College of Pharmacy is located in Oakwood, Virginia, which is basically in the middle of nowhere (about 30 minutes from Richlands). It only offers Doctor of Pharmacy degrees but has a relatively large enrollment (about 150 students). The related Appalachian School of Law is in Grundy, which is an incorporated town but only has a population of about 850 people.

You missed the obvious one in the Old Dominion:  Virginia Tech.  Back when I went there, Blacksburg was still a little town that would have vanished if the university disappeared.  Today, the town is a thriving hub of technology.  I suspect that the BEV (Blacksburg Electronic Village) would still keep going if somebody moved Lane Stadium down the hill into Roanoke.

[mgk920]

Although it is located in the state's capitol city, the University of Nebraska as always struck me as being 'middle of nowhereish'.

Mike

[Life in Paradise]

I thought about posting this in Random Thoughts but I figured a thread was better.

I'm defining "large" to be an enrollment size of 10,000+ students (there's plenty of small universities/colleges that are purely regional). Also excluding university systems (ex. Texas, Penn State, UNC...basically every state school) and online schools (so stuff like Western Governors University is excluded).

Some examples that strike out to me:

-Indiana University isn't terribly far from Bloomington and IN 37 has been 4 lanes for a while, but why isn't the major state school in Indianapolis?

First of all, thanks for properly identifying it as Indiana University and not the University of Indiana.

Secondly, when it was founded in 1820, nearly all of the state's population lived in the southern half and the capital was still at Corydon.

A couple of things....Indiana University is actually "in" Bloomington, IN and not near.  I guess it is possible that they have not annexed it, but the city surrounds it.  and Indianapolis was also founded in 1820 to be the state capitol, but that likely occurred after the founding of the seminary that became IU, since that occurred early in the year.

[JayhawkCO]

Although it is located in the state's capitol city, the University of Nebraska as always struck me as being 'middle of nowhereish'.

Mike

Right, smack dab in the middle of the 2nd largest city in the state, with a population of almost 300,000 people, cannot be remotely considered in the middle of nowhere.

[newyooper]

See other post about university names.  As noted above, many X State Universities are located where they are because the are Morrill Act or land grant universities.  They needed to be in rural areas.  Hence Ames, Manhattan, Stillwater, etc.

In Wyoming, when the state was formed, there several political plums: State Capital, University, Prison, and Mental Institution.  All of the major towns were in the south along the railroad.  They drew lots and then picked.  Capital in Cheyenne, University in Laramie, Prison in Rawlins and Mental Institution in Rock Springs.

Similar to Wyoming, communities were often in open competition with each other to be the homes of these public state universities because they could see the future economic benefits.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Longwood University is a moderately large school (about 5,000 students) well removed from any nearby metropolitan areas in Virginia - Farmville is roughly halfway between Richmond and Lynchburg.

Although it's not a university, the Appalachian College of Pharmacy is located in Oakwood, Virginia, which is basically in the middle of nowhere (about 30 minutes from Richlands). It only offers Doctor of Pharmacy degrees but has a relatively large enrollment (about 150 students). The related Appalachian School of Law is in Grundy, which is an incorporated town but only has a population of about 850 people.

You missed the obvious one in the Old Dominion:  Virginia Tech.  Back when I went there, Blacksburg was still a little town that would have vanished if the university disappeared.  Today, the town is a thriving hub of technology.  I suspect that the BEV (Blacksburg Electronic Village) would still keep going if somebody moved Lane Stadium down the hill into Roanoke.

Good point. I didn't think about the fact that Virginia Tech is basically why Blacksburg and Christiansburg are the way they are today.

[Rothman]

I thought about posting this in Random Thoughts but I figured a thread was better.

I'm defining "large" to be an enrollment size of 10,000+ students (there's plenty of small universities/colleges that are purely regional). Also excluding university systems (ex. Texas, Penn State, UNC...basically every state school) and online schools (so stuff like Western Governors University is excluded).

