<p>Does anyone have any information regarding the program? Questions, comments, concerns, etc. Any info about fulfilling the service requirement if I accept assistance? I've read about it on the main flagship page, but I'd rather have info from someone who actually is in the program or knows the program. Well, if anyone still visits the Ole Miss page</p>
<p>Thanks for any help</p>
<p>Bump! I’d also be interested in hearing from anyone who knows about this program. Thanks.</p>
<p>May I suggest that you email Professor Donald Dyer (the department chair) for more information. <a href=“mailto:mldyer@olemiss.edu”>mldyer@olemiss.edu</a> I can try to answer questions based on what I know.</p>
<p>My son is starting in the Chinese Flagship program in two weeks. (It starts in the summer.) I would be happy to answer questions about the experience here.</p>
<p>mantori.suzuki - I would love some feedback on the Chinese Language Flagship Program at Ole Miss. How did your son decide on the progam at Ole Miss? Will he be a freshman in the Fall? My son is interested in studing Chinese too. We are from New England and he has expressed an interest in heading south. I think Mississippi may be too far south for him though. Will your son be majoring in Chinese or does he intend to combine his study with another major? How do you find the rigor of the program at Ole Miss? I know that Chinese is a tough language to learn. My son currently takes French Latin and will take Russian next year (his senior year). Thanks in advance for your feedback!! Best to you and your son!</p>
<p>I’m happy to oblige!</p>
<p>Sunday we arrived with our son at Ole Miss, and yesterday we attended the Language Flagship reception, which consisted mostly of Chinese students but also a few Arabic students. As if being on the Ole Miss campus didn’t already feel Southern enough, the reception was held on the long, covered porch of the Croft Institute building, like an old plantation home, facing the magnolias on the famous Grove.</p>
<p>This year’s cohort has 18 students (the largest yet, so for the first time they are breaking them into two classes.) Most of the new students were there, along with a half-dozen current students representing each year, as well as a recent graduate, and several of the key faculty and staff members.</p>
<p>The chairman of the Modern Languages department, Dr. Donald Dyer, did most of the talking early on. My son and I had met him before, a warm and good-natured fellow. You can tell that he’s really proud of how far the program has come. He talked about the program’s history and gave generous recognition and praise to the faculty and staff. </p>
<p>The current students introduced themselves in Chinese. I was impressed with how fluent they all sounded, even the ones just entering their second year. Of course, I have no idea how fluent they actually are, but students from all years bantered in Chinese confidently, so obviously they had become at least somewhat conversational within the first year.</p>
<p>The new kids introduced themselves as well. Mississippi was the most-represented state, but more than half the students were from other states, including Arkansas, Missouri, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, and California. Their personalities seem to be skewed toward geeky—with outliers at “painfully geeky” and “pretty much normal with a dash of geeky”—but nearly everyone seemed bright and friendly, not awkward like you might expect typical Freshmen to be on their very first day at college. Within minutes after the introductions they were all talking and laughing together, so my first impression is that the program attracts compatible personality types. A recent email from the program coordinator says that the average ACT score of the incoming cohort is 31 and the average unweighted high-school GPA 3.7.</p>
<p>The two summer sessions consist of four hours in class daily—two in the morning, then two more after lunch—with a half-hour one-on-one tutoring session with an advanced student in the afternoon. I hear there is a ton of homework, but we’ll know that soon enough.</p>
<p>Today’s the first day of class. More updates as info comes in from the young’un!</p>
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<p>He intends to double-major in chemistry and Chinese. We asked about majoring in just Chinese and were told that that’s a bad idea. Basically, they (several faculty and staff members) said that simply being able to say that you speak Chinese won’t get you very far; you have to have a marketable skill. Then speaking Chinese will make you very attractive to employers who need people who can apply that skill in China or when interacting with Chinese businesses, researchers, etc.</p>
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<p>I’m sure it’s not easy, but I’ve been told that it is actually easier for some people than European languages because the grammar and syntax are simpler than in English.</p>
