Ole Miss vs. University of Alabama

I recently was accepted into both The University of Mississippi and The University of Alabama. I was accepted into Alabama first, and was ecstatic so I am leaning slightly more towards bama. I am scheduled to tour both schools this December, but I am torn between the two. I know they are both very similar, so here are my stats: I am from Missouri and have a 2.7 cumulative and 21 ACT score. I plan to go into social work. Because of my grades, I do not expect much financial aid, though some would be nice. Mississippi is slightly closer and less expensive, but I love Bama so much.
I plan to rush in a sorority, and I want a school with better greek life/more fun social events aka parties. I also live in a big city, so I would prefer to stay in a bigger city. I plan to live in a dorm. Please help.

Neither Ole Miss nor Alabama are located in big cities. Both are located in college towns.

Greek life is prominent at both schools.

You should also consider the difference in cost of sorority membership, Alabama will be much more expensive.

New Member - 1st semester only
AL: 4,200 (average) - 4,700 (high)
Ole Miss: 2,300 - 2890

Live in House (per semester)
AL: 7,300-7,900
Ole Miss 4,210-5,350

Live out of House
AL 3,600-4,400
Ole Miss 2,160-2,890

And of course there are other expenses, you might also want to look at minimum GPA requirements for Greek life.

Visited both campuses with my daughter a few years ago. She ended up picking Arkansas but that’s neither here nor there.

All things being equal, I’d give the edge to Alabama, especially if you ever plan to leave the south. It has a much bigger national profile than Ole Miss.

Ole Miss grads can & do secure employment outside of the South. Nevertheless, one who majors in social work is likely to develop employment experience & connections in the state where the school is located.

For Greek Life at both schools, a 2.7 may be enough to register for rush, but may not be high enough for chapters at both schools. Some chapters may take a ‘grade risk’ if you have connections to existing members, or bring other attributes as a member (lots of community service, leadership, pageant-famous, looks, money).

Here is this year’s Alabama recruitment guide which lays out minimum GPA per house, plus chances of invites based on GPA
http://www.uapanhellenic.com/greek-chic-recruitment-guide

On page 22 it says “It is strongly recommended that you have a cumulative 3.2 high school GPA”

My daughter (from NE) is in a chapter at UA, and it IS expensive although that fee includes a mandatory meal plan.

Town wise, Tuscaloosa is bigger but Oxford is nicer. D chose Bama based on larger OOS presence, campus feel, specific programs and some people she met… but she admitst hat Oxford MS has a definite draw (and Ole Miss was cheaper).

Wow @CollegeMamb0 there are very few woman of color tin that book. It looks like maybe zero in any leadership position.

@Eeyore123 yes I totally agree with you. There ARE women of color in every chapter, including chapter leadership positions, but the overall experience is whiter than white. You would need to go to each chapter’s website to see their list of current officers to get a fuller picture.

Note that there are sororities at University of Alabama other than those in the Alabama Panhellenic Council, as well as coed organizations.

https://ofsl.sa.ua.edu/chapters-list/sororities/
https://ofsl.sa.ua.edu/chapters-list/co-ed/

About seven years ago, there was a big “segregation” scandal in University of Alabama sororities. The student newspaper wrote about it ( https://cw.ua.edu/16498/news/the-final-barrier-50-years-later-segregation-still-exists/ ) and there were some threads on these forums about it.

Do you know sisters from any sorority at one of the campuses (or both)?
Really try to bring your GPA up because it’s very low for rushing a sorority.
How will you pay for either university - since you want to go into social work, you should not go over the federal loan limit (5.5K for freshman year)?