So, you're thinking about attending a college or university in Oklahoma?

A part of both the southern Great Plains and Eastern Woodlands areas of the U.S., Oklahoma is also part of the region referred to as the American "Heartland." The state has both the nation's second largest Native American population as well as 200 man-made lakes, which is more than any other state. Oklahoma is bordered in the north by Colorado and Kansas, in the east by Missouri and Arkansas, in the south by Texas, and in the west by New Mexico.

The terrain of Oklahoma is one of the most diverse in the entire United States. It is composed of such areas as plains, grass prairies, forests, caves, mountains, and even cypress swamps. Thanks to its large number of man-made lakes, Oklahoma has over one million surface-acres of water which give it 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.

This wide variety of terrain has also led to a wide variety of climate throughout the state. The southern portion of the state has an average annual mean temperature of 62°F while the panhandle averages under 54°F. The main difference, however, lies in the amount of precipitation the different parts of the state receives. Starting at the southeast corner of Oklahoma, which averages over 52 inches of precipitation per year, for each 10 miles you travel west, the precipitation drops by around 1 inch. The driest area is in the extreme western panhandle, which gets less that 16 inches annually.

Oklahoma is known for its extreme weather. It's no coincidence that the National Severe Weather Forecast Center is located here. The state averages somewhere between 40-60 days of thunderstorm activity a year. This might not be as much as in other areas, but they tend to be the most severe in the entire world. The central section of Oklahoma is the most tornado-prone area in the world in both the number of tornadoes that occur as well as the strength of those that take place. Some of the most severe tornadoes in history have happened in Oklahoma. In fact, the highest wind speed ever recorded on earth, 318 mph, was measured near Oklahoma City during a tornado outbreak.

The state of Oklahoma, in 2005, had an estimated population of 3,547,884. Of these, approximately 395,219 residents, or 11.4% of the state's total populations, were Native American. This is the second highest number, only trailing California, and the second highest percentage, following Alaska, of Native Americans in the nation.

Even though there are more registered Democrats in Oklahoma than registered Republicans, the state's voters generally vote republican in national campaigns. Both of its U.S. Senators are Republicans as well as four out of its five U.S. Representatives. Since 1968, the state has always voted for the Republican presidential candidate in elections. In the 2004 election, George W. Bush won every county in the state and received a total of 65.6% of the vote.

Oklahoma's residents participate in around 73 major religious affiliations. Although the state is loosely referred to as the center of the "Bible Belt," a surprisingly large amount of the population, 39.24%, say they hold no religious affiliation. As for the remaining citizens of Oklahoma, 28.03% are Southern Baptist, 9.35% follow the teachings of the United Methodist Church, and 4.89% identify themselves as Roman Catholic. The rest of the state's population follow various other religious practices, each one made up of less than 3% of Oklahoma's total population.

There are numerous colleges and universities in Oklahoma to choose from. Some of these educational institutions are:

• Oklahoma State University

• The University of Oklahoma

• The Wichita Technical Institute

To find more information about universities and colleges in this area, visit the Online College Degrees page on this website.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Oklahoma".

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