Editorial: USD gives South Dakota students the best opportunities

USD is the only university in the state with a medical school and law school, a fact that makes this campus a place where opportunities are vast.

Larger schools across the state have something they’re known for; South Dakota State University has a good agriculture program, Black Hills State University is known for teaching and School of Mines is a powerhouse for STEM majors.

But no other university in South Dakota has a law and medical school. Not only that, but the USD School of Law has been ranked as one of the best law schools and its students regularly participate in competitions.

The medical school also has its fair share of achievements. In January, a USD microbiologist may have found a treatment for Streptococcus Pyogenes, or strep throat, without the need for antibiotics.

Both schools have brought thousands of students to USD and many undergraduate students choose to come here to prepare to go to either of these schools.

The law school has the “3 + 3” fast track that allows undergrad students to start their law school classes early during their senior year and have only three years of law school. This is an advantage for students that want to finish school faster and save money, or those who’ve already come in with a good amount of credits and don’t feel like they have to waste their time waiting to get in the program.

Beginning your undergraduate program here also gives you the opportunity to meet faculty and professors that could end up deciding your acceptance into the school. Making those connections is important because it truly does affect whether or not you get into those programs.

It also helps to become familiar with the campus where you plan on spending multiple years of your life after you graduate with a bachelor’s degree.

When you think about it, USD is creating doctors and lawyers to serve those in our state and elsewhere, which is pretty amazing.

The fact that our university has so much to offer when we only have around 10,000 students makes us unique. Going to a smaller school may scare some people away because there might not be as many opportunities.

But in the case of USD, that’s wrong. Our smaller classes are a strength of our school and it allows students to make strong connections with the faculty and staff that leads to success later in life.