<p>Again, I hestitated to post in this thread other than to give OP some idea of life at Ole Miss. I don’t know where mom2collegekids got her statistics, but I will again “assume” it included all campuses rather than just Oxford. In any event, I did pull up 2 numbers from Daily Mississippian online. Oxford campus welcomed 2576 freshmen last year; approximate 666 freshmen men pledged a fraternity. Again, “assuming” a 50/50 split between males and females, that means 50% or more of freshmen guys pledged.<br>
Anecdotally, without having done the research which was apparently required to post here, the number of current Ole Miss students I know would be in the hundreds. I know exactly two of those who are not Greek, primarily because they were transfer students (which probably also skews the overall percentage since Mississippi has a large number of community colleges which feed into the 4 year universities). As far as the relatively small number of sororities or frats, keep in mind that each one can and usually does have very large chapters. We can split hairs, but anyone who knows anything about Ole Miss will concede that Greek life dominates the social scene and student affairs. Again, whether that is good or bad should be left up to the preferences of the student who is applying.</p>
<p>I “think” what we’ve managed to do here - between all the north-south, sports/non-sports bickering - is show a relatively balanced view of the school.</p>
<ul>
<li>it is not a academic powerhouse by any means, but there are some very strong programs which are well respected</li>
<li>the honors college is supposed to be good</li>
<li>the admission requirements are not that strict - but that is mainly to help the in-state students who have suffered for decades with a very poor elementary/secondary educational system</li>
<li>there are a lot of Greeks - and that tends to add to the party-school atmosphere</li>
<li>sports (especially football) is BIG part of the campus culture and there are a lot of gameday traditions</li>
<li>it’s in a very nice, small town - located not too far away from some bigger cities</li>
<li>there is not a great deal of diversity - but the students are generally friendly and welcoming</li>
<li>there are a lot of traditions </li>
<li>the campus is lovely</li>
<li>there is a lot of pride in it’s rich cultural heritage, but some people may not be comfortable with some parts of that</li>
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<p>The bottom line to all this is that some kids will love Ole Miss and some kids will hate it - just like any other school. Lots of people LOVE TX A&M but I couldn’t even convince DS#1 to visit the campus. No interest at all. Same with any school in CA or the northeast (except Penn State). Just no interest.</p>
<p>Isn’t it nice that there are schools out there for all kinds of students?</p>
<p>Well put, Grcxx3.</p>
<p>Bravo, Grcxx3. Well said.</p>
<p>“Sounds like the kid who goes to Ole Miss and doesn’t get all swept up in the excitement of football is kind of out of luck, socially. And what you’re describing feels qualitatively different from the kind of enthusiasm at, say, Ohio State, Michigan or USC.”</p>
<p>IMHO, this is true. I’m not an expert, but I have been to Ole Miss and Oxford, as well as to football games at Auburn and Bama.</p>
<p>The 25% Greek thing is pretty misleading. The population of 18-year-old, residential, first-time freshmen is the population relevant to MS’s child. More than half of these students join Greek organizations (and that doesn’t include those who rush and don’t get into the house they want). The houses are immense, in many cases the largest chapters in the country, and extremely important to campus life.</p>
<p>I can easily imagine going to Michigan or OSU from out of state and ignoring football and its attendant celebrations. I can’t imagine that at Ole Miss. The Grove is the heart and soul of the school. I’m a Northern liberal Jewish feminist nerd, but if I were to go to Ole Miss as an out of stater, I would throw myself heart and soul into preparing for rush and I would put on heels and pearls to party hard at the football games. I think of it this way: is it smart to go to a BBQ restaurant, world-renowned for its ribs, and order tofu? No…even if you like tofu better than ribs in the abstract, you should take advantage of what the restaurant does best. You’re wasting the experience otherwise.</p>
<p>On the topic of academics…I don’t believe that there’s any university, anywhere in the country, where non-Chinese students who are not serious about their studies sign up to take Chinese. The ones at Stanford may be brighter than the ones at Ole Miss, but you’re not going to find lunkheads in that class anywhere.</p>
<p>In some ways, Ole Miss reminded me, oddly enough, of Harvard. The respect for tradition and history is palpable, and so is the sense that the school represents the zenith of its students’ dreams. Like, the choice to come here was OBVIOUS, because it’s Ole Miss. I liked that about it.</p>
