Hi, I’m an Australian student looking to study abroad and I have been researching Ole Miss because it is one of the only places that is cheap enough to afford without financial aid (which is scarce for internationals) and seems fairly respectable. It also seems like a lot of fun, and I want to study in the US primarily for the experience. What are Ole Miss kids like? Would a degree from Ole Miss look good / bad / indifferent on a resumé? I would really like to attend a college that has a ‘work hard, play hard’ attitude, with nice kids who are sociable and like to have a good time. How would I fit in at Ole Miss?
It depends on the degree you are wanting and what kind of grades you get to determine if a degree from Ole Miss would look good on a resume.
Most universities have colleges (engineering, business, pharmacy, etc) within the university and not all colleges are equal within a university from a “prestige” view point. So look at the degree you are wanting to determine if Ole Miss will be beneficial (carry more weight than another university) when job hunting or if it won’t make a difference.
For instance Ole Miss has a wonderful pharmacy program so a degree from Ole Miss in pharmacy would be considered good (to use your words) while a degree in another field may only be indifferent (again using your words) to employers.
Getting a degree with good grades is more important in the long run.
Ole Miss is a wonderful school and should fit your requirement for “work hard, play hard” attitude.
We’re from California, and our son looked into Ole Miss initially because they were offering a generous scholarship based on his test scores. He actually had a choice of 2 other colleges (U. of Kentucky and U. of Oklahoma) with similar scholarships and which also had the majors that he was interested in. He chose Ole Miss after visiting it as well as the U. of Kentucky. It’s a beautiful place, in a beautiful town, with extremely friendly people.
My wife and I attended a two-day orientation with our son (they have separate orientations for parents and students), and it only confirmed the impression we formed on our initial visit: Everyone, students and faculty alike, as well as people in the neighboring town, were extremely courteous, friendly and helpful. Frankly it was almost a shock, perhaps because we live in the Los Angeles area, in which people are not nearly so nice.
Our son is now in his second semester of his freshman year and has no regrets about his choice.
As far as whether an Ole Miss degree would look good on a resume, it’s hard to give a simple answer since there are so many colleges of varying levels of prestige. Lots of schools are more prestigious than Ole Miss, and lots are less prestigious. Basically I would call it middle-of-the-road. If you were planning to work in the Mississippi/Tennessee area, I think it would be well-respected. Our son gets a lot of emails from local companies wanting to recruit Ole Miss students specifically. I understand that FedEx in particular employs a lot of Ole Miss grads, and they in turn look to hire alumni. In areas that are farther away, people will be less familiar with it.
I can’t say much about the sociability aspect, except again to say how friendly people are. However Ole Miss is nationally famous for The Grove, which is a grassy area with trees where people get together for “tailgate” parties before all home football games. Pretty much all schools do tailgating, but tailgating at The Grove is supposed to be something special.
Just keep in mind that it’s in a small-town, semi-rural area. If you’re a big city boy (like my other son) you may hate it. But if you like a slower and more gracious way of life (like me), it might be your cup of tea.