Some examples that strike out to me:

-Indiana University isn't terribly far from Bloomington and IN 37 has been 4 lanes for a while, but why isn't the major state school in Indianapolis?

First of all, thanks for properly identifying it as Indiana University and not the University of Indiana.

Secondly, when it was founded in 1820, nearly all of the state's population lived in the southern half and the capital was still at Corydon.

A couple of things....Indiana University is actually "in" Bloomington, IN and not near.  I guess it is possible that they have not annexed it, but the city surrounds it.  and Indianapolis was also founded in 1820 to be the state capitol, but that likely occurred after the founding of the seminary that became IU, since that occurred early in the year.

Back in the 1970s, Bloomington was much, much smaller and the divide between the University and community was much starker.  I was just back there for the first time in 40 years and couldn't believe the growth.

[CoreySamson]

With regards to HBCUs, I've always been struck by how remote Alcorn State University, Mississippi State Valley University, and Prairie View A&M University (to a lesser extent) are.

Also, Texas A&M being as big as it is in a city as small as college station is is somewhat noteworthy.

[noelbotevera]

Longwood University is a moderately large school (about 5,000 students) well removed from any nearby metropolitan areas in Virginia - Farmville is roughly halfway between Richmond and Lynchburg.

Although it's not a university, the Appalachian College of Pharmacy is located in Oakwood, Virginia, which is basically in the middle of nowhere (about 30 minutes from Richlands). It only offers Doctor of Pharmacy degrees but has a relatively large enrollment (about 150 students). The related Appalachian School of Law is in Grundy, which is an incorporated town but only has a population of about 850 people.

You missed the obvious one in the Old Dominion:  Virginia Tech.  Back when I went there, Blacksburg was still a little town that would have vanished if the university disappeared.  Today, the town is a thriving hub of technology.  I suspect that the BEV (Blacksburg Electronic Village) would still keep going if somebody moved Lane Stadium down the hill into Roanoke.

Yeah, Virginia Tech was on my mind but I somehow missed it. What makes Virginia Tech strange is that it's somehow a military school even though it's a land grant school (so it's traditionally associated with agriculture and engineering).

I was also going to mention Virginia (University of Virginia), but Charlottesville has been significant since colonial times given that Thomas Jefferson lived there for forever. Oddly enough for its size, Northern Virginia only has one major university (George Mason), and GMU has no affiliation with the "state schools" of VT and UVA.

[newyooper]

Longwood University is a moderately large school (about 5,000 students) well removed from any nearby metropolitan areas in Virginia - Farmville is roughly halfway between Richmond and Lynchburg.

Although it's not a university, the Appalachian College of Pharmacy is located in Oakwood, Virginia, which is basically in the middle of nowhere (about 30 minutes from Richlands). It only offers Doctor of Pharmacy degrees but has a relatively large enrollment (about 150 students). The related Appalachian School of Law is in Grundy, which is an incorporated town but only has a population of about 850 people.

You missed the obvious one in the Old Dominion:  Virginia Tech.  Back when I went there, Blacksburg was still a little town that would have vanished if the university disappeared.  Today, the town is a thriving hub of technology.  I suspect that the BEV (Blacksburg Electronic Village) would still keep going if somebody moved Lane Stadium down the hill into Roanoke.

Yeah, Virginia Tech was on my mind but I somehow missed it. What makes Virginia Tech strange is that it's somehow a military school even though it's a land grant school (so it's traditionally associated with agriculture and engineering).

I was also going to mention Virginia (University of Virginia), but Charlottesville has been significant since colonial times given that Thomas Jefferson lived there for forever. Oddly enough for its size, Northern Virginia only has one major university (George Mason), and GMU has no affiliation with the "state schools" of VT and UVA.

GMU was founded as a branch of the University of Virginia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University

[noelbotevera]

Also, Texas A&M being as big as it is in a city as small as college station is is somewhat noteworthy.