<p><<i’m a=“” northern=“” liberal=“” jewish=“” feminist=“” nerd,=“” but=“” if=“” i=“” were=“” to=“” go=“” ole=“” miss=“” as=“” an=“” out=“” of=“” stater,=“” would=“” throw=“” myself=“” heart=“” and=“” soul=“” into=“” preparing=“” for=“” rush=“” put=“” on=“” heels=“” pearls=“” party=“” hard=“” at=“” the=“” football=“” games.=“” think=“” it=“” this=“” way:=“” is=“” smart=“” bbq=“” restaurant,=“” world-renowned=“” its=“” ribs,=“” order=“” tofu?=“” no…even=“” you=“” like=“” tofu=“” better=“” than=“” ribs=“” in=“” abstract,=“” should=“” take=“” advantage=“” what=“” restaurant=“” does=“” best.=“” you’re=“” wasting=“” experience=“” otherwise.=“”>></i’m></p>
<p>Hannah - with that kind of attitude - you will go far in life!!! Congrats for being willing to make the most of the opportunities presented to you!</p>
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<p>I got my info from 2009 USNews for Ole Miss. But, even if their stats are wrong and yours are right,50% is NOT a VAST majority. It would be a simple majority, and that’s assuming that all that pledged were freshmen (and they wouldn’t be - some would be transfers from CCs, some would be sophs that didn’t rush freshman year)</p>
<p>Regarding the so-called “diverse” ivies and similar…</p>
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<p>this IS true. My nephew is at Vandy, and his FA roomie has said as much. </p>
<p>Also, a couple of years ago, the president of one of the elite LACs said that he wanted to further subsidize his “need” students to soften these types of disparities…He was even considering financing clothing budgets and parents’ weekend (including new duds for parents, too.) LOL</p>
<p>bclintonk- Do you have a life?</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids, it would be really interesting to see a LAC that takes the parents out to buy new clothes, maybe they could make it into an episode of What not to Wear lol.</p>
<p>According to the mileage posted above, I’m 177 miles away from Ole Miss (I’m at Alabama) and though I haven’t visited their campus yet, I do have a feeling of the general campus atmosphere. As has previously been mentioned, Ole Miss is a conservative campus that I view as being more southern than other SEC schools, even if it does have a large OOS student population. For one thing, very few will ever refer to it as the University of Mississippi, it’s always Ole Miss. People attend as legacies and build on that tradition. Despite exactly how many are Greek, it seems we agree that Greek life is a major part of the university. While waving the Confederate flag and saying “the South will rise again” is quite distasteful, you run into that a lot in the South and to a lesser extent in the North. I remember reading one of the college guides saying that the only reason to attend Ole Miss is the honors program. While that is harsh in itself, you have a lot of kids coming down to SEC schools not realizing the culture that exists at these schools. Yes, one doesn’t have to be crazy about SEC football to attend one of these schools, but a strong interest in it would certainly help.</p>
<p>Even though it may be a rival school, I don’t like to say bad things about any school because for many people, that school is a “fit”. I know the OP’s son has been looking at a lot of southern schools and if he is interested in Ole Miss and can make it work financially, then it may be the school for him. Grcxx3 is right on the mark here. Ole Miss is not HYPS, it’s Ole Miss. The one caveat I will mention is that going to a state school, especially in the south, may be viewed negatively by some people. But then again, many of these same people view the South in the same negative light. For the right people, Ole Miss has a lot to like.</p>
<p>Speaking of football and the SEC, at Alabama games they play a message along the lines of: “In other places they play football. At Alabama, we live it.”</p>
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<p>This is true. Some SEC states don’t have pro-football (or “winning” pro football) - there are exceptions - Florida, the obvious one - so college football becomes “more important” and more beloved. </p>
<p>But, no one should be criticizing the SEC schools for loving its teams, when I grew up in California listening to die-hard college football fans of USC, Notre Dame, Purdue, Ohio St, UMich, Penn St, and Miami. </p>
<p>I didn’t know the names of the governors of the states where those colleges reside, but I knew that names of their football coaches.</p>
<p>Nicely said, SEA_tide.</p>
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<p>LOL…I really wish I had saved that article. The president was from an elite LAC (Amherst or Swarthmore), and he actually claimed that it wasn’t enough to meet “need” by covering tuition, r & b, etc. He wanted to finance a situation where there wouldn’t be any noticeable disparities at all, including paying for “need” kids’ nicer clothing, their parents’ travel for parents’ weekend, and those parents’ clothes, too. He didn’t want the “need” kids to be embarrassed when mom and pop showed up in (I guess) off-brands, while the other kids’ parents would be showing up in Neiman’s latest line.</p>