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<p>Ole Miss is definitely very Southern, but not backwater-Southern. More like genteel Old South. The town of Oxford is a bit like that, too. It could still be a culture shock for someone from New England, but it does have culture.</p>
<p>Hi Mantori.suzuki!! Thanks so much for your impressions of the Chinese Language Flagship program at Ole Miss. WOW - Chem and Chinese!!! Good for your son. Your feedback is very helpful. I will let you know how we end up. I have heard very good things about the Chinese program at Ole Miss. Best to you and your son.</p>
<p>mantori.suzuki,
I see that your son ended up at Ole Miss. Congrats!</p>
<p>Can I ask about his final few choices? What were they, and why? (I know one of his final choices was U Pitt.) Was it the Chinese Language program that put him over the edge for Ole Miss?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Thank you, SimpleLife!</p>
<p>He was admitted to Rochester, Pitt, Alabama, and Ole Miss. Rochester was unaffordable for us. He had a full-tuition scholarship to Pitt, and National Merit scholarships to Alabama and Ole Miss that approached full rides. (I would strongly recommend that any National Merit Finalist consider the latter two.)</p>
<p>If overall academics had been the main consideration, we would have paid the extra few thousand for Pitt, as my son has friends there and prefers an urban setting. But his number-one concern was Chinese. A friend put him in touch with a Chinese minor at Pitt who said that the program is in flux, does not always have enough faculty to offer fourth-year courses, and tends not to graduate highly fluent speakers.</p>
<p>Ole Miss, on the other hand, is part of the Chinese Language Flagship consortium along with Ohio State, Brigham Young, and Oregon. The Language Flagship is quite well-funded, includes four years of language instruction plus two summers and a fifth year in China (mostly covered by federal grants), and aims to graduate speakers who rank “Superior” on the State Department’s fluency test. So, on the quality of the Chinese program, Ole Miss wins hands-down. (Alabama offers what appears to be a weak minor.)</p>
<p>The last step was a campus visit, to see if Mississippi would be a good cultural fit—or at least tolerable—for a kid who grew up in Chicago and preferred to stay in a big city. We planned a two-day campus visit to ensure that he got a really good feel for the place, but within the first hour he had made up his mind. The campus is lovely, and the people are extraordinarily friendly. I’ve lived elsewhere in the South and never found “Southern hospitality” all it was cracked up to be, but Oxford generally and Ole Miss in particular seem to be full of people who have all the time in the world for you, will help you with anything, and really appreciate their little island of culture in an otherwise disregarded state. We didn’t bother visiting Pitt or Alabama after that, and I’m confident that even if Rochester had been affordable, he would have chosen Ole Miss anyway.</p>
<p>Of course, I don’t mean to say that Ole Miss would be for everyone, only that it offers a lot that could overcome someone’s objections and is worth a visit. It defied our prejudices about Southern universities. The student body is more diverse than I expected. In his first two weeks, my son has a group of friends from Nigeria and another from Mexico (which is great because he speaks Spanish), and the Chinese students come from all over the country.</p>
<p>As for the quality of the Chinese program so far, my son says that in two weeks he has learned more than he learned in an entire year of high school introductory Chinese. This is surely a bit of an exaggeration, but perhaps not too much, considering the fluency with which the second-year students seemed to be speaking, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.</p>
<p>SimpleLife, is your child considering Chinese as well?</p>
<p>I’m actually a current student in the summer program now, along with Mantori’s son (curious which one he is…)</p>
<p>I can testify that it is much, much harder than any normal high school or college language class. We’re doing about one chapter in our textbook each day, whereas the regular class in the fall will go more like one a week. The TA’s say that within another week or so, class will be held almost entirely in Chinese. I would venture to say that every single student is having to really work hard to keep up, and there are already at least two or three feeling discouraged. However, the program director has been good about talking people out of quitting, or at least sticking with it until this summer is out.</p>
<p>All that to say—yes, it is difficult, but by no means impossible for anyone willing to spend the time and effort necessary. And it’s completely worth it because of the very high level of proficiency attained through the program.
I would definitely encourage any student interested in this program to also pursue the Croft Institute for International Studies as well as the Honors College.</p>
<p>hi mantori.suzuki.
