My niece’s daughter looks like she might be getting a full, four year scholarship to “Ole Miss” - the University of Mississippi. Basically, this is really great news for her and the family.
However, I don’t know much about the university, other than what I have Googled. Although it appears to be steeped in tradition, has great financial endowments and some good educational programs - the school also seems to be driven by football, football and more football. I don’t know anyone who has ever gone to school there or anyone who might have more insight.
Nothing has been decided 100%, but all signs seem to be heading for her to accept this scholarship and I figured someone here might have some last minute advice or suggestions or comments I could pass on to my grand-niece and the family before that final decision is made.
Did you, or anyone you know, ever go to “Ole Miss”?
What can you say about academic standards and school life there?
I didn’t go there but I know a few people that did and I know a fair amount about it. Ole Miss is a perfectly decent university that is heavily steeped in Deep Southern tradition. The fact that it is in Mississippi may make some people from out of state wary but the Southern states usually do a good job with their flagship state university and invest whatever resources it needs to be successful. Ole Miss is one of those. Oxford, MS is very pretty and historical as well.
It is a fairly large school and would have decent academic programs in whatever she chooses. Football is a HUGE deal there as is the Greek system. There will be no mistaking that you are in the middle of the South there but they have plenty of students from all over the country and the world as well. It is hard to provide more specifics without knowing what she wants to study and her interests. Like any big state school, there is the overriding culture of the school which is strongly Southern at Ole Miss but niches for everything else as well. Even people from outside of the state would find most of the people friendly.
Is the scholarship through the Honors College? It’s a pretty good opportunity if it is, one of the few ways to get a small-liberal-arts-college experience at a big state school. I understand there are some nice perks available, like money for study abroad or independent research.
Ole Miss is a fine school, located in a small town. Oxford pretty much revolves around the university…there’s really not much else going on in that town. There is no mall in town. The law school is on campus, the medical school is in Jackson, about 4 hours away.
The football team is not very good. They’ve been a SEC doormat for years, since Eli Manning graduated. There’s a new coach, and they’ve managed to win their first two games this year, but those have been against out of conference opponents. Students have the opportunity to see big time opponents on campus like Alabama, LSU, and other SEC powerhouses.
Party school full of frat assholes and sorority sluts.
That is my impression from living nearby for a time. Now, I probably have a skewed view because (obviously) the partying people would stick out a lot more than the kids in the dorm studying, but they did have a bit of a reputation when I was looking at schools as well. A lot of smart kids go there, though, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.
One of my sisters went there for grad school, a brother and former sister-in-law went there for undergrad. I believe one of my nieces is now considering the school for her undergrad years. She’s a junior in high school right now so she still has a little time to decide, not a lot, but a little.
My grand-niece is from Arizona and has never lived anywhere else - I am sure she will love the humidity, mosquitoes and rain…(not much snow there, if any - right?).
She is going soon for a tour of the campus, along with her mom and dad (divorced but on very friendly terms). Speaking of which, mom is caucasian and dad is black - my grand niece is a gorgeous (in a Hallie Berry style) girl, but would obviously be considered black - and I see there are only 19% minorities at Ole Miss - will this be a problem there? She has attended predominantly all-white schools her entire life, so it will not be a problem for my grand-niece, but just wondering if being black at Ole Miss will be a big deal, or a non-issue?
Thank you Tom Tildren for that nice link to the NY Times article - glad to see Oxford is a little glimmer of blue in the political voting spectrum of the state - as a die-hard Democrat, you can imagine my joy at hearing the word “Mississippi”.
I also like the fact that this is pretty much a university town - reminds me of my school, Southern Illinois University - where it was mostly university students and just a few “townies”. This made it easier to focus on school and school related events, even though it does define “party school”. Still, it is nice to know she will be submerged in the university experience.
Again - not 100% sure, but this full boat scholarship will be hard to turn down, so my guess is they will agree on a handshake soon.
If anyone has any other insight or comments, keep them coming - but this info alone has been very helpful. Thanks again!
What does she want to study? My college best friend got her PhD in English there and said they have a good program for undergrads. She’s black, and she never really had any more significant issues with prejudice there than anywhere else.
Football is huge and quite an event to attend! Shagnasty is correct about the Greek system. I know it’s important to be your own person and suspect folks here will scoff at it, but there it’s nearly a necessity.
If she goes, visit her. There are some fabulous places to eat, and even if you hate football, you should attend a home game; it’s a phenomenal experience.
Where else has she applied? If she was bright enough to get this offer, presumably other schools will offer money as well (although perhaps not full scholarships).
My grand-niece is only a junior in high school now - she will be going on a sports scholarship and has been approached by a few other schools, but this is the best offer to date and will be hard to turn down.
Right now, she is interested in Sports Medicine - having had her share of injuries over the years, she thinks this is something she would like to do. But again - she is only a junior in high school, has good grades in all subjects, and from personal experience, I know kids change their minds as they get older/take other subjects and who knows if this will still be her goal by the time she finishes high school or starts college. I know at my university, about half or more of my classmates changed majors by about their sophomore year.
Ole Miss has been trying to get rid rid of the Confederate flags and “the South will rise again” stuff for a while now. In 2010 the Col. Reb mascot was replaced by the Rebel Black Bear. I went to Alabama and the campus life is probably pretty similar. The University of Alabama has almost twice as many students and Tuscaloosa is a much larger city than Oxford, though.
Daddy went. Played with Eli’s daddy on the football team for a year, but lost his scholarship and ended up going to Vietnam. My aunt was the director of public relations for the medical school for a very long time indeed, but she retired a few years ago.
I was accepted but went to Mississippi College instead. (In hindsight, I wish I’d gone to neither of them and to the University of Southern Mississippi instead.)
Have spent a lot of time there with friends from high school back in the day (and also Mississippi State, aka Moo U and Cow College) but that was more than 20 years ago, I don’t know what it’s like now. Then it was full of very blonde sorority types who were Very Southern.
I have a very good friend nearby in Water Valley, and I will say the area is very much in the Deep South. It will be a huge culture shock to someone from Arizona, I’d think.
On the other hand, the campus is pretty, they’ve dropped the Rebel flag recently, and it’s less uniformly white than it was, is what I hear.
Ask me again in October when I have to go back for a few weeks and will likely end up on Oxford for a day.
ETA: I loved the football games when I was a kid, because chants of the school cheer allowed me to swear! (Hell and damn, but still, I was six!)
