Economics major is very small–total majors are less than 1% of student body.
This can be good (lots of faculty access, great references, great internships, tiny classes, ability to access good grad schools) or it can be very bad (“you went WHERE for your undergrad?”)
For a high performing student (Honors, scholarships, etc): How does Economics turn out? What is post-grad placement? Any recruiting? What’s grad school admit rate? Are you happy w/ Miss instead of the other options you considered?
Although I have no connection to Ole Miss, I think that it would not be a wise option for an economics major unless attending on a full tuition & fees plus scholarship.
The University of Mississippi is great for certain majors–especially accounting & data analytics–but not so great for other majors including economics. But, if on full scholarship & in the Honors College & double majoring, then it is may be a wise choice of school.
P.S. It also depends upon one’s career goals. For example: If seeking a Wall Street Investment Banking (IB) position or work as a management consultant (MC) with a prestigious firm based on earning an economics degree at Ole Miss, then you should look elsewhere.
If, however, you want to go to law school after college but would like to major in economics in a non-cutthroat environment, the Ole Miss would be fine.
At some elite colleges & universities, economics is a sought after major &, therefore, schools sometimes use weed-out courses to eliminate the weak students. There is value in a degree in economics so if you want to avoid intense competition while earning a degree in econ, then Ole Miss might be fine–especially if on a full tuition scholarship.
That’s incredibly helpful. Thank you!
You are right: any choice for Ole Miss would be mostly for financial reasons (at a minimum free tuition; possibly full ride including room and board; also in HC).
The obvious worry is that it will torpedo grad school and work opportunities. But the obvious benefit is ~$50,000-100,000 savings over the next-cheapest set of (better) schools. It isn’t an easy call.
Everything is relative. What other options do you have ?
Also, Ole Miss has some strong relations with employers including at least one Big 4 accounting firm which hires for consulting as well as for tax and for audit / assurance.
Grad school in what discipline ? An undergraduate degree from Ole Miss will not by itself harm an applicant’s chances for admission to top MBA programs or to top law schools, but it might affect chances for PhD programs in economics.
Rutgers (honors college), some top-30-ranked small LA schools that I’d rather not list, Syracuse, Temple (cheap, honors), a few other larger schools ranked 50-30 (chasing merit money so didn’t apply to many top schools)
This reply is very helpful but I’d love to know more generally. Not only didn’t I know that Mississippi was good for accounting, but I don’t even see how I WOULD know. As “Publisher” maybe you should write an article on this question (never hurts to hope):
Everyone hears mention of “good programs in lesser schools” and its counterpart, “lesser programs in good schools.” How is a new entrant supposed to find that information out?
Ole Miss also has a strong relationship with FBI recruiting.