North Dakota State University

North Dakota State University is an American state-supported university and member of the 11 campus North Dakota University System. It offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and first professional degrees. Founded as the North Dakota State College of agriculture in 1890 in the great tradion of the land-grant university, it sits on a 258 acre (1 km²) campus in an urban setting in Fargo, North Dakota. However, the school also operates several agricultural research farms around the state, which brings its total land holdings past 22,000 acres (89 km²). NDSU uses a semester system. Its endowment was recently US$50.2 million. Nearly 12,000 students attend the school, the vast majority of which are full-time. 43% of the students are female and 57% are male. At 60% admission rate, most applicants are admitted. NDSU's official athletic symbol is the bison. Although the teams are sometimes called the "Thundering Herd", the official nickname is Bison. Their colors are green and yellow. Their athletic teams formerly competed in NCAA Division II, but as of 2004 are competing in NCAA Division I. Traditionally there has been a strong rivalry between NDSU and the University of North Dakota located in Grand Forks, ND.