On that topic, Baylor being located in Waco is of note. Texas is interesting in that two of its major universities are religiously associated (Baylor and Texas Christian University). Usually a state only has one (ex. BYU in Utah, Liberty in Virginia, Loyola in Chicago), though DC has like 3 (Georgetown, Catholic University of America, Trinity College).

[SEWIGuy]

Also, Texas A&M being as big as it is in a city as small as college station is is somewhat noteworthy.

On that topic, Baylor being located in Waco is of note. Texas is interesting in that two of its major universities are religiously associated (Baylor and Texas Christian University). Usually a state only has one (ex. BYU in Utah, Liberty in Virginia, Loyola in Chicago), though DC has like 3 (Georgetown, Catholic University of America, Trinity College).

Loyola is in Chicago, but so is DePaul...the largest Catholic university in the country. And if you are going to go down to the level of Trinity College, Illinois has a few more as well.

[MikieTimT]

The University of Arkansas was located in Fayetteville in 1871 in order to avoid malaria, as I have been told.

More on the skeeter problem from the university itself:

https://arthropod.uark.edu/arkansas-arthropods-in-history-and-folklore/

I don't think that Fayetteville qualifies in 2024 as the "middle of nowhere" anymore.

The NWA metro is now likely #97 or #96 in the top 100 metros as of 2024, although Wikipedia has the 2023 estimate putting it at #98, but with high percentage growth still.

Fayetteville by itself according to estimated 2023 population of over 101K.  It was certainly backwoods back at University of Arkansas' founding, but even the student population is around 32K students this fall, nuts to think about since it was 14K back in the stone age of 1993-1997 when I was there and we had a pretty good basketball team and a truly crappy football team.

Served by I-49 and whatever number they wind up upgrading US-412 to, it's pretty connected to I-40, I-70, I-44, and Tulsa and K.C.  And much better to Little Rock as well than the olden days.

[1995hoo]

.... Oddly enough for its size, Northern Virginia only has one major university (George Mason), and GMU has no affiliation with the "state schools" of VT and UVA.

Depends on whether you consider Marymount "major." I wouldn't list it in the same category with GMU (Marymount's enrollment is around 4200 and GMU's is just under ten times that). But I note it does have an LGS on I-395.

[SEWIGuy]

Longwood University is a moderately large school (about 5,000 students) well removed from any nearby metropolitan areas in Virginia - Farmville is roughly halfway between Richmond and Lynchburg.

Although it's not a university, the Appalachian College of Pharmacy is located in Oakwood, Virginia, which is basically in the middle of nowhere (about 30 minutes from Richlands). It only offers Doctor of Pharmacy degrees but has a relatively large enrollment (about 150 students). The related Appalachian School of Law is in Grundy, which is an incorporated town but only has a population of about 850 people.

You missed the obvious one in the Old Dominion:  Virginia Tech.  Back when I went there, Blacksburg was still a little town that would have vanished if the university disappeared.  Today, the town is a thriving hub of technology.  I suspect that the BEV (Blacksburg Electronic Village) would still keep going if somebody moved Lane Stadium down the hill into Roanoke.

Yeah, Virginia Tech was on my mind but I somehow missed it. What makes Virginia Tech strange is that it's somehow a military school even though it's a land grant school (so it's traditionally associated with agriculture and engineering).

I was also going to mention Virginia (University of Virginia), but Charlottesville has been significant since colonial times given that Thomas Jefferson lived there for forever. Oddly enough for its size, Northern Virginia only has one major university (George Mason), and GMU has no affiliation with the "state schools" of VT and UVA.

GMU is a public university, and used to be part of the University of Virginia.

[thspfc]

Grand Valley State in Michigan is near Grand Rapids but the campus itself is way out in nowhere (or, was, prior to recent development).

I've always felt U of Minnesota lost something sitting right next to downtown Minneapolis. None of the major U of MN campus locations are great classic college towns.

The kids who want a college town can go to Madison with reciprocity. Or La Crosse if they didn't get into Madison.

[KCRoadFan]

I was thinking WVU - unless Morgantown is too close to Pittsburgh to count. (It's a 75-mile drive, albeit over mountainous terrain.)