I am so glad your son found such a great fit for himself! The Chinese program sounds amazing. I’ve never heard of it before. If you had described it first and then asked me at which school it might be, I would never have guessed a school in Mississippi! It just goes to show you – there are all sorts of surprises out there in the “college search” world!</p>
<p>My son is interested in learning Chinese someday, but I think he plans to do that later, after or towards the end of his engineering degree. I’m going to tell him about this program at Ole Miss, though, for sure. He is also an NMF (or I should say “will be” an NMF in all probability – PSAT 237 with stuff to match), so we’re planning to visit Ole Miss, MSU, Auburn, and Bama in one fell swoop this summer. (My son’s a rising hs senior.)</p>
<p>The fact that your son ended up in a place that neither you, nor he, had really envisioned for himself originally, is the kind of thing that keeps me always looking for my kids. There are so many amazing schools and programs out there! All the really big names get all the press (and prestige), but there are so many different things that can make a school a really great fit for one particular kid – and you and the kid don’t even know it until you hear about it here on CC and/or visit for yourself. Makes the college search seem endless! And, like you, money is a huge part of the equation for us … it makes no sense to us to choose to pay a whole lot more money if there’s a school that fits really well for a whole lot less money!</p>
<p>So, all in all, CONGRATS! It sounds really great!</p>
<p>The Summer session is over, and wow, what a summer. The kids were in class four hours every weekday, plus one-on-one tutoring every weeknight, plus listening exercises every day, plus group study. (I don’t know if they all studied in groups daily, but it appears that the most successful ones did.)</p>
<p>Of the 18 students who started, I think only one has dropped out, but it’s still possible that someone else will drop out before the Fall semester starts. However, they will pick up one or two additional students who are advanced enough that they didn’t need the Summer session, so the total number of Freshmen in the program may actually increase a bit.</p>
<p>When my son got home last week, he had some friends over who had just spent a year in China and some others who are native Chinese. He says he was definitely the least fluent among them (of course) but was still able to hold a conversation. The Ole Miss program heavily emphasizes pronunciation, so he had some trouble understanding the other two, who spoke more quickly and enunciated less, as a native speaker of any language tends to do.</p>
<p>In the Fall the kids will be in class only one hour per day instead of four, so I’m interested in whether if their rate of progress will drop off noticeably.</p>
<p>Congrats to your son and his class. The first summer of the flagship program is very challenging. </p>
<p>During the school year, progress does slow a bit. However, the class is still extremely demanding. It is by no means a regular five hour language class. Substanitial homework each night quizzes everyday. If I remember correctly, Thurday is the big testing day each week.</p>
<p>D will be returning from the first summer in China on the 15th. From what I gather, the workload was not very different from the first summer at the University (although I’m confident that they found time to have some fun).</p>
<p>I hope so! It would be a shame to go halfway around the world and not have some fun. Here’s wishing her a safe trip home.</p>
<p>What classes or activities are the kids having in China this summer?</p>
<p>Mantori,
S just got back from the regular Summer College program at Ole Miss. He is a rising Sr. He had a great time and received 6 credits to boot. The campus really had an international flavor as well which was a great surprise. There were many kids from South America and elsewhere. Plus, many of the counselors(regular students) were international too. It was a great and interesting experience for S. He felt very comfortable coming from a NE private school.
Is your S in the Honors College as well as in the Chinese program?</p>
<p>Glad to hear your son had a good experience this summer, ldinct. I, too, was pleasantly surprised at the large number of international students on campus.</p>
<p>Yes, my son will be in the Honors College, although he is a little worried about the workload of an honors program on top of the already-time-consuming Chinese program. I advised him to take it one semester at a time. I think once he’s into it, going from honors to regular classes will feel like a step backward, and he’ll decide it’s worth the extra work. From what I hear, most of the Chinese students are also in the Honors College, and they are considering making at least some of the Chinese classes count toward an honors degree.</p>
<p>Hi Mantori.suzuki,
Im looking for any updates about the Chinese language program at Ole Miss. I have a daughter who will graduate in 2014, she will have taken several years of HS Chinese. In reading your post I get the impression that the ole Miss program wants it’s freshman to attend the summer session before starting the first year there. Is this true?
How is your son liking it now that he’s been in it for awhile? I am very concerned about the work load! She is looking a a dual major Chinese/Business. Any info or insight would be great! She’s a little overwhelmed. Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi Sparkymom! I don’t think mantori has been on CC for awhile, so perhaps I can try to answer some of our quetions. My daughter is a senior in the program. Since my daughter began the program, the size has expanded. There are many more students coming into the program with prior language experience. That said, I know they really would like to have everyone begin the program the summer prior to the freshman year. However, a call to the program might shed some light on exceptions to that rule. Just in case, here is the website for the Flagship: [Chinese</a> Language Flagship Program - The University of Mississippi](<a href=“http://www.olemiss.edu/chinese/index.php]Chinese”>http://www.olemiss.edu/chinese/index.php) </p>
<p>I won’t lie, the workload of the program is not for the faint of heart. However, the results and experiences DD has had have been amazing. She has two majors, is a member of the Honors College and very active on campus. So, for the right person, the workload is doable. </p>
<p>Good luck on your college search and selection process. If you haven’t visited Ole Miss yet, I highly suggest you do so. Don’t be afraid to ask to meet with heads of the departments, sit in on classes, etc. They are very happy to arrange appointments to meet your needs. If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to post or send me a pm.</p>
<p>Thank you Seekingknowledge! Your advice about sitting in on classes & talking to department heads is great. We plan on visiting in the spring.</p>