<p>The nice thing about these SEC football celebrations is that they are extremely inclusive. I was at Auburn last Saturday, and even though it was Homecoming, you did not need to be an Auburn alum, student, or parent to join the party. And you definitely don’t need to know a lot about football beyond which hated rival to root against. If you can learn to say “War Eagle!” (or “Roll Tide!”), then you’re in.</p>
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<p>So true.</p>
<p>Here’s a timely article from today’s Wall Street Journal that might led a little insight to the SEC football traditions.[Southern</a> Football’s Dating Game - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574532052658242422.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird]Southern”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574532052658242422.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird)</p>
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<p>Bama was proactive about this issue this year. Some kids were buying student-season-tickets with the intention of reselling them at high prices (student’s pay $5 for each game in their season ticket set for football - other sports are free for students). Students either purchase full sets of 7 home games, or half sets of 3 games or 4 games. </p>
<p>The students’ tickets are tied to their school ID, so now if the student doesn’t show up for a certain number of games (that he purchased), he loses the right to buy tickets next year.</p>
<p>However, the complaint of “empty seats” in the student section is misleading. Students often stand during the entire game - smooshed together - so 15 kids might be standing in front of 10 seats. The kids crowd together in the lower seat sections. Therefore it may “appear” that there are lots of empty seats in the upper section swhen in reality there is a live body standing elsewhere in that section. Plus, at any given time, there is always a crowd back by the concession stands - not in line - just hanging and talking while watching the game on the screens.</p>
<p>Here’s are some interesting stats - (sorry, I don’t know how to do quote boxes!)</p>
<p>from 2007: [SEC</a> Sports News » SEC Leads All Conferences in NFL Opening Day Rosters](<a href=“http://www.secsports.com/news/default.aspx?ArticleId=6403]SEC”>http://www.secsports.com/news/default.aspx?ArticleId=6403)
"The Southeastern Conference had 263 players on the 2007 National Football League opening day active rosters, which led all conferences. The Atlantic Coast Conference was second with 238 players, followed by the Big Ten with 234 players, Pac-10 with 183 players, Big 12 with 176 players and the Big East with 84 players. </p>
<p>Among SEC schools, Georgia was first with 37 former players on NFL rosters, followed by Tennessee with 36, LSU with 33, Florida with 31 and Auburn with 30. Alabama had 21 players on NFL rosters, while South Carolina had 19, Ole Miss and Mississippi State had 17 each, Arkansas had 12, Kentucky six and Vanderbilt with five. </p>
<p>The SEC had five of its schools with 30-or-more-players on NFL rosters. No other conference had two." </p>
<p>Also - [History</a> of First Round NFL Draft Picks by College Football Conference](<a href=“http://www.secsportsfan.com/nfl-draft-college-conference-history.html]History”>History of First Round NFL Draft Picks by College Football Conference)
“In the 2009 NFL draft, the SEC led the way as it usually has recently. The Southeastern Conference had 8 players drafted in the 1st round. Second, was the Big 12 with 7. The Big Ten was tied with the Pac-10 for fourth place with 4 first round NFL picks.”</p>
<p>“…when it comes to comparing all time #1 NFL draft picks (THE player drafted first) – the SEC is tops” </p>
<p>Okay - now what is REALLY scary about the above information…is that I went searching for it after MY MOTHER told me the SEC led! She said that for this year (current seniors) there are 25+ SEC players who are expected to be in NFL camps next year. For the first 70 years of her life - my mother hated football…now she’s a die-hard Saints and LSU fan! It’s quite frightening…</p>
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<p>Whoa, back the train up. What do you mean, fraternities are “given” the best seats in the stadium? H and I were part of a Greek system at a Big 10 college and often attended games with our fraternity / sorority groups, but we just went and got tickets like any other groups of students. The college or the ticket offices certainly didn’t privilege us as being any more special, because, well … we weren’t.</p>
<p>If this is what being Greek means at other schools – that you get special seating at football games and the like – well, now, I’m starting to see why there are so many people who don’t care for the system.</p>
<p>Decades ago at UF, fraternity/sorority had blocks but I don’t necessarily remember the tickets being “better”. I also remember that other groups could get their tickets together as well. Of course, at the swamp, there are no bad (or empty) seats.</p>