[JayhawkCO]

This thread has just proven to me that people have never been to the middle of nowhere.

[oscar]

Yeah, Virginia Tech was on my mind but I somehow missed it. What makes Virginia Tech strange is that it's somehow a military school

I think you're confusing Virginia Tech in Blacksburg with Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.

[Molandfreak]

This thread has just proven to me that people have never been to the middle of nowhere.

For real, I wouldn't call my alma mater (MSU Mankato) a university in the middle of nowhere even though Mankato isn't all that big. It has enough amenities to be a pretty significant shopping destination and transportation hub for much of Minnesota and Iowa. There is also a business district near the university that provides some walkable stores for students. That's a far cry from my example of Saint John's University, where students have to travel more than 5 miles for anything other than the campus stores.

[Rothman]

This thread has just proven to me that people have never been to the middle of nowhere.

You are the odd one out there, then.

[1995hoo]

Yeah, Virginia Tech was on my mind but I somehow missed it. What makes Virginia Tech strange is that it's somehow a military school

I think you're confusing Virginia Tech in Blacksburg with Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.

He's not, actually. VPI is classified as a "senior military college" (along with Norwich in Vermont, Texas A&M, the Citadel, North Georgia, and VMI) because it offers a particular sort of ROTC program under 10 USC 2111a. It's a much stricter ROTC program than the one you see at most universities.

VPI, incidentally, also fits the history referred to elsewhere in this thread. It's a public land-grant university that started as an agricultural college and was originally named Virginia A&M. They later added "and Polytechnic Institute" to the name (Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute). People then omitted the "A&M" part and it was formally dropped from the name in the 1940s, creating the familiar "VPI." Then much more recently the Commonwealth decided to give it university status and added "and State University" to the end of the name (why "State" instead of "Commonwealth," who knows). But the people in Blacksburg decided they didn't like it when people pronounced the abbreviated name, "VPISU," as two words ("Vippy Sue") and decided people could call it "Virginia Tech."

[TheHighwayMan3561]

This thread has just proven to me that people have never been to the middle of nowhere.

I guess to be fair, in 2024 any "major" university is going to have drawn quite a bit of associated development with hotels, restaurants, and other services that can profit off the university traffic. You're not really going to find an example of a major college existing in a vacuum where the only services within 50 miles are the on-campus dining and stores.

[Dirt Roads]

Yeah, Virginia Tech was on my mind but I somehow missed it. What makes Virginia Tech strange is that it's somehow a military school

I think you're confusing Virginia Tech in Blacksburg with Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.

He's not, actually. VPI is classified as a "senior military college" (along with Norwich in Vermont, Texas A&M, the Citadel, North Georgia, and VMI) because it offers a particular sort of ROTC program under 10 USC 2111a. It's a much stricter ROTC program than the one you see at most universities.

VPI, incidentally, also fits the history referred to elsewhere in this thread. It's a public land-grant university that started as an agricultural college and was originally named Virginia A&M. They later added "and Polytechnic Institute" to the name (Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute). People then omitted the "A&M" part and it was formally dropped from the name in the 1940s, creating the familiar "VPI." Then much more recently the Commonwealth decided to give it university status and added "and State University" to the end of the name (why "State" instead of "Commonwealth," who knows). But the people in Blacksburg decided they didn't like it when people pronounced the abbreviated name, "VPISU," as two words ("Vippy Sue") and decided people could call it "Virginia Tech."

One of the saddest days of my life was after a year of waiting to see if I could ever get into VPI, on the day that I show up to Blacksburg university president Dr. Lavery tells all of us freshmen that we have to call it Virginia Tech from then on.  I didn't mind so much after finding a "Va-Jen-Ya-Tek" T-shirt, packaged nicely in a "Hokie Poke".

[RobbieL2415]

UConn feels like it's in the middle of nowhere.

Hardly. The campus is bordered by CT 195, US 44, CT 31 and CT 275. Can basically get anywhere in the state from there.